Strategic Direction, Industry Analysis, And Resource Implications Of Dialog Axiata Essay.

The strategic direction that the company has followed in the past and the way in which strategic thinking has developed within the past 5 years. 

A detailed analysis of the industry in which the company is operating to include:

• The choice and use of appropriate frameworks for strategic analysis.
• A critical discussion of the company’s competitive advantage among its direct competitors.
• The probable industry scenarios facing the company within its existing market domains.

Further analysis with regard to:

• Whether their mission and vision statements are aligned to the demands of the marketplace.
• The company's strategic capabilities.                                                                                                                    

Discuss possible strategies that the company could follow to defend its core business.                                       

In the light of your discussion in tasks 1-4, analyse and evaluate the resource implications of your recommendations that the company has to address.

Task 1: Strategic Direction and Strategic Thinking of Dialog Axiata

Dialog Axiata is a telecommunication company in Sri Lanka with the vision of being the one and only undisputed leader in the telecommunication sector. The vision of the organization will help the country to increase connectivity and enhance the enterprises and lives. Multi-sensory connectivity aimed by the organization will help in enriching and empowering the lives of the Sri Lankan people and business. Because of the vision of being the undisputed leader of the telecommunication industry, connectivity will be established throughout the country. This will provide immense growth opportunity for the country in terms of business, education and social lives of the people.

The mission of Dialog Axiata is to excel in technology and provide connectivity throughout the country. The organization also emphasizes to spread their connectivity to different human faculties and sensors. This will enable the organization to remain committed to the customers and conduct business according to the requirement of the customers. The organization aims to do so by providing a customer-driven service, responsive towards the customers by ensuring high quality service. The mission of the organization is to work with qualified and enthusiastic individuals, as this will help them in achieving the goal and objectives of the organization.   

The aim of the organization is to spread connectivity throughout the country. This will help the organization to spread the connection to remote areas and enhance their living standard (Bull et al. 2016). Because of telecommunication throughout the country, all the citizens will be able to have access to each other. Moreover, the business in the country will prosper due to establishment of strong connection. A growth in the country’s economy will be maximized, as foreign investors will prefer to invest in the country due to strong telecommunication connection (Dissanayake and Dissanayake 2013).

The objectives of the organization are to analyze the business strategies of the competitors in the market. This will provide an added advantage for the organization, as analyzing the market and business strategies of the competitor will enable Dialog Axiata to develop and implement their strategies accordingly (Hollensen 2015). Moreover, investigating the current requirement of the telecommunication in remote areas of the country is also an objective. As a result, the organization will be able to plan and develop strategies for reaching out and establishing connections in remote locations. This will enhance the living standard of the individuals.

The strategic thinking of the business is to reach out to remote locations of the country and establish connection. This will help in enhance the living standard of the population along with increasing the business opportunities for the country (Calderaro 2015). Telecommunication connection will help in influencing the education and economy of the country. In the past five years, the organization has been able to reach out to the remote locations of the country to a certain extent and has established connections successfully. However, the organization needs to emphasize more on expanding the connections for the betterment of the country and the business (Mendis and Weerakkody 2014). The company has also made notable changes in improving the speed of connectivity with the use of the advanced wires and other breakthrough technologies. Dialog has also served the country in a much better way which involved supporting education programs, schools and colleges as well as providing training to the different unemployed youths of the country. Thus the CSR initiatives and the strategic directions is a notable feature of the company for the past 5 years.

Task 2: Industry Analysis for Dialog Axiata

Strategic Analysis of a company is the most basic and useful tool for planning the business. The strategic analysis of a company will always be done by conducting a SWOT analysis which involves the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats possessed by the company in the market. Dialog Axiata is the largest telecommunication service provider of Sri Lanka> the company has a well established network which caters to all the needs of the customers. Being such a big company its strategic analysis can only be determined by conducting the SWOT analysis (Widger 2016).

Strategic Lenses is divided into three different parts namely;

1. Strategy of Design- Dialog Axiata has carefully implemented the design strategy by means of a logical and analytical process which has helped the organization to implement each and every plans in an organized manner. The management is the ultimate decision maker in such a process which is what makes the implementation more easier and flawless.
2. Strategy as experience-The following strategy is based on the amount of past experiences gathered by the employees or the people engaged in managing the organization. The amount of experience has helped the organization to avoid any crisis situation while integrating and implementing the best possible strategies to achieve success. The bargaining and negotiation process with suppliers also becomes smoother since the last five years. The following change thus have made the organizational structure more compact in nature.
3. Strategy as ideas-The importance of variety and diversity is one of the important considerations while determining the strategy of the organization. The strategy of the organization is fixed in such a way that it adheres to the needs and wants of each and every customers. The top brass of the management of Dialog has created such diverse strategies in the last five years keeping in mind the cultural diversity of the people and the customers.  

Table no 1- SWOT Table

Source- (Jayamaha 2015)

Strengths- As mentioned in the table the largest strength of the company lies in the fact that it is one of the biggest telecommunication Company of Sri Lanka. Being one of the biggest organizations of the island nation, it enjoys a level of competitive advantage over the other similar industries. It provides its customer base a flawless mobile coverage which helps to increase its customer base. The company also possesses proper and stable brand equity for the presence of the best products in the market. Apart from this Dialog has a proper CSR strategy that helps it to establish itself as a company that cares for the social cause of the country. Its CSR initiatives are one of the best in the country and have received accolades all over the country.

Weakness- One of the main weaknesses of the company is the absence of a proper idea on the future mission of the company. Such an absence makes the company vulnerable to external forces. The absence of a proper coordination among the employees does not help the cause as because they lack in motivation. The organization also fails to meet the ever-changing demand of the customers due to the lack of proper technological advancements. The company has to get rid of such weakness to achieve the desired results.

Opportunities- Telecommunication sector is one of the fastest growing sectors of Sri Lanka. Therefore Dialog Axiata has immense opportunities to achieve profits based on targets. The company has recently started providing value added services to the millions of customers under its network which serves as an added advantage to the company. Providing value added services to the customers helps to attract more and more customers. The absence of fixed line penetration helps the cause of the company. The Sri Lankan government has recently permitted the entry of 3G sector of communication in the country. Dialog has been the first company in Sri Lanka that has announced its plans to start 3G services in the country as early as possible. The start of 3G communication in the country will open up new doors to the communication of the country.

Threats- Sri Lankan telecommunication sector has seen a slow and steady rise in the last decade. However in the last two years the situation has changed and a number of large foreign companies have invested heavily in the telecommunication sector of the country. This poses a serious threat to the growth of the organization. The company has also faced enormous problems from counter terrorist operations in the northern districts of Sri Lanka and has forced them to restrict their business within a safe zone of the country. The organization also faces problems as it struggles to adhere by the rules and regulations of the company.

Task 3: Further Analysis

PEST Analysis involves the different factors that determine the running of the business. The different factors that bother Dialog Axiata are;

Political Factors- The positive foreign investment policies of Sri Lanka is one of the most positive political factors. The country attained freedom in the year 1977 and investors thought that a the industry in the strategic island nation might undergo a sea of change but the political instability in the total region and terrorist crisis of the country did not helped in the growth of the industry.

Economic Factors- Because of the unstable political factors the economic issue and trade policy regime of the country possessed a negative impact on the overall growth of the economic sector of the country. The country lacks the necessary skills and promotional factors to attract FDI in the country which has been a major backlog to the economic development of the country.

Social Factors- Social factors in the country are one of the very best among the South East Asian nations. Literacy rate is very high and infant mortality rate of the country is very low. Sri Lanka has a very skilled and trained human resource which is one of the biggest assets of the country.

Technological Factors- Industries in Sri Lanka heavily depend on technological factors obtained from foreign sources. However the main constraint lies in the absence of infrastructure in the following region which does not support the spread of technological advancement.

Competitive advantage of a company is the leverage that the any business possesses over its other competitors in the market. Competitive advantage of a company can be achieved in different ways. This includes providing the customers a greater value over a particular product. The more is the value the more are customers attracted to such products. Dialog Axiata have taken a similar process to maintain a competitive advantage in the Sri Lankan Market (Rafiq 2016). The company has some selected products or services that offers greater value and high quality but has a very low price as compared to the other existing products in the market. The organization has recently launched two new products in the market that has amazing offers and is believed to be a game changer for the telecommunication sector of Sri Lanka (Quadery 2016). One such product is aimed for the lower strata of the society who are generally unable to bear the huge costs of operating a mobile phone. The plan offered to the customers charges no price for calls and internet facilities for a period of 6 months after which they will be charged a very minimal price for every call as well as will pay very less for internet facilities. The organization has appointed a set of expert group that monitors the market closely and accordingly presents a clear picture to the management of the mentioned telecom company (Ahmed 2014). The management in turn formulates the strategies in such a way that it easily outclasses the strategies of other organizations (Lim 2017).

The competitors on the other hand have also advantages as they possess better technological advantages and infrastructures that challenge Dialog’s plans in every step. The presence of such a stiff competition within the country helps to improve the services and it is the customers who are the actual gainers.

Task 4: Possible Strategies to Defend Core Business

Dialog is currently ranked in the top ten among the different industries presently operating in Sri Lanka. The company is the leader of the telecommunication sector in Sri Lanka. The organization aims to provide digitalized solutions to the different business institutions of the country (Gunasekara 2015). The company believes that providing digitalized solutions is key to the success of the industry. The company recorded a growth of 24 percent and record revenue that surpassed the annual expectations of the management of the company. The growth of the business was evenly spread out in its different business including Dialog Mobile, Dialog Television, Dialog broadband and some other subsidiaries of the organization. The company has a huge customer base of mobiles which accounted for 7.7 million in all which is a result of its innovative plans. On the other hand high speed broadband services provided by the organization has been a great hit with the customers and it has seen a rise of a whopping 44% since the last 2 years (Lim 2017).

The organization also took a wise decision to introduce DTV, which has entered into the record books as the country’s very first prepaid TV service. The acquisition of SunTel by the mentioned organization has made the company one of the best in the television sector.

Earlier it was discussed that Axiata is a telecommunication-based company that is situated in Sri Lanka. The company has been providing service in telecommunication world and work successfully as a consultant since 1992. The main target of the company is the growing markets in the developing countries. There are certain objectives of the company that are to be taken in course of business of the company. The primary objective of the company is to determine the ethical and legal issues of the company and resolve the accounting matters. In every company, there are certain internal problems are present and the company should have certain concern about the same. Axiata sets out its objectives with a view to prevent any unlawful action that may crop up in company and can affect the image or good faith of the company. The company is deal with the mobile technology and the vision of the same is how to develop the connectivity regarding the same within the customer countries. The company has adopted certain measurements so that the employees can disclose any unwanted facts to the company. It is a fact that attempt to violate the memorandum of company causes great breach regarding the good faith of the company and that can be detrimental in nature.    

Mission of a company denotes the future planning as well as the target of the company. Axiata is one of the largest telecommunication stores in the world. It provides certain consult on the arena. The mission of the company is to secure and spread their business in those areas where there is a scope to gain benefit for the company. Axiata makes the market of the developing countries as bull’s eye. The company regarding the same takes certain strategies. The first criteria of mission are to operationalize the visions or objectives of the company. Alignment is certain things that are used to merge up two things with each other. In the present case, an alignment regarding the mission and vision is needed. Alignment is necessary for the growth of the business and that will facilitate the strategies making process of the company.

Task 5: Resource Implications of Recommendations

The terms mission and vision are very much responsible for determine the strategic plans of the company. In any kind of business, a balance between the mission and vision is necessary. An effective balance is possible only by way of adopting a fruitful alignment. Strategic quest of Axiata consists of certain questions. Main questions can be (1) what is the demand of the customers regarding the service of the company. In addition (2) what effectives does the company regarding the same take. If both the questions are to be aligned, then strategic communication can be possible.

There are three stages of alignment where there are alignments observed as against the strategy creation, strategy communication and strategy execution. In case of alignment, there should be certain clear vision regarding the company strategy is necessary. The internal process of a company is inspired by an effective visionary step taken by the company. Missionary statements are important in this regard too. It is important to set out certain future planning for the growth of the company. Missionary statements are those, which are delivered to the audiences regarding the same. Missionary statements are based on the visions of a company and it is required to design the missionary statements or conception by keeping in the mind the visionary objectives of the company.

The product of Axiata is lying in seven countries most of them are Asian and it deals with the mobile subsidiaries. Axiata is one of the largest telecommunication industry in the world and the product of the company is delivered in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia etc. it has more than 200 million mobile user in Asia. Therefore, it is important to plan an effective strategies program to deal with the problems as well as to maintain the business properly and systematically. In case of any telecommunication business, it is the utmost requirement for the companies is to develop the case of the first class corporation that are surpluses in the customer countries. Another objective of the company is to meet the demands of the customers and take effective measures for the betterment of the company. Axiata has taken such strategies to make the base of the company strong and to facilitate the program and activities of the company for the near future.

Another concern of Axiata is to be updated regarding the telecommunication market on regular basis as it is important to them to understand the environment regarding any changes. There is a new trend appears before the world regarding the communication and that is the web-based communication criteria. Viber, WhatsApp, Google talk is some example regarding the same. Therefore, Axiata is concentrated on the internet technologies. strategies will help the company to identify and avoid the potential risks and give them an opportunity to develop the base of the company and forecast the environment regarding the business management of Axiata.

STP model is important for the development of the companies that are deal with the telecom industry. They are mainly give assistance regarding the marketing communication. Certain propositions are made through the model to develop and personalized the relevant message intended to deliver to the audiences on the telecommunication industry.  It enlightens the approach on the productivity of the company that are derives from the commercial appearances. STP models are analyzing three parts that are the market segmentation, market targeting and product positioning.

                                                                       Figure 1- Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Figure

                                                                                     Source- (As created by the Author)

The segmentation strategies include certain demographics, psychographics, life styles and values regarding a particular company. Markets are one of the most important things regarding the achievements of a company. There are certain things necessary for the segmentation of marketing strategies. Product positioning are used to determine the attributes regarding the customer needs. Therefore, it is required to adopt an effective product positioning for the development of the company.

Certain marketing tools to meet the market-based objectives regarding the company compose marketing mix. It throws light on the four levels of marketing decisions: product, price, promotion and place. However, these are not enough to extend the market share. There are certain more things are needed to meet the purpose, such as customers, process and physical evidence.

Certain other things can be treated as strategic initiatives to develop the growth rate of the company. Promotion is among them. Axiate can promote their business by advertising their productivity and by adopting an effective management program. There are certain new applications present that need to be involved in the product. Social investments can be a good strategy.     

The maintenance of Human resources is one of the main tasks that should be completed to make sure that the organization appoints and recruits the most suitable person to the job role (Kajananthan and Velnampy 2014). The marketing team of the company implements new strategies which facilitates the growth of the organization. The Human resource team of Dialog Axiata is the best in the market as it implements proper strategies to select the right persons for different job roles in the organization.

Human Resource Planning is one of the key factors in telecommunication industry. The following planning must be well designed to control the resources that are present within the industry. Dialog Axiata has managed the human resources quite effectively to control the productivity of the organization. The company has aimed to gather the selected few individuals who are experts in their own field of telecommunication. This is done only because the following industry requires the best technical experience than all the other industries of the sector. The mentioned company of Sri Lanka has set up two different teams to look after the complex front office and back office operations. The effective business strategy will help the organization to cater to the different needs of the customers. The quality human resource available to the company helps the organization to achieve the desired results and surpass all the other players in the market. Dialog has also maintained a proper balance of the financial resources, raw materials and a relationship between suppliers and distributors to provide a competitive advantage over the different other similar organizations in the market.

The researcher has used the Bowman’s Strategy Clock to analyze the strategic options of Dialog Axiata. It has revealed the customer value map as to how much amount the customer is willing to pay to the company. It has also helped to get a clear picture of the respective positioning of the other competitors in the market. Dialog Axiata has used all the potential movements of the clock to attain success.

By Moving West-  The company has reduced the prices of many of its products which has helped it to capture the market as customers are able to enjoy the same old service at a much lower cost than the price offered by other competitors in the market. But in some instances price reduction affects the perception of the customers towards the quality of the products as they think that such a step can harm the prospect of the product.

By Moving North- As mentioned earlier the selected organization can add customer value through effective marketing communications. Adding customer value to its different products and services has helped Dialog to make their products more appealing to the users.

By Moving East- Dialog was the first company in Sri Lanka to have once used this process. The company took this strategy at the time of global crisis of 2008. The prices of different products were shot up after the increase in the prices of the products by other similar companies. However   the company discontinued with such a strategy after a brief period.

By Moving South- This strategy puts the companies into a competitive disadvantage as it involves lowering the customer value for a product. Dialog suffered heavy losses just a few years back when they decreased the value for price on one of their stable products. The strategy was discarded because of the huge loss.

By Moving South West- The mentioned telecommunication company has recently announced huge discounts for some selected products. Moving South West is a special strategy of the company to get hold of the market quickly allowing little or no time for the other competitors to recover.

By Moving North East- Increasing the prices and value of the products and the customers is to increase the brand image of the company. The company believes that increasing the brand value of the products help to make sure that their products and services are the best in the market.

By Moving South East- Reduction in the value and increase in the prices is a strategy that has never been written in the strategic directions of the company as such a strategy might spell doom for them.

By Moving North West- Dialog Axiata sometimes follow such an aggressive strategy to capture the market where it increases value and reduces the price of the market. The company achieves success in going with such a plan just because it has a healthy financial strength.

The mentioned telecommunication company is slowly phasing out traditional technology to carry on the business and is shifting towards the IT infrastructure. Recently the company has signed a strategic MOU with a major IT giant to provide them with the necessary backup in latest IT technologies. Whereas financially the company remains at the topmost position in Sri Lanka with turnovers of billions of rupees. The different business segments has made it more strong financially.

Conclusion

The following research has been based on the strategic and marketing planning of Dialog Axiata. The different strategies that have been highlighted are critical to the success of the organization. The research work has been done after conducting an in depth analysis of the company along with its organizational structure. A thorough analysis of the following report will be useful to determine the different marketing plans and concepts followed by the telecommunication company of Sri Lanka to achieve success.

References

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Lim, P.S., 2017. Study of Relationship Between Performance (ROA) And Internal And External Factors On Axiata Group Berhad.

Gunasekara, S., 2015. Analysis and mathematical modelling of consumer behavior in mobile-telecommunications industry. Internafional Journal of Scienfific & Technology Research, 4(6), pp.333-343.

Widger, Tom. "Philanthronationalism: Junctures at the Business–Charity Nexus in Post?war Sri Lanka." Development and Change 47, no. 1 (2016): 29-50.

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Hollensen, S., 2015. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.

Mendis, M.D.V.S. and Weerakkody, W.A.S., 2014. The Relationship between Work Life Balance and Employee Performance: With Reference to Telecommunication Industry of Sri Lanka. Kelaniya Journal of Human Resource Management, 9(1-2).

Lim, P.S., 2017. Study of Relationship Between Performance (ROA) And Internal And External Factors On Axiata Group Berhad.

Calderaro, A., 2015. Internet Governance Capacity Building in Post-Authoritarian Contexts. Telecom Reform and Human Rights in Myanmar.

Dissanayake, S. and Dissanayake, L., 2013. Development of E-Governance in Sri Lanka. Digital Public Administration and E-Government in Developing Nations: Policy and Practice: Policy and Practice, p.307.

Jayamaha, R., 2015.Innovate to Win: Innovate for Financial Inclusion. Unpublished), World Bank.