EM-502 Principles

of Management
Assignment: Environment Analysis of
GrameenPhone Bangladesh
Company Profile
Grameenphone (GP) is the leading telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh. With
more than 54.5 million subscribers and 46.3% subscriber market share (as of August 2016),
Grameenphone is the largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh. It is a joint venture between
Telenor and Grameen Telecom Corporation, a non-profit sister concern of the microfinance
organisation and community development bank Grameen Bank. Telenor, the largest
telecommunications company in Norway, owns 55.8% shares of Grameenphone, Grameen
Telecom owns 34.2% and the remaining 10% is publicly held. Grameenphone was the first
company to introduce GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) technology in
Bangladesh, and build the first cellular network to cover 99% of the country.

The External Environment

Figure 1: External Environment of GrameenPhone Bangladesh

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The external environment of GrameenPhone consists of two main parts: They are: Task
Environment and General Environment (Shown in Figure 1)

Task Enviroment
Competitors
There are other telecomunnication companies doing business in Bangladesh and are
competitors to GrameenPhone. They are: Banglalink, Robi, Airtel, Citycell, Teletalk etc.
Customers
Grameenphone operates their service for all level and class of peoples. They provide
special packages for retailers like POLLI phone. GP also provided the djuice package
for young generation.
Suppliers
GPs transmitter cables comes from Finland. Their SIM, server system and other
technologies are from China.
Strategic partners
The strategic partners of Grameenphone are:
Society for Economic and Basic Advancement (SEBA)
Kalikapur Daridro Kallan Sangsta (KDKS),
Socio-Economic Development Association (SEDA),
SSTD Communication
Regulators
GPs regulator is Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC),
formed in January 2002.
General Enviroment
Technological
GP was the first company to introduce GSM technology in Bangladesh when it was
launched, started their services in March 1997. Edge internet system was 1st opened by
GP and they are the market leader of mobile connection modem.
Economical
Grameenphone has a great contribution on the economy. It pays over tk.6 billion in tax.
They contribute their existing income for rural education. GP also creates a large number
of job opportunities, which reduce unemployment problem. (Currently employing over
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 3283 people as of Year 2017) GP is also engaged in social and many work to develop the
economic system of Bangladesh.
Social culture
Keeping their vision in mind GP aims to extend their contribution to the development of
rural and healthcare system. GP also plans to develop an educated and skilled workforce.
Political-Legal
Grameenphone is not involved in any political activities. The regulatory relationship
between business and the government (legal system) and its agencies define
what the organization can and cant do.
International
GP has substantial international operations in Mobile Telephony, Satellite Operations and
Pay Television Services. In addition to Norway and Bangladesh, Telenor owns GSM
companies in Denmark, Austria, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Montenegro, Thailand,
Malaysia and Pakistan.

SWOT Analysis
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats and is a structured planning
method that evaluates those four elements of an organization. The strengths and weaknesses are
the factors internal to the organization while the opportunities and threats are factors presented
by the environment external to the organization. (Shown in Figure 2)

Figure 2: SWOT Analysis of Grameenphone Bangladesh

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STRENGTHS (S)

Owner Structure GrameenPhone is the fast growing mobile telecommunication and has the best
owner structure. Telenor is one of the largest company, operating in different countries around the
world. Among NGO,Grameen Bank is one of the largest in Bangladesh which has better
communication all over the country.

Market Leader GrameenPhone has a huge advantage of being the first organization in
Bangladesh which have reached the general people as they were satisfied with the initial price of
GP connections and handsets. Though City Cell had started their operation beforehand, in the the
market but they were not successful to reach the general people. So people preferred Grameen
Phone over City Cell.

Largest geographical coverage Compared to other telecommunication industries,

GrameenPhone has the widest network coverage and also a large number of BTS station all over
Bangladesh and hence they have the best network availability in most areas of the country even
the rural ones.

Skilled employees- Grameen Phone engage skilled knowledgeable and effective employees who
are aware of their job responsibility. GPs Human Resource and people management procedure
is very powerful than the other telecom companies as GP follows ethical strategies to recruit
employees. This is a great strength for GP as employees get motivated to work hard and have a
variety of skills to acheive their goals.

Established Brand- Brand name creates a great impact on the product. In Bangladesh, Grameen
Bank is very popular all over the country for its appreciable activities in the financial sector for
poor people. And hence by adding the name, Grameen with the telecom company the
organization they are successful to build a superior image as it has already a good brand image in
the market. Moreover because of its strategies and planning GP tends to earn huge revenue.

WEAKNESSES (W)

High price- Comparative to other telecom industries GP charges high price for its services. They
have a lot of products and their billing policies are different and inflexible which creates

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difficulty for the customers to understand. This high pricing leads the customers to switch to
other substitutes.

Growing customer dissatisfaction- Significant dissatisfaction were observed in the factors like
network is not always available especially for the prepaid services, service of helpline, services
of information centre, high billing rate and so on. Sometimes the subscribers need to pay extra
money to get the services. Most importantly a significant portion of GP subscribers were found
not fully loyal to the company.

No clear messages through advertisements- Most of the time advertisements of Grameen

Phone do not convey clear messages to the people. Most people get confused what what message
are they trying to give and they get confused and misinterpret the meaning.

Culture gap- Grameen Phone employs workers from different country as a result it becomes
difficult for the employees to communicate due to culture gap. Grameen Phone encourages its
employees to apply new strategies for the betterment of the business and hence culture gap can
be a weakness as employees might face difficulty to corporate.

OPPORTUNITIES (O)

Possibility of further network connection- The market of telecommunication is expanding. In

coming days Grameen Phone is going to have agreement with T&T to have better connection
from land phone. So this can creat agreat opportunity for Grameen Phone to achieve a major
portion of the expanding market.

Possibility of innovative products and services- GP may allow stock receiving facility on
credit. This is appreciated by retailers as they can have the stock on credit and pay later. Better
utilization of IT resources would give GP the opportunity for faster growth. GP can also
introduce rental phones.

International activities- In Bangladesh international activities is increasing day by day. People

need connectivity all over the world so it creates opportunity for GP to expand its market outside
the country for eg by providing internate packages. BTTB has also established a new gateway to
connect internationally which makes it easier for mobile phone companies to provide ISD
services and international roaming.
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High market share- Nowadays communicating through mobile phones is very popular due to its
low cost and portability compared to land phones. Therefore people are getting more dependent
on mobile phones, so there is a great opportunity to attract more subscribers and achieve high
market share.

THREATS (T)

Competition- There are a lot of competitors in the market to satisfy customers according to their
needs eg, Banglalink, Airtel, RObi.. Everyday customers are demanding lower tarrifs and better
quality. Therefore it might turn out to be a threat for GP to increase and maintain its current
market share. Among the new entrants BTTB can be a threat in future if it starts operating at full
potential.

Upgraded technology used by competitors- Competitors like Banglalink is establishing their

channel through latest technology. Whereas GP is lacking behind as they are using old stations
and they also lack in providing service of helpline. As a result they shud upgrade their
technology to compete in the maket and maintain their sustainability.

Economic influences- Sudden changes in the economy might result in lower profits for the
organization. For instance,devaluation of taka will decrease profits as investments occur in
foreign currency. Political instability can also be a threat as change in government will also lead
to change in policies. So it will be difficult for any multinational organization to cope with new
policies.

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