STRATEGIC MARKETING (2200) CIM NUMBER 40029979

ORGANIZATION SUMMARY
Organization Name
Vodafone Ghana
Type of Organization
Vodafone Ghana is a privately owned limited liability company which operates nationally with an intention
to make profit.

Size of Organization
Vodafone Ghana has (1.2 billion dollars as at the financial year ended 2006). As at 2nd of May 2017, the
number of employees of the company was 1500.

Range of Products and Services Provided

Vodafone Ghana offers an unlimited mobile plan as their products and services to call your business
partners, friends and family, other local networks as well as abroad. Our exclusive mobile plan also caters
for browsing and SMS needs. One of Vodafone’s business unit which is flourishing at an increasing rate is
their mobile money business (Vodacash).

Customer Base
Vodafone Ghana, formerly Ghana Telecom, is the national telecommunication company of Ghana. In 2006,
it had around 400,000 customers’ fixed and mobile telephony and internet. Vodafone has a business to
customer base system.

Main Competitors
In Ghana Vodafone competes with MTN, Airtel/Tigo (Orange), and Glo

Organizational Background
Vodafone in Ghana is an operating company of Vodafone Group Plc, the world’s leading mobile
telecommunications company, with a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific
and the United States. Vodafone is the only total communication solution provider mobile, fixed lines,
internet, voice and data and is currently unmatched in providing fixed line and internet services the leader
and the first choice of Ghanaians. We are second ranked operator in mobile with a huge potential to take
over the market. As a corporate body, we value our customers and constantly build key relationship with
the private sector and the government. Our goal is to be the communication leader in an increasingly
connected world. We aim to provide the kind of innovation and responsive service for which Vodafone
group is recognized worldwide. Vodafone gain its name from Voice + Data + Phone.

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 STRATEGIC MARKETING (2200) CIM NUMBER 40029979

b) STRATEGIC AUDIT
Stakeholder engagement- Introduction
In today’s competitive universal business environment, cooperative affiliations with stakeholders enable
firms to adapt, share risks and embrace innovation (Leadbeater, 2000). A stakeholder can be defined as any
group or individual that can affect or is affected by the achievement of an organization’s purpose (Freeman,
2004: 229). It includes persons or groups with which the business interacts who have a stake or a bestowed
interest in it, such as employees, consumers, suppliers, and local communities within which corporations
operate (Campbell, 2007: 947). Also Greenwood (2007) stated that stakeholder’s engagement is the
involvement of stakeholders in organizational activities to make their hopes be in conformity with
management decisions. Now, there are a lot of literature and empirical findings on stakeholder’s attributes
and how the organizations are structured, but there are still gaps when it comes to how stakeholders
contribute to competitive advantage and this marketing plan seeks to close that gap.
NEED IDENTIFICATION AND CATEGORIZATION OF STAKEHOLDERS
In identifying stakeholders, management must be sure to identify and list all potential stakeholders for a
project. But for the sake of the marketing plan we will focus on stakeholder’s needs, interest, power,
potential key issues and their influence on competitive advantage.

STAKEHOLDER POTENTIAL NEEDS INTEREST POWER/ INFLUENCE ON COMPETITIVE

KEY ISSUES INFLUENCE ADVANTAGE
Investors Concern about Reassured of High Strong In a highly competitive market like the
effect of issues security of interest influence one Vodafone finds itself competitive
on share price investment advantage is key, investors will influence
completive advantage by taking risk of
doing something new to attract
customers and draw higher level of
organization’s reputation
Customers Switch to a Need to stick High Strong Customers influence on competitive
more reliable with interest influence advantage will be in relation to a flair
competitor, Vodafone to innovation, customer service, low cost
avoid purchases be reassured structure, proprietary features and brand
due to negative of value for equity. This will trigger customers to look
perception of money in the way of Vodafone instead of signing
Vodafone services. on with their competitor.
Ghana.
Local Communities Communicate Need to be Low Strong In the case of local communities,
unfavorably of shown interest influence Vodafone can gain competitive advantage
Vodafone due evidence of if the community has a positive
to perceiving itVodafone’s perception of the organization, it can
as uncaring of responsibility enhance the organization’s reputation
environment, and thereby giving Vodafone competitive
safe, and socialcommitment advantage since reputation and goodwill
issues. to the of an organization is hard to copy
community
Employees Avoid further Need to be High Strong In order for a resource to qualify as a
partnering motivated to interest influence source of sustained competitive
when they bring give out their advantage, the resource must add value
the entity into best to make to the firm, it must be rare, it must be

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 STRATEGIC MARKETING (2200) CIM NUMBER 40029979

disrepute and the company inimitable and it must be non-

sleep on job. stay substitutable, well trained and easy to
competitive adopt technology employees can sustain
competitive advantage

Governments and Impose Need to High Weak Under the government and regulators,
regulators sanctions on engage and interest influence competitive advantage can be won
Vodafone, be assured of through sticking to policies and not being
monitor their compliance bias when it comes to sanctions. This will
services impact from cut down the rate of corruption and give
on consumers, Vodafone, the company a good image and
environment that reputation, in the long run it will sustain
and society Vodafone Vodafone a competitive edge over its
will abide by competitors.
its health and
safe
regulation
Suppliers Cut network Need to be Low Strong Suppliers have very strong influence
suppliers who reliable withinterest influence when it comes to sustaining competitive
will not their advantage, suppliers must have a cordial
improve the distribution relationship with their agents, also a
energy service just in quality tool such as ‘Just-In-Time’ can be
efficiency of time used by suppliers to gain competitive
Vodafone’s advantage by supplying and delivering
operations products on time.
The key stakeholders from the above table are investors and customers.

MACRO ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS – EXTERNAL AUDIT

The PEST analysis is a strategic tool used to analyze external factors affecting a business and stands for
political, environmental, social, and technological factor (Lancaster et al, 2002). A PESTEL analysis of
Vodafone’s macro environment revealed below;
POLITICAL In order to have a sustainable competitive advantage, Vodafone must obtain permission from
government (National Communications Authority), and comply with their policies. Also a stable
democracy (good governance) will be helpful because of significant share government has in
Vodafone Ghana.
ENVIRONMENTAL In recent years there has been a fierce debate about whether telco masts cause cancer to those people
living in that vicinity. This has a potential consequence on Vodafone’s expansion efforts
SOCIAL The growing population of Ghana will make maintaining brand equity very difficult for Vodafone
through strict adherence to Total Quality Management and Customer Satisfaction or Relation
Management.
TECHNOLOGICAL A greater proportion of Ghanaian populate use phones, more technological innovation in relation to
product /services and applications for smartphone users will help sustain competitive advantage.
ECONOMICAL High interest and inflationary rate. When the inflation rate is high and the rate of foreign currencies
rises it leads to an increase in cost of goods and services. This will mean that services provided by
Vodafone will be costly and marketing activities will also be high.
LEGAL Ghana has its own network communication acts, when any policy linked to this is changed it will
affect Vodafone’s enforcement on tariffs/cost and every call.

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 STRATEGIC MARKETING (2200) CIM NUMBER 40029979

INTERNAL AUDIT OF VODAFONE GHANA

The 7S framework of McKinsey is a Value Based Management (VBM) model that defines how one can
complete and effectively organize a company.

Strategy It is the plan for the allocation of firms scares resources, over time, to reach identified objectives. As Vodafone has
already adopted the brand name it has reached its saturation stage now in order to sustain its competitive advantage
for a longer term they need to come up with strategies to make key stakeholders loyal to the brand.
Structure It is the way the organization’s unit relate to each other. Centralized and decentralized function division. The
essential department will help in acquiring efficiency and effectiveness. This will assist the organization to achieve
the desirable objectives. Vodafone will acquire expertise knowledge to develop faith and trust of key stakeholders.
Vodafone’s structure does not enable quick decision making, the company will refine it to the flat empowered
structure in order to fulfil the flexible and quick decision making to meet key stakeholders needs and sustain
competitive advantage
System It is the procedures, process and routine that characterizes how important work is done, such as financial system;
hiring, promoting and performance appraisal system; information system. Vodafone will stick to formal procedures
by running daily activities. The marketing communication and MIS department of Vodafone will analyze key
stakeholders by an easy going system. Vodafone will be more focused on new systems that will be adopted to bring
empowerment to key stakeholders.
Shared The interconnecting center of this model is share value; what does the organization stand for and what it believes in.
Value As the hand works in the body the share value are the core value of Vodafone as it connects soft skills to the
organization. They are communicated in the organization which is very clear from the behavior and adherence of
key stakeholders to the organizational policies. Also processes such as collaboration and knowledge sharing and co-
creation of value helps to achieve competitive advantage.
Skills It is the distinctive capabilities of personnel or of the organization as a whole. Vodafone’s employees are highly
skilled and trained but they suffer from executing skills. To achieve competitive advantage internal factors such as
human capital/talent, employee’s knowledge on technology should be adhered to. Programs should be launched to
train the key stakeholders in order to bring balance between the knowledge and executing skills.
Staff It is the number and types of personnel within the organization. Vodafone will appoint people from various groups
of the society based on their skills and abilities so they can bring best leverage for the company as well as themselves.
In order to motivate their staff (key stakeholders) they provide various financial and non-financial incentives. This
will make key stakeholders more motivated and work hard and in the long run will sustain competitive advantage.
Style It is the cultural style of the organization and how key stakeholders behave in achieving organizational objectives;
Management style. The top level management of Vodafone will have to maintain a discipline atmosphere, achieve
results within a defined time. The style of the management control is partially non decisive and risk avoiding, this
hinders fast decision making, risk taking and entrepreneurial ability of key stakeholders. They need to supervise
their subordinates in such a way that they work in deliberate manner to overcome this problem.

SWOT ANALYSIS
According to Lawrence G. Fine the SWOT analysis is using the strength to overcome weaknesses, using
opportunities to overcome threats. SWOT is an acronym that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats

Strengths  Efficient network infrastructure

 Loyalty bonus to customers
 Expertise/ skilled workforce (Innovative staff with high acumen and ingenuity)
 Low labor turnover/downsizing through retrenchment strategies, spinning-offs etc.
 Strong network coverage in cities such as Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Sunyani

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 STRATEGIC MARKETING (2200) CIM NUMBER 40029979

Weakness  Internal processes

 After sales service
 Exorbitant tariffs compared EXPRESSO, AIRTEL/TIGO and MTN (Internet service).
 Negative return on asset, underperform key competitors like MTN, AIRTEL/TIGO just to mention
a few.
 Low average customer handling time, lack of product market expansion, inability to build strong
brand, quality options, evaluation of service quality.
 Investor confidence is falling gradually.
Opportunities  Product and services targeted at segmented markets
 Focus on cost reduction, thereby improving returns
 Research and Development of new and state of the art mobile technology
Threats  Other Internet Service Providers offering the same product
 Highly competitive market and radical players such as MTN, AIRTEL/TIGO
 Still lags behind major competitor and market leader in Ghana e.g. MTN
 Extremely high penetration rate into the Ghanaian market
 Influx of digital music industry, prevalence of file transfer
 Smart devices increasing becoming popular, increasing demand for laptops, greater appetite for data
connectivity
It can be concluded that, Vodafone can make profit when the SWOT analysis is performed, also since
the environment is continually changing understanding the situation proactively will make
Vodafone’s decisions for both the present and future more successful.

c) OBJECTIVES
Vision
To be the communication leader in an increasingly connected world.
Mission
To enrich our customers lives through the unique power of mobile communication.
APPRAISAL OF VISION AND MISSION OF VODAFONE GHANA.
Vodafone Ghana is currently focusing on customer’s lives through the unique power of mobile
communication. In my view Vodafone should focus not just on customers but key stakeholders of Vodafone
Ghana with high interest and strong influence to build brand reputation and sustain competitive advantage,
thus Investors and Customers. Positive reputation will help Vodafone keep its best key stakeholders and
add value to the share price as the share takes on an intrinsic value of its own. According to Abraham
Lincoln reputation affects image, or the way others view you. Reputation affects interactions with a brand,
provides identity that becomes a rally point for key stakeholders and have a clear brand about vision and
mission of Vodafone Ghana.
OBJECTIVES THAT RELATE TO ENHANCING STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT TO SUSTAIN
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.

Stakeholders Objectives
Investors To restore investor confidence by December 2021
Customers To reach a high customer retention and build a 10% brand loyalty base by December 2021

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 STRATEGIC MARKETING (2200) CIM NUMBER 40029979

Local Communities To position Vodafone as a caring, responsible and committed company that cares about the local
community within the second quarter of the year
Employees To have continuous rapports with management to help become market leaders by December 2021.
Government and To institute that Vodafone has a great level of commitment to regulations, by December 2021.
Regulators
Suppliers To obtain response from suppliers about Vodafone activities within the market

d) STRATEGIC OPTIONS
In securing a strategic option for Vodafone Ghana, the grid below can be used to categorize stakeholders
according to their interest and power levels: Power measures stakeholder’s degree of ability to help or have
an impact on sustaining competitive advantage while Interest measures stakeholder’s degree of support or
opposition to the company’s goals and objectives

 POWER/INTEREST MATRIX
LOW HIGH
A. B. LOW
Weak Influence/Low Interest Weak Influence/High Interest

MINIMAL EFFORT KEEP INFORMED

-e.g. General Public - Government and regulators
- Suppliers
POWER

C. D.
Strong Influence/Low Interest Strong Influence/High Interest HIGH

KEEP SATISFIED KEY PLAYERS

- Local Communities - Employees
- NGOs - Customers
- Investors

INTEREST
The figure above shows the strategic option Vodafone Ghana will take with regards to stakeholder
engagement to sustain competitive advantage. In the first quadrant labelled A, stakeholders with weak
influence and low interest will be given minimal effort, quadrant B stakeholders with weak influence and
high interest will be kept informed of the company’s activities, quadrant C stakeholders with strong
influence and low interest will be kept satisfied of their needs and quadrant D stakeholders with strong
influence and high interest will be the key players of the organization and will be involved in the day-to-
day running of the business.

 PORTERS GENERIC STRATEGIES

According to Porter (1996) a firm's relative position within its industry determines whether a firm's
profitability is above or below the industry average. The fundamental basis of above average profitability
in the long run is sustainable competitive advantage. Vodafone Ghana as a market follower in the current

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Ghanaian telecom industry has to deploy various kinds of strategies in order to be able to stand the intense
competition.

COST LEADERSHIP DIFFERENTIATION

COST FOCUS DIFFERENTIATION FOCUS

Cost Differentiation
• Cost Leadership: Vodafone Ghana will gain competitive advantage by developing the edge that gets
Vodafone the sale and takes it away from its competitors. An important way Vodafone will use to achieving
this cost leadership strategy is by increasing its profits by reducing costs, while charging industry average
prices. The cost leadership strategy that is adopted will be successful because Vodafone has access to the
capital needed to invest (investors) in technology that will bring costs down. Also low cost base (labor,
materials, facilities), and a way of sustainably cutting costs below those of its competitors MTN, Airtel/Tigo
and Glo.
•Differentiation Strategy: Vodafone will make its products or services different from and more attractive
than those of its competitors (MTN, Airtel/Tigo and Glo). Vodafone will achieve this through investing in
Good research, development and innovation, delivering high quality products or services to engage key
stakeholders and effective sales and marketing, to ensure that the market understands the benefits offered
by the differentiated offerings.
•Focus Strategy: Vodafone will concentrate on particular niche segments in the Ghanaian market and, by
understanding the dynamics of that market and the unique needs of key stakeholders, Vodafone will develop
a uniquely low cost or well specified products for the market. This will build a strong brand loyalty among
its key stakeholders and engage them as well.

e) TACTICS
The elements of the marketing mix are the parameters that Vodafone Ghana can control, subject to the
internal and external constraints of the marketing environment. The goal of Vodafone Ghana is to make
decisions that center the extended services marketing mix on improving stakeholder engagement and
sustaining competitive advantage. Vodafone Ghana will seek to combine and mix the 7 P’s in the following
manner in order to achieve its strategic marketing objectives.

Product In achieving customer’s objective, Vodafone will manage customer relationships by keeping them
informed at all times through text messages, emails, social media and the Vodafone website about
new products and services. Incentives will engage customers and inspire them to stick to Vodafone
e.g. free access to the network, and also reward customers with free products for their loyalty , this
will sustain competitive advantage

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Price Vodafone will exercise a customer base pricing strategy, flexible pricing mechanisms. In order to
achieve the strategic goal of stakeholders, we continue to maintain a pricing formula that is less than
that of it strategic group competitors by 15%.Attached with strong product and services road map,
Vodafone believes that this forms the central of a very strong value proposition
Promotion Vodafone will seek to communicate to it stakeholders by large scale print and video advertising. It
will also use high profile celebrities to fasten in the endorsement of its products and the Vodafone
brand. Specific promotional attacks will be lunched targeting it competitor’s weaknesses. Promotional
exercises such as the (“Ekiki Mi”- multiple subscribers using same scratch card, and “yen di agoro”
(let’s play) on the Vodafone app) will also be used to keep the Vodafone brand fresh in the minds of
its customers and stakeholders.
Place Using Community Relations, Vodafone will manage the perception of the local community. For
example, by engaging opinion leaders within the community through focus group discussions,
Vodafone has discovered that the community is most passionate about the education of its youth. In
line with this insight, Vodafone has Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals to donate a number
of computers to schools within the community. Public Relations will be used to publicize this project
to amplify the goodwill towards the company
People To develop good industry relations, Vodafone will engage and reassure its partners by establishing
effective two way communications through regular meetings, newsletters and emails. They will also
share their financials with them, and trade information that can help them gain competitive advantage.
Also, Vodafone will set up inter-organizational events like barbecues, soccer games and seminars to
improve inter-organizational relations.
Process Vodafone Management will bolster investor confidence through publications, sharing
annual/quarterly reports that illustrate their future strategy and forecasts, and the industry outlook.
They will also share detailed follow-up information about the company’s activities through emails and
presentations, and further build confidence by reemphasizing the various strengths of the Vodafone
management team’s collective professional background.
Physical Evidence Vodafone will maintain state of the act infrastructure and environment through its branches. Ensure a
highly favorable and calm environment that is best for doing business. All branches of Vodafone will
make provision for access by the physically challenge.

f) Control and Measurement

Control
Critical success factor refers to “the limited number of areas in which satisfactory results will ensure
successful competitive performance for the individual, department or organization” (Morrison,
2012).Critical Success Factors (CSF) are the competitive factors or activities that are needed to ensure the
company succeeds, and might include product attributes and particular marketing resources and capabilities
such as access to ownership of patents. Critical Success Factors may vary between industries and markets.
For Vodafone Ghana, the critical success factors would include setting up a Key Stakeholder Experience
Unit under the marketing department and ensuring quality assurance.
Vodafone Ghana would set standards against which performance would be checked periodically.
Acceptable standards would be set. For example, an acceptable level of complaints would be set for every
month, and in cases where variances are identified, it will mean that targets have not been met. The reason
for the variance would be determined, and corrective action would be taken. This cycle would be repeated
throughout the three year period, in order to ensure that objectives have been achieved.
Key Stakeholder satisfaction would be checked with the key stakeholder satisfaction metric at the end of
every month, to ensure that the new unit is really serving its purpose of enhancing the key stakeholder’s

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service experience.Net promoter score and key stakeholder churn rate would be used to check how many
key stakeholders are satisfied enough to stay with Vodafone and even recommend it to their peers.
Response time metric would be used to check if the standards set by the key stakeholder experience unit
are being met. For example, the unit may set a standard of answering calls on the second ring, or responding
to emails within 24 hours. The response time metric can be used to check these, and if the standards are not
met, the reasons would be determined. If the reason for not meeting the response time for emails are unstable
internet supply would be checked and corrected. This cycle would be repeated every month for the entire
3-year period so that focus is not lost. The profitability metric would be used to check the level of
profitability at the end of Q4, Q8 and Q12. This is to ensure that the objective of increasing profitability is
met by the end of Q12.

Measurement
The table below is an implementation schedule showing how Vodafone Ghana intends to execute its plan
to achieve the set objectives.
GANTT CHART YEAR ONE YEAR TWO YEAR THREE
ACTIVITY RESPONSIBILTY BUDGET Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11 Q12
GH₵
Product; quality review Faculty managers N/A
Product information Faculty managers, 150
review marketing
Campaign creatives Marketing 200
E-mail planning and Marketing 1900
delivery/key
stakeholder experience
unit
Social media Faculty manager, 200
engagement marketing
PR work PR and marketing 100
Telemarketing Marketing 100
Direct mail Marketing 100
Web information Marketing and 300
sales
Pricing and discount Faculty managers N/A
review
Payment info and Sales N/A
promotion
Taster session Marketing and 1000
sales
Key stakeholders All departments 2000
training
Application process Sales 150
review
After Action Review All departments N/A
meeting
Final review Marketing N/A
TOTAL 6200
Table 7.0

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