Vodafone's Global Business Environment: An Evaluation

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“Evaluation of the benefits and drawbacks of the global business environment for the Vodafone”

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Globalization has leveraged several opportunities as well as a challenge to the business
organizations. These challenges and opportunities are created due to fluctuations in the
global business environment. Therefore, this research report is aimed at evaluating the
benefits and drawbacks of the global business environment for a global business
organization Vodafone. The key objectives of the research study are to analyze the concept
of globalization and the global business environment and identify the benefits and
drawbacks that the different factors of the global business environment create for
Vodafone. By employing the mixed research approaches involving the collection of research
data with the use of qualitative and quantitative research techniques the research
objectives are met. The qualitative data has been collected through documental review and
the quantitative has been collected through a questionnaire survey conducted among the
employees of the 30 randomly selected employees of the Vodafone. The research findings
have suggested that the key factors in the global business environment are political,
technological, environmental, cultural, legal and economic. These factors create both
benefits as well as challenges for the company in the global market. The key benefits of
globalization to Vodafone are the opportunity of market expansion, technology exchange
and cheap labour in the international market while the key challenges are cultural diversity,
competition, rapid technology change and changing the economic status of the country.
Globalization has created greater opportunity for Vodafone to expand into new economies.
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Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................................. 1
PART 1 RESEARCH PROPOSAL..................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................3
RESEARCH BACKGROUND.................................................................................................3
RESEARCH AIMS............................................................................................................... 3
OBJECTIVES.......................................................................................................................3
RESEARCH QUESTIONS.....................................................................................................4
RATIONALE....................................................................................................................... 4
LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................ 5
METHODOLOGY................................................................................................................... 7
ETHICAL CONSIDERATION.................................................................................................... 8
TIMELINE OF RESEARCH ACTIVITY........................................................................................8
PART 2- THE RESEARCH & REPORT.........................................................................................10
RESEARCH METHOD...........................................................................................................10
MERITS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE APPLIED METHODS.................................................11
RESULTS AND FINDINGS.....................................................................................................12
PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS OF QUALITATIVE DATA....................................................12
PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS OF QUANTITATIVE DATA.................................................14
DISCUSSION........................................................................................................................22
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................... 25
RECOMMENDATIONS.........................................................................................................26
REFLECTION........................................................................................................................27
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 28
APPENDIX............................................................................................................................... 30
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PART 1 RESEARCH PROPOSAL
INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH BACKGROUND
Globalization has transformed the business scenario of the world. It has facilitated a great
increment in the trade and cultural exchange between the different economies of the world.
Globalization has shaped a totally new global business environment (Gunn, 2017). The
global business environment means environment in the different economies with
exogenous factors to the local environment of the company. The global business
environment has a great impact on the business decisions and strategies of large business
organizations like Vodafone (Hamilton and Webster, 2018). Vodafone is a British telecom
organization that provides broadband and mobile services to millions of customers across
the world. The company is one of the largest telecom organizations across the globe with its
presence across 26 countries. The company was founded in 1985. In present, the company
operates in around 30 countries and partners and establishes its own network in more than
50 countries (Vodafone, 2019). Globalisation has played a valuable role in the rapid success
and growth of Vodafone. Since its evolution, the company is continuously expanding into
the new economies. Being a telecom organisation, the increasing technological
developments and advancements are contributing to the higher growth of Vodafone in the
global market. Therefore, this research study would focus on analysing the key benefits and
drawbacks of the global business environment to the Vodafone to gain significant
knowledge of how global organisations are influenced and affected due to globalisation.
RESEARCH AIMS
The research aim is to analyze the key benefit and drawbacks of the global business
environment to the Vodafone. The research study is focused at analyzing the role of
globalization in the growth and development of the organization in the wider global market
and how the changing global business environment has fostered or hindered the business of
Vodafone.
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OBJECTIVES
 To analyze the concept of globalization and key factors of the global business
environment
 To determine the benefits of the global business environment to Vodafone
 To analyses the drawbacks of the global business environment to Vodafone
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
 What are the key factors in a global business environment?
 What are the benefits and advantages of globalization to a large business
organization?
 What are the challenges and disadvantages does global business environment
creates to an organization?
RATIONALE
In the present business scenario, several large and small business organizations are having
great opportunities to enter into new emerging economies to expand its business growth
and market share in the global market. These opportunities are leveraged due to
globalization and reducing trade barriers and limitations on world trade. The global business
environment is becoming more liberated and advanced that is encouraging several local and
national organizations to expand their business in the new market and areas to achieve
growth and competitiveness in the market (Goddard, and Gillespie, 2017). Therefore, by
identifying the increasing involvement of large and small business organizations at global
level, this research study is trying to analyze the key benefits and drawbacks that are
encouraging or dissuading organizations to enter in the global marketplace. The study will
be performed in the context of a global telecom organization Vodafone as the company has
a presence in the wider global market and has faced many challenges as well as opportunity
to sustain in the global market.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Hanson et al. (2016) at the early 19th century the global economy was used to
be highly fragmented. The concept of globalization is developed after 1970 and since then it
is continuously growing. Initially, globalization has been introduced as the method of
reducing restrictions on the cultural exchange and promoting equal growth and wealth
among all the nations of the world.
Cavusgil, et al. (2014) has defined globalisation as the integration of the nations to develop
an integrated international economy by increasing trade, sharing and exchanging
technology and foreign direct investment among the different nations of the world.
Globalization could be clearly defined as the eradication of the barriers to trade and
information exchange across the national boundaries. According to Villaverde and Maza
(2011), Globalization facilitates capitalist expansions by liberating ways to amalgamate local
and national economies to create an unregulated global economy. Globalization has unified
the individual world market and developed a single global marketplace.
According to Kuruvilla and Ranganathan (2010), Globalization is reducing the gaps in the
telecommunication industry. Nowadays telecommunication becomes a dominant factor in
the development of the economies. It has facilitated retailers in accessing capital and
consumers outside the local economy. Croucher and Cotton (2011) have stated that the
telecommunication organizations are highly benefitted with international business
expansion and marketing. The companies are having great opportunities to expand their
business to the different locations of the world and achieve greater profitability and growth.
The key benefit is to outsource labour and expertise from different economies with low
labour cost and material cost.
Hulsink (2012) has stated that the developments in communication technology have
widened up the market for telecommunication organizations like Vodafone. Over the past
decade, a remarkable change in the world economy is observed due to constant
developments and advancements in information and communication technology. According
to Goddard and Gillespie (2017), The telecommunication sector has revolutionized the
process of global changes and created many opportunities for other businesses as well.
Globalization backed by the telecommunication industry by allowing the huge increase in
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the cross-border information flow, stimulating customer demand and reducing transaction
costs.
According to Dutta et al. (2015) In the global business environment, the business
organizations are exposed to a broad range of factors that could affect the overall
functioning of the business such as political scenarios of different countries, technological
changes and advancements, culture and social values of people at different regions of the
world, geographic situation and economic status of the economies. These are the key
factors in the global business environment that could create advantages as well as
disadvantages to the businesses operating in the global market (Kolk and Van Tulder, 2010).
Global organizations found many challenges and problems in managing business operations
in different nations. Cultural diversity is another uncontrollable factor in the global business
environment that creates problems in developing effective communication and coordination
within the outside the organization. Vodafone is working on a single strategy for everyone
and does not focus on looking for a new strategy that could affect the business of the
organization in the global environment.
According to Camillus (2016), Global business environment has both positive as well as a
negative impact on the large business organizations. In the global market, increasing
competition is one of the biggest challenges for telecommunication organizations. There are
several players are presented in the global market that could affect the business strategies
and profitability of the organizations. However, competition increases the chances of the
invention and innovations would promote extensive Research and development in the
organization. Homann (2016) has stated that Government stability is an important aspect
that may create negative and positive consequences on the business. The economic force
like stability, crisis and growth could change the market situation for the company
completely. The inflation rate creates an impact on the services and product prices of the
company. Moreover, the companies also need to consider the latest technology to retain its
competitiveness in the market. Being one of the biggest telecommunication companies in
the world, Vodafone has to devise and implement several strategies to withstand the impact
of globalization.
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METHODOLOGY
The selection of the research method and approaches is the most critical as well as an
important part of any research study. For designing and developing an effective research
methodology, it is important to consider the title and objectives of the research so that
most appropriate research methodology could be chosen to accomplish the set research
objectives (Flick, 2015).
This research study will be based on descriptive research design. The philosophy of
positivism will be followed in this research study. Positivism believes that factual knowledge
could be gained through observing, measuring and interpreting through logic and reason
(Walliman, 2017). Thus, the philosophy of positivism would be more suitable for collecting
and interpreting the data on how globalization or global business environment benefits or
limit the growth of Vodafone. The deductive research approach would be followed here that
involves the collection and analysis of the quantitative information for finding answers to
the research question (Terrell, 2012). Furthermore, the survey strategy would be followed
to collect fresh and accurate data with respect to the research subject and objectives.
Further by following the deductive research approach, the mixed research design would be
employed in the study (Neuman and Robson, 2014). The mixed-method design involves the
application of both qualitative and quantitative research for collecting the relevant data for
the study.
The qualitative research would be performed by using the method of documental revision.
In documental revision, an array of existing sources will be reviewed to collect the data for
gaining conceptual knowledge about the globalization and global business environment in
the current business scenario. Several sources like books, journals, newspapers and online
articles will be explored to collect relevant qualitative information for the research
(Silverman, 2016). Moreover, quantitative research would be performed through a survey. A
technique of questionnaire survey would be more suitable to collect the information about
the benefits and disadvantages of the global business environment to Vodafone.
The research will be performed in the sequential order where the data collected from the
qualitative research will be analyzed and used to design an effective questionnaire survey
(Kumar, 2019). The survey will be performed among the employees of Vodafone to gain
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comprehensive data on the benefits and disadvantages of the global business environment
to the organization. A set or around 7-8 questions will be designed to collect relevant
information from the participants with the sample size of 30. The probability sampling
technique will be used to select random employees to take participation in the research
(Kumar, 2019). A simple random sampling technique is used to select the research
participants. The collected quantitative data will be analyzed by using the method of
frequency analysis where the data is calculated in the percentage form.
ETHICAL CONSIDERATION
For performing a research study successfully, it is important to follow the research ethics.
The research ethics involves all the ethical issues that could be raised during a research
project as the research involves human participants (Noble and Smith, 2015). There three
key objectives of a research project are to protect the rights of human participants, to
ensure the research does not harm the interest of any individual, groups or society and to
ensure the ethical soundness of the research through managing risks and protection of
confidentiality and anonymity in the research. The process of informed consent will be
strictly followed in this research study along with all considering all the three ethical
objectives.
TIMELINE OF RESEARCH ACTIVITY
The research study is a very complex and long process that involves several stages and
activities to accomplish the research ultimate objective of the research. This made it difficult
to implement the different activities of the research. In order to complete the research
activities within the specific time period, it is essential to develop a time schedule and frame
the different activities in the schedule (Terrell, 2012). This research study is set to complete
within the timespan of 3 months. The Gantt chart could be effectively used to develop a
time plan for the research. Gantt chart enables to present all the research activities in a
graphical format and supports in scheduling all the research activities against the time. It
facilitates systematic research planning. The Gantt chart for this research study is presented
below:
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Activity WEEK
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Selection of research
title
Developing research
aims and objectives
Conducting a literature
review
Designing research
methods
Collecting qualitative
data
Analysing the data
Designing survey form
Collecting quantitative
data
Recording and analyzing
data
Conclusion and
recommendation
Preparation of final
draft
Submission of the
project
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PART 2- THE RESEARCH & REPORT
RESEARCH METHOD
The research is focused at analysing the concept and key factors of the global business
environment to determine how a global business environment affects the business
functions and decisions of Vodafone and what are the key benefits and disadvantages the
company face in the global business environment. In order to achieve the set aims and
objectives of the research study, a mixed research approach is employed in this study to
collect the data (Flick, 2015). On the basis of the descriptive research design, the philosophy
of positivism has been followed that has enabled to observe measure and interpret the logic
and reason. By using the deductive research approach and survey strategy the primary data
for the research has been collected (Walliman, 2017).
The application of qualitative research has supported in collecting the secondary data
through documental revision. The secondary data is collected from several literary sources
involving journals, newspaper and books as well as online sources (Neuman and Robson,
2014). And the quantitative data has been collected by through conducting a questionnaire
survey among the employees of Vodafone to identify the benefits and challenges of
globalization to the company. The research has been performed in sequential order to
where the qualitative data is collected and analyzed to design the quantitative survey
instrument and conduct primary research. a set of around 10 questions has been asked
from the employees with the sample size 30 as this is small scale research. The research
participants have been selected by using the simple probability sampling technique (Kumar,
2019).
To perform the research activity the total cost of around £3,500 has been required. Around
500 is used for accessing qualitative data, 1000 used for accessing quantitative data, 1000 is
used for analysis and interpretation, 500 is used for stationary and materials and 500 is used
for developing the final draft of the research project.
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MERITS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE APPLIED METHODS
The document analysis serves as a great tool for collecting qualitative data for the research.
It is one of the most efficient methods. The key reason for using document analysis is to
make effective decision and planning for the research. it also supports allocating required
resources to perform the research effectively and align the research with the key objectives.
However, there are certain limitations to the method as it is not suitable for evaluating
collecting sensitive data it is not publicly available (Silverman, 2016). Therefore, for this
research study, the documental revision method is more suitable as it does not involve the
use of any sensitive data and only requires to investigate for effective decisions and
strategic planning for the research.
Moreover, the research also involves the use of a questionnaire survey. The key advantage
of using questionnaire survey method is that a large number of population can be reached
easily through performing questionnaire survey. This method is economically cost-effective
and also provides quantifiable answers to the research that is relatively easy to analyse as
compared to other methods of quantitative data collection (Kumar, 2019). The key
limitation to the questionnaire survey is that it may only provide a little and limited
information and allows the limited choice of responses. There are also chances of
misunderstanding and misinterpretations of the questions by the respondent’s side.
However, the limitations of the survey could be mitigated in this research as it does not
involve extensive research.
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