Comprehensive Marketing Strategy Report: Vodafone Plc Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of Vodafone's marketing strategy, encompassing both external and internal factors. It begins with an executive summary and an introduction outlining the importance of a robust marketing plan for organizational success. The report then delves into external analysis using PESTEL, Porter's Five Forces, and SWOT analysis to assess the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors influencing Vodafone, as well as the competitive landscape. Internal analysis examines Vodafone's strategic capabilities, resources, and core competencies. The report further explores Vodafone's strategic choices, specifically focusing on market development strategies using Ansoff's matrix, and evaluates these choices based on their consistency with organizational goals and feasibility. It also discusses the strategic evaluation process, including the assessment of operating results and the importance of adapting to market changes, concluding with a review of Vodafone's performance and strategic initiatives, such as the launch of innovative service plans like the Vodafone Red plan.

Marketing Strategy
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A marketing plan is a blue print of company's all the marketing and advertising planning for
the success aNd growth of organisation . It deals with identification and analytical review of all the
factors of the market. Vodafone being second largest telecommunication company in terms of
number of network communication. Vodafone is UK based company with headquarters in London.
Vodafone offers variety of telecommunication and data packages to its customers. To comment on
the environmental audit of the organisation various strategic planning tools are deployed to get the
more technical idea of external factors influencing the company. Pestle's model, SWOT analysis
and Porter's five forces model is applied to get the clear picture of external factors and their impact.
Internal factors are analysed on basis of their applications of resources and their competency.
Strategic choices are based on various amalgamations, mergers and partnerships across the globe .
Various strategies should be examined and evaluated on different parameters and then adopted.
Furthermore this report focus on Market Differentiation policy adopted by Vodafone Plc.
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Table of Contents
Executive summary .............................................................................................................................2
1. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................4
2. External Analysis..............................................................................................................................4
PESTEL Analysis:............................................................................................................................4
Porter's Five Forces..........................................................................................................................6
3 Internal Analysis:...............................................................................................................................7
4. Strategic Choice................................................................................................................................8
5 Strategic Evaluation and selection ..............................................................................................8
6. Conclusion......................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................11
Appendices:ansoff matrix..................................................................................................................12
Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Source:Use the PEST Analysis tool to identify and manage external influences, 2016.
..............................................................................................................................................................5
Illustration 2: Source:Porter's Model of Industry Rivalry (Five Forces), 2015....................................6
Illustration 3: Source:Ansoff Matrix, 2015........................................................................................12
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1. INTRODUCTION
A good marketing strategy should integrate all the marketing goals and focus on
accomplishment of organisational goals. Environmental audit of an organisation is necessary to
evaluate the internal and external factors and their impact on profitability and shareholders wealth.
External factors are evaluated through various techniques and internal through resource analysis.
Vodafone being one of the telecommunication giant is a perfect example to study marketing strategy
and its implications. Strategic choices and evaluation of strategic alternatives and therefore selecting
the best is very crucial part for overall growth and development of the organisation.
2. EXTERNAL ANALYSIS
External analysis refer to study and process of gathering and examining
g the external factors of the organisation and their impact and influence on the organisational
functions. Analysing the positive and negative trends and the challenges posed by them.
Environmental Audit refers to critically evaluating various external factors and their impact on
organisation(Hill, Jones, and Schilling, 2014). Vodafone being leading telecommunication company
of the world faces many challenges and is influenced by various external factors which can be
analysed by moulding them into various models which are as follows:
PESTEL Analysis:
Pestle analysis of Vodafone is conducted to gain a proper knowledge and understanding and
auditing of various environmental external factors and their impact on organisation.
 Political Factors: 70% decrease in roaming charges within European Union has laid great
impact on Vodafone as the Roaming regulations aims to reduce the charges for roaming
networks operating in countries of European Union however Brexit will free the UK to
renegotiate on all such terms and therefore Vodafone will form the strategies accordingly.
 Economical Factors: In early period of 2012 UK was gradually recovering from Financial
crisis and government played major role however public borrowings were controlled
therefore purchasing power of customers reduced to nullify the effect of excessive debt by
banks. And then later in 2012 UK held Olympics which paved the way for
telecommunication, tourism and growth in economy which benefited
Vodafone as well.
 Social Factors: Changes in preferences of customers to work from home, mobile computing
and Bring your own devise further proved to be an incarnation to Vodafone as more services of
Broadband internet, mobile phones etc. were demanded and Vodafone being second largest in the
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world was most befitted.
 Technological Factors: Invention of handsets and frequent usage of internet reduced the
demand for fixed-line telephone lines in UK and demand for Mobile telephones, broadband
internet arose and usage of yahoo, google etc. Vodafone took the competitive advantage and
offered innovative packages of bundles services comprising of voice calls and internet
connection.
 Environmental changes: Growing use of internet for video and high volume applications
attracted the Vodafone executives to take the growth opportunity and offer services to
customers.
 Legal Factors: Significant changes in UK telecommunication environment and privatisation
by opening markets globally to invite competitors across the globe affected Vodafone.
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Illustration 1: Source:Use the PEST Analysis tool to
identify and manage external influences, 2016.

Porter's Five Forces
This is framework to analyse the level of competition and developing business strategies to
cope up with the five forces present in the market (E. Dobbs, 2014).
 Buyer Power: There is cut throat competition in telecommunication industry therefore
customer or buyers rule the market and reduces the prices however with effective quality of
services Vodafone can make reasonable profits and continue to have greater market share as
compared to competitors.
 Supplier Power: Since Vodafone operates with higher margin as compared to its
competitors such as O2 and BT and therefore suppliers have high bargaining power.
However since it is leading company it can easily absorb high prices from supplier but
Vodafone can easily maintain prices and have competitive advantage over others.
 Threat of Substitutes: Vodafone faces a considerable threat as telecommunication is an
industry which involve great changes and movement toward more usage of internet and high
application based programs Vodafone needs to form secretaries to overcome the threat.
 Threat from new threats: Telecommunication is highly regulated environment and huge
cost is obtaining licenses and infrastructure and spectrum availability therefore Vodafone
can cope up with this by providing excellent services.
 Industry rivalry: Since Virgin mobile, O2 and BT being major competitors provide low
call rates and cheap data packages and also innovative packages therefore Vodafone needs to
lower its profit margin and and provide services at lower rates to customers. Swot Analysis
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Illustration 2: Source:Porter's Model of Industry Rivalry (Five Forces), 2015.

Swot analysis is a structured matrix to consider the strength, weakness . Threats and
opportunities of an organisation for business growth and development(Das, 2015).
Strentghs
 Gloablly renowned brand name
 Leading mobile company in UK
 Great geographical exposure
Weaknesses
 Mainly concentarted in UK and Europe
 Lack of rural network
 Weak in fixed area networ
Opportunities
 Customer demand new technology
 Mergers and tie up with other comapnies
 Introduction of 4G technology
Threats
 Customer shifting rates
 New competitors
3 INTERNAL ANALYSIS:
Internal analysis is a framework to identify and evaluating the organisations specific and
particular characteristics which includes strategic capabilities, resources associated and core
competencies(David and David, 2016). Long term survival and competitive advantage of Vodafone
based on its resources and their competency to perform. Vodafone currently ha huge markets in UK,
Egypt, India ,US, Turkey in addition to Italy and Spain. To enjoy the m,market leadership Vodafone
has always focussed on introducing new technologies, maintaining customer relationships,
continuous updation of services etc. Major components of Strategic Capabilities are as follows:
 Physical Component : Physical resources of Vodafone gives it a competitive edge and
positive part is that Vodafone's strategy of optimum utilisation of resources such as
Machines, data bases, computer systems, buildings , Products and intangibles such as
patents registered. Vodafone achieve level of competencies of these resources by efficiency,
productivity marketing and flexibility.
 Financial Component : Resources such as financial Statement is front of the company
basis of which investment are attracted towards the company and ability to raise funds
through loans, debts. Financial Resources are Cash Flow Statements, Balance sheet and
Profit and Loss account.
 Human Component : Human Component is most crucial organ of entity and lays a great
impact on success of Vodafone. Customers, suppliers managers and employees of the
organisation constitute human resources and success depends on how well the professional
competemnce3 of managers is utilised , knowledge and skills of employees are great
milestone for growth of Vodafone. Human intervention helps in integration and maintaining
customer and supplier relationships.
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4. STRATEGIC CHOICE
Strategic choice is strategic tool to identify and analyse the alternative choices present for
growth and development of organisations and selecting the best one amongst them(Boons and
Lüdeke-Freund, 2013). Vodafone has strictly followed the Market Development strategy of Ansoff's
matrix and explored and entered approx 26 countries of the world and generating new markets for
the products and services . Ansoff's market development starlet deals with launching existing
products into new market in overseas countries. Vodafone being leading telecommunication is
having networks in more than 26 countries of the world and partner networks in over 50networks in
addition to UK. Vodafone made choice of demerger from |Racal Electronics the parent company and
started as Vodafone. Long back in 1999, Vodafone acquired the leading German mobile network Air
Touch Communications, Inc. and converted its name to Vodafone Air touch Plc. However Vodafone
strategic choice also involved divesting in the 'Orange' the leading UK Brand and ale off all the
operations as it was more beneficial to dispose off . Moving towards US Vodafone entered into
joint venture with Verizon Communications to hold Verizon wireless. Vodafone explore whole of
Asia Pacific by entering into many alliances and making strategic choices with companies from
Australia, India, China, Taiwan, Afghanistan and many more. Vodafone had remarkable
partnerships in Europe with Italy, Ice land turkey etc. Vodafone has separate division Vodafone
Global Enterprise to provide services to Corporate clients exclusively to meet their needs of high
speed and cloud computing. It includes major customer such as Volkswagen Group, Unilever
group, Deutsch e Group and many more clients. Vodafone always looks for opportunities and
choices to explore new markets and sharing profits with other local companies to gain market share
and competitive advantage. Decision of Investment and disinvestment should be based on market
study and comparative analysis of the market in reference to competitors to acquire the local market
and higher profitability by erasing other competitors(Nair, Jayaram, and Das, 2015).
5 STRATEGIC EVALUATION AND SELECTION
Strategic evaluation is a process of examining the effectiveness and efficiency of the strategy
to critically evaluate before the implementation for better and optimal results. Any strategy should
be evaluated on the grounds of consistency of strategy should be towards accomplishment of overall
organisational goals and objectives and every strategy should have its focus on target. Strategy must
include both internal and external factors and their impacts should be given equal importance to
represent adaptive responses and wider approachability and acceptance(Vollert, 2012). Any strategy
shortlisted should be critically examined through feasibility test to check if the strategy can be
applied with the available resources of physical, human and financial or rather extra resources are to
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be applied. Competitive advantage is a must that should be in conformity with the strategy to
maintain profitability levels.
Operating Results of Vodafone Group and Vodafone UK
Despite the fact that newly emerging markets of India and Africa were emerging and growing
overall growth in revenue was low limited to 1%-2% annually. However cash flows increased
remarkably but overall profitability decreased because of substantial write downs in acquisitions
undertaken in Europe. Vodafone added new base stations to improve capacity and customer
satisfaction by providing competent quality of service and high speed of data flows. Vodafone lost
leadership in UK to merger of Orange and T mobile . Vodafone is known for its innovation it was
first to launch 3G networks however lacked on 4G networks.
Vodafone has strategic evaluation consisting of fixation of benchmarks for the performance
of all the qualitative and quantitative advantage of the strategy to be undertaken and analysing the
variance if any with the expected outcomes and taking corrective actions to bring the strategy on the
right path and make it perform on the same streamlined process as adopted. Vodafone group Plc in
their annual report exclaimed that investment in technology is going to provide the advantage of
product differentiation to their customer s and also addition to competitive value. Vodafone red plan
was launched which included generous amount of mobile data and unlimited SMS and voice calls
across Europe in addition to selected areas of Non European countries. However Brexit laid major
impact on Vodafone as many renegotiations and contacts need to be entered with the countries with
European countries and rest of the world. Vodafone strategic focus on wireless communication
across the globe and bringing the world together and integrating the countries. Vodafone offers
excellent network connection and customer satisfaction is high. Vodafone focusses on retention of
customers and innovation of new packages for customers and highly reliable network and
communication channels. Strategy should be adopted keeping in mind the organisational structure
and suitability of strategy into the business for effective management(Gerdsri, 2016).
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6. CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report it can be concluded that environmental audit is conducted
to obtain proper knowledge and understanding the impact of external and internal environmental
factors on the organisation. External factors are analysed with the help of Pestle, Porter's five forces
model and SWOT analysis of the organisation. Internal analysis of entity is concluded on basis of
resources utilised and their competency to achieve profitability. Strategic evaluation and selection of
best strategy plays a vital role in success and growth of organisation. Vodafone focus on customer
satisfaction and innovation and better communication and network packages to gain competitive
advantage.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Boons, F., & Lüdeke-Freund, F. (2013). Business models for sustainable innovation: state-of-the-art
and steps towards a research agenda. Journal of Cleaner Production. 45. pp.9-19.
Das, T. K. (2015). Facing and Making the Future: Organizational Foresight and Strategic Choices.
In Academy of Management Proceedings . 2015(1) p. 14147. Academy of Management.
David, F., & David, F. R. (2016). Strategic Management: A Competitive Advantage Approach.
Concepts and Cases.
E. Dobbs, M. (2014). Guidelines for applying Porter's five forces framework: a set of industry
analysis templates. Competitiveness Review. 24(1). pp.32-45.
Gerdsri, N. (2016). Strategic planning: A quantitative model for the strategic evaluation of
emerging technologies. In Hierarchical Decision Modeling. (pp.97-119). Springer
International Publishing.
Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an integrated
approach. Cengage Learning.
Nair, A., Jayaram, J., & Das, A. (2015). Strategic purchasing participation, supplier selection,
supplier evaluation and purchasing performance. International Journal of Production
Research. 53(20). pp.6263-6278.
Vollert, A. (2012). A stochastic control framework for real options in strategic evaluation. Springer
Science & Business Media.
Online
Ansoff Matrix. (2015). [Online]. Avaliable
through:<http://www.tutor2u.net/business/reference/ansoffs-matrix>. [Accessed on 10h
December 2016]
Porter's Model of Industry Rivalry (Five Forces). (2015). [Online]. Available
through:<http://www.tutor2u.net/business/reference/porters-model-of-industry-rivalry-five-
forces>. [Accessed on 10h December 2016].
Use the PEST Analysis tool to identify and manage external influences. (2016).[online]. Available
through:<http://www.kgmoore.co.uk/use-the-pest-analysis-tool-to-identify-and-manage-
external-influences/>. [Accessed on 10h December 2016].
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APPENDICES:ANSOFF MATRIX
Ansoff's Matrix : Ansoff matrix is a strategic financial tool which helps senior managers and
executives to derive best policies and strategies for future growth and development. By applying
Ansoff matrix on operations of Vodafone it can be viewed in detail on basis of various strategies:
 Market Penetration: Market penetration refers to the strategy of penetrating into the
existing markets and products already into the market. Vodafone entered the fixed line and
broadband connection markets when it was already established market with competitors.
 Market Development: It is the strategy wherein existing products are launched in new
markets . Vodafone has best followed this strategy by making remarkable strategic choices
through amalgamations, partnering and joint ventures and exploring the whole world
covering entire Europe, Asia, US in addition to Middle East.
 Product Development : It is the strategy to introduce new product into existing market.
Vodafone is known for offering new products . 3G networks was launched by Vodafone and was a
great leap in the history of internet.
 Diversification: Diversification refers to taking huge risks and introducing new products
into new markets. Exploring the world by introducing services never launched before.
Outsourcing and opening the new outlets in different countries never entered is an example
of Diversification.
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