Ethical Communication for Business: Overview of Telstra Corporation Limited

This report discusses various aspects concerning Telstra Corporation Limited, paying attention to an overview of the company, industry overview, organization overview, organization performance, communication strategy, and public perception.

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Ethical communication for business
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Executive summary
With the digital revolution, most people have found communication as one of the
essential things that help them to stay connected with their colleagues irrespective of their
geographical locations. This factor has made many people to adopt various mean of
communications such as the use of internet, cell phones among others to link with their friends.
Telstra is one of the biggest telecommunication companies, offering various products and
services that provides best communication solutions to the consumers. Irrespective of stiff
competition in the industry, this company ensures it uses various strategies to win customer
loyalty. Because its management values communication with its stakeholders, it uses various
channels such as social media, SMS, TVs and billboards to ensure important information is
passed to the consumer. In terms of market share, Telstra leads with around 38 percent, although
the figure keeps fluctuating due to various factors. Though the company has been praised for
various factors such as outstanding customer services, and wide range of products and services, it
has also been on news headlines for various reasons such as scam calls. Irrespective of being one
of the strong firms in the industry, people have varying perceptions towards the company, with
some feeling that it uses effective strategies to communicate with the public while others feeling
that it ignores some of the essential things that affect the consumers. This report will discuss the
overview of this company, its industry, performance, communication strategy, and public
perception.
Contents

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Introduction..........................................................................................................................4
Organization overview.........................................................................................................4
Industry overview................................................................................................................4
Organization performance...................................................................................................5
Communication strategy......................................................................................................6
Public perception.................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................7
References............................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Over the years, Telstra Corporation limited has been termed as one of the largest
companies in the telecommunication sector due to various reasons such as its substantial market
share (Orgierd 2018, p. 28). This report discusses various aspects concerning this company,
paying attention to an overview of the company, industry overview, organization overview,
organization performance, communication strategy, and public perception.
The paper will be done based on an extensive research which will be mostly based on
primary and secondary sources. The research will also explore various other factors especially
those relating to the manner in which the company relate and communicate with the public, its
market share and financial performance.
Although the study will be used for academic purpose, it can be fundamental to not only
the company but also to its stakeholders because it will provide a good insight concerning some
of the essential things associated with the firm. To give a clear understanding of every aspect, the
paper will be arranged in topics and subheadings and will provide a list of references to assist in
further research. The limitation of the study, in this case, will be lack of essential data collection
techniques. Although the research is done using primary and secondary sources, it would be
crucial to use various data collection methods such as interviewing employees to get a proper
insight of the company.
Organization overview
Telstra is one of the leading providers of mobile phones, home phones, broadband
internet, mobile devices, and other products and services. Currently, the company is fully
privatized and has been undergoing various transformations using a change program which aims

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at making its operations to be customer focused (Camelia, 2017, p. 46). Due to the nature of
competition which exists in the industry in the Australian telecommunication industry, Telstra
has been applying various operational strategies to ensure it attains a competitive advantage.
These strategies include viewing customers as important assets, doing extensive research to
understand changes in customer buying behaviour, analyzing market trends, and investing in
technology and innovation.
In its operations, the company views technology as one of the key factors that enable
people to remain connected and therefore strives to ensure it adjusts its operation to every change
which happens in the industry. The primary thing that the company does is offering
communication solutions to Australians by offering various services and products (Den & Siane
2011, p. 69). Some of the products and services that are currently in its line of products include
building and operating telecommunication networks and markets voice, internet access, mobile,
pay televisions among other products. Based on its goals and objectives, Telstra focuses on
continuing to innovate new products and services that will make the customer to attain the best
experience.
Industry overview
According to Cosmin (2011, p. 68), Telstra Corporation operates in the
telecommunication industry in Australia. Although the company is one of the leading in terms of
market share and other aspects that determine the competitive power of an organization, there are
other firms that have been challenging this company on its attempts to expand or retain its
market share. Some of these companies include Optus, Vodafone, Nortel inversora SA, among
others.

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According to Hyma (2013, p. 269), the Australian telecommunication industry has been
influenced by various factors such as continuous changes in technology, the introduction of new
legal requirements and changes in consumer perception. To address these changes, Telstra has
been using various strategies such as having proper change management strategies, encouraging
continuous innovation, setting rules and regulations that correspond to the legal requirements and
so forth.
Buddhodev (2012, p. 78) affirms that the telecommunication industry is considered as the
heart of advancing the digital importance for Australia and therefore every company that
operates in this industry strives to ensure it does its best to make the consumer get the best
experience. Established in 1993, the Australian telecommunication industry has grown in both
jurisdiction and importance and has become a major contributor to enhancing the economy of
this country.
As of 2018, this industry provided a revenue of about 52 billion dollars and is expected to
grow at a stronger rate in 2017. According to Taylor & Schejter (2013, p. 78), the market
incumbent Telstra has been dominating the local telecommunication landscape with more than
50 percent market share, although this percentage has been declining as time goes on.
Irrespective of the available competition, the Australian telecommunication industry is
expected to continue growing especially because of the huge adaptation of digitized
communication techniques by a substantial number of consumers (Vitthal 2013, p. 547). To
accommodate the growing demand and adaptation of this technology, most of the companies that
operate in this industry have been using various strategies such as trying to expand their services

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to different locations and undertaking research from time to time to understand the changes in
consumer perception towards the products.
While the fixed-line telephony traffic and revenue indicates a major decline, the mobile
broadband market has been growing steadily, indicating that in future it will be a major source of
revenue for most of the companies that operate in this industry. Although currently there seem to
be companies that have dominated this industry by market share, the threat of new entrants is
high because as people continue to value being connected with their colleagues through
telecommunication, investors are finding this industry as ideal for investing and therefore seems
in the future more companies with emerging to strengthen the competition.
Organization performance
Though competition has been strong in this industry, Telstra has been performing well
because of its outstanding operational strategies. Comparing with its key competitors, the
company leads in terms of revenue, market share, and customer loyalty among others (Seema &
Deepa 2016, p. 427). According to statics concerning market share dominance in this industry,
Telstra leads with around 43 percent, Optus 28 percent, Vodafone 18 percent, while the other
players share around 11 percent.
Comparing Telstra with other organizations, one can state that this company has a
substantial number of customers because of various reasons such as better customer service,
highly innovative products, reliable services, better marketing strategies among others (Forman,
2013, p. 78). Although the company faces a major threat from Optus, research indicates that the
company is working hard to ensure that it retains its competitive advantage through enhancing
customer experience and delivering products that fully satisfy the needs of its customers. The

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company views its customers as crucial assets and the reason why the company has been in
operation and therefore strives to ensure they feel highly valued.
In terms of financial performance, the company had a profit of more than 29 million
dollars in 2018, a figure which indicated a decrease as compared to 2017. According to Forman
(2013, p. 56), one of the reasons that have contributed to decrease in Telstra’s revenue is strict
competition from Optus which has seen the company to lose some of the market share and other
factors such as the spam calls which scammers use in the name of Telstar officials to con its
customers.
The ownership of this company has been changing over time. Initially, Telstra was
owned by the government, which later sold some of the shares to the public (Rahul 2018, p. 67).
With time, much has been done to make the company fully privatized. The company is located in
Australia, with its headquarters in Melbourne although it has various other branches in the
country.
Communication strategy
Being a telecommunication company, Telstra has found it easy to communicate with its
stakeholders concerning some of the key things that are crucial in its operations. According to
Cosmin (2013, p. 48), one of the reasons that have made this company to stand out in the
Australian telecommunication industry is that it values being connected with its stakeholders
through creating a channel that makes its management to share important things with customers,
shareholders and other stakeholders.
One of the strategies which the company use for its external communications it’s the use
of SMSs. Considering the fact that this company offers communication solutions to its

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stakeholders, it also uses some of the services it offers to market its products (Cheney., May &
Munshi 2011, p. 46). For example, it uses SMS to advertise new products or other things that it
finds important for the customers to know.
To cover a wider audience and especially consumers who not have its products or
services, Telstra uses various other types of media such as TVs, and radios. The company also
understands that social media has become one of the widely used communication tools and
therefore uses some of its platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to communicate
with its stakeholders (Joana 2010, p. 648) Additionally, Telstra also employs the use of
billboards located in strategic places where the public can view the information being delivered.
With the new tricks which scammers use to cone people while posing as Telstra staff
members, the company used various means to alert the public about the trick. Some of these
strategies included writing short messages to its customers informing them to be careful
concerning missed calls or the phone calls they receive from new numbers. The management
also used the media to communicate to the public concerning the issue because it felt that it
would have a significant impact of its reputation if it was not addressed.
Public perception
Although Telstra is termed as the strongest company in the Australians
telecommunication industry, the public has been having varying perceptions towards various
things associated with the company (Kihyun 2016, p. 69). For example, some feel that its way of
communicating with the customers concerning some of the things that affect not only the
organization but also the consumers is good because the management keeps informing them
about some of the key things that influence its services and products.

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There are also those who feel that irrespective of having various strategies which it can
use to communicate with the public, Telstra ignores some of the things that impact the
consumers (Marianne 2015, p. 52). For example, when the call scam emerged, the company was
aware of the issue but took long to communicate to the public concerning the issue. Some of the
people also feel that irrespective of Telstra being aware of this issue, it has done nothing
important to have it addressed.
Other people have positive perception towards Telstra’s different means of
communicating with its consumers because they feel that the varying options enable people with
various means of attaining information to get what the company communicates to the public.
According to Orgierd (2018, p. 28), having varying means of discharging information is crucial
in because it makes the information to reach as many people as possible.
Conclusion
Telstra is one of the biggest telecommunication company in Australian. The company has
a market share of approximately 38 percent and competes with various other firms including
Optus, Vodafone, and Nortel inversora SA. Although the telecommunication industry in this
country has been affected by stiff competition, Telstra has been using various strategies such as
investing in technology an innovation to ensure it maintains its competitive power.
The Australian telecommunication industry has been influenced by various things such as
changes in technology, changes in legal requirement, variation in customer perceptions among
others. Although competition has been stiff in this industry, Telstra has been performing well
over the years due to increased customer loyalty, proper operational and marketing strategies
among others.

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To communicate with customers, Telstra uses various means such as sending SMS, use
of social media, billboards among others. Irrespective of being the leader in this industry, people
have varying perceptions concerning this company. For example, there are those who feel that it
values communicating essential things to the consumers while others feel that it ignores some of
the things that affect not only the company but also its stakeholders. Apart from communication,
most of the people have a positive perception towards the products and services offered by this
company because they feel it considers giving them communication solutions that match their
needs and expectations.

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References
Buddhodev, S. A. (2012). Business Communication: The Mainstay of an Efficient Business.
IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 6(1), 76-98.
Camelia, B. (2017). Business Communication in the Internet Age. Economics, management and
financial markets, 12(2), 43-65.
Cheney, H., May, S & Munshi, D. (2011). The Handbook of Communication Ethics. New York:
Routledge.
Cosmin, I. (2013). Effective Communication - an Essential Step towards Public Success.
Journal of Media Research, 6(1), 43-79.
Den, R. B & Siane, B (2011). Agency and the Deunionisation of Managers in an Australian
Telecommunications Company. Journal of Management and Organization, 17(2), 68-86.
Forman, J. (2013). Storytelling in Business: The Authentic and Fluent Organization. Stanford,
CA: Stanford University Press
Hyma, C. (2013). Creating Radical Honesty in Organizations. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 7(2),
265-286.
Joana, W. (2010). Influence of Superior-Subordinate Communication on Employee Satisfaction.
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Kihyun, L. (2016). Ethical Leadership and Followers' Taking Charge: Trust in, and
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journal, 44(11), 68-70.

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