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Managerial And Marketing Problems That Airtel Is Facing

Report on Airtel in Bangladesh

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Course Name: International Business

Course Code: Mgt-372

Sec-

Submitted to,

Muhammad Ariful Ghani (Arif)

Faculty Member

Prepared by:

Date of Submission: 31st July, 2012

Name Id #

Naved Mohammad Khan

SAIF AHMED

KAZI JAHIDUZZAMAN

ADNAN MAHMUD

RAKIBUL KABIR

101 0549 530

1020789030

0930312030

0930637030

0930733030

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11TH APRIL - 2012

Muhammad Ariful Ghani (Arif)

Faculty Member

School of business

North South University

Subject: Submission of a report.

Sir,

With due regards and respect we state that we are very thankful to you as you assigned us this

report on MANAGERIAL STYLES AND PRACTICES IN AIRTEL AND THE PROBLEMS

THAT IT IS FACING NOW-A-DAYS AS A GLOBAL PLAYER. It is a great opportunity for

us to acquire theoretical and practical knowledge about a reputed multinational organization

and its operations. We have tried our best to gather what we believe to be the most complete

information available.

Your kind acceptance and any type of appreciation would surely inspire us. We would always be

available and ready to explain further any of the contexts whenever you ask.

Sincerely yours,

Naved Mohammad Khan 101 0549 530

Rakibul Kabir 0930733030

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Saif Ahmed 1020789030

S.M. Shahriar Mazid 1010246030

Adnan Mahmud 0930637030

INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................

GLOBAL OPERATION.................................................................................................................

OPERATION IN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...............................................................................

BANGLADESH................................................................................................................................

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE............................................................................................

MARKETING STRATEGIES.......................................................................................................

MOBILE PHONE SUBSCRIBERS IN BANGLADESH.....................................................

DIFFERENT OFFERS OF AIRTEL.....................................................................................

PROMOTION........................................................................................................................

MARKETING RELATED PROBLEMS THAT AIRTEL CONFRONTING..........................

RECOMMENDATION...................................................................................................................

HR STRATEGIES AND PRACTICES IN AIRTEL...................................................................

HR PROBLEMS THAT AIRTEL FACING.................................................................................

RECOMMENDATION...................................................................................................................

OVERALL MANAGERIAL PROBLEM OF AIRTEL..............................................................

INTERNAL MANAGERIAL PROBLEM............................................................................

EXTERNAL MANAGERIAL PROBLEM...........................................................................

RECOMMENDATION...................................................................................................................

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CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................

REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................

Executive Summary

International business is much more complicated than domestic business because countries differin many ways. Countries have different political, economic and legal systems. Cultural practices

can vary dramatically, as can the education and skill level of the population, and countries are at

different stages of economic development. The expectations of the people in the country, their

lifestyles and even their views may vary quite significantly. All these differences can and do

have quite a bit of influence and implications for the practice of international business. They

have a profound influence on the benefits, costs, and risks associated with doing business in

different countries; the way in which operations in different countries should be managed; and

the strategy international firms should pursue n different countries.

AIRTEL is one of the well known mobile operators in telecom industry of Bangladesh. They

came into Bangladesh on May 10, 2007 to change the history of mobile industry of Bangladesh.

To achieve their desired goal they recruited the highest subscriber (3 million) within a year. They

also achieved their highest growth rate in a first year but they cannot maintain their growth rate

later on.

However, it is only inevitable that a business still has to face unforeseen situations and

complications while operating in so many countries. In this report we have tried to point out the

major problems that AIRTEL is facing at the moment.

The subsequent sections of the report will demonstrate our findings along with relevant theories

starting with a brief overview of the company.

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Introduction

Bharti AIRTEL Limited commonly known as AIRTEL is an Indian telecommunication

company which operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa, and theChannel Islands. It

operates aGSM networkin all countries, providing 2G or3G services depending upon the

country of operation. AIRTEL is the third largest telecom operatorin the world with over

243.336 million customers across 20 countries as of March 2012. It is the largest cellular service

providerin India, with over 178.78 million subscribers at the end of February 2012. AIRTEL is

the third largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile andChinaUnicom.

Global operation

Countries where AIRTEL operates its business are given bellow:

Country Site Remarks

Bangladesh AIRTEL Bangladesh

AIRTEL Bangladesh had about 5.1 million

customers at the end of June 2011.[11]

Burkina FasoAIRTEL Burkina

Faso

AIRTEL Burkina Faso is the dominant player with

1,433,000 customers representing 50% market

share.

Chad AIRTEL Chad AIRTEL Chad is the #1 operator with 69% market

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Islandshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Islandshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_networkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_networkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2Ghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3Ghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3Ghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operatorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operatorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Mobilehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Unicomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Unicomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Unicomhttp://www.bd.airtel.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtel#cite_note-10http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Burkina-Faso/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Burkina-Faso/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Chad/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Islandshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_networkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2Ghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3Ghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operatorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Mobilehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Unicomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Unicomhttp://www.bd.airtel.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtel#cite_note-10http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Burkina-Faso/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Burkina-Faso/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Chad/

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share.

Democratic

Republic of the CongoAIRTEL DRC

AIRTEL is the market leader with almost 5 million

customers at the end of 2010.

Gabon AIRTEL Gabon

AIRTEL Gabon has 829,000 customers and its

market share stood at 61%.

Ghana AIRTEL GhanaAIRTEL Ghana had about 1.76 million customers at

the end of 2010.

India AIRTELAIRTEL is the market leader with almost

152.5 million customers at the end of 2010.

Kenya AIRTEL KenyaAIRTEL Kenya is the second largest operator and

has 4 million customers.

MadagascarAIRTEL

Madagascar

AIRTEL holds second place in the mobile telecommarket in Madagascar, has a 39% market share and

over 1.4 million customers.

Malawi AIRTEL MalawiAIRTEL Malawi is the market leader with a market

share of 72%.

Niger AIRTEL NigerAIRTEL Niger is the market leader with a 68%

market share.

Nigeria AIRTEL Nigeria

Republic of the

CongoAIRTEL Congo B

AIRTEL Congo is the market leader with a 55%

market share.

Rwanda AIRTEL RwandaAIRTEL launched services in Rwanda on 30 March

2012.

Seychelles AIRTEL Seychelles

AIRTEL is the leading comprehensive

telecommunications services providers with over

55% market share of mobile market in Seychelles.

Sierra LeoneAIRTEL Sierra

Leone

Sri Lanka AIRTEL Sri Lanka

AIRTEL Sri Lanka commenced operations on 12

January 2009. It had about 1.8 million mobile

customers at the end of 2010.

Tanzania AIRTEL Tanzania AIRTEL Tanzania is the market leader with a 38%

http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/DRC/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Gabon/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Ghana/http://www.airtel.in/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Kenya/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Madagascar/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Madagascar/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Malawi/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Niger/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Nigeria/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/CongoB/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Rwandahttp://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Seychelles/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Sierra/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Sierra/http://www.airtel.lk/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Tanzania/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/DRC/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Gabon/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Ghana/http://www.airtel.in/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Kenya/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Madagascar/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Madagascar/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Malawi/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Niger/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Nigeria/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/CongoB/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Rwandahttp://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Seychelles/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Sierra/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Sierra/http://www.airtel.lk/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Tanzania/

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market share.

Uganda AIRTEL UgandaAIRTEL Uganda stands as the #2 operator with a

market share of 38%.

Zambia AIRTEL Zambia

Channel Islands :

Jersey and

Guernsey

AIRTEL Vodafone

AIRTEL operates in the Channel Islands under the

brand name AIRTELVodafone through an

agreement with Vodafone.

Operations In Bangladesh

AIRTEL Bangladesh Ltd. is the sixth mobile phone carrier to enter the Bangladesh market, and

launched commercial operations on May 10, 2007. Warid Telecom International LLC, anAbu

Dhabi based consortium, sold a majority 70% stake in the company to India's Bharti

AIRTEL Limited for US$300 million. Bharti AIRTEL Limited will take management control of

the company and its board, and rebranded the company's services under its own AIRTEL brand

from 20 December 2010.

Marketing strategies and practices

AIRTEL has a customer base of 85.455 million in Bangladesh. Airtel used a behaivorial

approach to reach the mass amongst which customers range from 16 to 60 years of age.

http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Uganda/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Zambia/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Islandshttp://www.airtel-vodafone.je/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warid_Telecomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consortiumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtelhttp://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Uganda/http://www.africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africaairtel/Zambia/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Islandshttp://www.airtel-vodafone.je/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warid_Telecomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consortiumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharti_Airtel

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Airtels marketshare compared to other operators.

Operator 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 END

OF

2011

Market

Share

Grameen

Phone Ltd.

(GP)

13.97 20.31 21.16 26.46 30.428 36.493 42.70435

Robi 5.05 7.85 8.85 11.1 12.626 16.139 18.88596

Banglalink 6.04 9.46 11.04 16.1 20.038 23.493 27.49166

Citycell 1.3 1.7 1.96 1.99 1.858 1.824 2.134457

Teletalk

Bangladesh

Ltd.

0.89 1.07 1.1 1.16 1.204 1.1218 1.312738

AIRTEL

(warid)

0.47 3.31 2.58 3.17 4.184 6.026 7.051665

Total 27.72 43.7 46.69 59.98 70.34 85.455 100

AIRTEL uses the same marketing policies in different country. It can be argued that India has a

huge influence on Bangladeshis due to mass following Indian satellite channel; which makes it

easier for them to approach the public of Bangladesh. And also given the fact Bangladeshis and

Indian share the same sentiments when it comes to family ties and emotional bonding. But

differences remain in their service in Bangladesh from India due to the technological setbacks.

Different offers of AIRTEL

GPRS Roaming in 32 countries

New Generation Network with 3G capable infrastructure

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Fully functional website with E-portal to manage almost every VAS

All 64K SIM with AIRTEL SIM Genie to manage all pull-push services

Instant Cash-back Service after every call

Last six digits can be chosen by the subscriber

Chose any network by the AIRTEL SIM only

Promotion

Marketing related problems that AIRTEL is facing

Among the many problems of customers dissatisfaction, most highlighted are as follows

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Network failure

Low voice clarity

Network unavailability in many areas

Low promotion activity

No package offers for internet users

Few offers to address inactive users

Complicated prepaid and postpaid offer

Weak network strength

Poor internet connection

High price in Roaming and international call

AIRTEL amongst their customer base is mainly trying to grab the market share of younger

generation which ensures long life time of their customer base an approach usually used bybanks these days. With their new ads and billboards addressing the young hip generation is

another way of trying to grab the attention of teen and users in their mid 20s; offering low rate

cost at its best.

Recommendation

AIRTEL should concern about this highlighted problem to overcome the customer

dissatisfaction and they need to pay more attention to retain potential customer and offer new

benefit to regain new customers.

Can provide new generation of 3G network.

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Secondary and multiple connection opportunity.

Effective value added service

Changing marketing promotion policy

Can capture huge population in areas outside of Dhaka by proper implication and promotion

AIRTEL needs to work on their network and provide better connection. If they fail to provide

better connection chances are they will their current customer base. And also aim for potential

customer base by being the first to provide 3G services in Bangladesh and being the market

leader.. They can provide better connection opportunity and by providing effective value theycan easily gain competitive advantage. This is why AIRTEL need to change their current

existing policies and come up with new approaches and tactic to capture market share inside and

outside of Dhaka city my making ads more relevant to the people of Bangladesh instead of just

focusing on the younger generation.

HR strategies and practices in AIRTEL

The active and effective role played by HR in people development at different levels

organizational, departmental and individual is considered in AIRTEL to be one of the most

critical factors leading to the development of a winning corporate culture.

Like most big organizations, the development of HR Strategies is also done in accordance with

companys mission. First, Strategic planners analyze what actually is the prevalent culture of the

organization, what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT analysis) of

business and its market, and on the basis of all the above analysis, companys strategic plan is

established. In the end HR strategies are formulated in accordance with this overall

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business/companies strategic plans. Based on these HR strategies, HR policies and practices are

also formed and implemented.

HR Practices of AIRTEL

Recruitment

Training

Performance Management

Labor relation

Employee relation

Job analysis

Job design

Selection

Development

Incentives

HR related Problems faced by Airtel

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1. Loss of creativity: AIRTEL has a trend of maintaining long working relations with

employees and sticking with the same people as long as it is productive. Most of these

people are promoted from within the company to form the middle and upper

management. This result in loss of creativity that can be recognized by external

recruitment for these core managerial positions.

2. Workload: Employees experienced excessive work pressure due to shortage of workers

and had to work late at night without being paid additionally. These results in increase in

stress level & overwhelming workload would be unsustainable for them which can cause

the shift to other organizations.

3. Biased performance appraisal: Certain non financial rewards such as employee of the

year which is used as motivation tool are not properly communicated to the employees

regarding their importance. This is due to the biasness of immediate bosses. As result

employees get disappointed for not getting rewards in exchange of efficient performance

over their tenure at the office.

4. Threat of competitors: differences in compensation packages & benefits might

encourage employees to flock away from airtel & probably look for a career at some

other company rather than AIRTEL, for example GrameenPhone one of its main rivals.

A few Prospective solutions

Revising Compensation Packages and benefits periodically so that it is competently

aligning with other companys benefits and packages. This will make sure that the

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workers are motivated enough to stay in AIRTEL- a response that will result from their

thinking regarding the revised compensations offered to them. Attractive compensation

packages will help to retain well qualified and efficient employees by giving them proper

incentives to stay and ply their trade in the organization

Opening flexible and smooth Communication channelbetween management and staff is

a powerful way of reducing employee turnover and creating a productive work

environment. This way, the employees are more likely to open up to the management-

sharing their thoughts, ideas and opinions.

Introducing new and innovative provisions like flextime and telecommuting in order to

make the work environment more motivating. Introducing the alternative work

arrangements help reduce absenteeism, eliminate tardiness, and would allow AIRTEL to

draw on the talents of more than one individual- thereby increasing organizational

flexibility.

Continuously providing training and professional development programs by randomly

selecting employees occasionally. The training will keep the employees close to the

organization and will help to only motivate them further to stay. Selecting random

employees will in turn increase the competition between the employees- with everyone

vying for a place in the professional development programs- thereby increasing overall

productivity and efficiency within the organization.

Overall managerial problems of AIRTEL

As a new venture compare to other telecom business, AIRTEL has some major

managerial problems. These problems can be classified into two parts;

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Internal management problem

We found some major internal problems in AIRTEL by asking questions to the employees;

Weak trained employees: Employees of AIRTEL are not very well trained. As a new

comer in the market they should have well trained employees to understand and satisfy

the demand of the customers comparing to other competitors.

Lack of motivational factor:The employees of AIRTEL Company are not well

motivated. They do not get enough motivation from the higher lever employees. So they

are not fully satisfied with their job. The employees would not deliver their best if they

do not get enough motivation to do a work.

Proble

Proble

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Weak co-operative commitment: Because of weak motivational strategy of AIRTEL,

there exist a weak co-operative commitment between the firm and the employees. Firms

higher lever employees are not very co-operative with the lower level employees.

Low salary margin: Comparing to other telecommunication firms AIRTEL is offering

low salaryto its employees. Employees are not very satisfied with their salary. As a result

they quit their so often.

External management problem

There are also some external problems in AIRTEL which are basically related to the customer

service management;

Late response to the consumer: To solve a particular customers problem, AIRTEL

customer care employees usually take a long time. This sort of late response proves

external management problem of AIRTEL which often creates customer dissatisfaction.

Poor network coverage: Although AIRTEL has good coverage network in the

international market, but in Bangladesh they are way behind in case of covering network

Poor approachtowards the customers: Customers care officers of AIRTEL are not

well qualified in Bangladesh. These activities prove that AIRTEL is not very much

concern about customer caring which create a very bad impression on external

management system.

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Recommendation

AIRTEL should concentrate to improve the network coverage.

They must give their employees proper training to be well trained and satisfy the

customer needs.

As AIRTELs service rate is comparatively low than others, so to maintain sustainable

growth and win customers mind they need to give more emphasis on improving

customer service.

They should also concentrate on motivational factors of the employees, so that employees

remain satisfied with their job and provide the customers better service.

AIRTEL should provide the customers better internet facilities.

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AIRTEL should introduce better 3G technology to attract the new customers.

Conclusion

Airtel has few problems as it has launched in Bangladesh very lately, but it is true that they can

overcome the problems and it is a possibility to get a bigger share of the market for the company.

If the company can focus and help themselves to anlyze the problem it might not be far to see

millions of new subscribers of the company.

Reference

The data collected in the testimony mostly from the secondary sources among them most usable

source for data collection was given below which was reasonably accurate and expectable.

1. BTRC Bangladesh telecommunication regulatory commission

http://www.btrc.gov.bd/

2. AIRTEL websites for both Asia & Africa

http://www.btrc.gov.bd/http://www.btrc.gov.bd/

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http://www.AIRTEL.com/

3. AIRTEL Bangladesh websites

http://www.bd.AIRTEL.com/

.END

.

http://www.airtel.com/http://www.bd.airtel.com/http://www.airtel.com/http://www.bd.airtel.com/