Vodafone's Strategic Analysis: Macro Environment, Planning, and Forces

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Vodafone's business strategies. It begins with an introduction to Vodafone, a leading telecommunications company, and outlines the report's objectives. Task 1 utilizes the PESTLE framework to analyze the impact of the macro environment on Vodafone, considering political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors. Task 2 focuses on the internal environment and capabilities of Vodafone. Task 3 applies Porter's Five Forces model to evaluate the competitive forces within the telecommunications market. Finally, Task 4 interprets and devises strategic planning for Vodafone using various theories, concepts, and models. The report concludes with a summary of findings and includes a list of references.

Business Strategies

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Applying appropriate frameworks analyse the impact and influence of the macro environment
on a given organisation and its strategies........................................................................................3
TASK 2.................................................................................................................................................8
P2 Analyse the internal environment and capabilities of a given organisation using appropriate
frameworks......................................................................................................................................8
TASK 3.................................................................................................................................................9
P3 Applying Porter’s Five Forces model evaluate the competitive forces of a given market sector
for an organisation...........................................................................................................................9
TASK 4...............................................................................................................................................11
P4 Applying a range of theories, concepts and models, interpret and devise strategic planning for
a given organisation.......................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Business strategies are the methods, which manager and leaders of organisation
use, so that they can define a fix path for their employees which they have to follow. These
paths are designed using different plans and strategies, so that they can attain their goals
and objectives. This report is based in Vodafone, which is one the leading telecom
organisation of the world. It is a British telecommunication multi national organisation,
which have their head quarter at Newbury, Berkshire, England. It was founded on 16th
September, 1991, the complete name of Vodafone is Voice Data Fone (Akter and et. al,
2016). In this report, a study will take place on the frameworks which will help organisation
in gaining information about the impact and influence of macro environment. Along with
this, a study will take place on internal environment will also get discussed of that
organisation and also help in gaining knowledge about the frameworks used by them.
Also, a discussion will take place on Porter's five force model, so that competitive forces of
organisation in market get analysed. In the last, different theories and concepts will get
applied, so that a strategic management plan of organisation can get designed.
TASK 1
P1 Applying appropriate frameworks analyse the impact and influence of the macro
environment on a given organisation and its strategies.
Macro environment is the external environment in which organisation is performing
their business activities. Factors in these environment are not in control of organisation but
they have power to affect the working and functioning of that organisation. Small changes
in these factors are lead to big issues for organisation and also can cause to huge financial
as well as reputation-al loss to them. Vodafone is one of the biggest telecommunication
company of the world, which use to provide their service in about 25 countries of world
along with partner network in 47 nations ( Bansal and DesJardine, 2014). It is very
important for them to study and analyse these external factors, so that they can make their
strategies and plans according to them only. The framework which are very common for an
organisation to study in macro environment is PESTLE. The factors included in this factor
are as follow :-
1. Political : In last few years, the growth in telecommunication sector has become
very fast, and organisations providing these facilities are gaining huge profits. This
all because of support made by government of nations and their due to their help

made in favour of organisations. Vodafone is one of the biggest name in this the list
of service provider in telecommunication sector, they use to provide their services in
different countries of world. Therefore, it is important for them to study the political
conditions of the nations in which they are going to invest along with the
governmental conditions of countries in which they are performing their activities.
This is the factor poses huge impact on performance of them, which is not in control
of them. As, if the political conditions of a nation is stable then, it will become easier
for them to perform their activities there ( Chang, 2016). It also help them in making
a stable start in that conditions and also help them in making good customer base.
Where as, if the political conditions of nation is not stable then, it will create problem
for Vodafone in performing their activities in such conditions. As change in policies
by government will disturb their pricing and profitability strategies, by which they will
not be able to make strong customer base and also not able to grow their business
in that marketing environment. Vodafone is UK based organisation, and the political
conditions of that nation is very good, which helped them in making their strategies
stable for long term and also helped them in focusing on making strategies that how
they can attract ample number of customer towards, service offered by them.
2. Economical : For an organisation which are dealing at national or international
level, it is very important to study the economical conditions of nation. This is
because, it is the only factor for which organisations are performing their operations.
It is very important for an organisation to make turn over with their products and
service, so that they can gain some profits, which will help them in growing and
developing their business. The nation which have stable economical conditions will
help an organisation who are investing in their country in gaining good returns for
their investments ( Chen and Jermias, 2014). This also lead the organisation in
making strategies which will help them in getting a boom start, so that they can
make loyal customers and also can get good profits. While, if nation do not have
stable economical conditions, then it will become very difficult for them to attract
customers and make profits. As for attracting ample number of customers they have
to reduce their cost and profitability over their products, so that customers get
attracted towards them. This also lead organisation like Vodafone in reduction to
their profits, which decreases the speed of growth and development of organisation
in that nation. UK is one of the biggest economy in the world, as the economical
conditions of that nation is very stable, which has helped Vodafone in making a
strong financial base and also helping them increasing the number of loyal

customers of them. Along with this, it also help them in gaining good profits over the
products offered by them. This all together come and increase the development and
growth rate of them. Where as, if the political of nation is not good as UK has, then
it will become very tough for Vodafone to make investment and get return like profit
on them accordingly, so that they can grow and develop their business.
3. Social : This is the factor which is associated with the social conditions of an
nation. As it is very important for an organisation to understand these factors of the
nation in which they are performing or thinking to implementing their business
( Chu, KrishnaKumar and Khosla, 2014). This is because, the final end of a chain of
any organisation is related to society. If society loves the product and services
offered by an organisation, then it will lead them in achieving the goals and
objectives of organisation. While if society is not supporting and loving the products
offered by organisation, then it become just impossible for that organisation to
survive in that marketing environment. Vodafone is one of the leading
telecommunication organisation in the world, and for them it is very important to
provide products and services which can give some benefits to society. This will
help them in gaining support and love of customers, by which it will become easy
for them to survive and make profits in market place. Vodafone use to provide
products and service in telecommunication sector, which has helped society in
connecting to world, and also help them in making their work easier. This all lead
society in gaining benefits like adoption of new technologies, higher living standards
and other. Also they have helped in increasing the demands of new smartphones in
market with a extraordinary and has also helped schools in making changes in the
pattern of their working by helping them in adopting different technologies. These
technologies use high speed network, so that they can work in very effective
manner. These all has helped Vodafone in gaining positive response and support
from society, by which their growth and development has become faster.
4. Technological : In modern era of business, technology is one of the important
aspect for an organisation. This help them in increasing the efficiency of different
operations performed by them. This also lead the organisation in making changes
to their operations in very effective manner, so that their performance of them get
improved ( Eaton and Kilby, 2015). For performing the tasks in modern era, it is very
important for an organisation to introduce new technologies in their functioning, so
that they can make improvements in their operations and also can make

improvement in their production. Vodafone is one of the world's biggest
telecommunication organisation, therefore, for them it is very important to adopt
new technologies in their operations, so that they can make appropriate changes in
their functioning. The use of technology for Vodafone is very special, as the service
provided by them is only related to technology ( Higgins, Omer and Phillips, 2015).
Therefore, adopting new technology in their operations will help them in reducing
the cost of production and also help them in attaining high profitability. Use of new
technology will help them in providing products and services by which the
customers satisfaction level get improved. Along with this, this will help in reducing
the complexity of their different operations, which will lead to increase in job
satisfaction to their employees.
5. Legal : Every nation has their own rules and regulation which every organisation
performing their operations in their marketing environment have to follow. In these
legislations, there are ample number of rules which are defined by government and
other legal bodies of nation, associated with different activities performed by
organisations. Therefore, for performing the operations in effective manner, it is very
important for organisations to follow these rules and regulations, so that they can
perform their operations in smooth manner, and also do not get fixed into any legal
issue. An organisation which do not use to follow or perform their operations
according to these legislations, then it can create problem for them, and also can
disturb their working in marketing environment. This can cause financial loss as well
as loss in goodwill for that organisation ( Khanagha, Volberda and Oshri, 2014).
Vodafone is telecommunication service provider organisation, which use to provide
their services in different nations of world. Therefore, it has become very much
important for them to make studies about the rules and regulations of the nation in
which they are performing their activities. This will help them in making strategies
according to the rules and regulations, so that the performance of their activities do
not get hampered.
6. Environmental : In modern era of marketing environment, the external factor which
has start playing impact on organisations function is environmental factor. As there
are ample number of NGOs and governmental organisations are present in a
nation, which work to manage the environment of that nation and also use to set
measures which an organisation have to follow while performing their activities.
These organisations and NGOs work to protect the environment from additional

loss, so that every person in world can enjoy and live life in healthy environment.
Vodafone is one of the leading telecommunication organisation in the world, and
there are ample number of tasks performed by them which can make harm to
environment ( Klettner, Clarke and Boersma, 2014). Therefore, it is very important
for them to study the environmental laws and legislations of that nation so that they
can make change in their policies of operations and functioning. This will help them
in making changes which are god for environment and this will lead them in making
their contribution in the favour of environment. It is also important for them because
not performing the work according to environmental laws of nation will cause them a
lot in financial manner as well as can affect their goodwill.
Ansoff matrix, is another tool which Vodafone can use in their organisation. As this
will help them in gaining information about their current strategic position in market, and
also help them in finding new paths, which will help them in attaining their goals and
objectives.
1. Market penetration : This is the fist stage of this model, where organisation like
Vodafone use to increase the sale of their existing product in existing market. This
can be achieved by using different promotional activities like, advertisements in
news paper, TV, radio, social media, also the another promotional tool they can use
is discount offers. These all will help them in increase the information about the
products and services offered by them in society, which will result as increase in
their share in current market.
2. Market development : This is the step where Vodafone have to take their current
product in new market. In this they have to launch existing product in new market,
so that the sell of product and profitability by it can get increased. In such conditions
organisations like Vodafone use to launch the most popular product of them, so that
the base in new market become stronger.
3. Product development : In this the step where, Vodafone have to launch new
product in existing market. This will help them in increasing the variety of products
offered by them in existing market ( Leonidou and et. al, 2017). This will lead the
organisation in making a strong customers base in current market by using new
products.
4. Diversification : This is the most risky step which an organisation use to take. In
this Vodafone have to launch new product in new market, which is like playing a

bluff. As they are not aware about the marketing conditions of that market and also
do not have knowledge that the product they are going to launch will meet success
or not. Therefore, it is said as most risky step which an organisation can take.
TASK 2
P2 Analyse the internal environment and capabilities of a given organisation using
appropriate frameworks.
Internal environment of an organisation is referred to the environment of inside the
organisation. This is the type of environment which manager and leader of organisation
can control and handle ( Mi, 2015). Vodafone is one of the leading organisation in world,
therefore it is very important for them to use proper tool that will help them in analysing
internal power of their organisation.
1. Valuable : This is the step where organisation gain knowledge about the products
and service which they use to offer and other do not. Vodafone is one of the leading
organisation in the world of telecommunication, which use to provide different
products and service which their competitors do not. This include special offers on
their plans and also have a good and strong relationship with their retailers and
wholesalers.
2. Rare : In this step, organisation like Vodafone use to identify the resources which
are with them but their competitors do not. This will help them in gaining competitive
advantages, as rare resources are very much valuable asset for organisation. This
increase their efficiency of working of Vodafone rather then their competitors. The
most important and rare asset they have with them is Intellectual Property Rights,
which are very much are and their competitors do not copy it.
3. Inimitable : Here Vodafone use to check that which of their resources and assets
their competitors can copy. In this the most rare think which they have is Intellectual
Property Rights, which are very tough for any of their competitors to copy.
4. Organised : This is the last step of this model, where Vodafone will get take an
overview of the manner in which they use to organise their products and service
along with their resources ( Noe and et. al, 2017). This will help them in getting
knowledge that how far are they from their competitors and also help in gaining
knowledge about the filed where their competitors can compete them.

Also for analysing the internal environment of organisation, it is very important for
Vodafone to analyse their strengths and weaknesses, which are as follow :-
Strengths :-
1. The main strength of Vodafone is huge market coverage, as the network of them is
very big and vast in size.
2. The another strength of them is the revenue generated by them.
3. The marketing strategies used by them are also very unique which provide a
strength to them (Strength and weaknesses of Vodafone, 2019).
4. They use to offer their plans and offers at very premium cost, which help them in
attracting ample number of customers.
Weaknesses :-
1. The major weakness of Vodafone which they are facing from last few years is their
subscriber base is reducing at very high cost.
2. The another issue for them is decrease in their brand valuation.
3. Along with this, another weakness of them is loss in their market share in USA.
4. Also the issue faced by them is increase in their poor performance in Europe, which
is their base continent.
TASK 3
P3 Applying Porter’s Five Forces model evaluate the competitive forces of a given market
sector for an organisation.
Porter's five force model is very helpful for organisations like Vodafone, as this help
them in gaining knowledge about the competitive marketing conditions in which they use to
perform their operations. Following is the application of model on Vodafone, in UK :-
1. Bargaining power of buyers : As there are ample number of customers Vodafone
have for their products and services ( Rosemann and vom Brocke, 2015). Along
with this they use to provide their products at fix price which is almost same or low
to their competitors. This all has reduced the bargaining power of their customers.
2. Bargaining power of Suppliers : Vodafone is one of the leading organisation in
the world of telecommunication, and they have long list of suppliers which use to

provide raw material to them. Along with this, it is they have long list of those
suppliers are willing to provide their products to them. This help them in locking the
deal with suppliers at their conditions, so that the bargaining power of suppliers
come down for them.
3. Threat of new entrance : Telecommunication sector is huge in size, and it is very
important for an organisation to make huge amount of invest to make a start up in
this sector. Along with this, it is very important for them to take permission of
government and other legislations of nation, so that they can perform their
business ( Rugman and Verbeke, 2017). But invest so huge cost is not very easy
and it is very much risky, and along with this, it is very difficult process to take
permission and complete documentation for new start up. Therefore, the threat of
new entrance for Vodafone is very low in marketing environment of UK.
4. Threat of substitutes : As the products and service offered by Vodafone are can
be said as same or partially same with their competitors. But the pricing strategies
used by them help them in keeping the price of their products very low, which is not
easy for any of their competitor to provide their products and services at that cost.
Along with this, there is no service which is not provide by Vodafone in
telecommunication industry. This all has reduced the threat of substitute for
Vodafone in the market of UK.
5. Competition among existing rivals : As telecommunication is very huge industry
and there are ample number of service providers in this industry. This has increased
the competition among the existing rivals of Vodafone, the organisations which use
to give tough competition to them are at&t, NTT, China mobiles ( Scholes, 2015).
The products offered by these organisations are very much similar and the price
range are also very much same. This has increased the competition among existing
rivals very high for Vodafone. Along with this, every organisation want to attract
ample number of customers which include new customers towards the products
and services offered by them. This all has made the competition among all these
very tough.

TASK 4
P4 Applying a range of theories, concepts and models, interpret and devise strategic
planning for a given organisation.
To sustain and position itself in the market for long term, Vodafone PLC is using the
concept of Porters Generic Competitive strategy. This strategy is the result of SWOT
analysis. This framework assist in deciding whether the firm is a cost leaders, focus player
or differentiation, along with this the organisation positions itself by leveraging its
strengths. As it seeks that telecommunication industry is jammed with many companies
which are offering their clients the different types of products and facilities ( Shuen, 2018).
Therefore they need to analyse the condition of market and then adjust their effective plan
of action in order to gain the competitive advantage, as by the the market share and profits
increases. Different companies are folowing various strategies to gain their market share
as some render the high and best services to their customers with high cost by which their
customers become less, on the other hand some reduces the cost of product and gain
more customers. This is all possible with the Porters generic strategy which was founded
in 1995 by Michael Porter, as it is stated above that Vodafone is successfully using this
strategy for gaining competitive advantage. The three porters generic strategies are
discussed in detail which are as follows -
Illustration 1: Porter’s Generic Choice

1. Cost Leadership : The firm who has adopted the cost leadership strategy, had
become the lowest cost producers in the industry of their sector in which they are
dealing. The organisation who is following this strategy would gain the higher profits
in the case when the competitive products are essentially uniform and selling the
products at standard price of market ( Spender, 2014). The firms who succeed in
cost leadership strategy, them they have following strengths such as, high level of
expertise in manufacturing process engineering, efficient distr8ibution channel, etc.
In addition with this, the company with low cost generally targets the broad market.
2. Differentiation : When a company uses differentiation strategy then in that they
differentiates their products from their competitors that the product and services
offered by them to their customers is unique and by this the customer perceive to
be better than or different from the rivals products. Vodafone PLC can make their
product different by various ways such as providing extra services to their
customers, providing discount offers, add any value in their product. In this , the
value added for the uniqueness of the product may allow the firm to charge the
moderate price of their products so that each customer can able to buy it. The
company who is following this strategy can the strength as highly skilled and
creative product development team, access to leading scientific research, etc.
3. Focus : The firm can use the focus strategy of porters generic strategy to
concentrate on a particular or specific product in the marketplace and offering the
special and unique products for the niche market. In this strategy, the particular
typical product is marketed by using this strategy so that the comparison can be
easily done with other products, and these special products are sold and buy with
specialized uses ( Veit and et. al, 2014). Apart from this, the companies that
succeed in focus strategy are able to adapt a wide range of products improvement
strengths to a comparatively thin market section which they know very well.
Bowman’s Strategy Clock
This is a model which spreads the option for strategic positioning. This defines that
how a product is to be positioned in the market so that the firm like Vodafone PLC can gain
the competitive advantage. The main purpose of this model is to explain that how a
product is to be positioned in two attributes which are named as price and perceived value.