Topic 1: How Vodafone Handles Competition
Here is Vodafone Porter's Five Forces analysis:
Bargaining power of buyers : The telecommunication business is highly competitive across different markets around the globe ( Dodourova, 2003 ). The buyer, therefore, has more power since having many competitors in the market makes it easy for the consumers to switch from one company to another.
Bargaining power of suppliers : Vodafone is highly dependent on suppliers. The quality suppliers are on high demand from the competitors to offer the best supplies. The supplier, therefore, has higher bargaining power over Vodafone. The suppliers are from different locations of the world, and this helps Vodafone have some power over them.
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The threat of new entrants : The telecommunication business is capital intensive and requires years of investment, demands a wide array of human capital. There are lots of barriers to entry to the telecommunication business. However, the government backs companies to enter the telecommunication business to protect their interests.
The threat of substitute products : Vodafone cannot be easily replaced or substituted, but there are normally alternative telecommunication companies in every country. Vodafone has, however, differentiated itself in terms of fast, effective, and efficient service delivery.
The rivalry between competing firms : The level of rivalry is very high in telecommunication, especially in developed and emerging markets like in the United States, European Union, China, and India.
Topic 2: Vodafone Organizational Structure
Vodafone organizational structure features a Board that ensures overall group conduct, including ensuring the success of the business, setting organization value standards, and setting the purpose. The board is responsible for an Audit and Risk Committee, the Nominations and Governance Committee, and Remuneration Committee ( Kleiousis et al., 2019 ). Under the Board are CEO and CFO. This structure ensures there is some level of hierarchy to ensure accountability.
Topic 3: Vodafone Value Chain
Vodafone business is highly dependent on sophisticated and multi-layer global supply chains. The Vodafone direct suppliers normally have several suppliers of their own who also have tier suppliers, and this dependency goes on over numerous tiers. The intermediaries, including wholesalers and distributors, are also involved at different points in the Vodafone value chains. Vodafone works tirelessly to ensure supply chain integrity by managing ethical, legal, social, and environmental risks.
Topic 4: Organizational Culture
The organization needs to motivate the employees through a reward system, and there is a need for motivating the workers to trust the organization and to start giving their best in their respective fields. Every organization is specifically interested in attracting highly skilled workers in different technical areas, training these workers continue to ensure the employees are equipped with the skills to increase production. Organizations do not just need to hire. They need to attract a diversified workforce that will bring in the required creativity and promote an environment that is accepting of people from different cultures across the globe. Enhancing employee performance through the introduction of new ideas into the business is likely to meet rejection from some employees. This rejection is due to fear of change in the status quo, fear of lack of the appropriate skills, and fear of negative outcomes that may directly impact on the employee.
Topic 5: Vodafone Risks
Vodafone has a wide geographic reach, and as such, it has to comply with a huge range of requirement that supervises or regulate the construction, licensing, and operation of its services and telecommunication networks. Sometimes there are lots of pressures, both regulatory and political, in terms of protecting the consumer interest, specifically during the recession periods, significantly impacting the Vodafone business. A perfect case example is a recent regulation by the European Union that has cut phone bills for travelers. Vodafone counters this risk by closely monitoring the political developments in both its potential and existing markets, identifying risks in its proposed and current commercial propositions ( Kleiousis et al., 2019 ) . The regulatory reports are repented to the executive committee regarding the regulatory and political risks, which are then considered in the business planning process.
Another major risk that Vodafone experiences are risks to health from mobile phones. There are continuous complaints regarding the health risks related to the electromagnetic signals emitted by the base stations and the mobile telephone handsets. The business is impacted by the perceived health risk associated with the radio waves transmissions from the transmitters, telephones, and the related equipment. This has specifically been a significant challenge in the European Union markets. Vodafone works closely with the EU institutions in conjunction with the Brussels international policy tea to ensure there are an early warning and advocacy related to possible precautionary legislation.
Vodafone also has the problem of network outages and 'hacks.' People do not like it when they experience network outages. Vodafone reports that there are risks that malicious groups or individuals could attack the networks successfully, leading to loss of confidential consumer data or loss of critical systems availability. To deal with this risk, Vodafone designs the critical infrastructure in a manner that prevents unauthorized access to minimize the chances and impact of a successful attack.
Topic 6: Vodafone Environmental Analysis
Here is the Vodafone PESTEL Analysis:
Political Factors
Political factors are all about the level of government intervention in a particular industry, economy, or organization. For Vodafone, there is no adequate government intervention in different jurisdictions, which is not favorable for business operations in specific environments.
Economic Factors
The connectivity between every business and the economy is almost apparent. Economic factors are those that determine or influence the economic performance of an organization. For Vodafone, these include an unstable global economy.
Social Factors
Vodafone businesses exist in different societies with people of different needs, values, and customs. Social factors refer to aspects in the general environment where an organization or a business exists and operates. For Vodafone, the notable social factors may include age distribution, population growth, cultural beliefs, and social responsibility, among others.
Technological Factors
Embracement of technology is almost a necessity in the modern corporate world. For Vodafone, technological factors are those that involve innovations and the creation and implementation of new ideas ( Dodourova, 2003 ). The technological factors are automation and research and development, which Vodafone has significantly invested in much over the years.
Environmental Factors
Effective businesses are aware of the environment in which they exist. Environmental factors are various aspects of the environment that are either directly or indirectly related business, in our case, stiff jurisdictional regulations and restrictions like European Union control on telecommunication companies.
Legal Factors
Various laws of the land govern businesses. Moreover, businesses need to be consistent with business laws set in a particular territory in which they operate. Some of the notable legal factors for Vodafone include observance or violation of patent laws, health and safety laws, and consumer protection laws, among others
B. Importance of the Six Topics
Topic 1: How Vodafone Handles Competition - Understanding competition helps Vodafone plan its strategy and remains on top of the game.
Topic 2: Vodafone Organizational Structure - Organization structure allows Vodafone to differentiate tasks and ensure everything runs perfectly well.
Topic 3: Vodafone Value Chain- The value chain ensures the supply chain works well with the company's overall objective.
Topic 4: Organizational Culture- Organization culture is the norms and values that a company embodies in its daily operations.
Topic 5: Vodafone Risks - understanding risks is important since the company takes mitigate measures before they fall out of hand.
Topic 6: Vodafone Environmental Analysis- Understanding the environment helps Vodafone know about what is happening to the economy, politics, and legal affairs and as such position itself.
C. The importance of understanding the topic in today's corporate structure?
In a highly competitive business environment and sector, the organization must have information at its tips. Understanding the business allows the proper organizational structure to be constituted that works for the business model, understanding risks and business environment allow the business to be always ready for any in eventuality and ready for competition.
D. Vodafone Strategy
Vodafone's strategic priorities are to increase its competitive advantage and enhance returns. To achieve this, the company widens its customer engagement, improve asset utilization, and change the operating model.
References
Dodourova, M. (2003). Industry dynamics and strategic positioning in the wireless telecommunications industry: the case of Vodafone Group plc. Management Decision .
Kleiousis, E., Terzoglou, A., Valsamidis, D., & Tsourgiannis, L. (2019). Corporate Governance: A Comparative Analysis of the Accounts of the Telephone Companies Cosmote, Vodafone, and Wind. In Economic and Financial Challenges for Eastern Europe (pp. 509-523). Springer, Cham.
