Pestel Analysis

1) Description of company, nature of its business and other relevant facts (200 words)

2) Provide PESTEL analysis of company Ensure you include all factors, describe the factors and how the company is affected by the factors (600words)

3) Undertake a Porter's Five Force analysis of the company's competitive environment. Ensure all five force are included, describe the force and how the company market environment is affected by the force. (600 words)

4) List a min of 4 strategic recommendation you believe the company could enact to avoid problem you have uncovered from the Porter's or PESTEL analysis. (350 words)

5) Provide general conclusion of the current state of the company and its operating environment. (200words)

Introduction to management

A popular saying has it that, whoever holds information, controls the future. This paper herewith, explores StarHub (see Figure 1).  A prolific information and communication company right here in the heart of Singapore, StarHub’s product portfolio features networking for cellular and desktop devices, e-commerce, cable television and ultra high speed internet services. It also has multiple suppliers for both hardware and software (StarHub Business, 2016).

StarHub is a jointly owned company. According to Tanada (2015), shareholders include, Singapore Technologies Telemedia commanding 56% of the shares, Nippon Telegraph 10%, BlackRock Fund Advisors 2% and other 5 companies with less than 1% of the shares each. During its formative years, StarHub was to solely compete with SingTel. However due to expansion and product diversification, it now has three dominant competitors in fixed line and mobile network and at least nine other competitors in the internet front (Hoovers, 2016).

The Company’s clients include corporate entities, government utilities and individual residents. StarHub has been listed on the Singapore Exchange for the last 12 years. As of June 2016, the company market share stood at 38% (Hoovers, 2016). Moreover, the company is the fastest growing telecommunication company in Singapore. It is estimated that over 56% of homeowners in Singapore use at least one product from StarHub (Incognito, 2015).

Political factors affecting StarHub

According to Asian Intelligence (2016), Singapore has the lowest political risk in Asia. To start with StarHub benefitted from Government liberalization that ended SingTel monopoly in 2003 through a competitive bidding process. Furthermore, the Government has been reducing its controlling stakes in SingTel leveling the ground for privatization (Ure, 2008).

One significant political challenge that face StarHub is Government regulation. This takes the form of band allocation in mobile communication. Through government restrictions to the radio spectrum awarded to companies, expansion and exploring new opportunities are limited (Fjader, 2010).

Secondly, government tariffs and taxes inhibit StarHub expansion and network coverage (Ure, 2008). However this is a general challenge touching on all other communication companies. The upside is that the cost is passed on to the customers thereby spreading the risk.

Lastly there has been growing concern over global terrorism and human rights. Though not a dominant situation in Singapore, StarHub may be faced with tough decisions. On one side the government will be demanding call interception and on the other calls from customers for privacy (Fjader, 2010).

Economic Factors affecting StarHub

StarHub has been grown rapidly in the last decade. Presently commanding market leadership with market share of 38 percent, the future looks even brighter. Coupled with improvement in standards of living for the people, the global economic crisis which had limited peoples’ purchasing power has eased out (Tanada, 2015).