Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa
In the 1990s, two entrepreneurs made daring, early entries into mobile telecommunications in Sub-Saharan Africa, both seeing great market opportunities there. One firm, Adesemi, would ultimately go bankrupt. The other firm, Celtel, would ultimately succeed and make its founder, Mo Ibrahim, a star of the global business community. Why the difference in outcome? Emerging markets often present weak rule of law, bringing many challenges to business success-from the demand for bribes to regulatory obstacles, hold-up problems, and even civil war. This case explores strategies that can limit these critical non-market risks in foreign direct investment and entrepreneurship. Students will step into the shoes of both companies by exploring their entry strategies, wrestling with the challenges they faced, and diagnosing the reasons why a shared insight about a new business opportunity turned out to be prescient-and led to extremely different endpoints.
Swot Analysis of "Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa" written by Benjamin Jones, Daniel D. Campbell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Adesemi Endpoints facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competition, Cross-cultural management, IT, Leadership, Policy and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Adesemi Endpoints, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Adesemi Endpoints 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 Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Adesemi Endpoints
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Adesemi Endpoints
Strengths Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Adesemi Endpoints in Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Adesemi Endpoints is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa 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)
– Adesemi Endpoints 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 Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa - 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 Adesemi Endpoints in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Adesemi Endpoints has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Adesemi Endpoints has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Adesemi Endpoints 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.
Training and development
– Adesemi Endpoints has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Adesemi Endpoints to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Adesemi Endpoints to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Adesemi Endpoints is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Benjamin Jones, Daniel D. Campbell can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Adesemi Endpoints digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Adesemi Endpoints 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Adesemi Endpoints is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Adesemi Endpoints is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa 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 Adesemi Endpoints in the sector have low bargaining power. Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Adesemi Endpoints to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Adesemi Endpoints, firm in the HBR case study Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa, is just above the industry average. Adesemi Endpoints needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa HBR case study mentions - Adesemi Endpoints takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Adesemi Endpoints has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Adesemi Endpoints is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Adesemi Endpoints 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. Adesemi Endpoints 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa 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 Adesemi Endpoints 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Adesemi Endpoints 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Adesemi Endpoints products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Adesemi Endpoints needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa, in the dynamic environment Adesemi Endpoints has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Adesemi Endpoints has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Opportunities Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa | 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 Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Adesemi Endpoints can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Adesemi Endpoints operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Adesemi Endpoints can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Adesemi Endpoints 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Adesemi Endpoints can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Adesemi Endpoints can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Adesemi Endpoints 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Adesemi Endpoints to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Adesemi Endpoints to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Adesemi Endpoints 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Adesemi Endpoints can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Adesemi Endpoints has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Adesemi Endpoints to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa case study. Adesemi Endpoints can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Adesemi Endpoints can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Adesemi Endpoints can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Global Business segment.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Adesemi Endpoints in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Adesemi Endpoints can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Adesemi Endpoints in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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.
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. Adesemi Endpoints 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Adesemi Endpoints demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
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 Adesemi Endpoints business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Adesemi Endpoints has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Adesemi Endpoints needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Adesemi Endpoints 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 Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Adesemi Endpoints with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Adesemi Endpoints can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Adesemi Endpoints needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Adesemi Endpoints can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Adesemi Endpoints 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 Global Business industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa, Adesemi Endpoints may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Increasing wage structure of Adesemi Endpoints
– 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 Adesemi Endpoints.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa 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 Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa 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 Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa 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 Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa 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 Mobile Telecommunications: Two Entrepreneurs Enter Africa 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 Adesemi Endpoints needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
