Vodafone's CSR and Sustainability Report: Business and Management

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Vodafone's corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability efforts. It begins with an executive summary, followed by an introduction that sets the stage for the report's objectives. The first task involves an organization profile of Vodafone, including its global ranking, operational scope, and listing on the London Stock Exchange. It also includes an examination of external influences using a PESTLE analysis, covering political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors affecting the company. Task 2 delves into Vodafone's CSR and sustainability practices, emphasizing the relevance of these practices and their influence on policies and decision-making. The report evaluates the effectiveness of Vodafone's responses, identifies areas for improvement, and concludes with a summary of key findings and recommendations. The report also highlights Vodafone's commitment to ethical and transparent conduct, employee rights, and strategies for reducing carbon emissions and promoting environmental sustainability. The report includes references to support the analysis and findings.

Contemporary
Developments in
Business and
Management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Report will lay emphasis on decisions made by Vodafone related to Corporate social
responsibility and sustainability. It will focus on how company has prepared code of conduct
which is ethical and transparent. Report will also provide the various rights of employees within
organization. Assignment will also emphasise on strategies like reducing carbon emission which
has been implemented by company.

Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
Organization profile.....................................................................................................................4
External influences of organization-............................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability.....................................................................8
Relevance of corporate social responsibility and sustainability and its impact on policies and
decision making of Vodafone......................................................................................................8
Critical evaluation of effectiveness related to organizations response......................................11
Areas of improvement in the response of Vodafone.................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Contemporary development in business is the study of successful organizational change and
performance. In this organizations are involved in implementing those strategies that assists them
in gaining competitive advantage and help them in achieving their ultimate goals and objectives.
Present study will lay emphasis on Vodafone which is a multinational telecommunication
company. It has been headquartered in London, England. Company is engaged in doing their
business in areas like Asia, Africa, Europe and Oceania. Firm has also been listed in London
Stock Exchange. Present report will lay emphasis on the external business environment factors
that can impact on company’s strategic position. It will also reflect on corporate social
responsibility and sustainability and how it influences policies and decision making of Vodafone.
It will also evaluate effectiveness of organizational response. Report will also suggest areas of
improvement in response of organization.
TASK 1
Organization profile
Among mobile operator groups globally Vodafone has been ranked 4th. Company is being
operating in 25 countries and also have networking partners in 47 other countries. Firm has
secondary listing in NASDAQ. Its Vodafone Global Enterprise division provides
telecommunications and IT services to corporate clients in 150 countries. Company is highly
engaged in providing high quality of network services to its consumers. They have also been
listed in London Stock Exchange. Vodafone services would be marketed under the dual-brand
scheme, where the Vodafone brand is added at the end of the local brand. Company is engaged
in offering integrated communication through cloud computing, unified communications and
collaborations. Vodafone is also involved in providing high quality of consumer service that has
supported the company in gaining competitive edge. It has also helped them in creating
consumer loyalty, which has assisted them in achieving business goals and objectives.
External influences of organization-
PESTLE Analysis:
PESTLE Analysis is tool which is used for analyzing and monitoring macro-environment
factor which can have profound impact on company's performance. It is very helpful when a
company is entering into new market and starting a new business. This can be described below-

Political Factor-
Political factor has grown relevance in international business context nowadays. Political
environment of nation affects their trade and economic environment up to the huge context. The
government's attitude for business and their tax regimes also impact business. Major market of
the Vodafone are Asia Pacific and Europe along with Africa and Middle East. Level of the
political stability of these regions effects profitability and sales of company. The demand for
technology and its services has been growing rapidly, government control level and oversight has
also enhanced. Due to this telecom industry has been facing pressure because of raised
government control. The EU Roaming Regulations that aims for decreasing charge for the
mobile phones uses abroad by 70% and upgrading level of customer rights across Europe, and
several decisions that are made by European Union Regulatory Framework for communication
sector (Khan and Suhaib, 2019). Any other government interventions by legislation could affect
the business operations and revenue of company. Political instability also affects the Vodafone to
the great extent, as nation with political instability become war prone areas and thus it will need
good infrastructure for networks, had become tiresome activity for company. The recent conflict
in Europe had affected company greatly.
Economic Factors-
In the international business context economic factor has become core concept. Global
and regional economies' performance have direct impact on international technical business's
performance. In the recent year, demand of mobile and data service has enhanced rapidly. Hence,
each and everything is depended on customer’s demand and its ability for purchasing that
product. The economic performance of nation effects these directly. Economies of nations where
Vodafone operates its business are performing well, whereas Brexit had created pressure on
Vodafone which had affected profitability of company in United Kingdom. Economic factor
such as economic activity in particular country as well as employment level greatly affects
buying power of individual in country which in turn directly affects profitability and sales of
companies like Vodafone (BELLAD and KUBIHAL, 2016). The country with great GDP state
that individual had more income and will be prone for adopting the latest technologies for
communication. So, companies overall profit will be enhanced and Vodafone can expand
globally. The economic crisis had also impacted Vodafone and thus global uncertainty led

company to change their strategies and implementing new plans to perform well in marketplace
and compete with its rivals effectively.
Social Factors-
The importance of socio-cultural factor has been raised in the business context. Most of
the big businesses had understood centrality of the socio-cultural factor and how it can affect sale
and profit in the particular region. The changing social trend and individual's lifestyle directly
affects their purchasing habits. Over the period consumer's consumption preferences and pattern
in several regions of world has been changed. The technological firm must identify these
changes and as per that they had to update their service mix. Internationally, internet penetration
has been grown and thus enterprise and individual both users need fast connection. As large
number of individual had spent huge time online for entertainment or work. Thus, growth in the
demand for internet based service has been proved beneficial for Vodafone as more and more
individual are buying online (Coleman and MacNicol, 2016). The internet role in individual's life
has hiked along with social media. For dynamic domain and success company must have
flexibility in their policies which are pertained with local culture. Thus, Vodafone is purely
European organization but their preference and related policies had been changes as the social
factor of country in which company is operating its business activities. Hence, by adopting this
company had gained huge success and sustain in market for long term.
Technological Factors-
Vodafone is the telecom brand and thus technology plays a major role in their business
operations. Organization has grown its number of services in past years that is based on growing
demand of enterprises and individual consumers. Thus, growing role of the users experience had
forced Vodafone for focusing on technological factor. So, organization is utilizing digital
technology for providing higher convenience to its users and grow their engagement. They had
also launched my Vodafone app and website which can be used by their consumers for accessing
through range of the services which is offered by company. For promotions also they use digital
technology. Company is popular for its innovation across the world. The major mission of
company is to follow contemporary trend in communication and technological sphere (Cardoso,
2017). Vodafone offers technological products to their consumer which is kept in mind hike
company is changing its policies, launching new devices and features in it. Vodafone is
technological company and thus company must have to follow the latest technological trend and

have inundation in company as per so that they can get huge revenue and sales among
marketplace.
Legal Factor-
Legal factor affects business widely. Law enforcement and government agencies have
enhanced level of control and business oversight across the world. Growing regulatory and legal
pressure could make growth difficult for global level businesses. From labour to tax and various
business practice into other area along with environment, non-compliance could result into
enormous fine. Government agency such as EU has enhanced level for fines which had been
levied on violators. Vodafone had to very aware about legal issues such as copy and pirated
issues. Vodafone has faced many penalties for its sphere infrastructure. Along with that
Vodafone had been accused for not rendering appropriate salaries to their workers as compare to
their competitors. Thus people who are working with company had leaved the jobs and joined
the rivalry organizations which had enhanced risk of leakage of the innovative ideas of company.
So Vodafone must follow some legal binding in their company. They had to abide by legal rules
and regulation so that they could enhance consumer attraction and maintain positive image in
marketplace which is helpful for company to gain trust of their consumers.
Environment Factor-
Sustainability and environment had become essential focus for business nowadays. More
and more companies are investing in declining the carbon footprints and making their business
process more sustainable. Vodafone is also managing to remove carbon footprints and
environmental impacts significantly. Company is highly dynamic in the nature and for
maintaining market and expanding its networks they had to be always socially responsible and
adopting sustainable business process so that they can gain huge consumer interest towards their
company's brand. Thus, consumer loyalty base could be gained by company effectively and
sustain in market for long term (Celik, Abdul-Kareem and Yilmaz, 2019). By adopting this they
can gain huge success and growth further. Company had also announced to improve one billion
of lives and reducing environmental impact by 50% till 2025. They will be gaining this by its
three domains that are - digital society, inclusion for all and for planet. Vodafone is also focusing
on switching to the renewable source of the energy for the efficient supply.

Illustration 1 : PESTLE Analysis
(Source: Vodafone group SWOT & PESTLE Analysis, 2019)
TASK 2
Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability
Corporate social responsibility means how organization is managing their resources so that a
positive impact can be created on society. In includes sustainability, social impact and ethics
which must be managed correctly. In this company needs to make and effective utilization of
resources so that future generation do not face any problem and needs of present generation is
also being fulfilled. Organization is involved in combining social and environmental concerns.
They make strategic decisions which can help communities as well as impoverished areas
throughout the world. Key CSR issues can be involved stakeholder engagement, working
conditions employee and community relations.

Relevance of corporate social responsibility and sustainability and its impact on policies and
decision making of Vodafone
Figure 2: CHG emissions
(Source: CHG Emissions of Vodafone, 2018)
As Vodafone is one of the prominent tele communication company there first
responsibility is to provide consumers with high quality of network services in order to build
customers trust and loyalty.
Influence on Policy and decision making
Vodafone is engaged in making policies which are highly based on satisfying consumers.
They have created significant amount of customer focus like for example they have taken the
lead in areas such as privacy and online data protection. As technology changes with time they
are working in collaboration with consumers so that they can provide best possible service.
Company has also implemented various strategies in order to improve environmental conditions.
Like for example they motivate their employees to save energy throughout their network, offices
and stores with a common sense looking at heating, cooling and lighting system. They have
implemented strategies to reduce waste by cutting back the use of paper. They are making sure
that old network equipment and hand set can be reused and recycled. Also Vodafone is
motivating their consumers to be environmental friendly by switching on to paperless bill.
In the opinion of Amoako, (2017) Sustainable business strategy of Vodafone focuses on
women empowerment, energy innovation, youth skills and jobs. Company is making sure that
they promote equality and diversity in their business. They are trying to lay special emphasis on
ethical and transparent behaviour. Company is making sure that they provide consumers with

every detail which is necessary for them to know, so that they can build up customer’s trust.
Vodafone makes sure that mobile technologies improves the women quality of life with the
support of programmes that help them in making financial inclusion, enhance health and
wellbeing, build education, skills and entrepreneurship.
As per the view of Ternès and Jeske, (2018) Vodafone is committed to hire diverse
workforce, so that it will assist in better reflecting consumer base and wider society. It can also
become a source of business for them. They are working towards bringing out more women
leader. They are implementing strategies to attract highly talented and skilled women so that they
can maintain their employers track. Vodafone is also laying their special emphasis on energy
innovation. They are engaged in making a strategy to lower down the usage of CHG emissions
and electricity from renewable sources. They have thought to achieve this tactic by the year
2025. Vodafone is also involved in providing job opportunities to young generations in countries
who have high number of unemployment rate. They will also provide young generation with
digital workplace experience at Vodafone.
Vodafone has also set some of the major sustainable development goals. Like for example
they are contributing in providing quality education and making learning opportunities available
for all. Like for example in year 2017 about 4190000 people participated in Vodafone
Knowledge is Power foundation programme. They have provided 50,000 refugee students with
quality education and free data services. Company is working towards promoting gender equality
and promoting Women Empowerment. In year 2016 they have added 13.3 million female
consumers to use mobile technology (Elden, Cakir and Bakir, 2016). Vodafone is working hard
to have sustainable economic growth and better working environment at all levels. For this they
have developed a policy related to providing employees with safe and secure working conditions.
They are also engaged in building resilient infrastructure that can promote sustainable
industrialization, this aspect can assist company in fostering innovation. For this Vodafone has
invested approximately £7.3 million so that they can develop their infrastructure and provide
better access to their network. Also they are working hard towards taking actions related to
climate change. In this they have reduced CHG emissions by 40% by reusing and recycling
products and services.
In accordance with Gupta and Nicovich, (2019) Vodafone and Vodafone foundation has
promoted mobile technologies in order to enhance primary health care services in emerging

markets. Like for example Vodafone Foundation’s Mobilising HIV Identification and Treatment
program makes use of mobile technology to make treatment available to those who are in need.
Vodafone has also taken initiative to stop violence against women. They have designed number
of instruments which can provide help to women and ensure their safety and security in
vulnerable domestic circumstances. Company has developed apps like easy rescue smartphone
app in which if women are in any danger situation can shake the phone and ask for help. This has
can save females and girls from any kind of domestic abuse.
On the other hand, Kleiousis and et.al., (2019) stated that Vodafone foundation has also
taken responsibility of providing girls and females with high quality of education in emerging
countries. They have invented innovative digital teaching and remote learning activities. This
service is also being provided by company to people living in refugee camps. In order to provide
with high quality of education instant network school programmes has also been implemented. In
this it automatically connects classrooms to network, by giving them solar power tablet and
teaching resources with access to resources related to education in remote and isolated areas.
Vodafone also have the sustainable goal about becoming the world’s best employer for women
by the year 2025. For this they are engaged in promoting equality and diversity at workplace.
They make sure that no discrimination on any basis exist in their place. Individuals are paid
equal for the same task which is being performed by them. Company is also engaged in
arranging various charitable campaigns to help and support people in need. They are reusing and
recycling material to make environmental conditions better.
Critical evaluation of effectiveness related to organizations response
Various strategies that has been adopted by Vodafone in order to create sustainability was
really effective. Like for example IOT mobile services which has been provided by company has
assisted them in making consumer use energy more efficiently and also reduce the emissions
which is being produced by them (Kunz, 2018). Digital platform which has been provided by
Vodafone has created huge number of jobs for youth and was also effective in developing their
skills. It has also become catalyst for sustainable development. Knowledge is power campaign
has assisted Vodafone in enhancing learning among pupils which has also built confidence
among them. As this program provided teachers with training and coaching their skills and
abilities have also been enhanced that has assisted them in providing high quality of learning and
education to students that is beneficial for their growth. By IOT technology it has assisted

consumers in reducing electricity, gas and other consumption fuels. It has helped them in
reducing the emissions(Celik, Abdul-Kareem and Yilmaz, 2019).
Sustainable strategies which is being implemented by Vodafone has helped them in
gaining trust of stakeholders. Code of ethical purchasing that has been set up by company has
assisted them in building a better relationship with suppliers. They have also set out the
expectations to people who are working with them. In this they make sure that no child labour
will be involved, no forced labour, fair payment and working hours, no discrimination. These
approaches have assisted Vodafone in making working conditions better. This practices have
also helped them in enhancing suppliers and employees towards firm. They are more engaged
towards them (Niaz and Medina, 2018). Vodafone is also working with integrity which has made
them help in enhancing consumer satisfaction. They have zero tolerance for Bribery and
corruption in their firm. Company has also taken actions to control climate change. It was
effective as this strategy has assisted them in reducing carbon emissions by 40%. They also
protect and give respect to human rights that has helped them in developing organizational
culture. Vodafone has also made use of emerging energy efficiency that helped them in
enhancing energy. It has also assisted them in effective utilization of resources. Company has
also worked with suppliers while developing 5G networks equipment, which was effective as
they have ensured that material match the standards on energy efficiency. They have ensured that
less carbon footprints are being developed (Khan and Suhaib, 2019). These strategies which has
been taken by company has assisted them in gaining trust from consumers and also employees
have been loyal to firm. It has helped organization in growing and gaining competitive
advantage.
Areas of improvement in the response of Vodafone
There are various areas of improvement which Vodafone must take into consideration. Like
for example company has lack of environment management system. They also have inefficient
control over disposal of hazardous materials(Mosca and Civera, 2017). So policies must be
prepared by organization in order to implement sustainable effect. Also Vodafone should be
engaged in taking environmental permit so that they can perform certain type of activities.
Ethical Policy of firm must need to be revised. Also company can enhance policy related to
corruption and discrimination. In order to retain more female employees in company and
implement gender equality, Vodafone needs tie be engaged in implementing maternity Policy. In

this they must make sure that maternity leave and full pay for 30 weeks is been given to women
employees (Elden, Cakir and Bakir, 2016). This can assist them in retaining skilled and talented
women employees in their company. It will also help them in attracting more females to their
firm. By this they can become first employer to develop most skilled women. They need to lay
emphasis on more environment management programmes. They must be engaged in
implementing strategies which enables their employees to also reduce their own carbon foot
prints. In order to save energy Vodafone is suggested to make use of free air cooling systems
which can help them in saving lots of cost and energy.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been summarized that Vodafone has been engaged in making
sustainable changes in their business. They have been involved in promoting equality and
diversity in their work place. Company has provided women with adequate resources so that they
can grow and become a better leader. Firm has also made their investment in energy innovation
in which they have taken significant action to combat climate change. They have also developed
their infrastructure to provide consumers with high access to network. Company has also been
transparent and ethical while dealing with employees and customers. This has assisted them in
building up consumers trust. By this they have also created consumer loyalty. It has helped them
in gaining competitive advantage which is essential for organizations growth. Organization has
also reduced carbon emission by 40% through recycling and re-using materials. They have also
motivated consumers to shift towards paperless bills. Company has also implemented various
policies related to human trafficking and labor law. They have made sure that firm is not been
engaged in violating human rights. They also ensure that no individual in firm has been engaged
in taking Bribery. Firm has also been engaged in promoting equality and diversity at the place.

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Online
CHG Emissions of Vodafone. 2018. [online] Available through: <
https://www.vodafone.com/content/dam/vodcom/sustainability/pdfs/sustainablebusiness2
018.pdf>

Vodafone group SWOT & PESTLE Analysis. 2019. [ONLINE] Available through ;
<https://www.swotandpestle.com/vodafone-group/>

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