Analysis Of Rogers Communications Inc. Firm/Internal Environment

Include the following:

• obtain the last 3 years of financial statements for your firm AND the DIRECT competitors (those in the same Strategic Group). Important:If financial statements are not available for your firm, you should select another firm in your industry for which the financial statements are available
  
  
• Normalized Balance Sheet for your firm and direct competitors for each of last 3 years; 2. Normalized Income and Expense Statement for your firm AND the direct competitors for each of last 3 years .
  
  
• compare the data for EACH of the last 3 years for your firm and the direct competitors to determine the trend line for eachcategory (e.g., the cost of goods sold the same as a percentage over the 3 years or is it increasing or decreasing and why? Are labor costs stable as a percentage relative to competitors? Is cash on hand growing as a percentage of total assets on the balance sheet?)

Introduction to the Value Chain Analysis

Edward Samuel (Ted) Rogers Jr, Joel Aldred at Toronto in the year 1960, established Roger communication. Basically, the two men bought the first Canadian radio station. After some time in operation, they teamed up with Bassett and Eaton Families in order to expand the business. Luckily, Roger communication secured the private television license after a series of unsuccessful bidding. This enabled them to expand their broadcasting services.

The company accrued a lot of debts due to the high running costs of the TV and radio business. The situation prompted them to further partner Aldred and the Bassett and Eaton families. Unfortunately, the licensing commission declined to renew their broadcasting license. The situation forced the Aldred and the Bassett and Eaton families to withdraw from the partnership (Dearing, & Singhal, 2018). After some years of successful maneuvers, the business made drastic improvements and war ranked the largest cable companies in Canada.

The company later engaged in telecommunication business through the purchase of Cantel shares. By so doing, it diversified its areas of operations; Rogers Cable, Rogers Wireless, and Rogers Media. Unfortunately, despite its diversified nature, Roger telecommunication has continued to reduce the number of its employees. Notably,it has had an average of 25500 employees for the last three years. Additionally, its approximate annual income and revenue are$1300 and $14000 respectively (“Roger Communications SWOT Analysis,” 2018). Rogers controls a market share of roughly 29% of the telecommunication services in Canada.

Rogers communication started humbly and diversified with time to other areas of operation including the wireless communication. Markedly, it has grown to the level of competing with other leading companies in the same industry such as TELUS. Rogers has banked on research and development. It also has a clearly defined leadership owing it the fruitful operations.

Rogers Communication founded in Toronto in 1960 (Hally, 2016). The company was founded by Edward Samuel (Ted) Rogers Jr, Joel Aldred (Hally, 2016). These two men started by buying the rights to Canada’s first FM radio station, CHFI (Hally, 2016). Later that year the Bassett and Eaton Families partnered with the company, after a bidding war they won the license for CFTO the first private television station in Toronto (Hally, 2016). Three years after Rogers start broadcasting on January 1, 1961, Rogers entered the AM radio station (Hally, 2016).

During the 1970s, the Rogers company had gone into immense debt due to the high cost associated with the running of a radio and TV station business (Hally, 2016). Ted Rogers after learning about the infant industry of Cable television once again partnered with Aldred and the Bassett and Eaton families were granted a license for Toronto, Brampton, and Leamington, Ontario (Hally, 2016). In 1969, the recently formed Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) at the time was concerned with media ownership (Hally, 2016). This regulatory board informed Rogers that they would only renew their Cable licenses if the Bassett and Eaton families where no longer involved with the company (Hally, 2016). Even though this would put Ted Rogers into more debt, he was able to pay the 50 percent share that the families had (Hally, 2016). Over the coming years the cable TV business grew, and in 1980 Rogers went from the sixth largest cable company into the largest due to the acquisition of two of the biggest cable companies in Canada (Hally, 2016).  

Primary Value Chain Activities: Operations

In the 1980s, Ted Rogers recognized the potential of cellular/wireless and Telephone industry (Hally, 2016). Rogers bought 25 percent shares in Cantel. Cantel became the first company to set up a Canada-wide cellular telephone network (Hally, 2016). In 1986 the newly named Rogers Communications Inc. gained operational control and two years later gained full control of Cantel (Hally, 2016). While the company has continued to grow in the 1990s the company was close to collapsing due to its $5-million debt load (Hally, 2016). In 1999, Microsoft, AT&T, and British Telecom invested $2 million into the company easing the concern of the impending collapse (Hally, 2016). Since then the Rogers company has continued to grow and has become Canada's largest telecommunication company (Hally, 2016).

Currently, Rogers Communication is a diverse media company that has three significant lines of business, Rogers Cable, Rogers Wireless, and Rogers Media. Rogers cable and wireless sectors are the largest within Canada, and the media sector is Canada’s premier collection of media assets (Rogers, 2017). While Rogers is one of the most diverse communication and media company compared to Telus and Bell has the lowest number of employees. As displayed in Figure 1.1 we can also see the Rogers has been cutting back on the number of employees its employees.

Figure 1.1: Number of active employees, working at Telus, Bell, and Rogers in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Retrieved from Telus, Bell, and Rogers 2015-2017 Annual Reports.

An organization's business activities and operations are an important aspect that determines their success. Organizations operations focuses on creating an environment that supports partnership, direct and foreign investment, organization and growth of the business, productivity, efficiency, and advancement in business activities (Kazam, 2009).Rogers communications operations are based on wireless, cable, business solution and media, and almost all the sales that the business takes part in occur regionally in Canada.

Among most of the recognizable telecommunication brands of Canada Bell has already occupied a prestigious place due to their superior quality of internet services along with rendering diversified products. As per 2015 annual data, the company has grabbed $2.730 billion CAD as their net income. Telus is one of the most recognizable places occupied a predominant place in Canadian market. This organization is occupied CA$ 46.68 stock price in the current market. Voice entertainment, healthcare, video, IPTV television is the core product with which Telus is dealing in order to maintain their market sustainability.

By comparing the revenue of Rogers, Bell, and Telus companies in Figure 1.2 we can tell that even though Rogers cable and wireless are the largest in Canada. It is not the company that has the highest revenue or net income. This can also be viewed in Figure 1.3 that depicts the net income of Rogers, Bell, and Telus for the past three years.

Figure 1.2: Revenue amounts for Telus, Bell, and Rogers for the years 2015-2017.  Retrieved from Telus, Bell, and Rogers 2015-2017 Annual Reports.

Figure 1.3: Net Income amounts for Telus, Bell, and Rogers for the years 2015-2017.  Retrieved from Telus, Bell, and Rogers 2015-2017 Annual Reports.

Comparative analysis between Rogers and two other competitors

The percentage of market share in the industry per company has been calculated using the total revenue of Telus, Bell, and Rogers company’s revenue. The total revenue then divided the company’s revenue. After this information was calculated and compared which can be viewed in Figure 1.4, we can see that Rogers Communications Inc. is not the leading supplier of telecommunication services in Canada, but Bell is. Rogers’s actual only makes up about less than 30% of the telecommunication market shares.  

Figure 1.4: Percentage of Market Share in the Industry per company for Telus, Bell, and Rogers for the years 2015-2017. Calculated from information retrieved from Telus, Bell, and Rogers 2015-2017 Annual Reports.

The company’s operations for the last three years have depended on its major outlets; Wireless, cable, media and business solutions. In 2017, 58% 0f the company’s total revenue was from it wireless operations while 24% was on cable, media and business solutions made up 15% and 3% respectively; from its operations 64% of the profits were from wireless operations, cable 31%, Media 3% and 2% business solutions( Company operations,2017). In 2016, total revenue was, wireless 57%, cable 25%, media 15% and 3% business solutions while the adjusted operating profit, wireless 63%, cable 32`%, media 3% and business solutions 2%(Company operations,2016).In 2015, Operating revenue, wireless revenue 56%, cable 26%, media 15% and 3% and profits 63%, cable 32%, media 3% while business solutions provided 2%(Company operations,2015).

The organization is vast and is known to provide its products and services to different parts of the country. The organization has various segments that experience progressive growth and has opened other branches to facilitate operations. Rogers Communication has its Headquarters in Toronto, Canada. In addition, the organization has 37 more branches in different locations such as Waterloo, Ottawa, and Oakville while it also has other branches outside the country such as in Amherst, Windsor, and Burlington (Craft, 2018). Thus, it is important for organizations to have more locations or be situated in different locations to streamline the organizations operations.

Figure 1.5: Rogers Communication Inc. Annual Revenue. Taken from Craft Rogers Communication(2018). Retrieved from https://craft.co/rogers

There has been a difference witnessed in terms of growth and the annual revenue collected in the industry and organization. Rogers Communication has experienced a 3.2% increase in annual revenue since the year 2014 (Craft, 2018). The revenue is collected over carious percentages through the four segments of business operations, wireless, cable, media, and business. The revenue collection in the industry is mostly as a result of sales that the companies undergo within the industry based on retail, residential, and business consumers (CRTC, 2017). The table below indicates the collection of revenue in the telecommunication industry.  

Figure 1.6: Collection of Revenue in the Telecommunication Industry. Taken from CRTC (2017) Communications Monitoring Report. Retrieved from https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/PolicyMonitoring/2017/cmr2017.pdf

Despite the top 3 telecoms companies in Canada being bound by a few similarities; all of them have distinct characters that separate their performances from each other. Therefore, the company’s revenue collection varies for each of them. Rogers Communication, BCE Inc. and TELUS – all of them collect different amounts of revenue every year. Rogers communication has experienced an increase in the collection of revenue over the last five years and the collection in 2017 was $14.14 Billion (Market watch, 2017). BCE Inc. also experiences high collection of revenue with $22.72B. TELUS Telecommunication company also collected $13.30 billion which was an increase of 3.9% (TELUS, 2018). Hence, the revenue collected within the industry is significant and of great value to the economy and the industry. Rogers Communication proves to be an advantage over other telecommunication companies due to a variety of reasons. Through looking at its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, it is possible to identify the company’s advantages and weaknesses.

1. The company has a diverse system of operations, thus, includes a variety of business operations that consist of media, wireless, and cable. Additionally, the organization is the only licensed carrier of the global standard GSM/HSPA+ in the country that has been allowed to operate on a global platform (One Rodgers, 2014).
2. The company has a huge number of mobile and app subscribers that are essential to the company’s growth and development.The company thrives on being Canadian material providing an opportunity for Canadian materials and products. Therefore, as compared to other companies in the industry, the company has limited global presence. It is also over dependent on the Canadian market which is already saturated. Hence, the organizations growth and development is limited

Some factors also limit and threaten the development and growth of the industry. The region experiences some changes in laws and regulations that may affect the performance of the industry. Additionally, a highly competitive environment that is provided by companies like BCE Inc. and TELUS is also exists.

In order to distribute the products from warehouse to the customers’ destination the organization like Rogers Communications takes effective initiatives. Logistics and management are important features that are essential to an organization’s activity. Through logistics, the management or company is able to manage the flows of products, finance, and data within or outside the company (Qadir and Ali, 2017). With the help of advanced technology, the organizational experts distribute their products and services within stipulated time (Vainio, 2015). The service providers associated with Rogers are very much professional endowed with proper management skill and technological competency. In order to provide internet connection to the concerned stakeholders the service providers tend to maintain their professional gesture. As a result, the customers always like to show their positive outlook towards the service providers.

Rogers communications makes arrangements with multiple third parties. These third parties are brought in to provide essential features of the business operations to both the employees and the customers.

The company outsources payroll facilities, functions to do with management, call center support, installation and service technicians, invoice printing and technicians.

Porter’s outbound logistics define various collection, storage and distributions systems that are outside or within the organization's facilities. Thus, Rogers Communication outsource for services regionally in Canada and also internationally (Reuters, 2018).

To determine the efficiency of its plans and operations the company depends on: Wireless postpaid net additions, wireless subscribers, internet net additions and the number of subscribers in the internet. Rogers communication has its centers in 37 locations regionally and internationally. These centers enable the company to conduct its services and functions effectively with less challenges.

The available distribution centers provide the company with an opportunity to provide its services to different parts of the country and the world. However, with the distribution centers, the cost of running the activities also increases affecting the performance of the company and possible profits.

Marketing and Sales is one of the most crucial parts of a corporation. By having a solid marketing strategy, a company can continue making money, so they can keep expanding their business and to continue maintaining their current operations. In 2017, Rogers launched a new marketing platform called “Make More Possible,” the main aim is to make Rogers services more accessible to all Canadians (Kom, 2018). This new platform is being implemented by using video ads; these ads are also a step away from Rogers previous marketing strategy (Kolm, 2018). Rogers original marketing strategy was to advertise the service/product is different ways (Kolm, 2018). For example, Roger Media would make one advertisement, and Rogers Cable would make a different ad. The new video advertisements combine and advertise all of Rogers sectors in one place (Kolm, 2018). This not only saves on advertising expenses, but it also takes a different approach to how other telecommunication companies are advertising (Kolm, 2018). Leroy Williams Rogers Senior Vice President and Chief Brand Officer said that “Instead of talking about how we ‘Make More Possible’ through all these terms and phrases that represent the ‘how,’ we are making this brand platform about the outcomes. It brings it down to something, which, no matter how connected to technology you may be, you understand, because you understand outcomes.” (Kolm, 2018).

Figure 7, shows where customers can purchase products and services for Rogers, Bell, and Telus.

Place to Purchase Products and Services
Rogers	Bell	Telus
-       Independent dealer networks -       Company owned retail stores -       Major retail chains and convenience stores -       Online websites -       Call centers -       Outbound telemarketing	-       Brand owned Retail stores -       Online website -       Call centers -       The Source store locations -       Third-party dealers	-       Brand owned Retail stores -       Third-party stores -       Sales agents -       Call centers -       Online website

From Figure 8, we can see that between the three top competitors the standard services that they each provide is the same. However, when looking closer, we can see that Rogers provides more products/services that can be included in bundles.

Summary of Products
Rogers	Bell	Telus
-       High speed internet -       Roaming Device protection -       Phone plans -       Email -       Roaming national and global -       Standard TV packages -       At home device protection -       Mastercard -       Advertising -       Rogers On Demand -       Rogers Anyplace TV -       Bundle options	-       Wireless specialized plans -       Roaming National and Global -       High speed internet -       Standard TV packages -       Home Security -       Advertising -       Crave-TV -       TV Everywhere Services -       Bundle options	-       Data and voice -       Devices -       Internet -       Healthcare -       Home security

Figure 9: Summary of Products for Rogers, Bell, and Telus. Retrieved from Rogers, Bell, and Telus 2017 Annual Reports.

Below in Figure 11, there is a comparison for Rogers and its main competitors. Looking at one of the most basic plans when for data we can see that Rogers price is the best because it is the lowest. When looking at Figure 1.12, we can see that between Bell and Rogers TV, Rogers is also the better choice because it offers more channels for a lower amount of money.

PRICES OF 3 GB DATA PLANS
Company’s	Data included	Price(before tax)
Rogers Wireless	3 GB	$80 CAD
Bell Mobility	3 GB	$85 CAD
Telus Mobility	3 GB	$85 CAD

Figure 10: Price of 3 GB Data Plans for Rogers, Bell, and Telus. Retrieved from the Companies main sites.

Prices of TV Package
Company’s	TV Basic Packages	Price (before tax)
Rogers Cable	Select Package: 100+ Channels	$49.99 per month
Bell Fibe TV	Good Package: 77 TV Channels 22 Radio Channels	$58.95 per month
Telus	(Does not offer TV Services)

Figure 11: Price of TV Packages for Rogers and Bell. Retrieved from the Companies main sites.

Rogers promotes its product by using short videos that showcase not only one sector of Rogers communications but promotes all sectors (Kolm, 2018). The company advertises its products on traditional marketing areas like TV, billboards, and newspaper ads, but they also market their products on the internet through websites like YouTube and apps like Instagram (Kolm, 2018). This way they are not only reaching the older generation but also, the younger generation.

Rogers strength is that it has a lower cost compared to its lead competitors which to most people is what they are looking for as long as they are also getting the same quality product/service as if they went for the more expensive option. Another strength the company has is that it is marketing slogan is very diverse and can be changed in slit ways that not only promote the product/service but also indicates to customers that where ever they go, they will have coverage, and nothing could stop them. A weakness is that while they have a very effective marketing strategy that they may be spending too much on marketing and that they might not be able to recover the costs.

Customer Services are important in organizations such as Rogers Communication Inc. Through the services the company could retain and earn customer loyalty and will allow customers to spread the word about the company which is a form of advertising.

Rogers Communication Inc. provides a business unit that is single enterprise focused which reduces cost and improves customer experience (One Rodgers, 2014). They also focus on providing goods and services that improve growth in industry and improve the market; hence, customers are assured of quality and efficient products.

The after sales service followed by Rogers Communication is very much effective which highly grabs of attention of customers.  After reviewing the products, the customer may not get satisfied on the overall quality of work. In this situation, the business experts have every right to help the customers and satisfy their needs and demands. `Methods of Billing and payments such as live chat and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and community forums and also calls or texts. These ensure that the customers can make wireless and residential billing and inquiries on payment. Additionally, they have the opportunity to make smart monitoring inquiries. The company also offers Technical support for its customers, ensuring that they have live chats and can make calls that offer wireless, Television (TV), Internet and smart home monitoring support. In addition, the company has support the client by allowing them to shop by phone in the convenience of their homes. Also, shopping online is possible and encouraged for the customers. Hence the company seeks to make it easier and convenient for the customers to receive their products and services.

The company ensures constant advertising of products and services that the customers might require. While promoting the products the organization can easily reach the doorstep of target customers. Both social media and traditional media is used based on which customers can get detailed overview about the brands and their services. A number of websites offer customers the opportunity to review and provide information.

After sales services	Rogers Communication	Telus
Follow up for collecting customers’ feedback	Rogers communication after selling the products and services collects the customers feedback by providing them hard copy of forms. Customers have to fill-up the forms and provide necessary feedback	Telus has implemented rating system for collecting customers’ feedback.  Every customer while using the services has to register their name. After using the services the concerned customer has to rate  service provider
Flexibility for product exchange and additional services	If the customers have to face any challenges after receiving the product, the service providers are flexible to exchange the product at once without any further delay.	Telus is not flexible to provide instant exchange offer. The customers’ compliant is investigated first and after that the business experts intend to decide whether they will exchange the product or not.
Re-forming strategy and policy	Based on customers’ feedback the organizational experts intend to form  business strategy and policy in order to meet current needs and demands	If the customers’ needs and demands are proved to be genuine the business experts form new strategy.

Various strengths that ensure that the success Rogers communication Inc. has various strengths that ensure the success such as constant innovation that allows production of new produce and services (One Rodgers, 2014). Additionally, good customer relationships and presence of suitable structures are also essential in the development of the company. Therefore, customer services are important features that affect the growth and development of the company and also offers different structures that are essential to the company.

RBV analysis:

RBV is an effective approach of achieving competitive advantages by evaluating the resources associated with the organization. In order to gain the competitors’ advantage the organization has to get in-depth knowledge and understanding about their internal and external resources.

Physical resources such as lands, machinery, buildings and other equipments are one of the most effective resources of Rogers. In order to expand the entire process of business in different geographical boundaries Rogers would have to increase their physical resources.

Brand reputation, trademark and intellectual resources are considered under intangible resources. Rogers has already gained immense reputation and brand identity in telecommunication industry. Employees associated with this organization is very much intellectual and professional that has already reflected on their performances.

Heterogeneous is the amalgamation of both the two resources, which include both internal and external. In order to sustain in the multinational country Rogers has appointed people from diverse culture backgrounds and attitudes.

Resources of each particular company cannot be moved from one particular place to another. Especially, intangible resources such as brand reputation, intellectual resources, knowledge and capitals cannot be transformed to other company. However, in order to make their intangible resources stronger Rogers has implemented highly skillful employees who have made the entire process of work stronger. With the help of this particular resource, the company has always set a trademark.

With the help of evaluating VRIP framework, the organization evaluates different types of heterogeneous resources, which are valuable for achieving competitive advantages. Valuable implies on how a business resource is valuable in giving a competitive threats in market. Human resource can be considered as one of the most valuable resources for Rogers. Every company has to keep some significant resources as their major USP. Rogers as their rare resource can use their intellectual resources as well as service quality in order to gain the attention of customers. Imitability is the way of imitating the resource types of rivals so that the company can gain competitive advantages in the market. In order to gain competitive advantages the organization has to focus on following the above mentioned stages of resource based views.

The number of employees in the company’s competitors were:

Company	2015	2016	2017
BCE Inc.	49,968	48,090	51,679
TELUS	47,700	51,300	52,900

The company also believes in full time and permanent employment of its employees. Although part time employment exists where great benefits are awarded, and a great culture exists it is impossible to move up in the company as a part time employee. Since, the company thrives in awarding numerous benefits to their employees which are long-term through which they could plan their activities and careers. Therefore, the company is always in search of potential, talented, creative individuals who are awarded the opportunity and privileges to join the company on full-time capacity.

The employee’s revenue per year determines the effectiveness within a company or organization. Rogers communication Inc. Revenue per employee for the last three years are

Year	Revenue (in billions)	Number of employees	Revenue per employee
2017	10.91	24,500	445,306.12
2016	10.34	25,200	410,317.46
2015	10.51	26,000	404,230.77

In this very specific part, the study has made effective comparative analysis on revenue differences of employees. Comparative analysis has been made between Rogers Communication and Telus. In this very specific part comparative analysis is made in terms of revenue structure.

Year	Telus number of employees	Rogers number of employees	Rogers Revenue per employees	Telus Revenue per employees
2017	19,000	24,500	445,306.12	345,305.11
2016	18,000	25,200	410,317.46	310,318.47
2015	20,000	26,000	404,230.77	304,130.78

In order to get good performance from the employees, Rogers communication has started some of the most effective initiatives which are still not followed by its contemporary competitors like Telus. The initiatives are as follows:

The organization offers opportunities for career development among employees through allowing them to participate in trainings and mentorship programs (Yerema and Leung, 2017). The company hires individuals with various professional knowledge in their respective fields. It also provides training opportunities for them as they continue with their activities within the company. Telus has not still implemented this kind of education and training procedure due to economic constraints.

The salaries of the most popular jobs in the company include the following: An average salary of a sales representative in the company is $46,481 per year while a Field sales representative is going to earn around $54,943 per year, Representative commercial (H/F) is paid $11 per hour and a sales associate receives $37,691 per year. It is also reported that Customer service employees also earn $15.72 per hour while customer relations earn $16.71 per hour. Thus, in Canada Rogers Communication ranges a salary of about $30,272 per year while sales jobs offer $113,803 per year and also offers hourly payment of $11.56 and $72.12 per hour for associate and Senior Business Analysts. The company also offers various benefits to the employees. They include Medical insurance plans, dental and vision insurance, flexible spending and savings accounts, insurance and coverage payments, employee assistance programs, and wellness programs. Different salaries are awarded for the employees depending on their roles and responsibility within the company (Rogers communication). Telus has not still implemented this kind of salary and remuneration structure for maintaining employability sustaining plans due to economic constraints.

The company due to its activities and employee benefits and perks has received various awards for being a top employer, the company has been named among the best places to work, mentioned as an iconic Canadian brand, Best Diversity employers, and as Canada’s Greenest employers. These awards highlight how the company relates with the employees to develop a better organization and industry. Telus has not still implemented rewards and recognition policy due to economic constraints.

One of the most effective strengths with which Rogers is dealing includes economic strength. The organization is possessed with effective economic strength with the help of which the human resource managers can easily implement rewards and recognition policy, training and development session. On the other hand, the employees associated with the business process are very much professional with the help of which the business experts do not have to receive any kind of unprofessional behaviour from the employees.

On the other hand, limited workforce is one of the most significant weaknesses due to which the entire operation of Rogers Communication is getting immensely affected. The employees are unable to make an effective balance between demand and supply.

R&D / New Product Development 

Roger Communications has been in the top 3 research and development spenders within their industry for 2014, 2015, and 2016 (Infosource Inc., n.d.). Data for R&D spending is not yet available as a compiled report for 2017. This information will be released on November 12th, 2018. The data available in Figure 2.4 shows that Rogers Communication Inc.’s R&D spending as a percentage of revenue is above average for their industry. This is compared to the other companies in the telecommunications industry who made the Canada’s Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders list, published each year by Research Infosource.

ROGERS COMMUNICATION R&D SPENDING
Year	R&D Spending	Revenue	R&D as a % of revenue	Industry average ($)	Industry average of R&D as a % of revenue
2014	$418,000,000.00	$12,850,000,000.00	3.25%	$386,000,000.00	2.50%
2015	$425,287,000.00	$13,414,000,000.00	3.17%	$387,195,000.00	2.43%
2016	$480,555,000.00	$13,702,000,000.00	3.51%	$386,000,000.00	2.43%

For the three years considered in this research, Rogers has been the second highest spender for research and development in the telecommunications industry. They have been beat each year by Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE Inc.) and followed closely by either BlackBerry Ltd, Ericsson Canada Inc, or Telus Corporation.

According to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, there are 40 patents associated with Rogers Communications Inc. between the years 2006 and 2018 (Government of Canada, n.d.). Of the 40 patents filed, 22 have been issued and 18 are still pending (Government of Canada, n.d.). As shown in Figure 2.5 below, Rogers filed a number of patents during the years 2011 and 2014, while the most patents were granted to Rogers in 2016. The average number of patents filed by Rogers per year is 3 patents.

There are obvious strengths and weaknesses in funding research and development. A weakness would be that of any investment- it could fail. Funding research and development can be a gamble, especially if there is a timeline involved. Innovators could lack time or funding, rushing a product that essentially may never actually succeed. One of the many strengths of funding research and development would be giving Rogers immediate access to new technology as it is developed. They are funding technological advances, which could change everyday life for Canadians. This puts them ahead of the competition and make customers feel more inclined to choose them.

The Corporate leadership within the Rogers is based mostly on the hierarchy style. It starts at the top with the CEO who answers to the Board of Governors. The CEO works with nine other Executives to make sure that the company is heading in the right direction and coming up with new ways that will not only help the company but will also serve to benefit the consumers (Our People, 2018). Rogers competitor Bell has a perfect example of this. The CEO George A. Cope was a key executive is starting Bell Let’s Talk initiative (Executive team, 2018). This initiative is “the largest-ever corporate commitment to Canadian mental health and now one of the country’s most prominent community investment campaigns.” (Executive team, 2018). As of right now, there is no indication as to if Rogers CEO Joe Natale is planning to introduce a new initiative be it similar to Bells or completely different. This may be because Mr. Natale has only been in the position of CEO of 2 years compared to Mr. Cope’s ten years as CEO of Bell. In Figure 2.6, we can see the comparison of Rogers, Bell, and Telus CEOs. From this comparison, we can see that Mr. Natale is the newest CEO among the three CEOs. When looked at as an average of the number of years the CEO has worked divided by the combined years each CEO has held the position, Mr. Natale only accounts for 6.25% of the total. Whereas Telus CEO Darren Entwistle, who has held the position for 18 years makes up 56.25% of the total. While Rogers CEO has been in his job for the least amount of time, he has been in the telecommunication industry for 15+ years which when compared in Figure 2.6 to the other two CEO’s is more similar to how much time they have also been within the industry.

Company	Number of Executives	Name	Title	Years in position	Years in Firm	Years in Industry
Rogers	10	Joe Natale	President and Chief Executive Officer	Since 2017 (2 years)	As CEO 2 years	15+ years
Bell	14	George A. Cope	President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc. and Bell Canada	President since Jan 2006 (12 years) and CEO since July 2008 (10 years)	Started in 2005 13 years	20+ years
Telus	11	Darren Entwistle	President and CEO	Since 2000 (18 years)	Started in 2000 (18 year)	21+ years
Total	35		n/a	32 years	33 years	56 years
Averages:     Rogers	28.57%			6.25%	6.06%	26.79%
Bell	40.00%			37.50%	39.39%	35.71%
Telus	31.43%			56.25%	54.55%	37.50%

List the Top Executives within Rogers, Bell, and Telus, to then compare the number of years each has held their position and been in the firm/industry.

From looking above table, we can tell how fast a company is growing between the last year and the current year. From Figure 2.7 we can see that in 2016 the company saw a 2.24% decrease in the rate the company was growing for the previous year. If we look at Rogers, we might assume that they just had a bad year because of internal problems, but when compared to Bell and Telus we can see that they all experience a significant decrease in their revenue growth in 2015. This decrease was due to Canadian consumers reassessing their spending on telecommunication (The Conference Board of Canada, 2015). In an article by Kristelle Audet, Senior Economist, with The Conference Board of Canada. She wrote that “although consumers’ thirst for wireless data is set to grow at a rapid pace for the foreseeable future, their capacity and willingness to spend more on telecommunications services will not follow suit, the amounts households are dedicating to TV, Internet and wireless services will continue to be constrained by slower growth in disposable income and high debt burdens.” (The Conference Board of Canada, 2015). Though the decrease was significant all three companies were able to increase their revenue growth in 2017, while Bell was the only one to surpass what their revenue growth was in 2015, Telus and Rogers were still able to move closer to what they were initially at in 2015.

While customers were reassessing how much money they were willing to spend on telecommunication affected Rogers Revenue Growth it didn’t affect their share prices. In fact, in Figure 2.8 we can see that Rogers share price has seen an increase for the past three years. Bell and Telus share price was also not affected by the decrease in revenue growth, and as shown in Figure 2.8 they have seen a steady increase in their share price over the past three years. Rogers has also seen a rise in their shares and experienced an $12.26 increase in share price between 2016 and 2017, the biggest increase in share price between the three companies.

The market capitalization lets the company, investors, and other interested parties know what the total value of a company’s outstanding shares are worth. This number is then used to rank the size of companies and is also an indication of the public’s opinion of the company. In Figure 2.9 to 2.11, we can assess the treads of Rogers, Bell, and Telus  market capitalization. From looking at the charts, we can tell that all have increased their market capitalization over the past three years. When ranking these companies, Rogers would place second after Bell. Though Rogers seems to be catching up to Bell when analyzing the graphs, we can see that Rogers compared to Bell has a steeper slope between 2016 -2017. This indicates that Rogers shares are gaining in price and that the public is starting to favor Rogers instead of Bell. We will not know if this trend will continue, but from looking at the current data that is available, it seems like the trend has continued.

As of the moment, the CEO of Rogers Joe Natale has not caused any problems and is said to be resetting the Rogers and bringing it back to the top. From my research, I would agree that Rogers is hitting the reset button. The company’s new executives have all been placed in their position within the past three years, and from looking at the annual reports, we can see that revenue has been increasing steadily for the past three years. The increase in market capitalization also indicates that customers are starting to favor Rogers just as much as Bell. I will be Interesting to see where the new executives are going to be leading the company in the next few years.

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