Vodafone's Strategy Implementation: An In-depth Big Data Case Study

This case study provides an analytical overview of Vodafone's strategy implementation, focusing on the adoption of big data within the organization. It identifies major strategies, evaluates their implementation based on capabilities, systems, leadership, people culture, and change management, and discusses the success and key issues encountered during implementation. The study highlights Vodafone's strengths in managing diversity and inclusion, as well as its challenges in timely decision-making and agile big data analytics. The conclusion suggests that while Vodafone demonstrates effectiveness in service provision, its slow implementation process could be a disadvantage. Recommendations include working on smaller data sets, understanding the actuality of big data, using agile analytics, establishing effective communication, and identifying appropriate resources and skills. The case study references various academic sources to support its analysis and recommendations.

An Analytical Study of Strategy
Implementation in Vodafone

A brief background of Vodafone
 A telecom service provider
 Provides calling and internet service to Australian customers
 One of the largest service telecom service providers in Australia
 Few of biggest achievements came in the form of mergers with Hutchison 3G Australia and
TPG Telecom
(Vodafone Australia, 2018)

A study background
 Strategy implementation can be a long-term process depending on the strategies being
picked up
 Generally, a strategy implementation finds mixed response of stakeholders and
shareholders
 It is, therefore, important to effectively communicate and follow useful tactics to control
the resistance and promote the implementation
 The presentation talks about the implementation of Big Data in Vodafone
(Hullavarad, O’Hare & Roy, 2015)

Identify the major strategies
 Management teams at
Vodafone understands
the implementation
challenges
 Big data must be used in
meaningful ways
 Predictive analytics is
important during the
implementation process
(Sivarajah et al., 2017)

Evaluate the implementation of the
strategies
Capabilities:
 According to resource based theory, firm’s strategic capability can be defined as its ability to link its
tangible and intangible resources with the internal and external environment
 Physical resources are of least concern to Vodafone
 People-dependent and people-independent is a critical part of Vodafone
 Vodafone manages its technology capability by recruiting fresh and skilled professionals
(Hitt, Carnes & Xu, 2016)

Evaluate the implementation of the
strategies continued…
Systems:
 Contemporary managers have
now added responsibilities
 Their responsibilities are not
just limited to one department
but rather to a multiple
departments
 Vodafone has the
management team, which
clearly understands their area
of work
(Teece, Peteraf & Leih, 2016)

Evaluate the implementation of the
strategies continued…
Leadership:
 Leadership style affect
decision-making,
operations and
employees’ behavior
 It is important to select
suitable models to avoid
potential harms to the
systems
(Anderson & Sun, 2017)

Evaluate the implementation of the
strategies continued…
Models of leadership:
 Different models produce distinguished outcomes
 For example, laissez-faire model is different than the autocratic model
 Laissez-fire is very friendly with employees; however, can hamper the productivity
 Autocratic model encourages an adherence to strict policies and can also cause increased
absenteeism and employee-turnover
(Saleem, 2015)

Evaluate the implementation of the
strategies continued…
Leadership model in Vodafone:
 Leaders are flexible with the leadership models and are able to make the appropriate selection
 The way Vodafone has identified the calling and other telecom habits of the Australian people,
has helped the company to go for implementing the big data
(Vodafone Australia, 2018).

Evaluate the implementation of the
strategies continued…
People culture:
 Vodafone is good at
managing diversity and
inclusion
 Management is constantly
engaged with metrics such
as eNPS and employee
engagement
 Integration is a challenge
considering negative
cultural stereotypes or face
of prejudice
(Dong, Liu & Lin, 2014)

Evaluate the implementation of the
strategies continued…
Change management :
 Vodafone allows enough time to its employees to help them be able to understand the change
process
 Vodafone is on similar track for a big data implementation
 Being slow with the approach can be good for employees not for the company. This can be an
advantage to Vodafone’s competitors.
(Stock & Seliger, 2016)

Discuss if strategy implementation is
successful
 In short-term, Vodafone looks good
due to being the most effective
service provider in terms of price
and quality of service
 In long-term, there can be issues as
management is bit slow with
implementation process, which is
good for its employees not for the
company
 Competitors can take the advantage
of its slowness
(Fu et al., 2017)