Vodafone Company

Introduction

Vodafone is a multinational telecommunications company based in London. Vodafone is the second largest telecommunications company in the world after China Mobile. This illustrious company attained this status after struggles to sustain customers in the telecommunications field. This paper is about the SWOT analysis of the company in Britain and also the problems faced by this country. The problems addressed in this paper have both cultural and political Characteristics with possible ways to solve these problems for the better performance of Vodafone as a world class company. This research paper addresses the malpractices and challenges found in the Vodafone Company in the UK. It entails well organized research techniques with findings of issues that cause conflict between Vodafone and both the society and the government.

SWOT Analysis

The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats method of analyzing the performance of business can be used to analyze the performance of Vodafone. Possible measures to improve its performance also come with this mini SWOT analysis; therefore, it is extremely beneficial in a big business like the Vodafone Company. The SWOT analysis, as it appeared in my research, should be conducted in any organization in order to calculate the possible ways to improve the organization (Stanford-Smith et al., 2002).

Strengths

Vodafone has so many strengths that motivate this revered company in its performance and provision of services. The first strength of Vodafone is mainly embedded on its global scale of market. The nature of its market covers the whole world and this enhances this company to generate a lot of income. My research on the performance of this telecommunications company shows that Vodafone has so many users across the world. It has excellent signal strength, and this makes it the most trusted network in India. This strength is particularly valuable to the current status of Vodafone because it ensures it is well used to retain this company as one of the best telecommunications companies across the world.  Diversified geographical working areas also make Vodafone perform awesomely (Hundal, 2010). This company has work stations at different parts of the world. These locations are mainly in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, pacific, and of late in the United States. The Strength of this company has been the fact that it has already dominated its presence in emerging markets, such as India. As this country develops, this company also develops rapidly. The fact that it was the first telecommunication company to dominate the market in India is also very encouraging for this company. This is because they can possibly shape a min set that Vodafone offers the best services in the Indian society. The Vodafone telecommunications company also has a large base of consumers. These consumers generate a lot of income for this company and allow room for expansion. These strengths are also very instrumental in shaping the glory if Vodafone as a world class Telecommunication Company. The policies of this company are also a key strength in their performance, their policies are favorable, and they are internationally renowned. Bearing this in mind, it is supremely practical that this company expands to even more countries since its policies are international.

Weaknesses

The Vodafone Company also has weaknesses, which should be looked into to improve its performance and enhance consumer satisfaction. For example, Vodafone does not gully concentrate on the needs of consumers. So many students go to the United Kingdom for Higher learning every year, and this company does not consider making International call to be relatively cheaper. Its competitors are keen to subsidize International calls and this makes them more popular sometimes, especially among Immigrants in the UK. The attempts by this company to expand their market in the United States may not be hugely successful because business in the US is not so strong as compared to the UK and other parts of the world. The Vodafone telecommunications company has also done extremely little in expanding telecommunication in rural areas across the world. Therefore, it should consider re-organizing its operations to suit the expansion of telecommunications in rural areas (Steinbock, 2007). The competition that this company faces from competitors cannot be ignored. Their competitors are particularly keen to fill the gaps left by Vodafone. Therefore, their competitors, such as Airtel, MTNL, BSNL and Idea among others, get a substantial amount of consumers in the telecommunications Industry.

Opportunities

The Vodafone co. has opportunities to help them stabilize the performance of this company in the International business arena. The first opportunity is the expanding cellular market and the rapid growth of technological inventions. Application of these inventions in the field of telecommunication is a fantastic opportunity to enhance their performance.  The strategy in the offing for Vodafone to combine with Apple is an excellent opportunity of Vodafone to improve their services and produce quality i-phones. Apple is also a large company, and it dominates substantial telecommunications in the world, and this will improve their reputation across the world. The research developments that come along with the increasing rates of technological inventions are also tremendously crucial to Vodafone. There is an opportunity of diversification, which comes along with inventions of technologies like 3G or 4G and WI-FI.  When the world economic recession stabilizes, the services that the Vodafone Company offers would also gain more income rates and this would be an Instrumental step geared by this opportunity to enhance expansion of this great company.

Threats

The Vodafone Company also experiences threats during its operations across the globe. The first threat is the highly competitive market in the telecommunications Industry. This competition reduces their returns since some consumers prefer other affordable products from other companies. The European Union also possesses a threat to the success of this leading telecommunications company. They create regulations on cross border usage of mobile phones with a European Origin. These strict conditions usually reduce the performance of Vodafone in countries outside Europe. Vodafone is also at a threat because it does not meet the expectation of its customers sometimes. They do not respond immediately to network jams and faults. Sometimes, its users complain of lack of call clarity, and this is a potent threat since the customers are likely to shift to better networks (Gow and Smith, 2006). The financial markets that are objects of target by Vodafone also have a volatile nature and this threat causes unpredictability of these markets. Therefore, the threats facing this company have been given attention so that it eases the competition and remain better that other telecommunication companies in the UK.

Problems Associated with Vodafone

In the recent past, investigations have stipulated that the Vodafone has participated in deals to avoid taxpaying. This is a terrifically unscrupulous affair for a company with a good reputation like the Vodafone. These investigation findings were stipulated by the Private eye magazine. This criticism may be a disadvantage to this company, especially considering that its competitors may use this as a way to gain popularity over Vodafone. In the same sense, about the cases of tax evasion for Vodafone, research findings have showed that Vodafone not only owes enormous debts to United Kingdoms’ taxpayers but also to the taxpayers in India. The attempts by Vodafone to defend themselves were rejected by the court and instead a stern action was imposed against them. The action stated that Vodafone could pay $2 billion tax because they had bought an Indian company. This was not a moral action to be performed by such a reputable company like India, considering that there were so many starving people in India at that time. Therefore, it is essential for Vodafone to consider being moderate on the dealing they indulge in to buy countries in other countries. To protect their reputation, Vodafone should also pay taxes accordingly without any signs of resentment. In that case, the competitors of this company would not use their corrupt dealings to defame them. Critics have also accused Vodafone tax evasion deals to be a weapon to raise funds that they use to pay their workers well.

Another challenge found to be facing Vodafone in my research is the hardship in entering the Small and Medium Enterprises. They have tried to do this in the past although it has tended to prove hard. Many SMEs place a high priority on technological innovations that are applicable in their mode of working. It has been hard for Vodafone to fit into these SMEs because they have not considered the unsophisticated nature of SMEs. The flexibility of this service in SMEs should be given a keen note of concern in order to make it possible for Vodafone to venture into this endeavor. Also, Vodafone has also received resistance from consumers in Europe due to the inflexibility of some of their systems. To improve on this, Vodafone should consider advertising their products even better so that customers can change their old way of thinking that Vodafone is by any chance dead inconveniencing. The product that Vodafone had prepared for SMEs also failed because it met a saturated market. This can be explained by the existing companies in UK that were offering the same service even before Vodafone had created it. Therefore, the challenge of competition from other telecommunication companies appears. When there is competition for customers of telecommunication services, some companies subsidize the price of their services just to lure customers. This challenge has materially affected the performance of this company. In the past, an imitation of Vodafone product has also affected the performance of this great company. Some companies create products that resemble the products and services that are offered by Vodafone. This serves as a way of confusing the customers of Vodafone. Sometimes, the imitated products have better chances to remain in the market than the Original products. Therefore, this company should consider improving their service provision by conducting market research to establish the needs of consumers. When the needs of consumers are well known, Vodafone will be at an ample position to create products before they are imitated by their competitors. This success will be reflected by increased revenue being raised by this great company.

Vodafone has also suffered the challenge of threat from most of its customers. These customers threaten to sue Vodafone for their inconveniencing network. This challenge significantly contributes to defaming of Vodafone, and it should be looked into with a considerable concern. With the rampant growth of information technology, the sector of telecommunications has been invaded by hackers in the recent past (McLoughlin and Aaker, 2010). These cyber criminals create applications that are compatible with the Vodafone network and use them to con the consumers of Vodafone. Consumers have been complaining of applications created by these hackers to be used for recharging mobile accounts. Vodafone should impose strict measure to avoid this criminal behavior that costs them a lot of capital. This is because these hackers usually discourage customers and they more often than not prefer to change the network.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is unequivocally clear from my research that Vodafone has suffered various problems during their performance and struggle to sustain the telecommunication need across the world. Also, it is extremely possible for the Vodafone Company to become the world’s leading telecommunications company and defeat the China mobile. My expertise in business through a thorough research has shown that the problems experienced by Vodafone can be solved amicably. Therefore, Vodafone should consider imposing these measures into their working environment to ensure they tame their competitors and be at pace with both the European Union and its competitors.