Contemporary Developments in Business and Management Assessment

This report analyzes the influence of external environmental factors on Vodafone's market response and the relevance and influences of CSR and sustainability on Vodafone's business policies and decisions.

Contemporary Developments
in Business and Management
Assessment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Influence of external environmental factors and their importance to organisation.....................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
Relevance & influences of CSR and sustainability on business policies and decisions............7
Critical analysis of the effectiveness of Vodafone's response....................................................9
Areas where improvement is needed........................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Business and management is defined as the process to maintain lead in business
expansion and managing the same in prominent way. As the time passes it increases the
globalisation which is helpful for their business in their expansion that enhances market
development in effective manner. In the changing market condition this is highly essential that
internal and external factors are to be determined and understood in such a manner that their
impact can be calculated which leads to attain high sustainability for the business (Broome,
Bowersox and Relf, 2018). In order to eliminate negative impact of the business market changes
are requisite to be inculcated by the business by which competitive advantage can be received
and this result in increment of market image for business. For the management of company this
is imperative that they alter their internal policies in accordance with market situation in order to
prove their identity in external market. This report is based on Vodafone Group plc which is a
British multinational telecommunication company headquartered in London, UK. Vodafone
Group plc is considered as one of the prominent telecommunication service provider in the world
as they are having presence in more than 60 countries. Within this report va rious external factors
are analysed which is having direct impact on their market response. In the last part of the report
impact and significance of CSR and sustainability in context of Vodafone Group plc is
elaborated.
TASK 1
Influence of external environmental factors and their importance to organisation
In the process of business operation, market and businesses are getting high implications
by numerous external factors in order to eliminate negative factors within business operations.
External environmental factors are dynamic in nature and in order to manage them several
policies are required to be framed by the business so as to convert negative aspects into positive
by which distinct competitive advantage can be received by the company that can be retained for
long period (Bullough, Moore and Kalafatoglu, 2017). For this purpose PESTLE framework is
used by the business and this is helpful in analysing external factors in prominent manner. These
are used as a strategic tool which provide full evaluation of entire factors that are existed outside
the business.
PESTLE analysis of Vodafone Group plc:

Political: In the process of business operations in some nation, these are giving high
implications from governmental policies and rules as they may create barrier in international
trade. When a business is operated at global periphery then political factors are providing high
impact on business operations. There are many political factors which are affecting business such
as taxation, trade tariffs and many more. In accordance with government these factors are putting
their high impact on businesses over each industry. Vodafone is a global telecommunication
service provider which is providing voice and data services to their customer across global
periphery. UK is known to be a political stable nation which denotes that their rules and
regulations are affecting inside trading of the nation. This is highly helpful for Vodafone as these
are assisting them as trade policies for stable countries are not changing which resultantly
provide highs sales and customer coverage to the company. By this factor during their business
expansion complexities can be released which may results in easily establishing any new unit in
new market segment. As UK is highly stable in their political condition which is saving cost to
the company for implementation of any change during their processes as laws in UK are flexible
so can be enforced by business organisation. This is helping Vodafone to keep their prices at the
level of lesser fluctuations, due to stable political condition this is certain that probability of
introduction of new governmental condition is low which provide positive implications to
Vodafone for their steady pricing policies. On the other hand there are some other political
factors which are having high positive implications on Vodafone, as government of UK is highly
supportive for promoting their in-house companies and advanced technology is used by them in
order to enhance living standard of population. These aspects are giving positive implications to
Vodafone as in earning more profits and to retain competitive edge within markets of UK.
(Coghlan and Shani, 2018). Similarly high assistance is given by UK government in form of
flexible policies and security policies to telecommunication companies due to increased use of
internet in current time. This is fruitful for Vodafone in order to enhance their profitability and to
get high access over internet regarding data and other services.
Thus this can be concluded that political factors are having high advantages for the
business as in framing decisions and retain management in prominent manner through which
high positive impact can be drawn on business development of Vodafone.
Economic: These factors are associated with economic conditions and which is highly
dependent on their GDP, unemployment rate, purchasing power, rate of interest, inflation rate,

policies of banking and many forth. These are also having ability to encourage customer to make
purchase regarding product and services. UK is a economic stable and strong country as many
colonized people have immigrated to UK which makes the economy diversified and resilient. On
the other hand UK is having capitalist work ethics and this is the major reason that businesses are
contributing high in economy. Similarly residents of UK are possessed with high purchasing
power and with high purchasing power of their residents this is providing ample benefits to
Vodafone to place their services in effective manner. This is highly significant for Vodafone that
by launching new product and services they may boost their sales and capture large customer and
intensify their customer base as well. Similarly as economy of UK is increasing in positive
manner due to which effective results has been seen on sales and profitability of Vodafone. On
the other hand due to low bank rates this is easier for Vodafone to gather funds and expand their
business in proper manner.
Thus from above discussion this can be concluded that economic factors are highly
impacting the company as these are directly associated with nation and their people and
purchasing power of customer which is impacting market conditions and buying decisions. This
factor is helping the company to alter buying pattern of their customer and which is related to
prices of company's offerings.
Social: The social factors are directly related to distinct dimensions of population such as
religion, culture and their living standard. These factors are affecting sales of the company and
their profit ratio as well. In UK, people are possessed with high standard of living by which
demand of required services are high within marketplace. By providing appropriate services
Vodafone can receive high customer satisfaction in order to enhance their market presence and
profit as well. (De Vita and Case, 2016). In recent time usage of internet has been increased and
this is making high demand for Vodafone by which the company may intensify their business.
By enhancing their quality of services Vodafone can fulfil demands of their customers and this is
helping them to attract high customers by which business and market expansion can be drawn by
the company. In the current era social networking has emerged and this is consuming internet
and usage of internet by population. This factor has helped Vodafone in making such strategies
which are creating path for enhancing market share for the company. In the recent year market
demand is very high for data and mobile services and this is growing in exponential manner by
which is providing direct impact on demand of telecommunication companies and services as

well. On the other hand people of UK are prone to adapt new technology in a very easy manner
which provides high stability and profitability within marketplace to the companies with
innovative features in their offerings. This factor is having high significance as by changing in
taste and preferences of customers and these are analysed by the management in order to execute
changes policies in prominent manner. These are the factors by which customer can be attracted
for sales by which their market prominence.
Technological: This is related to those technological advancement which are adapted by
country in order to promote their research and development. For UK this factor is highly
appreciable as the country is accepting high technological advancement which is helpful for the
business operations to be operated in smooth manner and to enhance their efficacy.
Telecommunication industry is highly dependent on technology and the role of technology is
intensive for Vodafone. The company can use advanced market technology in order to bring
innovations in their offerings by which customer satisfaction can be enhanced and competitive
advantage can be received as well. Vodafone is using user friendly technology and interface by
which they are meeting their expected level of profitability and customer attraction. In the
current time intense competition is faced by Vodafone so in order to make their distinct identity
the company is using robust technology in their business operations.
Technological factors are highly significant for the company as this creates path for
innovations by which they remain at the frontier within marketplace. This is helpful for
improvising offerings by which high customer satisfaction can be drawn which leads to
enhancement in brand image.
Legal: These are the factors which are associated with country's legal system and are
linked with laws and legislative rules. These laws and rules are required to be governed by
business in order to maintain their operations at prominent manner. In UK there are numerous
laws which are associated with telecommunication and the same are required to be enforced by
Vodafone in their business operation. These laws include Digital Economy Act, 2010,
Communications Act, 2003 and many more. These laws are followed by Vodafone so as to
remain within legal working. By application of these laws high positive impacts are seen in
internal and external environment. In context of internal environment, motivation is rendered to
employees by working in ethical manner and within external environment other stakeholders can
maintain trust over Vodafone. Similarly this is giving high opportunities for the Vodafone to

manage their market image in prominent level. On the contrary when company fails to apply
these laws then they may have to face law suits and legal penalties which leads to put adverse
impact on reputation of the company in marketplace.
Thus this can be concluded that legal factors are highly important which plays essential
role in decision making of organisational policies. This provides positive impact on shareholders
by which market image can be improvised and high end positive impact can be drawn on
sustainability (Dickmann, Brewster and Sparrow, 2016).
Environmental: These factors are associated with environmental factors of a country
such as availability of scarce resources, natural resources, weather conditions, temperature and
many more. UK is having high supply of resources which are requisite by Vodafone and this is
the reason that Vodafone is expanding their business in order to intensify their profitability. The
weather conditions of UK is not extreme so this can affect installations of tower and cause delays
and this means that data services are available for high customer portfolio.
This can be concluded that environmental factors are having high implications on
essential resources which are providing high impact on business and their success ratio. This is
helpful for the company to improvise their brand image and market share as well.
TASK 2
CSR and Sustainability of Vodafone Plc
This model is a self regulated business model in which accountability is rendered in
favour of public and other shareholders in order to upkeep societal interest. By being social
responsible goodwill can be developed by Vodafone and this lead them to attain high
sustainability. Social factors are providing high leverage regarding usage of resources by which
morale of employee can be boosted in order to attain high productivity and profitability as well.
Relevance & influences of CSR and sustainability on business policies and decisions.
Vodafone plc is a British company which is providing services associated with
telecommunication. The company is headquartered in London, UK. Vodafone plc was founded
in the year of 1991 by Ernest Harrison and Gerry Whent and the company is serving at global
level. Vodafone plc is operating their business in various continents such as Asia, Africa,
Europe, Oceania and many more.

Relevance of CSR & Sustainability with Vodafone Plc:
Vodafone plc is a huge business organisation which is operating their business at global
level and they have huge number of suppliers by whom they are maintaining effective relations.
In order to enhance brand image company is having effective relationship with their stakeholders
and customers. With the major purpose to maintain positive relation the company is using CSR
movements and this is leading them to achieve high attention of public (Gabryelczyk, 2016).
Through CSR activities high sustainability can be achieved by the company which leads to
intensify customer base and loyal customer as well.
Influences of CSR and sustainability on Vodafone's policies and decisions:
There are various elements which are presented within managerial policies and these are
impacting decision making of Vodafone plc. For this the company is required to make new
strategies which are related with CSR activities and these leads to attain sustainable approaches
in order to get growth and development in effective manner. In the same manner companies are
requisite to adopt some strategies those are associated with CSR and these approaches are helpful
in attaining business growth and development. These are having various influences which are
elaborated as under:
Customer influences: Customer are known as king of market and own decisions are
taken in order to sort out purchasing decisions from which goodwill can be improvised. As
companies are making decisions which are associated with considering various factors such as
brand preferences, less prices, nature friendly options and many more. Vodafone is creating high
customer base by which their CSR activities are built in order to become responsible for the
society (Waraich and Chaturvedi, 2017). This factor is providing high impact on Vodafone as
consumers are backbone for the company and by attracting them Vodafone is meeting to their
objectives.
Self influences: When high involvement is received by the company then this leads to
high influences on telecommunication services and within social manner this is imperative that
huge returns are received form customer. This is helpful in making effective decisions in which
best practices are adopted by them in order to control the business. By adoption of CSR
innovative ideas are inhaled in business which provides sustainability to Vodafone in order to
retain in the market for longer duration.

Investors influences: CSR activities are assisting Vodafone in making decision related to
investment in precise manner so that business influencer can be reached in prominent manner.
CSR and sustainability are those activities which are helpful in receiving high investment form
investors and this is rendering high end effective decisions to the company. So the company is
making marketing strategies in order to assist their investors so that they may feel free to invest
in their company and Vodafone may gather funds (Geppert and Pastuh, 2017). By acquiring
prominent amount of funds expansion plan of the company may succeeded.
Employees influences: Workforce is highly essential in order to accomplish business
objectives in prominent manner and to attain success. Vodafone's is considering their employees
as their asset so this is highly required that they make such policies by which manager of the
company is making efforts to get productive results and to attain sustainable position within
market. Vodafone is using various decisions so as to attain high accountability from their
employees and this is rendering them high satisfaction of their work team.
Public influences: For every business media is playing an effective role by which brand
image is made within global periphery. This is impacting the business in negative and positive
aspects. As the company is operating with CSR activities then promotional activities are
established by them which leads to influence public in effective manner. This factor is providing
high impact on sustainability as by enhancement of market image prominence can be achieved
which leads in high sales.
Competitors influences: Most of the businesses are having high plan and policies in
which strategies of competitors are analysed. Rivals are the most extensive threat for the
business so for this with the help of CSR activities community advantage is received by
Vodafone and this is making them to sustain for longer period of time. For Vodafone this aspect
is leading them to analyse their market capture in order to attain sustainability.
Critical analysis of the effectiveness of Vodafone's response
Vodafone has implemented various responses to ensure that it is accountable towards the
society. Also Vodafone has tried to protect the rights of the its stakeholders by adopting various
responses(Taylor and Søndergaard, 2017) There are various ways and responses through which
Vodafone has ensured that it is following the CSR and its sustainability which are discussed
below:

 Focussing Upon the Customers: It is necessary for every company to have such
customers who are loyal to the company. For Vodafone also it is a basic
requirement and to gain the loyalty from its customers the focus of the Vodafone
must be upon providing the best service to its customers. The Vodafone is
ensuring that the personal data of its customers should remain safe and it should
not be misused for any illegal purpose without their authentication. By protecting
these data of the customers the Vodafone is ensuring the privacy of its customers.
It is a challenge for the Vodafone due to increase in the usage of social media to
protect the data of the customers and to ensure their privacy because nowadays
while registering on any social media the registration of the number is an
essential. Vodafone is taking various efficient measures to deal with this such as
disclosing the location and also by safeguarding the search warrant . It is the duty
of the Vodafone to focus upon its customers and Vodafone is fulfilling its duty in
the most possible manner but there can be certain situations where the personal
data of customers can be misused as cyber crimes are increasing. For this the
Vodafone is working continuously in order to make its software more secure.
(Guo, Rammal and Dowling, 2016).
 Going Greener: By following Corporate Social Responsibility Vodafone is
ensuring that it can remain in the market sustainably and also trying to protect the
environment by saving energy, trying to less pollute the environment and ensuring
that there will be less harm caused due to the radiations caused by its towers
installed at different places. The Vodafone is trying to reduce the usage of paper
in order to save trees and is doing majority of its work through online mode. Also
it uses the old handsets by recycling them to the possible extent. As this response
is making a significant impact but there are certain things which needs to be done
through paperwork only such as majority of work related to government offices.
Also after doing so much of efforts also the radiations caused by its towers are
affecting people which is leading in developing various disease among people.
 All in a good Cause: The Vodafone is doing the charity and welfare of the people
of society by many ways. This charity work which is done by the Vodafone
towards those people who are needy and are vulnerable. This social work is

ensuring that these needy people must live in a healthy environment by assuring
their safety. The employees of the Vodafone also tries to volunteer in order to
raise funds on the behalf of the company so that the collected money can be used
for the betterment of the needy people. This way is also amounting to very
impressive in the eyes of the general public which is leading in enhancing the
brand image of Vodafone but many a times the social work which Vodafone is
doing does not reach to the people who are really in need of it. This is because
there is existence of corruption at every level and people working in any
department are trying to fulfil their personal gains which is affecting the social
programmes introduced by Vodafone. (Huffington, Halton and Pooley, 2018).
 The Best People: Vodafone is Conducting various training programmes as well
as personality development seminars for their employees. These programmes are
also leading in improvement in the skills of the employees also it helps in
boosting the confidence. The employees are also encouraged to engage in the
decision making process of the organisation to create an employee friendly
environment in the company (Strydom and Rudansky-Kloppers, 2016). The
Vodafone also ensure that there must be not the communication gap between its
employees and the upper management. There are chances where the employees of
the company develops issues with the corporation or its management. These
issues can be either personal or professional which will affect the satisfaction of
employees with the company in a negative manner.
 Working With Suppliers: The Vodafone follows the Code of Ethical
Purchasing in order to set the good standards while purchasing material from the
suppliers which will ensure the safety of its stakeholders and the cases of fraud
can be avoided. To maintain the ethical standards of Vodafone it has up skilled its
supply chain by introducing various CR programmes. There can be a situation
when if only a single employee does not follow the ethics while discharging his
duties it will lead to loss for the image of the Vodafone.
 Employee Betterment: The Vodafone is ensuring that the health and safety of its
employees should be protected so that the workers can work in an efficient
manner which will help company in obtaining its goals. Vodafone is providing the

appraisals to its employees as per their performance which boosts their confidence
and motivates them to work more sincerely in future. The Vodafone is ensuring
that there must be a balance between the personal life of employees and working
hours by creating a flexible environment for work. As there can be a possibility
that the senior members of the company are not providing enough opportunities to
its employees. This will cause dissatisfaction in the minds of the employees and
they will get demotivated and their performance will deteriorate.
 Ethics & Compliances: As Vodafone is such a big company it follows all the
ethical standards which are need to be followed. It also follows all the existing
laws enforced in the country (Kasemsap, 2016). The Vodafone ensure that there
should not be any corruption in their company and all the employees working
here should follow ethics. It is giving an edge to Vodafone over its other
competitors. Chances are high that the people working in the Vodafone will
compromise with their ethical values in order to gain financial benefits through
any illegal activities. If this illegal act will be done by a single person on the
behalf of the company and it gets disclosed the brand image of the company will
get hampered.
 Minimising Unemployment: The Vodafone in UK is providing employment to
m,any people as per their skills and talent. By minimising the unemployment the
Vodafone is ensuring that it must act responsible towards the society. As due to
unrest in the economy there can be a situation that Vodafone has to lay off its
existing employees. In that case it will increase the unemployment in the country.
 Solve Customer Complaints: The Vodafone tries to solve the queries and
complaints of the customers in reasonable time. Many a times due to extra
pressure or more number of complaints the queries does not get resolved within a
reasonable time which will affect the Vodafone in losing trust of the services
provided by them in the eyes of its customers.
Areas where improvement is needed
 The Vodafone is trying to follow the Corporate Social Responsibility in order to
ensure that it is protecting the interests of all its shareholders and focussing upon
maintaining the high value of the customers so that the satisfaction of all its customers

can be maximized. The main aim behind following the CSR by Vodafone seriously is
that it will lead in the expansion of its business around the globe by providing different
types of data services to the customers and by this the sales of the company will be
enhanced. The Vodafone is also providing employment to the various people in UK,
Supporting the GDP of UK, introducing various types of innovations so that accessing
internet becomes easy for the customers etc. All these things are contributing in the
economic development of the United Kingdom (Phillips and Moutinho, 2018). As the
Vodafone is helping in the development of the society which is the reason of getting
certain benefits from the side of government also. After doing all these measures by the
company which are helpful for the growth of the economy of UK there are certain
improvements needed in some areas which will be beneficial by acting more accountable
towards the stakeholders and customers of the Vodafone:
 As there is unrest in the economy in the last few years around the globe, the Vodafone
should frame their internal policies in such a way so that the effects of this unrest in the
economy upon the Vodafone can be minimised. (Krpalek, Krpalkova Krelova and
Berkova, 2018).
 Ethics are the basics which every company should need to follow to get a better brand
image. The Vodafone should keep some Checks & Balances upon its employees that
while discharging their duties, the employees are following the ethical principles. Also
the Vodafone must impose certain penalty upon those employees who are not following
the ethical code of conduct. These penalties will act as deterrence in nature for other
employees also.
 There is a need to keep an eye upon the pressure on employees which is there due to so
much of competition in the market. This can be monitored by enhancing and improving
the employer employee relations. Also it will help in creating a positive environment for
employees which will lead in increasing the efficiency of the workers and motivates them
to work in a more productive manner.
 As it a fact that mobile towers which are installed for the purpose of providing better
networks release radiations which are harmful for health. So it should be avoided to
install these towers in the such a locality which is populous in nature. It will lead in the
the better implementation of CSR by the company.

CONCLUSION
By doing the above research it can be concluded that by doing the PESTLE analysis the
impact of the external factors upon the company are being identified. It will help the company in
determining that how these external factors will positively affect the growth of the company and
how negative impacts be reduced. The Vodafone is required to follow certain policies in order to
ensure that they can service in the market for the longer term and gets an edge upon its other
competitor. Vodafone is showing its CSR in an effective manner by following various ethical
and legal compliances but certain improvements are needed which are suggested in the above
report. Following CSR and doing business in the sustainable nature is creating more trust in the
minds of customers through which the brand image of the Vodafone is enhancing.

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