Comprehensive Essay On Telstra Corporation Limited.

The topic for this task is to select an organisation with offices in Australia and research the organisation in order to compile a comprehensive report that outlines the following:

1. What the organisation does and a brief history
2. What industry it is in and what are thespecific characteristics of this industry
3. How the organisation is performing (financially, or in terms of market share, reputation)
4. How does the organisation manage its communications
5. How the organisation is perceived publicly

Over the years, Telstra Corporation limited has been termed as one of the largest companies in the telecommunication sector due to various reasons such as its substantial market share (Orgierd 2018, p. 28). This report discusses various aspects concerning this company, paying attention to an overview of the company, industry overview, organization overview, organization performance, communication strategy, and public perception.

The paper will be done based on an extensive research which will be mostly based on primary and secondary sources. The research will also explore various other factors especially those relating to the manner in which the company relate and communicate with the public, its market share and financial performance.

Although the study will be used for academic purpose, it can be fundamental to not only the company but also to its stakeholders because it will provide a good insight concerning some of the essential things associated with the firm. To give a clear understanding of every aspect, the paper will be arranged in topics and subheadings and will provide a list of references to assist in further research. The limitation of the study, in this case, will be lack of essential data collection techniques. Although the research is done using primary and secondary sources, it would be crucial to use various data collection methods such as interviewing employees to get a proper insight of the company.

Telstra is one of the leading providers of mobile phones, home phones, broadband internet, mobile devices, and other products and services. Currently, the company is fully privatized and has been undergoing various transformations using a change program which aims at making its operations to be customer focused (Camelia, 2017, p. 46). Due to the nature of competition which exists in the industry in the Australian telecommunication industry, Telstra has been applying various operational strategies to ensure it attains a competitive advantage. These strategies include viewing customers as important assets, doing extensive research to understand changes in customer buying behaviour, analyzing market trends, and investing in technology and innovation.

In its operations, the company views technology as one of the key factors that enable people to remain connected and therefore strives to ensure it adjusts its operation to every change which happens in the industry. The primary thing that the company does is offering communication solutions to Australians by offering various services and products (Den & Siane 2011, p. 69). Some of the products and services that are currently in its line of products include building and operating telecommunication networks and markets voice, internet access, mobile, pay televisions among other products. Based on its goals and objectives, Telstra focuses on continuing to innovate new products and services that will make the customer to attain the best experience.

According to Cosmin (2011, p. 68), Telstra Corporation operates in the telecommunication industry in Australia. Although the company is one of the leading in terms of market share and other aspects that determine the competitive power of an organization, there are other firms that have been challenging this company on its attempts to expand or retain its market share. Some of these companies include Optus, Vodafone, Nortel inversora SA, among others.

Industry overview

According to Hyma (2013, p. 269), the Australian telecommunication industry has been influenced by various factors such as continuous changes in technology, the introduction of new legal requirements and changes in consumer perception. To address these changes, Telstra has been using various strategies such as having proper change management strategies, encouraging continuous innovation, setting rules and regulations that correspond to the legal requirements and so forth.

Buddhodev (2012, p. 78) affirms that the telecommunication industry is considered as the heart of advancing the digital importance for Australia and therefore every company that operates in this industry strives to ensure it does its best to make the consumer get the best experience. Established in 1993, the Australian telecommunication industry has grown in both jurisdiction and importance and has become a major contributor to enhancing the economy of this country.

As of 2018, this industry provided a revenue of about 52 billion dollars and is expected to grow at a stronger rate in 2017. According to Taylor & Schejter (2013, p. 78), the market incumbent Telstra has been dominating the local telecommunication landscape with more than 50 percent market share, although this percentage has been declining as time goes on.

Irrespective of the available competition, the Australian telecommunication industry is expected to continue growing especially because of the huge adaptation of digitized communication techniques by a substantial number of consumers (Vitthal 2013, p. 547). To accommodate the growing demand and adaptation of this technology, most of the companies that operate in this industry have been using various strategies such as trying to expand their services to different locations and undertaking research from time to time to understand the changes in consumer perception towards the products.

While the fixed-line telephony traffic and revenue indicates a major decline, the mobile broadband market has been growing steadily, indicating that in future it will be a major source of revenue for most of the companies that operate in this industry. Although currently there seem to be companies that have dominated this industry by market share, the threat of new entrants is high because as people continue to value being connected with their colleagues through telecommunication, investors are finding this industry as ideal for investing and therefore seems in the future more companies with emerging to strengthen the competition.

Though competition has been strong in this industry, Telstra has been performing well because of its outstanding operational strategies. Comparing with its key competitors, the company leads in terms of revenue, market share, and customer loyalty among others (Seema & Deepa 2016, p. 427). According to statics concerning market share dominance in this industry, Telstra leads with around 43 percent, Optus 28 percent, Vodafone 18 percent, while the other players share around 11 percent.

Comparing Telstra with other organizations, one can state that this company has a substantial number of customers because of various reasons such as better customer service, highly innovative products, reliable services, better marketing strategies among others (Forman, 2013, p. 78). Although the company faces a major threat from Optus, research indicates that the company is working hard to ensure that it retains its competitive advantage through enhancing customer experience and delivering products that fully satisfy the needs of its customers. The company views its customers as crucial assets and the reason why the company has been in operation and therefore strives to ensure they feel highly valued.

Organization performance

In terms of financial performance, the company had a profit of more than 29 million dollars in 2018, a figure which indicated a decrease as compared to 2017. According to Forman (2013, p. 56), one of the reasons that have contributed to decrease in Telstra’s revenue is strict competition from Optus which has seen the company to lose some of the market share and other factors such as the spam calls which scammers use in the name of Telstar officials to con its customers.

The ownership of this company has been changing over time. Initially, Telstra was owned by the government, which later sold some of the shares to the public (Rahul 2018, p. 67). With time, much has been done to make the company fully privatized. The company is located in Australia, with its headquarters in Melbourne although it has various other branches in the country.

Being a telecommunication company, Telstra has found it easy to communicate with its stakeholders concerning some of the key things that are crucial in its operations. According to Cosmin (2013, p. 48), one of the reasons that have made this company to stand out in the Australian telecommunication industry is that it values being connected with its stakeholders through creating a channel that makes its management to share important things with customers, shareholders and other stakeholders.

One of the strategies which the company use for its external communications it’s the use of SMSs. Considering the fact that this company offers communication solutions to its stakeholders, it also uses some of the services it offers to market its products (Cheney., May & Munshi 2011, p. 46). For example, it uses SMS to advertise new products or other things that it finds important for the customers to know.

To cover a wider audience and especially consumers who not have its products or services, Telstra uses various other types of media such as TVs, and radios. The company also understands that social media has become one of the widely used communication tools and therefore uses some of its platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to communicate with its stakeholders (Joana 2010, p. 648) Additionally, Telstra also employs the use of billboards located in strategic places where the public can view the information being delivered.

With the new tricks which scammers use to cone people while posing as Telstra staff members, the company used various means to alert the public about the trick. Some of these strategies included writing short messages to its customers informing them to be careful concerning missed calls or the phone calls they receive from new numbers. The management also used the media to communicate to the public concerning the issue because it felt that it would have a significant impact of its reputation if it was not addressed.

Although Telstra is termed as the strongest company in the Australians telecommunication industry, the public has been having varying perceptions towards various things associated with the company (Kihyun 2016, p. 69). For example, some feel that its way of communicating with the customers concerning some of the things that affect not only the organization but also the consumers is good because the management keeps informing them about some of the key things that influence its services and products.

There are also those who feel that irrespective of having various strategies which it can use to communicate with the public, Telstra ignores some of the things that impact the consumers (Marianne 2015, p. 52). For example, when the call scam emerged, the company was aware of the issue but took long to communicate to the public concerning the issue. Some of the people also feel that irrespective of Telstra being aware of this issue, it has done nothing important to have it addressed.

Other people have positive perception towards Telstra’s different means of communicating with its consumers because they feel that the varying options enable people with various means of attaining information to get what the company communicates to the public. According to Orgierd (2018, p. 28), having varying means of discharging information is crucial in because it makes the information to reach as many people as possible.

Conclusion:

Telstra is one of the biggest telecommunication company in Australian. The company has a market share of approximately 38 percent and competes with various other firms including Optus, Vodafone, and Nortel inversora SA. Although the telecommunication industry in this country has been affected by stiff competition, Telstra has been using various strategies such as investing in technology an innovation to ensure it maintains its competitive power.

The Australian telecommunication industry has been influenced by various things such as changes in technology, changes in legal requirement, variation in customer perceptions among others.  Although competition has been stiff in this industry, Telstra has been performing well over the years due to increased customer loyalty, proper operational and marketing strategies among others.

To communicate with customers, Telstra uses various means such as sending SMS, use of social media, billboards among others. Irrespective of being the leader in this industry, people have varying perceptions concerning this company. For example, there are those who feel that it values communicating essential things to the consumers while others feel that it ignores some of the things that affect not only the company but also its stakeholders. Apart from communication, most of the people have a positive perception towards the products and services offered by this company because they feel it considers giving them communication solutions that match their needs and expectations.

References:

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Camelia, B. (2017). Business Communication in the Internet Age. Economics, management and financial markets, 12(2), 43-65.

Cheney, H., May, S  & Munshi, D. (2011).  The Handbook of Communication Ethics. New York: Routledge.

Cosmin, I. (2013). Effective Communication - an Essential Step towards Public Success.  Journal of Media Research, 6(1), 43-79.

Den, R. B & Siane, B (2011).  Agency and the Deunionisation of Managers in an Australian Telecommunications Company.  Journal of Management and Organization, 17(2), 68-86.

Forman, J. (2013).  Storytelling in Business: The Authentic and Fluent Organization.  Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press

Hyma, C. (2013). Creating Radical Honesty in Organizations. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 7(2), 265-286.

Joana, W. (2010). Influence of Superior-Subordinate Communication on Employee Satisfaction.  Journal of Positive Management, 1(1), 645-676.

Kihyun, L. (2016).  Ethical Leadership and Followers' Taking Charge: Trust in, and Identification with, Leader as Mediators.  Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, 44(11), 68-70.

Marianne, J. L. (2015).  Voluntary Sustainability Reporting: A Case Exploring Ethical, Regulatory, and Strategic Considerations.  Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies, 21(1), 26-54.

Orgierd, S. (2018). Market Communication: Ethical and Praxeological Dimensions.  Economics & Sociology, 11(2), 23-48.

Rahul, G. (2018). Marketing – A Critical Text Book.  South Asian Journal of Management, 25(1), 67-87.

Seema, S & Deepa, M (2016).  Communication for Socially Responsible Initiatives.  Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 52(1), 425-476.

Taylor, R. D & Schejter, A. M. (2013).   Beyond Broadband Access: Developing Data-Based Information Policy Strategies. New York: Fordham University Press

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