Case Study Description of Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence
Vodafone was operating in the fast-moving telecommunications market where innovation and scale were key. Faced with an onslaught of technological advances-big data, automation and artificial intelligence-CEO Vittorio Colao reflected on how he should change the organization to incorporate these advancements to improve the way the functions work, how to incorporate machine learning and artificial intelligence that de facto improve productivity and slash costs and what can he could do to give back to society and make sure that new opportunities were created for the new generation.
Swot Analysis of "Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence" written by William R. Kerr, Emer Moloney includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Artificial Intelligence facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Artificial Intelligence, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Artificial Intelligence operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Artificial Intelligence
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Artificial Intelligence
Strengths Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Artificial Intelligence in Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Artificial Intelligence to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Artificial Intelligence to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Artificial Intelligence are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Artificial Intelligence has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Artificial Intelligence to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Artificial Intelligence is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Artificial Intelligence in the sector have low bargaining power. Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Artificial Intelligence to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Artificial Intelligence is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Artificial Intelligence has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Artificial Intelligence digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Artificial Intelligence has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Diverse revenue streams
– Artificial Intelligence is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Artificial Intelligence has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Artificial Intelligence in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Artificial Intelligence has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Artificial Intelligence has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Weaknesses Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, William R. Kerr, Emer Moloney suggests that, Artificial Intelligence is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Artificial Intelligence has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Artificial Intelligence is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Artificial Intelligence 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Artificial Intelligence has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Artificial Intelligence even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Artificial Intelligence has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence, in the dynamic environment Artificial Intelligence has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Artificial Intelligence has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Artificial Intelligence products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Artificial Intelligence needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Artificial Intelligence has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Artificial Intelligence is planning to shift buying processes online.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Artificial Intelligence has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Opportunities Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Artificial Intelligence can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Artificial Intelligence in the consumer business. Now Artificial Intelligence can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Artificial Intelligence has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Artificial Intelligence to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Artificial Intelligence in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Artificial Intelligence to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Manufacturing automation
– Artificial Intelligence can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Artificial Intelligence can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Artificial Intelligence to increase its market reach. Artificial Intelligence will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Loyalty marketing
– Artificial Intelligence has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Artificial Intelligence has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Artificial Intelligence to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence case study. Artificial Intelligence can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Artificial Intelligence can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Artificial Intelligence to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Artificial Intelligence is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Artificial Intelligence can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Artificial Intelligence in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Artificial Intelligence
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Artificial Intelligence.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Artificial Intelligence will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Artificial Intelligence high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Artificial Intelligence has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Artificial Intelligence needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Artificial Intelligence business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Artificial Intelligence can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Artificial Intelligence can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Artificial Intelligence with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Artificial Intelligence needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Vodafone: Managing Advanced Technologies and Artificial Intelligence is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Artificial Intelligence needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.