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TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction:3 Awards and Accolades4 Vision & Values4 Our Vision5 Corporate responsibility5 Emergency Response Program6 Khuddar Pakistan7 Fund-raising Initiatives7 Telenor brand9 Macro environment in telecom sector10 Monopoly, a thing from the past10 Privatization and Liberalization10 Cut-throat Competition11 Choice:11 Good quality12 Accessibility12 Prices12 Improves and maintain standard12 Stimulate growth12 Rapidly Expanding Global Market12 Mergers and Acquisition13 Trans-Nationalization13 Market Integration13 Arrival of the State Of The Art Technology14 Trends in the User’s Device14 Trends in the Carrier Technology14
Trends in the Switching Technology14 Advancement in the Wireless Technology14 Micro Environment in Telecom Sector15 The Market15 De-regulation of Telecom Sector in Pakistan15 Regulatory Reforms, a Snapshot16 Competitive Telecom Market16 Improving Penetration & Tele-densities16 End of Monopoly17 Marketing Objectives and Strategies19 Corporate Strategy:19 Business Strategy20 Market Orientation22 Market Driven Strategy23 Target Market23 The market segments Telenor is targeting include:23 Market Orientation24 Core Competencies27 Telenor’s network coverage28 National Coverage28 International coverage28 Telenor30 The Organization30
The Marketing Functions33 Pre-Paid Packages33 Post-Paid Package34 Mobile Fun Services of Telenor36 Mobile Fun36 The Product Strategy37 Add a new product strategy37 Cost reduction strategy38 Product improvement strategy38 Changes in marketing strategy38 Product Elimination strategy:38 Pricing Strategy39 Promotion Strategy40 Advertising:41 Prepaid advertising42 Postpaid advertising43 Sales promotion44 Publicity (indirect channel)44 Distribution strategy44 Customer characteristics45 Distribution centers of Telenor45 The Marketing Profitability48 Market Share48 Revenues49 Infrastructure Expansion51 Conclusion & Recommendations:52
Introduction: Telenor Pakistan is the fastest growing mobile operator in Pakistan and represents the largest Foreign Direct Investment in the country from Europe, in any industry, ever. The company is the first Greenfield mobile operation outside of Norway by Telenor ASA, the parent group, with an investment of USD 2 billion to date. Increased competition from international operators like Telenor, within an investor-friendly and stable regulatory environment provided by GOP, has been a major driver of growth and productivity in Pakistan’s economy, and has brought down end-user prices to among the lowest in the world.
Telenor ASA is an international provider of high quality telecommunications, data and media communication services. It ranks as one of the biggest GSM service providers in the world with over 153 million subscribers. It is also the largest provider of TV services in the Nordic region. It ranks as No. 25 overall and No. 5 in Europe in Business Week’s global ranking of the top 100 performers in the technology industry. The Group is recognized as the best Mobile Telecom company in the world by the Sustainability Yearbook 2008 and as the No. mobile operator on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) 2007. Since its launch of services in March 2005, Telenor Pakistan has exceeded all expectations: It has created the second largest mobile network and the largest and most advanced data network in the local market, turned into the second highest revenue-generating mobile player with the highest Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) in the market, and become the second largest mobile player in the market with 18 million active subscriptions in little more than 3 years of operations.
During the first half of 2008, Telenor Pakistan added 3. 24 million subscriptions against the industry average of 1. 63 million, taking 33% of the market share of net additions over the period – the highest in the mobile sector in Pakistan. The company has created 2500 direct and more than 25000 indirect employment opportunities with 100,000+ retail outlets and 200+ franchises in addition. 99. % of these employment opportunities belong to Pakistanis. Initiated with a relief effort worth 95 million rupees in the wake of the devastating earthquake of October 2005, Telenor Pakistan’s community contributions have extended over the years to include education, empowerment, enterprise, and environment – with special focus on bringing the telecom promise within the grasp of the most disadvantaged sections of the society. Awards and Accolades
Telenor Pakistan has received several awards for its solid performance in key areas of activities: * Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry’s Telecom Excellence Award in Foreign Direct Investment in June 2006 * Central Board of Revenue’s High Tax Payer Award 2004-5 in January 2006 * The Pakistan Society of Human Resource Management’s Preferred Graduate Employer Award for Most Preferred Telecommunications Company 2007 among MBA students * SAARC Communication Industry Conference 2007’s Most Innovative Mobile Operator Award and Mobile Operator with the Most Consumer Pull Award * Telenor Global Brand Award for the year 2007 All Pakistan Dawn Aurora Advertising Awards in three of five nominated categories in March 2007 * The National Forum for Environment & Health’s Annual Environment Excellence Awards 2008 * Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industries’ Appreciation Award for the Largest FDI and Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce & Industries’ Achievement Award 2008 * The Helpline Trust’s 2nd Corporate Social Responsibility Award 2008 Telenor Pakistan is committed to bringing true mobile innovation to the under-served masses of Pakistan. The company has picked up two Universal Service Fund projects in order to provide connectivity to the yet unconnected in the remotest areas of Pakistan. It aims to invest strongly for further network expansion into the rural areas and for the rollout of third generation of mobile technology (3G) in Pakistan. Vision & Values Our vision crystallizes our customer focus as the cornerstone of everything we do.
Our values describe what behaviors are necessary to realize that vision. Our corporate responsibility mindset ensures that our vision and values nurture social concern and help us create shared value. Our Vision Our vision is simple: We’re here to help. We exist to help our customers get the full benefit of communications services in their daily lives. The key to achieving this vision is a mindset where every one of us works together: Making it easy to buy and use our services. * Delivering on our promises. * Being respectful of differences. * Inspiring people to find new ways. We believe in four core values: * Make it Easy We’re practical. We don’t complicate things.
Everything we produce should be easy to understand and use. Because we never forget we’re trying to make customers’ lives easier. * Keep Promises Everything we set out to do should work, or if it doesn’t, we’re here to help. We’re about delivery, not over promising, actions not words. * Be Inspiring We are creative. We strive to bring energy to the things we do. Everything we produce should look good, modern and fresh. We are passionate about our business and customers. * Be Respectful We acknowledge and respect local cultures. We do not impose one formula worldwide. We want to be a part of local communities wherever we operate. We believe loyalty has to be earned. Corporate responsibility
Telenor Pakistan acts responsibly and respectfully towards the people and authorities in different societies and aims to contribute to social and economic development in the local market. This is the essence of our commitment to Corporate Responsibility. We take seriously the social, ethical and environmental impact of our products and services. We place emphasis on making sure that the communities in which we operate see Telenor Pakistan’s as a good citizen with genuine ambitions to contribute to social and economic development. We give our employees reasons to be proud of the way Telenor Pakistan’s demonstrates Corporate Responsibility. Emergency Response Program
In order to respond immediately and effectively to emergencies/disasters, which may occur in Pakistan, Telenor Pakistan has launched an Emergency Response Program. Regional Go-Teams (consisting of Telenor Pakistan employees) have been trained to extend support and timely intervention if and when needed, free of cost. The type of emergencies that these Go-Teams will respond to include all natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, air/rail/road accidents etc. * Especially trained Go-Teams: * move into the affected area * align with emergency teams on site * set up an alternate mode of communication * arrange to provide high-energy food items * medication blood donations (when required) Khuddar Pakistan Khuddar Pakistan is Telenor Pakistan’s flagship corporate responsibility initiative. With Khuddar Pakistan, we want to make a difference in the lives of our fellow persons with disabilities by addressing the challenges they face. We want to change the public mindset by creating awareness about their abilities. We want to help develop technologies that will give them the opportunity to actively participate in our society. We pledge to integrate persons with disability fully into our workforce. Currently, we are the only company in Pakistan to have a formal disability advisor and a disability advisory panel.
We sponsor assistive technology training labs for persons with disabilities at National Institute of Special Education, National Training Center for Special Persons (NTCSP), and Special Talent Exchange (STEP). We have the first corporate products & services/career website that is fully accessible and our staff participate in the first formal employee volunteerism drive in the corporate sector to work with persons with disabilities. “Join us in our drive. You too can make a difference. ” Fund-raising Initiatives Telenor over the time has initiated the fund-raising initiatives in order to help a certain cause. It requested to the customers through promotion to send a SMS to a number to raise funds. It initiated such program when Earthquake struck Pakistan in 2005; they raised funds to help the survivors in rehabilitation process.
Telenor brand The Brand: At the heart of our brand is our logo — a symbol of balance, movement and change. It represents our philosophy of innovation and democratic process, and takes its inspiration from Scandinavia’s long history of design “inspired by nature. ” Of course a brand is much more than just a logo – it is a set of ideas, a way of doing things and a measure of behavior. In many ways, Telenor already stands out. We have shown impressive growth and an increasingly international focus, particularly in new growing markets. But we can go – and need to go – much, much further.
Our aim is to be the most trusted mobile service provider in Pakistan Telenor Pakistan today is the fastest growing network in the country with a rich portfolio of products and services. We have introduced a number of industry-first products and provided customers with many convenient options of communication. Our brand is truly customer centric. We believe in understanding our customers’ needs — which are changing constantly — driving us to continuously innovate in our products and services. Macro environment in telecom sector Coupled with the technological trends, the revolution in the telecom sector has been driven by the dynamism in the telecommunications market globally.
The liberalization of the sector, the extension of services by multinational conglomerates across nations and the active competition currently in place in the sector have all contributed to the telecom revolution. Monopoly, a thing from the past In a monopoly scenario, a single supplier supplies the whole market. Traditional view of the telecommunications sector is that the telecommunications market was monopolistic in nature. Telecommunications industry was traditionally a natural monopoly, where the telecom services and the collection of products were supplied by one Telecommunication Company. In a monopolistic market structure, the company and the industry are identical.
The single company makes all the output and price decisions, it has complete control over the market. Traditionally, the telecom service providers, or operators have been government-owned monopolies. One major problem with telecom monopoly is that monopolist may exploit its market position, by charging excessive prices and compromise quality of service. With the reforms in the telecom industry, came a series of restructuring of the telecom industry. Today most developed countries are or have introduced competition in the telecom market that was once monopolistic in nature. Driven by technological developments, competition has come to dominate a market that was once a monopoly. Privatization and Liberalization
Amongst the wave of reforms that characterized the global telecom markets in the 80’s and 90’s, was the privatization of national companies. Privatization and liberalization are two telecom reforms that improve the public treasury. Since the processes of liberalization and privatization have been taken into consideration by countries such as India, Malaysia and South Africa, their telecommunication infrastructures have improved drastically. Malaysian government has developed its telecommunication infrastructure by privatizing the former RTT, which is presently known as Telkom Malaysia, and most of its shares are sold in the stock exchange. Privatization and liberalization cut the existence of monopoly and promote competition.
In the telecom sector, it could also include the opening up of market to private investment in the thriving telecom market. In developing countries, the realization that investment in the telecom infrastructure is a necessary foundation for economic growth, has further spurred the need for privatization. Cut-throat Competition The increasing competition in the global telecom market has greatly impacted on the telecom revolution. The liberalization of the telecom industry opened the doors to competition and brought an end to a period when telecom was considered a natural monopoly. Coupled with technological development in the telecom sector, competition has revolutionized the sector remarkably.
It has increasingly led to the expansion of telecom market and this expansion of market has increased access rate to telecommunication services. Two major issues are essential to the advent of competition in the telecom sector. They are 1) Liberalization Liberalization of the telecom market which leads to removal of barrier to entry, coupled with privatization of Telecom Corporation which encouraged private investment are precursors to the advent of full competition in the telecom sector. The introduction of competition means that a well-established telecom monopoly operator has to compete with new entrants in the different segments of the market. Competitors are diverse in their operations; they are not only limited to telecommunications operators.
With adoption of the liberalization program, many countries opened up their telecom market by issuing licenses to operators. 2) Technology The growing development in communication technology has increasingly made it impossible for a monopoly telecommunication corporation to provide the varieties of services available in the telecom sector. For instance the introduction of commercial Internet into the telecom market brought in an era of competing internet service providers and development in wireless technology-specifically cellular technology- has resulted in the era of cellular service providers. Competition in the telecom industry has stimulated growth in the sector.
Amongst numerous benefits, competition encourages: Choice: Customers are provided with varieties of products and services to choose from. Good quality: competing suppliers strive to out-do each other and invariably strive for good quality product and service in order to beat the competitor. This also ensures that the customers get quality products. Accessibility: products and services are provided in close proximity of the customers. Customers do not to have to ‘go extra miles’ to have access to products and services. Prices: competing suppliers attract customers by attaching affordable and low prices to their products. Price is a strong tool used by competing firms to attract considerable ustomer base Improves and maintain standard: Competition encourages the improvement and maintenance of standards of products and services. This will help in attracting new customers and also gives satisfaction to current customers Stimulate growth: Competition stimulates the growth of the market and the economy in general. Rapidly Expanding Global Market The global market for telecommunications is expanding rapidly. It is not a question of “demand pull” or “supply push”. Both are happening. The interaction of these two forces has made telecommunications one of the leading growth sectors in the world economy. It has also made telecommunications one of the most important components of social, cultural and political activity.
On the demand side, growth is pulled by an increasing reliance on telecommunications and information technology in every area of human life – in all sectors of economic and social activity; in government, in the provision of public services, and in the management of public infrastructures; in the pursuit of knowledge and the expression of culture; in the control of the environment; and in response to emergencies, whether natural or man-made. On the supply side, growth is pushed by rapid technological developments which continuously improve the efficiency of existing products, systems and services, and provide the foundation for a continuing stream of innovations in each of these areas. Particularly noteworthy is the convergence of telecommunication, information, broadcasting and publishing technologies, which has greatly enriched the communication choices available to consumers. Mergers and Acquisition
One other trend that is driving the revolution in the global telecom sector is the wave of mergers and acquisition that characterized this sector. This trend has changed the global telecom market enormously. There has been a high rate of merger and acquisition activity in the global telecom industry in recent years. Trans-Nationalization Trans-nationalization in telecom industry is a global trend that is revolutionizing the global telecom market. It is a form of corporate extension and cross-border service extension. Telecom market today is characterized by corporations buying shares in Telecom Company in other countries or totally setting up a similar company in another country. Market Integration
Market integration is the character of business operation in the telecom market, it defines the manner in which one telecom company that operate in one segment of the telecom market extend its operation and integrate other segments of the sector. Market integration has enormously contributed to the revolution taken place in the global telecom market. Two main forms of market integration can be identified in the telecom industry 1. Horizontal Integration This is when a telecom company extends its service provision to a competitive segment. This integration could be in a form of shares purchase or acquisition in cellular company or fixed line operator owning a cellular company. 2. Vertical integration This takes place when a telecom firm in one market level of service provision extends its service to different market level in the chain of a telecom service provision.
An example of such integration is a dominant local access provider which also acts as an Internet Service Provider by rendering service in the internet service provision market. Arrival of the State Of The Art Technology Arrival of the new technology has changed the telecom landscape globally. Four major technological issues are shaping the ICT/telecom revolution. These are: * The development in the capacity of transmission technology. New technologies such as optical fibre and the satellites have enormous bandwidth to carry information. * The digitization of telecom networks: the transition from analogue to digital technology. * Advancement in the wireless technology. The convergence of hitherto separate communication formats; voice, data and images into a single multimedia platform. Trends in the User’s Device Developments in the manufacturing and design of user’s device, such as basic telephone, have undergone major dramatic changes over the years. Telephones have developed from the humble rotary telephone of the 30’s and 40’s to the modern day digital telephones. Modern phones can perform numerous functions; record messages, store phone numbers and many other functions. Trends in the Carrier Technology The trend in transmission technology is the increasing development in the capacity of transmission technology.
Telecom companies require technology that offer space and capacity that will allow them carry more calls at the same time and also allow them carry voice, data and digital images at the same time. This space is referred to as bandwidth. There’s been increasing development in transmission technology with large bandwidth. Trends in the Switching Technology This industry has witnessed a lot of improvement. For instance, telephony has developed from basic fixed line to wireless communication and the development of the internet has brought about millions of daily on-line telecommunications activities. The central office (CO) and the switching technology have gone through a number of fundamental technological changes. Advancement in the Wireless Technology
The development in the wireless telecommunications segment has contributed immensely to the telecommunication revolution. Micro Environment in Telecom Sector Pakistan telecom sector remained stagnant for many years and no major progress was seen in this segment due to the monopoly of PTCL (larger power distance factor). But time changed and with the deregulation of telecom sector, investors found a friendly atmosphere and rushed towards Pakistan to take an advantage of these policies. The telecommunication sector around the world went through a process of radical change from monolith state controlled culture to an open market competitive environment. Same thing happened in Pakistan and there occurred a boom in the telecom sector in the area.
But the real action happened in cellular segment and the number of mobile users has outstripped fixed-line subscribers and Pakistan telecom sector became the fastest growing sector as compared to other countries of that area. Telecom industry has contributed a great deal to Pakistan’s economy and has called for great investments that lead to a new era of progress. Telecom sector is seeing extraordinary growth in Pakistan. With increasing levels of mobile penetration Pakistan is fast evolving as one of the telecom sector’s key investment prospects. The Market The market is comprised of 83 million mobile consumers served by 5 mobile operators. Telenor Pakistan has rapidly assumed the number two position behind the largest incumbent Mobilink, who have been operating for 13 years.
The market is predominantly pre-paid and all operators are tasked with increasing ARPU. Price sensitivity and delivering coverage over remote and climatically demanding terrain are further challenges in this rapidly growing market. Subscriber numbers are expected to exceed 110 million by 2010. De-regulation of Telecom Sector in Pakistan PTA successfully liberalized the telecom sector of Pakistan in an efficient, transparent and fastest deregulation of telecom in the region. The Government of Pakistan gave the status of Industry to Pakistan Telecommunication Sector with deregulation of telecom sector. The deregulation of telecom sector in Pakistan has brought about many changes in Pakistan’s telecom scenario.
It has resulted in creating competitiveness in telecom sector, provisioning of efficient & cost effective telecom services, improving infrastructure through private sector support, bridging the “digital divide”, meet ever increasing demand of telecom services, increase choice of providers & services, and last but not the least end monopoly in fixed line telephony. Regulatory Reforms, a Snapshot * 1996:Telecommunication Reorganization Act * Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) established as a regulatory body for Telecommunications * Pakistan Telecom Corporation converted to PTCL-Company * Established National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) * Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) for assignment of Radio Frequency Spectrum * PTA has issued 3 licenses for basic telephony to PTCL, NTC & SCO to provide fixed line services in designated areas along with 5 obile phone licenses. * Wireless local loop (WLL) technology was introduced in Pakistan in 2004. * Till now, PTA has issued 92 WLL licenses to 17 telecom companies for operations in different telecom regions. * WLL services are available in more than 1,894 cities of Pakistan. Competitive Telecom Market Continued market liberalization is reshaping the regulatory environment, creating a more investment friendly climate in telecom sector of Pakistan. The sector is said to be growing at a fast pace on yearly basis. This growth rate of telecom sector is mainly because of the mobile phone service providers’ entry in the industry for the last few years.
Hence, due to the huge potential in Pakistan’s mobile phone sector, the industry and customers are experiencing an intense competition, a battle for supremacy in the mobile phone industry, between all mobile phone service providers of Pakistan. Improving Penetration & Tele-densities As of July 2009, the mobile phone subscribers are 95. 54 million in Pakistan and, in fact, still Pakistan has the highest mobile phone penetration rate in the South Asian region. According to the PTA, Mobilink continues to lead the market with 29. 55 million subscribers, followed by Telenor (21. 29 million), Ufone (20. 05 million), Warid Telecom (18. 14 million) and Zong (6. 48 million). All Telecom companies are now working to broaden their network in AJK and Northern Areas, which were normally ignored till now. Till now 5 agencies of tribal areas are covered for mobile service. End of Monopoly
Since the inception of Pakistan, basic telecom services were being provided by a monopolist, PTC Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation previously called as Telephone and Telegraph department (T&T). The department was being run by the government and played multiple roles as regulator, policy maker, operator and service provider in the country. Deregulation of Telecom Sector in Pakistan has put an end to the Monopoly in the telecom sector, enjoyed by the state-owned operators namely * Pakistan telecommunication company limited (PTCL) * National telecommunication corporation (NTC) * SCO in AJK & NA End of monopoly has resulted in providing this service at the doorstep of every one in Pakistan.
Those who could not have imagined having a cell phone in not so distant past are now enjoying this facility, thanks to the competition in Telecom sector and the end of monopoly. Marketing Objectives and Strategies No marketing process, even the most carefully developed, is guaranteed to result in maximum benefit for a company. In addition, because every market is changing constantly, a strategy that is effective today may not be effective in the future. It is important to evaluate a marketing program periodically to be sure that it is achieving its objectives. Telecom Industry is experiencing a fast paced growth in context of new launches and introduction of new exciting state of the art technologies.
In order to take full advantage of this growth the companies need to devise their strategies and plans in such a way that they can maximize their market share and be in a position to tackle the existing and future Macro and Micro environment. So in this fiercely competitive environment of Telecom industry of Pakistan, Telenor needs to hit the nail on the head and devise its strategies keeping in view the market trends and with a pulse on the hand of its customer base, because it is up against some best companies in the business. It is of paramount importance to set a goal or target to achieve, because you can’t make a plan without deciding on a destination first. Corporate Strategy: * Goal & Vision Telenor’s primary goal is to create greater value for our shareholders, customers, employees and partners, and for society in general.
We strive to be a driving force in creating, simplifying and introducing communication and content solutions to the marketplace. * Strategies: Telenor’s corporate strategy is to focus on to increase in number of subscriber throughout the world and to increase overall profitability of the firm by combining “Group industrialization with local drive and responsiveness”. And also focus to develop our leading position in certain regions with a broad range of communication services (www. telenor. com, 2009). This strategy implies the following focus areas: * To strengthen our position as an international mobile operator We intend to continue to strengthen our mobile industrialization mobile operations by obtaining control over selected mobile companies.
Control is essential for us to benefit from cross-borders synergies, such as scale in procurement, to develop new services and implement best practices, to improve operational efficiency and to increase our overall profitability. We intend to manage our non-strategic investments as financial investments and to exit from international mobile operations where we cannot obtain control over time. * To strengthen our position in certain regions We intend to continue to streamline our mobile and fixed operations in the Nordic region by exploiting the benefits resulting from economies of scale and cross-border synergies. We believe our Nordic presence will improve support to our customers by building upon our expertise in both mobile and fixed services, and our range of both mobile and fixed services. * Global coordination
Achieving local competitiveness Telenor’s global coordination program has a single goal: To increase the local competitiveness of our mobile operations by taking advantage of our global joint competence and scale. (www. telenor. com, 2009) Telenor’s corporate strategy is to emphasize on the Marketing & sales ranks in certain regions as it increases the sales of certain connections. * Re examined all the firms Businesses in different regions’ departments where they think that there sales are not keeping the rapid pace in that market. * Focusing on the Customer’s segments It means to build packages through extensive and aggressive research technology.
Like due to its broad experience as it is one of the pioneers in Telecommunication industry, so they use their effective experiences and come up with so many packages in that country that is useful for kind of people. * Intelligence of Competitor’s and potential competitor’s strategy. Telecommunication market is certainly very sensitive market in which making the strategy to be made by taking care of other competitors’ strategy is very important. The strategy is to focus on the applications or packages or services that give the most value to the customers than its competitors. They are also focusing on providing the services on the web. Business Strategy Telenor crystallizes their customer focus as the cornerstone of everything they do.
Their Values describe what behaviors are necessary to realize that vision. Their corporate responsibility mindset ensures that their vision and values nurture social concern and help them create shared value. Telenor Pakistan considers good business strategy to be an essential tool for achieving our vision, value creation and strategic goals, and for maintaining a healthy corporate culture. Furthermore, good corporate governance is imperative for credibility and for access to capital. Telenor Pakistan’s activities should serve to illustrate that business success in demanding markets can be achieved without compromising ethical principles or international norms.
Their Codes of Conduct have been adopted by the Telenor Board and are a key management tool for influencing all their activities. Telenor’s vision in Pakistan is simple: “We’re here to help”. They say that they exist to help their customers to get the full benefit of communications services in their daily lives (www. telenor. com. pk, 2009). The key to achieving this vision is a mindset where every one of us works together: Making it easy to buy and use our services. Delivering on their promises, being respectful of differences, Inspiring people to find new ways Believe in following strategies: The foundation achieves its goals in the following business strategies. Social Responsibility Telenor Pakistan acts responsibly and respectfully towards the people and authorities in different societies and aims to contribute to social and economic development in the local market. This is the essence of our commitment to Social Responsibility. * Supply Chain Management Telenor has an important role to play in the societies where we provide our services. Telecommunications has shown to give positive impacts on economic growth in all societies. Moreover, as a major buyer of products and services, Telenor has a responsibility to ensure that work conditions, safety, security and environmental standards are satisfactory.
The same standards apply equally to our own operations as well as to our suppliers and subcontractors. * Collaboration Collaboration and realization of projects with nongovernmental organizations, public and private institutions; * Training and Research Initiating, supporting and carrying out research, training and holding competitions; * Managing certain Operations Organizing roundtables, seminars, conferences and other events related to fields of Telenor’s operation; * Make it Easy They say that they don’t complicate things. Everything produced should be easy to understand and use. Because they never forget they’re trying to make customers’ lives easier. Keep Promises Everything they set out to do should work, or if it doesn’t, they’re here to help. They’re about delivery, not over promising, actions not words (www. telenor. com. pk, 2009). * Be Inspiring They are creative and strive to bring energy to the things they do. Certainly, they are passionate about their business and customers (www. telenor. com. pk, 2009). * Be Respectful They acknowledge and respect local cultures and do not impose one formula worldwide and want to be a part of local communities wherever they operate. * Dynamic Being dynamic means having insight and active involvement, coupled with a capacity for implementation * Innovative
Being innovative means continuously being on the lookout for new opportunities for development and growth * Responsible Being responsible means raising realistic expectations, deliver as promised and stay committed to the society which our group is part of. Market Orientation An orientation, in the marketing context, relates to a perception or attitude a firm holds towards its product or service, essentially concerning consumers and end-users. A firm in the market economy survives by producing goods that persons are willing and able to buy. Consequently, ascertaining consumer demand is vital for a firm’s future viability and even existence as a going concern.
Many companies today have a customer focus (or market orientation). This implies that the company focuses its activities and products on consumer demands. Generally there are three ways of doing this, the customer-driven approach, the sense of identifying market changes and the product innovation approach. Telenor focuses on the customers’ needs, wants and demands and provide services accordingly. Telenor is truly customer-oriented; in other words they feel the pulse of the customers. They believe in understanding their customer’s needs which have changed and are changing constantly. And that serves as the driving force to innovate in terms of products and services. Market Driven Strategy
Telenor is customer-driven; it has gone to great lengths in order to meet the expectations of its customers. And it has lived up to the expectations of its customers and its reputation. And its success throughout these years is proof enough of the fact that it understands its customers. Market driven strategy is a strategy that drives Telenor into the market, which excels the Telenor operations neck to neck in competition with the competitors in the market. Target Market It goes without saying that no two person’s likings, preferences and needs are same. The likings, preferences and needs differ from person to person. Therefore the saying goes that you can’t please everyone.
Similar is the case with the organizations in the market settings. A company can’t satisfy everyone. Therefore it has to divide the market into groups and then target a certain group of people, who share similar habits, preferences and likings etc. This is known in Marketing as segmentation, and targeting. The market segments Telenor is targeting include: * Tech-Savvy Youth Today’s Generation is very much attracted to new technology and gadgets, and these gadgets are very much part of their lives. Mobiles are one of the gadgets that today’s generation uses. Today’s generation wants their mobile service provider to come up with new and exciting service features at low rates, like SMS AND MMS.
So Telenor has selected this segment and is making products and services according to the demand of the segment. * Small But Profitable Business Users Nowadays instant communication has become very important for any type of business. In this day and age telecommunication and other communication modes are fulfilling communication needs of today’s business world. But mobile technology has benefitted the business around the globe more than any other mode. Due to being less costly, and can be used almost (with a little stretch of imagination. ) in every nook and corner of the world. So Telenor is targeting this segment due to ever increasing demand and due to due to their higher average revenue per user. First-Time Subscribers In Remote And Rural Areas The trend around the world has been catching on, of late that the mobile companies are inching towards the rural areas after having catering to the needs of their customers in urban areas. This is because there in rural areas there is a lot of unfulfilled demand to be catered. So taking advantage of this opportunity, Telenor along with other companies are now getting ready to lock horns in rural areas. * Previously Ignored Segments In urban areas as well as in rural areas, many packages have been introduced by the mobile companies that suit the lifestyle of business people and young hip hop generation, but women have been ignored.
But now many companies are focusing on this segment and are making packages according to the lifestyles of women and housewives. So Telenor is also focusing on targeting this segment. * Relatively Large Emerging Middle Class Segment The middle class of Pakistan is the largest echelon of the society, so the demand from this strata is higher and so are the profits, therefore Telenor is also targeting this segment and is making packages according to the characteristics of this segment. Market Orientation * Customer focus Customer is central to the success of any organization, in other words we can say that the customer is the be-all-and-end-all for an organization.
For Telenor to be market oriented, it is essential to focus on the customer’s needs, wants and demands and make such products and services that satisfy the customer’s needs and come up to their expectations. Telenor has the edge of making more packages for its customers, as compared to its competitors. Like they are giving six packages of prepaid connection services and four packages of post paid connection packages (Dogar, 2008). As statistics shows that more than 80% of the mobile subscribers in Pakistan are using pre-paid services. Therefore they are diverting their energies to serve their pre-paid customers from all echelons of the society.
So they introduced certain packages, Telenor d-juice and Talkshawk to name but a few. In these packages they offer different rates to different customers according to their length of pockets, demographical and psycho graphical segmentation. This bears testimony to the fact that they are customer focused. As it is giving the franchising and retailer facilities in different cities, reflects their customer-oriented approach. Customers can buy a Telenor Connection or have their queries sorted out regarding Telenor subscription at any Telenor Sales & Service Center located in prominent locations in all the cities where Telenor has launched its services.
Telenor has partnered with oil marketing companies such as PSO, Caltex and Total Parco to make Telenor prepaid products & services available at the convenience stores located at their filling stations. Telenor is also operating Telenor branded shops located in large retail outlets which sell Telenor Prepaid products & Services * Competitor’s Intelligence Due to neck to neck competition, the competitor intelligence plays a vital role in maintaining and increasing the market share. For example by 2005 Telenor found itself locking its horns with Warid Telecom with the market share of less than 20% and at that point in time Mobilink was the market leader with more than 58% . But by 2007, its market share dramatically increases by more than 22% whereas Mobilink has about 30% market share.
It is due to an effective competitor intelligence of Telenor that it is competing with the market leader and is setting its sights on becoming the market leader in the future by virtue of their effective services, new innovations in technology, greater customer value, larger network coverage, efficient promotion, highly qualified and experienced staff and leadership. No or little wonder then, that due to Telenor’s effective strategies it is the pioneer in introducing mobile TV service to its customers in Pakistan. As for as the rates are concerned, it has the competitive advantage of offering a call to other networks at much reasonable price than of making a call to the same network.
They had made a better market share due to biggest network coverage and using state of the art technologies, so on this basis the benefits are more than the costs for the customers in other words the customers are getting their money’s worth if not more. All the competitor intelligence is possible only through effective marketing research. Some symptoms seem to be a problem but only through proper research we come to know what is exactly happening in the market and how one would compete efficiently. So, only after a proper marketing research, Telenor decides on its competitive strategies to compete in the market. A case in point being that Telenor was first to introduce the service of easy loading to its customers in the beginning of their launching.
Moreover, they facilitate the easy loading of amount as small as just Rs. 10. Similarly, by the passage of time, Mobile TV servicing etc is a result of effective marketing research that gives Telenor competitive edge to other companies. In this way, Telenor has made a vital contribution in making the competitive environment in the market, as prior to 2005, Mobilink and Ufone were in the market but there was a situation of oligopoly (when more than one firm captures the market share). So Telenor heightened the competition in the market and it goes without saying that greater the competitive ability, greater would be the growth rate of that company.
As telecommunication market is based on the short term strategies because it is offering the services. Like if Telenor lowers the rates of messages (Dejuice gives Rs. 0. 20/SMS), other companies in the fray will also come up with similar package. So it is important to keep an eye out for and be aware of what the other company is doing and follow suit, or come up with any other competitive game plan. * Cross-functional coordination The different departments or functions for that matter are critical to the success to the organization. And the importance of cross-functional coordination can’t be ignored. Because the saying goes that “a chain is only as stronger as its weakest link.
Through cross functional coordination, company decides as to what extent development and innovation in information technology is needed and through evaluating certain systems, which department, is going strong and which one is lagging behind and needs more attention. Through this, Telenor improves the efficiency in overall departments. As Telenor also divides its departments into certain teams, so a sense of competition within a department urges everyone to improve effectiveness and efficiency of that department. Its HR department deals with all the departments and examines what problems the employees are facing while interacting with the customers. HR department also has strict measurements of maintaining certain standards among the employees. As in customer service department, HR people take care of quality in a way that CRO’s interact with its customers.
As Telenor is a market oriented firm, so there are variety of diversifications that need to be handled to sustain its position in the market. Like it is giving the services of telecommunication, so managing network coverage without any disruptions is its first and foremost priority. Then the other services like Mobile TV, SMS service, MMS service, customer service must also be properly handled by first maintaining the standards and then making sure that the standards are properly, put in place and that they are implemented in letter and spirit. * Environmental Influences Environmental influences play a key role in deciding the market orientation.
External and Internal environment can dictate the terms and force an organization to change its course of action. Therefore it is important to be flexible to cope with the unforeseen external and internal environmental factors. In order to do this what is needed is Research and environmental scanning. Telenor is doing effective environmental scanning through proper research in different departments. Environmental scanning is a process of gathering, analyzing, and dispensing information for tactical or strategic purposes. The environmental scanning process entails obtaining both factual and subjective information on the business environments in which a company is operating or considering entering.
It is done either through secondary data, observational measures and having experiments in the form of test marketing. By this approach, they get to know whether they are going on the right track or they need to change horses in the midstream. If any improvements are needed, it can be done through structural adjustment programs or local content requirement approach. Core Competencies A core competency is a specific factor that a business sees as being central to the way it or its employees work. It fulfils three key criteria: * It provides consumer benefits * It is not easy for competitors to imitate * It can be leveraged widely to many products and markets.
Shortly, it includes the capabilities that set a company apart from its competitors, capabilities which make a company stand out, and are different from its competitors and hold high value for the customers. When it comes to the core competencies of Telenor, it has the distinctive capabilities of having broad network coverage with the most advance technology of booster systems. Then the technology of Mobile TV differentiates Telenor from other companies. Moreover, it can be divide into following aspects: Telenor’s network coverage “The network deployment by Nokia Siemens Networks has been critical to the success of Telenor Pakistan. In 2004 they chose Nokia and Siemens as two separate companies to provide our network infrastructure. Over time they worked with both companies as competing entities.
Through the merger, now that Nokia Siemens Networks is one company they have reaped the benefits of synergies in project management, cost efficiency, capabilities and the harmonization of project resources and project skills. This has been critical to the success of the project. “Nokia Siemens Networks are a sound company with a history of experience and competence that is unmatched globally. The opportunity to work with them has actually made them better at what they do, and they believe they will continue to be a proactive partner with them going forward. National Coverage Communication is all about getting coverage and to stay connected to your loved ones, whenever and where ever you want. Telenor being the fastest growing mobile network in the country is bringing coverage closer to you.
With coverage reaching deep into many of the remotest areas of Pakistan, in the most difficult terrains of the country, from the hilly northern areas to the sprawling deserts in the south, at times we are the only operator connecting the previously unconnected. Telenor’s network coverage and its quality are superior over the other companies. Telenor is using Nokia Systems while installing the boosters which are the most efficient one in the market. This results in less network coverage breakage cost and recruitment of more employees’ cost. International coverage While traveling abroad, Telenor Post-paid and Pre-paid subscription offers its customers to stay connected.
Their extensive International Roaming network covers over 170 destinations, the most comprehensive worldwide coverage offered by a mobile operator in Pakistan. * Largest DATA network of Pakistan Telenor’s customers can get continuous access to Internet from mobile phones or personal computers with Telenor’s largest GPRS service at over numerous destinations across Pakistan, where ever there is Telenor coverage. In addition, customers can stay connected on the go in a host of other countries as well. * Largest Network of AJK & Northern Areas Telenor is providing coverage in Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas where no other network ventures. Telenor is giving seamless coverage at numerous destinations across Pakistan, while aggressively continuing efforts to expand its network. Pakistan’s first in-flight cellular service Telenor Pakistan launched First In-flight mobile phone services onboard International flights collaborating with Aero-Mobile exclusively on Emirates Airline. With Aero-Mobile complete global coverage, persona subscribers can safely use their own mobile phones to call and SMS just as they would on ground. * Value-added services and capabilities Telenor is giving the value-added services to its customers in the form of customer service departments, the franchising and extra services like horoscope, news, sports updates, joke, recipe of the day, and other Islamic services like verse of the day, hadith of the day to name a few etc.
Telenor The Organization When an organization goes global and sets up its operations in some other country, it faces a totally different culture of that particular location. This local culture is their in the attitudes, work styles, demands and perceptions of the local human resource. Different micro and macro environment will come hard at the new organization, and only those organization will survive which are flexible, whose organizational structure is capable of coping with the new environment. When Telenor went global it faced same problem, but it came out of those difficult times, due to its flexibility to operate in different environment.
Which factors helped Telenor in adjusting, adapting to the new environment, are also the hallmarks of Telenor or for any organization for that matter are given below. * Cultural Compatibility, Flexible Culture A globalizing organization thus has to make its home culture compatible with the local culture in order to survive in the local market. The new transnational environment requires a plethora of individuals who can work internationally – who are ultimately flexible, accommodating, and adaptable to different cultures and varying ways of doing things. Telenor for effectively pursuing culturally compatible HR strategies achieved success in Pakistan. It adapted to the environment in the Pakistan to the pink of perfection, part of the reason why it enjoys 2nd best market share in Pakistan.
Telenor’s being flexible in adapting to different cultures holds it in good stead and better placed to face the future challenges. Telenor respects the culture and values of all its employees; it encourages the respect of each other’s religious values. Telenor do value the culture of its transnational bases e. g. in Pakistan Telenor has the policy to send its 2 employees on Hajj every year. Telenor arranges aftar for its staff in Ramzan. In the last annual meeting of Telenor, They have decided sherwani as the dress code in Pakistan. Even in inter-province culture differences, the example of Quetta is interesting where employees aren’t asked to wear suits.
They wear shalwar kameez. * Innovation An Imperative In order to face the new challenges thrown in the way to success by the new micro and macro environment, if an organization keeps on improving and innovating its market offering, they are better placed to survive and be successful in the long term. Innovation at Telenor: Although innovation is viewed by many as the source of exposure to risk, but for Telenor it is otherwise. The company has been a market leader of innovation. It believes that the only way to capture new customers and thus a bigger chunk of the market is to introduce the new technology in the industry before the competitors do so. For e. g. he company has been a pioneer to introduce a wide variety of innovative services for the Talkshawk prepaid package. Some of the examples include Telenor mobile TV, Telenor food recipe service and even the now so common smart share was introduced by Telenor. Thus being the innovator, Telenor has managed to take care of the huge financial investment that it has undergone. In this day and age when a customer has a variety of options to choose from, when it comes to the product or service selection, through Innovation organizations can keep existing customers and attract new ones. Telenor, therefore believes in innovation, and keeps improving its different packages to suit the needs of the customers. * Technology Usage
New environment throws new challenges towards organizations, and the organizations which adapt new, state of the art technology can better face the challenges compared to the organizations which are conservative. Hence new technology is very critical to the success of the organization. Telenor encourages the use of new technology to improve service quality Telenor therefore remain on the lookout for new exiting technologies, so that it can use it to provide better value and satisfaction to its customers. * Human Capital Telenor has a flexible culture which encourages its employees to be innovative and creative. It has different product lines like Talkshawk, Dejuice and Persona. Each product lines have functional specialists having deep functional expertise.
The roles and responsibilities of each employee in a team are specified, giving them a sense of empowerment and ownership within the scope of their responsibility. This encourages them to be innovative and creative. The functional specialists in each team are responsible for the sale, marketing etc and account for their responsibility. Employees are given a hand in decision making; in other decentralized decision making is the name of game here. Another hallmark of the Telenor Organization is that their majority of employees are young. In this day and age it is important to have new blood in the organization along with the old hands. So the human capital of Telenor is also capable of coping with any challenges thrown their way.
Employees are motivated through motivational approaches such as bonuses, pay rises etc, and hence employees are motivated to give their 100 percent. * No Communication Barriers Inter-department, cross-functional communication is very important for the success of any organizations. Communication is the lifeblood of the organizations. If there is any communication barrier within an organization, it will not achieve the desired results. In Telenor the cross-functional teams communicate with each other, and there’s no such thing as communication barrier. This helps the teams in achieving their targets. Communication gap is eliminated by inter and intra net portal system used to communicate information efficiently. * Diversity
Telenor Pakistan is keen to promote diversity and has achieved good results in this area. Telenor has developed requirements for diversity in both recruitment and our management development programs. There is an appropriate blend of less seasoned and experienced employees. No quota has been assigned; the best-fit candidate (according to the job requirements) is employed. At the office level or call centers, even fresh graduates are apt but the director level requires a masters degree and preferably some work experience. Telenor Pakistan has a large proportion of females who are recruited for internal leadership development programs and executive positions on the basis of past performance.
The organization is working on Day Care Centers to help female employees manage their responsibilities after settling down. Relocation issues are dealt cooperatively when female individuals move out of the city after marriage and wish to continue working. They are relocated and facilitated in the new city. The Marketing Functions As a new entrant in a highly competitive industry, they had to quickly establish themselves as a recognized brand, develop their services and rollout their infrastructure from scratch. Nokia Siemens Networks were vital to their success then just as they are now. They have some of the best technical and project management expertise in the world. The Product
Five Product Levels Core product| Communication| Basic product| Telecommunication Service| Expected product| Consumer expects good network coverage, faster connectivity| Augmented product| Value addition includes MMS, EDGE, bubble messages, WAP portal| Potential product| Potential service includes Bill Payment & Easy Load Facility On Its Websites. | Product is strength of a company. It would not be wrong if we say that it is the be-all-and-end-all of the company. A customer will only spend its hard-earned money if a product is satisfying his/her needs, if it is to his/her liking and satisfaction and last but not the least it is his/her money’s worth.
Telenor is providing to their target customers quality products and services. The core product of Telenor is communication services, so it is providing three packages in this respect. They are divided in following categories Pre-Paid Packages * Telenor Talkshawk Telenor Talkshawk package comprises of the following varieties. * Telenor Talkshawk Har Minute * Telenor Talkshawk 63 * Talkshawk 10 paisa offer * Talkshawk Free Minute Offer * Talkshawk Day Time FnF Offer * Talkshawk Late Night Offer * Telenor Talkshawk A-1 * Telenor Talkshawk Har Second * Telenor Talkshawk 30 Second * Dejuice Post-Paid Package * Telenor Persona Talkshawk and Dejuice are prepaid packages of Telenor and Persona is postpaid package.
Telenor is using multi product strategy for keeping their head above the water in the market filled with high competition water. Telenor Persona offers the flexibility to separately subscribe to exciting new add-ons with any of customer’s preferred price plan based on his/her mobile needs. Mobile Fun Services of Telenor The Telenor provides a wide range of innovative services. Here is a selection. Mobile Fun Following are the mobile fun service of Telenor. * Mobile Sports And he scores!!! You just got a text message alerting you about a sportive highlight. Luckily you don’t have to wait until you get home to watch that winning moment – you can watch it directly on your mobile. * Mobile Music Right now there are 1 million songs ready to download to your mobile.
You can share these digital rights management-free songs with your friends and family or transfer them to your mobile phone, mp3 player and PC. Share that funky music! * Mobile TV Keep your favorite TV shows available in your pocket and watch them anytime, anywhere. You can easily access live TV channels on the move so you don’t have to miss out on any of the action. Keep yourself updated on news, sports, entertainment and more, directly on your own mobile phone. * Tele Doctors Are you a Telenor Pakistan subscriber and in need of expert medical advice? Simply dial 1911 to get in touch with experienced doctors who can help you with your problems – wherever you are in the country. * Mobile in Flight
By using Aero-Mobile secure mobile communication technology you can now call your colleagues, customers, friends and family whilst in flight from your own mobile phone. * Mobile at Sea Most people have experienced little or no connectivity at sea. Maritime Communications Partner enables mobile phone coverage by installing and operating the ship borne radio networks, linking the vessels with public networks via satellite. The Product Strategy Telenor’s product strategy focuses basically on the prepaid packages. If statistics are anything to go by more than 80% of the mobile subscribers in Pakistan are using pre-paid services. Therefore they are diverting their energies to serve their pre-paid customers from all strata of the society.
Because nowadays people have many options to choose from, when it comes to product and services offered, the days of customers having limited choices are long gone by, they switch quickly to other networks if they do not happen to like a service of a company. So that’s why Telenor makes different product strategies to attract the new customers, maintain the current ones and retain those who have switched to other companies. These strategies are * To add a new product * Cost reduction * Product improvement * Marketing strategy alteration Add a new product strategy When a product has lost favor of its customers, an organization bring certain improvements in it and when making improvements does not seem to be the right course of action, companies resort to a tactic called “new product strategy” .
Now in market there is very much competition among different mobiles operators. So Telenor introduced Talkshawk and Dejuice to compete in the market. Talkshawk offers long talk and that also in lowest rates. And Dejuice is for SMS at very low rates. Cost reduction strategy Sometimes companies in face of tough competition lower the price of their products by lowering the production costs, so that market share can be captured. Telenor is also using this strategy of cost reduction to compete in the market. Because people are price sensitive so that’s why they lower the prices of product. Through cost reduction strategy Telenor offering late night packages to reduce the networking cost of booster.
Because during the night, up till the wee hours of the morning the load of communication traffic is very low that’s why they offered late night packages at very low cost. Product improvement strategy With a passage of time a product can lose the attraction it holds for a customer, therefore it is important to keep making innovative changes and improvements in a product so that it can be better places in a market, where different products/services of different competitors are vying for being the apple of the eyes of the customers. They make little changes in existing product. Like Telenor making improvements day after day in its Talkshawk packages. Changes in marketing strategy
When the SMS Service took the world by storm, and was spreading like wild fire to say the least. So much so that it was being hailed as the best thing since sliced bread. Every Company in telecom business, realizing the p