Etisalat's Sustainable Business Strategies

This assignment examines Etisalat's business strategies, focusing on its successful implementation of a plan despite common pitfalls in strategic management. It analyzes the company's approach to understanding its work environment, communication strategies, and feedback mechanisms. The document explores reasons why strategies fail, highlighting the importance of clear communication, regular monitoring, and adapting to changing circumstances. It draws upon academic research and real-world examples to provide a comprehensive assessment of Etisalat's strategic performance.

Running head: SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTOCES AND STRATEGIES
Sustainable Business Practices and Strategies
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTOCES AND STRATEGIES 1
Table of Contents
Answer to Question: 1.....................................................................................................................2
Answer to Question: 2.....................................................................................................................3
Answer to Question: 3.....................................................................................................................4

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTOCES AND STRATEGIES 2
Answer to Question: 1
Etisalat can be considered among one of the world’s leading telecommunication service
providing organisations operating in the emerging markets. It has been observed that the present
market capitalisation value of the company is more than AED 156 billion which is equivalent to
42.5 billion USD. As per the strategic report of the Etisalat the net revenue and net profit for the
year 2016 are AED 52.4 billion and AED 8.4 billion respectively (Lasserre, 2017). Presently
Etisalat has marked its presence among the most profitable telecommunications groups in the
world. The organisation was found nearly four decades ago in UAE and presently is
headquartered in Abu Dhabi. Researchers have argued that this massive success of Etisalat is
mainly supported by its successful implementation of its strategic framework. As it has been
observed in the strategic report of Etisalat, the key strategies which have been enacted in place
by the organisation to achieve the success can be enlightened. The first and foremost strategy of
the company is to operate efficiently and consistently through the portfolio while considering a
common set of processes and systems that enables Etisalat to exploit the opportunity of
economies of scale by creating value (ElKhouly et al., 2014).
Now operational excellence is another key strategy which has always been used by
Etisalat. Simplicity, effectiveness, agility and harnessing the technological power in almost all
the operational levels of the organisation and considering each of the departments as a part of the
digital transformation of the organisation.
Serving the customers with effectiveness and consistency with the help of high brand
values which is mainly developed by analysing the customer needs and understandings is another
strategic pillar of Etisalat Group (Kolawole & Agha, 2015).

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTOCES AND STRATEGIES 3
As a key to the current strategic framework Etisalat provides simple, differentiated and
modular products to the customers that enable further growth of the present broadband network
with the help of the future networks.
These are the key strategic framework which has been implemented by Etisalat and it has
helped the organisation to achieve extensive organisational growth and success in the
telecommunication industry. In addition to these the organisation has also redesigned a few of its
existing strategies for ensuring success in the competitive market. Presently Etisalat is providing
differentiated and innovative services to its customers on the basis of the dynamics of each of the
market in which it is operating. Moreover, Etisalat group is also working constantly on the
propositions of customer-insight based service offerings. Developing a broader understanding
about the consumers and ensuring to possess a positive relationship with them actually acts as a
competitive advantage of Etisalat Group the superior network services and the use of advanced
technologies also allows Etisalat to mitigate the expectations of the customers and thereby
ensuring that consumers are able to obtain their perceived value of a particular product.
Henceforth, on a summarising note it can be stated that Etisalat has designed and
implemented a significantly designed strategic framework which has helped the company to
achieve its current position. Strategic design and successful implementation of the strategic
framework hence plays a crucial role in ensuring successful and profitable operability of any
organisation.
Answer to Question: 2
As per the Forbes Business Blog, 2011 there are 10 major reasons because of which the
business strategies may fail. In this section it will be discussed how the strategic framework of

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTOCES AND STRATEGIES 4
Etisalat has enabled it avoid the key issues that would have caused strategic failure. The first and
foremost criterion in this case is the focused and effective strategic design implemented by
Etisalat. The company has first set up its mission and vision in a clear and concise manner
afterwards it has planned its strategic framework in such a way that it helps in achieving those
organisational objectives (Brown, 2014). Hence it can be stated that the strategic plan of Etisalat
Group is not designed only for the sake of strategic plan. Etisalat has properly researched its
customers and markets before setting up its strategic plan. It has also ensured that the strategic
plan is well aligned with the mission and vision of the organisation.
Another pitfall as mentioned by the contributor is about not understanding the work
environment. In the context of Etisalat the team of expert planned the strategic framework while
working as a team (Frost, 2014). A perfect top down communication plan has also been
implemented so as to ensure that employees of all the stature are well aware about the
organisational strategies. This was done to motivate the employees to work together as a team for
achieving the organisational objectives.
Answer to Question: 3
There are some other reasons apart from the Forbes list as well for which a strategy or
strategic plan may fail. These reasons can be elaborated as follows,
Lack of communication
As opined by Makovhololo et al., (2017), in most of the cases the strategic plans are not
properly communicated or cascaded down to the various departments within an organisation. For
instance in certain cases the top management of an organisation believes that communicating
their strategic plan widely may reveal valuable information of the company to its rivals and the

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTOCES AND STRATEGIES 5
key advantage of developing will be lost. Here lies the key reason for the failure of the strategic
plan, this is because without communicating the plan to the employees of all stature in an
appropriate manner the organisation cannot implement the plan effectively and efficiently
(Wilensky, 2015).
Establishing effective feedback response and monitoring the plan
According to Reason (2016), all plans must possess certain milestones and should
undergo regular reviews. It is quite evident that without effective feedback mechanism most of
the strategic plans diverge from its desired path. At that point of time the organisations are
needed to enact another plan for ushering the previous plan in the right direction which in turn
increases the overall cost for the organisation. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a regular
feedback mechanism and monitoring activities to ensure that the strategic plan is moving in the
appropriate direction. This also makes the process cost effective as well.

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTOCES AND STRATEGIES 6
References
Brown, A. (2014). Organisational paradigms and sustainability in excellence: from mechanistic
approaches to learning and innovation. International Journal of Quality and Service
Sciences, 6(2/3), 181-190.
ElKhouly, S. E., Mahmoud, M., ElDin, S., Misr, E., Hosny, H. F., & ElSawaf, A. L. (2014).
What Are the Essential Competencies of a Strategic Leader to Lead the Change within a
Telecommunication Mobile Operator in Egypt?. In Competition Forum (Vol. 12, No. 1,
p. 161). American Society for Competitiveness.
Frost, A. (2014). A synthesis of knowledge management failure factors. Recuperado el, 22.
Kolawole, I. O., & Agha, E. A. (2015). Achieving organizational performance through business
process outsourcing. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 11(4).
Lasserre, P. (2017). Global strategic management. Palgrave.
Makovhololo, P., Batyashe, N., Sekgweleo, T., & Iyamu, T. (2017). Diffusion of innovation
theory for information technology decision making in organisational strategy. Journal of
Contemporary Management, 14(1), 461-481.
Reason, J. (2016). Managing the risks of organizational accidents. Routledge.
Wilensky, H. L. (2015). Organizational intelligence: Knowledge and policy in government and
industry (Vol. 19). Quid Pro Books.