Comprehensive Report on Vodafone's Applied Corporate Strategy

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Vodafone's corporate strategy. It begins with an introduction to corporate strategies and their importance, focusing on Vodafone as a leading telecom company. The report delves into external analysis using PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces, examining political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors, as well as competitive forces within the telecom industry. Internal analysis explores Vodafone's resources (human, physical, operational, intangible, and financial) and competencies, including value chain and VRIO analysis. Finally, a TOWS matrix is used to evaluate the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, offering strategic insights and recommendations for Vodafone's future.

Applied Corporate Strategy

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Question 1........................................................................................................................................3
External analysis..........................................................................................................................3
Question 2........................................................................................................................................6
Internal analysis...........................................................................................................................6
Question 3........................................................................................................................................9
TOWS matrix...............................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Corporate strategies are the highest level of strategic plan in an organization, as it
defines the overall objective and goal of an organization. It gives directions& ways in which it
achieved within Strategic management activities. It helps in defining the vision and direction of
company. Vodafone is one of the top telecom company in telecom industry. The report will
discuss the importance of external factors on the company and its Five porter forces explaining
its competition in market, Vodafone and its internal forces which includes the competence of
what company does, Value chain and VRIO tables will be explained in the report. Strategy given
with the company and the target competitor are included and the TOWS of the company is
discussed with Strength and opportunities and Threat and weakness mentioned.
Question 1
External analysis
External analysis refers to the examination the environment of the industry working in
and it includes factors as competitive structure, positioning and dynamics.
Pestle Analysis:-
It is a concept of marketing principle, It is used as a tool in the companies to identify and
track the situation and external environment they are operating in, or they are planning for
project launch or product. Pestle is mnemonic which expanded into Political, Economic, Social,
technological, legal and Environmental (Weissenberger-Eibl,2019).
Political Factor :- These factors are the extent which included government influence in the
economy or in a particular industry sector. For example, it includes the government tax, import
on duty and all other factors which include in revenue generating of organization structure. It
includes the Tax policies, trades tariffs, fiscal policies etc. Government lays around in the fiscal
year and it may affect the business and business environment to extent. Political factor is a
threat to the company as high tax rates and policies can influence the prices of the company
product (Cui,2018).
Economic Factor:- Economic factors are crucial of an economic performance which directly
impact the working of a company and impact it & have resounding lengthy term effects.
Example as rise in the inflation rate in the economy which will affect the company prices in their
services in the market and product. Economic factor affects the purchasing power of the
audience and it can differ the demand and supply framework in the economy. Economic is a

threat to the Vodafone as increase in inflation rates forced the company to increase the prices
and affect the profitability (Schmidt, 2018).
Social Factor :- Social factor is the social environment of the market and the culture trend,
population, demographic changes of market are social factor. The instant change in work pattern
of the market and popular market structure & affect the company, work from home increasingly
relying on communication profession. It provides the opportunities as it increases the
communication and helps the company in its growth, in pandemic the social distancing is going
on and in that the company gets opportunities to provide digital benefits to customer so that they
can communicate and connect to each other. Opportunity for the company after increasing the
communication to increase the growth in better way and help the company in development.
Technologies Factor :- Technologies factor of external environment in the organization are the
advancement of technologies and its important in the company. Working in telecommunication
sector it is important to utilize more of the technologies and providing the latest tech to its
consumer and Vodafone is trying hard and providing all the latest technologies to its customer.
Opportunities in Technologies by providing innovation and technologies to its customer as soon
as possible. Technologies is the best oppourtunity for the company to enhance the growth.
Legal factors:- Legal factors include all the legal regulation and rules internal and external to the
organization and in its context, the laws which can affect the business and the business
environment in a certain way in UK with the policies which company need to maintain for
themselves. Vodafone's need to make their strategies accoutring to the legislation of UK
telecommunication, safety standards, and they need to provide the consumer laws in their
strategies. Legal factors work as a threat to the Vodafone as it increase the chances of legal
actions and it also increases the pressure of the company to match the government policies.
Threat because legal work need proper way in doing all the necessary requirement to be filled,
Vodafone need to make sure that the work is in legal way.
Environmental factors :- These factors include all the factor which influence the surrounding
environment of the company and organization. It is crucial in certain industry which can directly
get affected by the environment factors. The geographic location and surrounding environment
and natural resources are included in it. Environment factor is a threat as environment can't be
controlled and anything can happened in the environment (Ogaga,, 2017). Environment is a

natural thing and it cannot be controlled so it's a threat for the Vodafone, and they need to
maintain all the safety measures.
Porter five force:-
Porter Five Forces is a strategy model that took decision away from analysing their
present competition.
Rivalry amount the competitor (High): The rivalry is high in the existing players in this
telecom industry and it causes the drive down in prices & it also decreases the profitability in the
industry. Vodafone operates in the intense market of communication industry. It tolls in the
overall profitability and long term profit of the organization. Vodafone can tackle the rivalry by
building the sustainable differentiation & by building the scale of the company to compete better.
Rivalry increases the competition and it's a threat to the company and threat to its profit margin
(Rugman, 2017).
Threat of Substitute Product (High): When there is new product in the market meet with the
similar product and customer needs in their own ways, the profitability of industry suffers. The
substitution threat is high and it offers the value proportion which is uniquely different from the
offering of present in industry. Vodafone's need to improve more to its service oriented rather
than product oriented. Even they need to understand the core of the customer need rather than the
buying of customer. Threats of substitute can affect the product by its growth and its expansion.
Bargaining Power of customer (Moderate): It is the buyers demand and is high in demand a
lot. Buyers want to buy the best of the product and services for the minimum to minimum price
possible, It increases the pressure of the Vodafone as they need think on the profitability as it can
affect the long run of profit. Vodafone need to provide build the large customers base, it can help
them in reduction in bargaining power of customer and it will give the opportunities to the firm
to increase the production process and sales.
Bargaining power of supplier (High): In the industry of communication and the wireless
communication industry all the companies buy their required raw material from numerous
number of suppliers. It increases the dominant and high position and can decrease the margins
for the company market. Working in technologies sector use many negotiation power to extract
the prices and the high prices from telecom field. It works as an opportunity as Vodafone works
in building the supply chains in multiple of contacts and have a good presence in the suppliers.

Threat of new entrants (Low): New entrant in telecom communication required innovation
they required new ways of doing things to put pressure on the Vodafone and even they need to
provide better services and product in the market to the consumer. New entrant is a high threat as
it increases in competition and decrease the company profits. There are many new threats in the
organization which enter the market on daily basis and it can affect the competition in the
market.
Question 2
Internal analysis
Internal analysis refers to the exploration of company competency, competitive viability
in market. Internal analysis measure useful information about company by SWOT analysis.
Internal analysis explains all the strength and the weakness with providing the opportunities and
threat of the company.
Resources:
Human Resources: - Human resource is most vital element of the organization. It is a great
advantage to the organization to help the company in growth and strength in the company. It also
includes a lot of risk in the company if there is no good management in the company. To build
the best of the understanding in this you need to understand the personnel. It is a strength to the
company and it helps in finding the objective and goals of the Vodafone. Human resources work
for the betterment of the company and it also creates stability to the company work which can be
used by the manager in proper way to evaluate the work.
Physical Assets: Physical assets are required in the working of the company and it gives
strength as Vodafone have the best product and resources in its technologies. Working in small
business or big firm everyone wants physical factors same goes with Vodafone as physical
premises and equipment are indispensable. Technologies work as an important part in the best
ways in communication department as technologies is a crucial element in telecommunication.
Operational structure:- it can influence the communication patterns, productivity and decision-
making practises. There are no formulas of work that fits in business model. Vodafone's business
required the structure to work the best of the structure in which the working in organization can

be done smoothly. Operation structure can give benefits in many of the company decision and it
also make the process in decision which plays important part in the company goals.
Intangible resources:- Intangible resources are the human being of the company and it also
includes the goodwill, patent etc. of the company. Intangible resources are very important for
Vodafone's business as it explains about the brand name and gives strength to the company and
increase the sale and benefits to the company. Vodafone give their focus to the intangible assets
as they help the company in many ways regarding the operational process as well. Goodwill
include intangible values of the company and it can make a lot of changes in the growth and
expansion as goodwill helps the company to make a brand in market.
Financial Resources: The financial resources of the company are limited and the major earnings
are through the clients i.e. users. Further, it can also be analysed that the overall financial
positioning of the company is strong where the company can invest into better future prospects.
The merit of good financial stability and resource mean company is able to mae new decision.
Knowing what makes you different : - it is important of them to know what they are offering to
the audience, and they need to be different from others. What makes them different is always the
additional benefit for the company and the services which they are providing.
Competence:-
Value chain :- Value chain analysis focus on the internal analysing of business and its an effort
to understand costs. And locate the activities to add values and different competition. Porter have
discussed the business function in two different ways which include primary and supportive
activities of business. The overall goal of this method is to analyse the areas of activity which
will benefit the change to improve profitability of the business and efficiency. Value chain helps
in identify the basic primary and supportive analysis of chain which explain the inbound logistic
and the operations in the value of chain. It explains the procurement and the development in
technologies and the human resource management.
Primary Supportive
1. The inbound logistic which consist of
warehousing, receiving, stock, inventory and
management control.
2. Operation of the value chain creating
activity which can help in transform the inputs
1. Procurement is the function of purchasing th
raw material and other inputs used in the
activities.
2. Technologies development refer to the
involvement of research in the supportive

in direction.
3. Outbound Logistics are found necessary
aces of finished product to the customer,
warehousing and so on.
4. Marketing and sales are activities which
include the primary activity associated with
buyers and purchase of product and services.
5. Service and activities that maintain and
improve the product and value consisting of
customer support and services.
activities to advance the technologies.
3. Human resource management involve the
hiring of the people and continuing the
development and training, and compensation to
the workforce.
4. Firm Infrastructure including the financial
resources and the legal quality management.
Primary:- Inbound logistics include the warehousing in the company and the inventory control.
After this operational of value chain include and it explains the transformation of directions. The
outbound of logistic also help in providing the finished products to customer. Service and
activities maintain the improvement of product and values of customer support.
Supportive :- Supportive include the human resource of the company and how human resource
can help in finding the services including the human resource and development of firm
infrastructure and the financial resources (Kulshrestha, 2017).
VRIO:-
VRIO analysis is developed by the Jay. B Barney as way of evaluating the resources of an
organization.
Resources Valuable Rarity Imitable Organized
Physical
resources
Yes Yes No Yes
Human resources Yes NO NO Yes
Equipment Yes NO Yes Yes
Technology Yes Yes Yes Yes

VRIO analysis helps in finding the best result of the company and it provides the best of the
ways to find the solution to the queries. VIRO explain the physical resources human resources
and show its value and rarity in the company and it also helps in finding the imitable and
organized to its equipment technologies. The one core competence which is best for the
Vodafone is Technologies as they focused on their technologies a lot and the technology helps
them in finding their objective and make them different from others and separate them,
Technologies update helped the company in achieving the goal and the variety of technologies
helping the company in making the customer attraction, and they can rely on their techniques.
Technologies separate the company from its competitor and Vodafone keep on innovating the
process of finding the best of the technologies (Hamilton, 2018).
Question 3
TOWS matrix
TOWS Matrix Strength
 Strong technological
infrastructure
 Products and services
 Human resources
 Goodwill
Weakness
 Better technologies still
unable to capture market
 High pricing strategy.
Opportunity
 Strong technology
infrastructure for
services like 5G
 Expansion in
broadband service
 Can capture the 5g
market in US.
 New marketing
strategies capture the
US market using 5G
techniques

 Growth of social media
usage.
Threat
 Climatic changes
 Legal restrictions
 Political activity
 Legal restriction from
government.
 Change its products and
services
 Lower pricing strategy
Before selecting any strategies, it is important for the Vodafone company to analyse the
suitability, acceptability and accessibility. Currently Vodafone is suffering from loss, because it
is less expanding its business in international market. Vodafone should adopt the marketing
strategy. Recently, it has been identified that Vodafone is also suffering because of its high
pricing strategies; it will be much better for the company to adopt the strategy of penetration. It is
difficult for them to lower their pricing strategies as they are providing the effective and good
service to the customers (Ang, 2016). In this situation if Vodafone lower its pricing strategy it
maintains the sustainability. There are the risk in the strategies, it results in decreasing the profit
level, but on the other hand it is acceptable by the customers as it is their base. Thus the reaction
of the stack holders might be positive. If the company thinks in the expansion in the international
market it may lead to the risk for the company as the competition on international market is very
high. The another strategy which can be implemented by the Vodafone is diversification of the
product portfolio, this strategy basically requires the high diversification of the product portfolio.
This strategy is suitable because the company has the information and sufficient resources to
make the strategic decision. Vodafone is making changes but the thing which is important to
them is the implementing of strategies they made need to be in such a way that it create benefit

for the company. Making changes in pricing and developing the customer service and giving a
quick answers to the queries and feedback and stay connected.
Suitability: Suitability is the most important factor of the SAF analysis. Suitability is a number of
different criteria that is specifically which is important for the company, in the way of
environmental suitability and capability suitability. This strategy is suitable for the company
because, it will allow the company, when government and business coordinate for making the
new market strategies by tapping the group of new consumers. It will also allow the company to
earn more profit for the existing market. The possibilities are to be realized as when business and
government merges in investing in the customers researches. For Vodafone as well, the
suitability aspect is often complied with as overall, the main criteria that needs to be complied is
the fact that the flexibility should be comparatively higher where the consumers are able to easily
access and adapt with the services of Vodafone (Wei, 2019). Suitability ask question as does the
strategy use the company strength effectively, or the strategies are suitable for the company in
getting the result they want. Does the strategies are suitable in the context to what company want
it to do.
Acceptability: These strategies can be acceptable by the customers because it lowers the price
and giving the best quality of services. It is also acceptable because, it focuses on the achieving
the company’s goals and mission. It also laid emphasis on the internal marketing and culture of
the organisation. In such situation, company has to face the financial risk. The strategies and
services are to be given to be given to the customers as the company has promised to do and also
the services and strategies are highly acceptable. The practices that are implemented by
Vodafone must be acceptable by both the government as well as the society in which they are
operating so that the overall benefits can be extracted from the services given (Ang, 2016).
Acceptability to all the consequences as the stragy may fail to provide the result they want so
they need to accept the situation and need to understand the importance of accepting the results.
Feasibility: this strategy is highly feasible because, the company is already investing large
amount in the market researches and also the group of high income people. On the other hand
company has the financial power to introduce the premium menu items specially for the people
of higher class to expand the menu accordingly. The feasibility aspect is complied with by the
Vodafone company as they give affordable services which the users belonging to different

consumer groups can easily access and develop (Gürel, 2017). The financial feasibility is one of
the most important part in getting the desired feasibility to work and improve by the strategy.
CONCLUSION
To conclude above report describe corporate strategies adopted Vodafone company and
what are the opportunities and threats it has from external as well as internal environment. To
analyses external factors above report show pestle analysis for an example because of Brexit, it is
assuming that unemployment rate of the country increases and hence decrease loss and revenue
of the company. On the contrary legal factors like Employment act 1996 in UK decrease revenue
of the organization and company has to pay high wages and flexible working hour to employee
which ultimately increase financial burden on the organization. Again five poster forces show
rivalry which are increasing in UK market and hence decreasing profit of the organization. On
the other hand report also show internal factors for an example human resource which helps in
increasing number of high talent and forming policies which benefit organization as well as
individual.