Bharti Airtel in Africa Case Study Solution
Competitor Analysis in Africa:
Due to the allowance of private investment in Africa in most countries mobile market, the prevalence of players had increased by 2011. As Bharti Airtel entered African mobile market in 2010. One of the chief competitor of Bharti was MTN which was a leading operator of mobiles generating revenues of about $12.5 billion with more than 115 million subscribers with its services in sixteen different countries of Africa.Whereas, Bharti operated in about fifteen countries of Africa namely Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo B, DRC, Gabon, Madagascar, and Nigeria. Executives of Bharti believed that MTN lacked any single dominant owner.
The second competitor of Bharti –Vodacom was the second largest player in Africa and leading in South Africa which was owned primarily by UK-based Vodafone and known as opulent. It had about $8.9 billion revenues with an approximate of 53 million subscribers with offering of about 25 cents per minute.Lastly, Safaricom –a leading operator of mobile in Kenya had about $1.4 billion revenues with an approximate of 18.6 million subscribers. Through the service launch of M-Pesa money transfer was primarily to allow its user for money deposition, transfer and withdrawal using mobile phones through an agent’s network.
Management of challenges:
In terms of efficient management of challenges, Bharti initiated a number of transformations in Africa which mainly included outsourcing of its service operations from active to passive for all the fifteen countries in which it operated in Africa. Outsourcing involved information technology and support of call centre to firms of BPO for the first time in Africa. Similarly, other services included revamping of distribution network, integration of its brand, and implementation of human resource host in relation to its relative initiatives for inculcating of the organizational DNA in its new processes. Despite of these initiatives, in the first six months of the acquisition, the cultural differences had abounded; therefore, Bharti had only been successful in improved generation of revenue in the countries like Zambia and other small markets such as Gabon and Malawi.
View over moving decision to Africa:
Primarily, Bharti Airtel leaders with the acquisition Zain Telecom had high hopes. With increase in the population in billion, availability of natural resources, and a tele-density of no more than 30 percent, Africa was chosen to be the right mobile market option for future growth and considered to be the next engine of growth in terms of global economy. Establishment of brand, execution of business model as well as development of cultural ethos in Africa, this is all, what was needed by Bharti Airtel to do in African Mobile market.(Arindam Banik, 2016 )As Zain Telecom was acquired in 2010, even after more than two years of continuous struggle, there were still many challenges as well as a need of taking strategic decision for potential future operations of Airtel in future.
Conclusion:
As Bharti primarily focused on expansion on producing their principal output, minutes and keeping per minute margins to be somehow constant. Bharti Airtel decided to enter Africa and considered it as the right option for exploring new opportunities for their business expansion.Although, the deal of merger and acquisition was successfully done. But, a number of challenges appeared beyond the expectation of Bharti’s leaders. To overcome these challenges, Bharti initiated a number of transformations in Africa which did not adequately anticipated the challenges faced. Thus, establishment of brand, execution of business model as well as development of cultural ethos in Africa, this is all, what was needed by Bharti Airtel to do in African Mobile market.
Appendices:
Appendix A – Competitors of Bharti in Africa
MTN | Vodacom | Safaricom | |
Revenues | $12.5 billion | $8.9 billion | $1.4 billion |
Subscribers | 115 million | 53 million | 18.6 million |
Rank(leading operator) | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
Appendix B – Bharti’s Africa operational countries
Appendix C –Challenges in Market entrance
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