Vodafone's Strategic Management: PESTLE, SWOT, & Value Chain

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Vodafone's business strategy, utilizing various strategic management tools and frameworks. It begins with a PESTLE analysis to assess the macro-environmental factors impacting Vodafone, followed by a SWOT analysis to evaluate the company's internal strengths and weaknesses along with external opportunities and threats. The report further examines Vodafone's internal environment through value chain analysis and McKinsey's 7S framework, offering insights into its capabilities and resources. Additionally, Porter's Five Forces model is applied to understand the competitive landscape and Vodafone's position within the telecommunications industry. The analysis culminates in the interpretation of these findings to devise a strategic plan for Vodafone, aimed at enhancing its competitive edge and market position, ultimately contributing to the company's sustainable growth and success. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a range of study resources for students.

Business Strategy
Vodafone

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................3
PART A.............................................................................................................................................4
LO 1..................................................................................................................................................4
P1 ANALYSE THE CAPABILITIES OF VODAFONE APPLYING PESTLE AND SWOT ANALYSIS
HIGHLIGHTING MACRO ENVIRONMENT AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE ORGANIZATION..........4
M1 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MACRO ENVIRONMENT FOR STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING
.....................................................................................................................................................8
LO2...................................................................................................................................................9
P2 INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT AND CAPABILITIES ANALYSIS OF VODAFONE...........................9
M2 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT TO ASSESS STRENGTHS AND
WEAKNESSES OF VODAFONE...................................................................................................13
PART B...........................................................................................................................................15
LO3.................................................................................................................................................15
P3 EVALUATION OF COMPETITIVE FORCES OF VODAFONE BY APPLYING PORTER’S FIVE
FORCES MODEL.........................................................................................................................15
M3 STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE COMPETITIVE EDGE AND MARKET POSITION BASED ON
OUTCOMES................................................................................................................................18
LO4.................................................................................................................................................19
P4 & M4 INTERPRETATION AND DEVISING STRATEGIC PLAN FOR VODAFONE.....................19
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................25
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................26

INTRODUCTION
Business strategies are commonly defined as the organization's high-level plans for attaining
the goals and objectives. Strategies are developed by the organization's management to
achieve success and growth in the industry. As the competition level is increasing day by day
effective strategies are really important to maintain an effective position in the market. the
strategy is the most important element for an organization towards the growth and overall
development of the company (Vlachos, 2016). In this report, we will be discussing the business
strategic management of Vodafone in order to attain their business objective and effective
planning. The macro factors which influence the business functioning and strategic
management of Vodafone will be analysed by the PESTLE analysis. A strong business strategy is
beneficial in gaining high productivity and growth of the business because it reflects the
position of the company in front of the competitors.
The company make different strategies in order to achieve different goals and objective for the
business they all strategies support each other for accomplishing the desired goal of the
business or we can say that framing strategy is all about meeting the goals.

PART A
LO 1
P1 ANALYSE THE CAPABILITIES OF VODAFONE APPLYING
PESTLE AND SWOT ANALYSIS HIGHLIGHTING MACRO
ENVIRONMENT AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE ORGANIZATION.
The PESTLE analysis the best tool for analysing the macro factors which are affecting the
business strategies of Vodafone. The PESTLE analysis is as follows to analyse the impact of
macro environment on their business.
PESTLE ANALYSIS
Vodafone is a telecommunication company which provide communication and mobile services
to their customers. The company follows the government policies and proper management for
smooth business functioning and maintain the good relationship with their customers. the
company was founded in 1982 and the headquarter of the company is situated in Newbury
England, UK. The company is the third largest company in providing telecommunication and
internet services nationally and internationally (Mourdoukoutas, 2015). There are some factors
which influence the strategic management of Vodafone which will be analysed through the
PESTLE analysis.
Figure- PESTLE Analysis
Source- (https://blog.essaycorp.com/pestle-analysis-for-construction-industry/)

POLITICAL FACTORS
Vodafone is a telecommunication company which follows the government policies and rule
and regulation to maintain the effective position in the market and a brand image to
maintaining the customer's relations (Marx, 2015). The changing government policies impact
the business strategies of Vodafone. To reduce the political impact the Vodafone should take
government permission before launching new communication channels.
ECONOMIC FACTORS
Inflation rates, employment rates, interest rates, exchange rates, and changing import and
export policies these are some factors which can be influenced by the business strategies of
Vodafone. Moreover, the recession also affects the Vodafone's growth (Chen, et al. 2015). The
company has to change their policies at the time of recession in order to compete with the
other competitors and attract customers towards their products and services.
SOCIAL FACTORS
The social factors which affect the strategic management of Vodafone such as changing
attitudes and beliefs, the lifestyle of customers, education, and increasing demand of mobiles
and communication networks (Jaakkola and Hallin, 2018). As the company have chosen a
strategy to provide better services to the customers and gain profit from them so, the company
can reduce the negative effect of social factors.
TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS
Technological factors positively affect the business organization. The technology is improving
day by day and the use of new and advanced technology can be beneficial for the company's
growth and development. The Vodafone should use new and advance tool of technology in
order to develop the effective business strategy to face competition and attract the customers.

LEGAL FACTORS
All the companies have to follow the legal policies to maintain their brand image in the
industry. Vodafone also follows the legal policies like taxation, environmental policies, and
other rule and regulation applied by the government of the country (Trevisan, 2016). Following
the legal policies will be beneficial for success and growth of the company and also in
maintaining the effective brand image in front of the customers and other competitors.
ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
Apprehension about environmental factors is rising day by day. Telecommunication industries
are also one of the reasons which influence the environmental factors. Vodafone has developed
the technological creativity and innovations that are harmful to the environment and affected
the emission of CO2. Vodafone contributes to tree plantations and events that are conducting
to improve the environment.
SWOT ANALYSIS
The internal environmental factors can be analysed with the help of SWOT analysis. The impact
of micro factors on business strategies of Vodafone can be analysed by SWOT analysis.
STRENGTHS WEAKNESS
• Vodafone is adopting advanced and
innovative strategies for advertising is
the market that will attract the
customers toward their products.
• The company is having the strong
financial condition in the
telecommunication industry.
 Vodafone is having large market
coverage as the company is providing
• The completion level is very high
in telecommunication services
company.
• Day by day the company is
declining subscriber base that
would be the barrier to company's
growth.
• Vodafone is providing weak
performances in the European

services nationally and
internationally.
market that can affect the
effectiveness of business in the
market.
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
• The company is rising the
investment in order to generate
revenue rate and more profit
from the market.
• The company can enlarge the
business structure with the help
of new technologies and strong
financial conditions.
• In Africa the company providing
best services to the customers,
therefore, the company is having
huge potential in the African
market.
• The increasing competition level
would be the big threat to the
Vodafone.
• The company has been faced the
loss because of recessions.
• The economic changes and
changing government policies
impact the internal and external
environment of business.

M1 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MACRO ENVIRONMENT FOR
STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING
The company is proving telecommunication services and benefits nationally and internationally
to the customers. as we have analysed through the PESTLE Analysis the political factors such as
changing government policies, import and export police and other legal factors are affecting the
strategic management of Vodafone. To compete with the other companies and reduce the
effect of legal factors on the company Vodafone is following all the government policies and
legal values in order to attain the business goals and objectives (Sargeant and Jay, 2014). The
economic factors such as inflation rates, tax rates, changing beliefs and attitudes of customers,
and lifestyle affecting the decision-making process of Vodafone. On the other hand, the
technological factors affecting the business strategies and decision making in a positive way.
With the help of new and advanced technologies company can innovate different products and
provide advanced services to the customers.
The social factors are also affecting the strategic management and decision making of
Vodafone. The changing preferences of customers towards the products and services will affect
the business of Vodafone. There are the different type of customers and they all have different
requirements and need the company has to fulfil their needs and demands.
The advancement of technological tools can be beneficial for overall company’s growth. With
the help of advanced and new technologies company can innovate products and services
according to the need of customers.
The environmental factors negatively influence the decision making of Vodafone because the
awareness towards the environment is increasing day by day (Bortolotti, et al. 2015). The
company cannot perform any activity that would be harmful to the environment because this
will affect the business and brand image of the company.
Thus, the macro environmental factors affecting the strategic decision making in the positive
and negative way. The company need to maintain the balance to face the negative and positive
impact of external environmental factors.

LO2
P2 INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT AND CAPABILITIES ANALYSIS OF
VODAFONE
With the help of value chain analysis, the internal environmental elements and capabilities of
the Vodafone can be analysed that would be really beneficial for the company’s growth and
development.
Figure- porter’s value chain analysis
Source- (http://tracks.roojoom.com/r/10722)
PRIMARY ACTIVITIES
The Vodafone maintain many activities in the business. The primary activities are directly
related to the developing the product and delivering it to the customer. The primary activities
can be understanding the five main elements such as inbound logistics, outbound logistic,
operations logistics, marketing and sales logistics (Nagara, et al. 2015). All the elements of
primary activities are related to each other and support the effective performance of the
business in order to achieve the goals and objectives.

SUPPORT ACTIVITIES
Support activities are helpful in performing the primary activities for attaining the
organizational goals (Hogan and Coote, 2014). The support activities mainly cover four areas
such as technology development, research and development, human resource management
and infrastructure of the company and procurement. The support activities help the
Vodafone in creating innovative strategies to attract the customers.
MCKINSEY 7S OF VODAFONE
Figure- McKinsey 7s model
Source- (http://fmcg-marketing.blogspot.in/2007/11/7s-mckinsey-model.html?
view=timeslide)
The McKinney is a management model which describe the 7 elements which will be helpful for
the company in effective decision making and manage the performance and productivity at the

workplace. The 7 elements of this model are skills, structure, strategy, staff, style, system, and
shared values which will be beneficial for the Vodafone in making effective business strategy
and improving capabilities.
STRATEGY
With the help of creating the effective strategy, Vodafone can improve the performance and
enhance their area of work.
STRUCTURE
The Vodafone is having a huge structure as the company is proving the services worldwide and
the main aim of the company is providing quality services to their customers.
SYSTEMS
The company follows the innovative management system in order to attract the customers
towards their product (Shiri, et al. 2015). This innovative and creative system is one of the
reasons behind the success of the organization.
STAFF
As per the data of 2017, the Vodafone is having 108,271 employees. All the employees work
hard and having creative thinking and potential for development of the company.
SKILLS
The Vodafone provide training and development programs, and career development programs
for improving skills and knowledge of employees (Awino, et al. 2017). The employees feel
motivated and encourage with these training programs and this will also enhance their
knowledge.
STYLE
The Vodafone follows the innovative styles and advanced techniques that help in increasing
profit and taking effective decisions for the company.