MGT 210

Section 10

Assignment: Management Term Paper on Grameenphone

Submitted to: Quazi Tasfirul Islam Submitted
By:
 Submission Date: 31th August, 2018
Letter of Transmittal

31st August, 2018

Quazi Tasfirul Islam

Lecturer

Management Department

North South University

SUBJECT: Submission of MGT210 term paper

Dear Sir,

It is indeed a great pleasure for us to be able to hand over the result of our hardship of the report
on Grameenphone LTD. This report is the result of the knowledge which has been acquired
from the Course MGT 210.

We tried our level best for presenting report. The containing information is collected from
different internet websites, annual reports of Grameenphone and through meeting with a GP
representative. All of us gave our hundred percent for making this report come together.

We hope that you will find this report worth reading. Please feel free for any query or
clarification that you would like us to explain. Hope you will appreciate our work and excuse
minor errors. Thanking for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely Yours,

Md.Ibnul Sakib Evan -

Amina Matin –

Md. Tanzil Hasan –

Sameeya Islam - Riaj

Chowdhury –

Nahida Akter Ema -

Table of Content
Acknowledgement
We would like to express our heartfelt feelings and gratitude to our instructor Mr. Quazi
Tasfirul Islam, Lecturer of North South University, whose upgraded knowledge and
continuous supervision has contributed greatly in the preparation of this report. We could not
prepare and submit this report without his immense support and encouragement. Thanks to
him very much. We are honored to receive such an opportunity to work on this report on
Grameenphone. We have practically applied the concepts learnt in class and form books in
order to complete the report. The report has enriched us with in-depth knowledge about
various managerial concepts and the analytical issues and processes regarding an organization
and its management.

Last but not least, we are also grateful to Mr. Kazi Emran Mahboob, General Manager of
Commercial Division, Grameenphone, for the support and willingness to spend some of his
valuable times with us to fill in the questionnaires. We hope with deepest gratitude that the
report meets the standards.

Mission Statement
The mission statement of the Grameenphone is that “we are here to help our customers.” If we
break it down it mean that they want their customers their full benefit of customer satisfaction
as Grameenphone is the biggest mobile operator in Bangladesh and they provide benchmark
quality service and that is why, they are in the number one position. Everything that the
company has produce for around the last 20 years are for beneficial and easy to use. As being
the best operator of mobile telecom industry in Bangladesh, their main focus is to satisfy their
customers and they are also main value of the company. From the beginning, the main motto
of the company was always make happy of their customers. As they provide quality services
and connected with the people of the country, they does so many corporate social
responsibility activities and as being one of the fewest one to start at very early to start their
business. They started their journey and then day by day improved themselves and improved
for their customers for satisfaction. As day by day they are providing the power of digital
communication, which enables everyone to improve their lives, built societies and secure a
better future for their customers and themselves.

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Executive Summary
Grameenphone is one of the leading telecommunication company of Bangladesh. It is currently
running its business all over the country with more than 5 crore users. They are market leader
in the mobile telecommunication industry of Bangladesh. But currently after doing business for
more than 20 years, their growth has become stable and in the edge of competition, it is very
tough to keep the leading edge intact. The company needs to come up with new ideas to stay
competitive and for that they need to keep their customers satisfied. As technology establishes
every industry and it has the power to make a difference in the lives of everyone,
Grameenphone believes that connected societies are empowered societies as we focuses not
only on connecting people and business but also creating value for the customers, investors,
the people and the communities in which Grameenphone operates.

Grameenphone always strives for leaving a mark of excellence in any endeavor it undertakes.
In 2017 Grameenphone won a number of prestigious accolades and among them includes the
best brand award. A number of regulatory initiatives are in the worktime of implementation in
2018. The 4G operation license auction and technology neutrality tower co-licensing and
portability service are some regulatory opportunities worth mentioning.

Grameenphone continues to deliver market leading performance with respect to revenue

growth, network development and service excellence and all these reflected in Grameenphone
SIM market share, which is stable at 45 percent despite fierce market competition. The
company acquired 7.4 million new subscribers during this running year and registering a 12.7
percent of growth from 2016.

Grameenphone has a total revenue of BDT 114.9 billion as of 2016. It operates with an
income of BDT 41.6 billion and its annual net income for the year 2016 grew from 19.7
billion in 2015. Grameenphone without a doubt is the leading premium telecommunication
service provider in Bangladesh. They have a high revenue because of their great market
initiatives, their planning and strategies and that is why the country and its people have faith in
them.

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History, growth and development of Grameenphone
Grameenphone has started its operations on 26th March 1997 in Bangladesh fter the
government allowed three telecommunication service providers licenses in 1996. After the
approval of an investment of $1.6 million and a senior loan of up to $30 million and lease of
railway fiber optics in the next year, they began to construct a nationwide telecommunication
system and soon started providing services in Chittagong. By 1999, Grameenphone had struck
a deal with B.T.T.B and launched both international roaming and pre-paid services and by
October had reached 50000 subscribers. Grameenphone continued to expand in 2000 with the
launch of their first service in Barishal, Sylhet, then in Barishal and in April, covered all six
divisions

Grameenphone continued to grow over the course of the next few years and by 2002 was
providing services in 61 districts. The exponential growth led to GP rising as the market
leader in 2004 with 62 percent of the market share. Furthermore, the approval of another $20
million by ADP triggered expansion. In the fourth coming year, Grameenphone continued to
grow and introduced many new product. On 25th June 2007, Grameenphone converted from a
private limited company to public limited company and started offering shares on the DSE
and CSE as of 16th November 2009. In October 2013, Grameenphone enables 3G services in
Bangladesh, changing the experiences of cellular internet in Bangladesh. In 2014,
Grameenphone went on to invest another $15.2 million that rounded their investment to a
staggering $258.5 billion. Along with many other product, Grameenphone has introduced 4G
in February 2018 and is planning to expand the network across the country in the forthcoming
months.

It is currently one of the largest taxpayers in Bangladesh and have more than 1600 GP service
desk in nearly all the districts and upazillas of Bangladesh. Their total number of employees
include about 4400 people and has about 8500 base stations spread all over the country.
Grameenphone currently provides different services to staggering 63 million subscribers.

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Organizational Structure
In terms of organizational structures, the centralized one refers to have locus of authority,
which ascertains and defines the decision making process by identifying the last person while
obtaining any legitimate action for the organization, whereas the decentralized organizational
structure means delegating all the decision making responsibilities, along with daily
operations by the top management to all the middle and lower positioned managers (Pugh et
al., 1968). Since Grameenphone is the organization, comprising of various departments, along
with the belongingness to the telecommunication industry, it cannot follow any of these two
structures specifically, rather follows both the structural models, which is kind of mix of both
the decision making processes (Rahman, 2010). Grameenphone has nine functional
departments in total. In each of the departments, the functional managers enjoy the flexibility
to take any decision on a daily basis, which is kind of decentralized in nature, but this
decentralized decision making process eventually leads to attain the objective of the
organization, perhaps determined by all the strategic decisions taken by the top management.
And, this decision making process by the top management is very much centralized, since the
authority of it lies upon the top management. So, in brief, centralized structural model is
followed by the top management to take any strategic decisions, and in order to follow these
decisions, the functional level management can follow decentralized structure in
Grameenphone.

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Board of Directors of Grameenphone

Name Position Name

Petter Boerre Furberg Non-Executive Director and Chair

M Shahjahan Non-Executive Director

Md. Ashraful Hassan Non-Executive Director

Witold Sitek Non-Executive Director

Haakon Bruaset Kjoel Non-Executive Director

Hans Martin Hoegh Henrichsen Non-Executive Director

Oivind Burdal Non-Executive Director

Parveen Mahmud Non-Executive Director

Rokia Afzal Rahman Independent Director

Prof. (Dr.) Jamilur Reza Choudhury Independent Director

Key Objectives of Board Committees

The Board of committee has 4 sub-committees. In every sub-committee there is a

chairperson who took all the responsibilities. They ensure the quickest flow of information to
assist the board. Audit committee has the responsibility of internal control, financial

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reporting, risk management, auditing matters, and monitoring compliance. Treasury
Committee concerns the board with significant financial matters. Human Resource

Committee supervises all kind of human resources policy. Health, Safety, Security &
Environment Committee controls the HSSE issues. Their main target is to create value for
shareholders and to ensure the long
-term success of the company.

Audit Committee
1 Independent
Directors, and 2
Non-Exectuive
Directors

Health,Safety
Treasury
Security &
Committee The Board of Environment
1 Non-Exectuive Grameenphone Committee
Director,1 Group
2 Independent Directors, and 2 Non-Exectuive
Treasury Member
Directors & 1
& 1 Management 8 Non-Exectuive Directors Management
member
Team Member

Human Resource
Committee
2 Non-Exectuive
Directors & 1
Management
Team Member

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Management Team
Name Position Name
Karl Erik Broten Chief Financial Officer

Rade Kovacevic Chief Technology Officer

Naser Fazley Azam Head of Customer Experience & Service
Kazi Mahboob Hassan Head of Transformation

Andreas Frandevi Chief Strategy Officer

Mahmud Hossain Chief Corporate Affairs Officer
Yasir Azman Deputy CEO & Chief Marketing Officer

Michael Patrick Foley Chief Executive Officer

Quazi Mohammad Shahed Chief Human Resource Officer
Nehal Ahmed Head of Communications

Grameenphone Divisions
Finance Division: Finance division facilitates financing for the organization. It also looks
after all the reporting of financial information as well.

Deputy Managing Director Division: This division holds the power of authority, and
works to bring all the departments in synchronization, so that the whole operation can
run smoothly.

Regulatory & Corporate Affairs Division: This department of Grameenphone is

responsible for setting up the standards of corporate governance, and regulations
about risk exposure and legal coverage. It also works to maintain organizations image
among the stakeholders.

Human Resources Division: This particular decision holds the responsibility of

employee selection, recruitment, training, promotion, performance appraisal, forming

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 KPI and so on for the organization. Usually, this division needs to be always
connected with other divisions to get in touch with the situation regarding human
resources, and act upon the requirement of them individually.

Chief Marketing Officer Division: This divisions supervises the marketing activities,
along with development of new product and service, communication, branding, value
addition, international roaming and so on. There are some other sub divisions like
Market Development Department, Market Communications

Department, Market Research and Planning Department, Brand Development, and so

on work under the direct supervision of Chief Marketing officer division.

Internal Audit Division: It basically monitors all the activities, and checks whether the
activities are run by maintaining rules, regulations, and plicies set up by the directors or
management. This department needs to report directly to the managing director.

Technical Division: The technical division is the most important part of the
organization, where the most number of employee work. This department is
segmented with three other sub-departments: planning, implementation and operations.
Planning department is responsible for building up the technology, and the operations
department works to maintain it. Implementation department’s job ends with bringing
the built technology back into active mode.

Information Technology: This division ensures the efficient flow of information. It

has to maintain the relationship with the media, and other stakeholders by providing
all the necessary information about the organizations. It also handles the queries that
come from the audiences.

New Business Division: When Grameenphone plans to initiate a new business, this
division is put with the responsibility of maintaining the new business. This division
works to forecast the potentiality of the new business, allocate resources for it, innovates,
and takes all other necessary measures to keep the new business running.

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Grameenphone Salary Range

Position Salary Range

Senior Executive 2 About 393K-498K
salaries
Software Engineer-Monthly About 29K-63K
2 salaries
Senior Executive-Monthly About 33K-52K
2 salaries
Customer Manager-Monthly About 19K-36K
2 salaries
System Engineer-CW & Construction 1 About 196K-210K
employee salary or estimate
Internet Outlet-Monthly About 7K-8K
1 employee salary or estimate
Specialist Coordination About 344K-377K
1 employee salary or estimate
Project Manager-Monthly 1 About 62K-67K
employee salary or estimate
Intern-Monthly About 5K-5K
1 employee salary or estimate
Customer Manager About 572K-623K
1 employee salary or estimate
Manager-Monthly About 63K-68K
1 employee salary or estimate
Management Trainee-Monthly 1 About 52K-57K
employee salary or estimate
Customer Manager-Hourly Contractor About 95-104 (hourly)
1 employee salary or estimate
Internship-Monthly About 10K-10K
1 employee salary or estimate
DGM-Monthly About 191K-208K
1 employee salary or estimate
HRM About 115K-126K
1 employee salary or estimate

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Executive-Monthly About 53K-57K
1 employee salary or estimate

Organizational Hierarchy

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 Chief
Technology
Officer

Director/Deputy
Director/Chief
Specialist
Officer

General
Senior Specialst
Manager

Deputy General
Manager

Specialist/MTO

Senior
Exectuive,Exec
utive

Contractual/Pa
rt Time

Work Breakdown Structure

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Grameenphone is basically a flat organization which means less hierarchy. For making their
work process more efficient it has many work sections like any other company. The company
believes that the flatter organization structure will lead them to good quality products and
services. Their hierarchy is breaking down into manageable parts and top level managers
make the strategy plan. Democratic leadership plan is also followed by Grameenphone where
each member in the team play crucial role in decision making process. Grameenphone follows
employee friendly professional environment rather than dominating and also announced the
employee of the month for motivating them. They also provide training for their officers and
make it mandatory for every single person from any different sector for minimizing their
weak points. CEO handles the every chief person from different divisions such as
management, finance, customer, technology, human resources etc. As a flatter organization it
is easy to communicate and corporate with each other which makes a good relationship
between upper level and lower level employees. Besides, Grameenphone have

‘Crisis Response Team’ and ‘Internal Control Team’ in every level. In case of any emergency
they send off different teams to managers above for deciding and overviews their financial
reports and makes sure that they precise and fair. Identically, IOT technology division is
wielded by the engineers then the marketing employer handle their part such as promoting their
product and at last leaving it to the sales employers to make the sale.

Internal Analysis

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1. Resources:
• Financial Resources: As in 30 June, 2018 grameenphone has 1658348.96$
worth assets and EPS is 0.14$ and received 755191.03 $ as cash receipts from
customers. Grameenphone keeps 77% of their retained earnings and reinvest
in Bangladesh. Grameenphone owns different entertainment platform such as
bioscopelive.com . Grameenphone’s stock closing price is 4.59 (

27august,2018)
Financial Resource is a strength for Grameenphone.

• Physical Resources: Grameenphone has the strongest network all over the
Bangladesh. Grameenphone is the first telecommunication company to build
network in Barisal a remote part of Bangladesh. Due to recent government
policy Grameenphone has to lend their networks to rival telecommunication
companies.

Physical Resources is a strength for Grameenphone

• Human Resources: Grameenphone is a flat organization. It operates through

specialists. Grameenphone has its own financial department, marketing
department, R&D department

• Intangible Resources: Grameenphone has launched health line services in

2007. Grameenphone also has one of the finest customer care services.

Grameenphone also has the reputation of strongest network and reliability.

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 2. Capabilities: Grameenphone owns most of the private telecommunication antenna.
Grameenphone also struck a deal with Bangladesh Railway to use their railway
sleepers which helps grameenphone to maintain low ping and provide smooth voice
services. Grameenphone took early initiative in their 4G project and as result
Grameenphone has the strongest 4G network right now in Bangladesh.

3. Core Competencies: Grameenphone has a strong brand image and position in

Bangladesh’s telecommunication market. Grameenphone makes sure their coustomers
get minimal satisfaction from their services with their superior voice and internet
services

External analysis

1. Political :
• Government policy: Bangladesh government maintains a strict regulation in
telecommunication sector. Government often put pressure to these
telecommunication companies to obtain new license.

• Political stability: As a country Bangladesh is highly politically instable.

• Corruption: high rate of corruption comes with political instability and

Bangladesh is not an exception. Government hierarchy is highly corrupted.

• Foreign trade policy: in 2018 government put extra tax on importing cellular
cellphone and as a result grameenphone is facing a minor decline.

• Tax policy: Bangladesh government put 21.78% tax on telecommunication

companies in 2018. Most of the telecommunication company wants to withdraw the

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 21.75 percent VAT, supplementary duty and surcharge that people pay to use SIM
cards.

• Labor law: Bangladesh is highly known for cheap labor and labor law ain’t in its
finest here but grameenphone is a Norway company and they maintain high caution
to treat their employee.

2. Economics:
• Economic growth: Bangladesh ranks 33 in GDP and GDP per capita is 4200$ as in
2017.Bangladesh’s economy has grown roughly 6% per year since 2015.

• Exchange Rate : take per us dollar is 80.69 (2017)

• Interest Rate: Bangladesh government is trying to get their interest rate within
single digit and by next few year they might be able to achieve it and interest rate is
stable here.

• Inflation Rates: inflation rate is roughly 5.96 in 2018. As grameenphone is

investing in Bangladesh this high inflation rate is a matter of concern.

• Disposable Income : as in 2017 Bangladesh people’s average disposal income is

60355$ and this will increase more in next few years as Bangladesh’s economy is
growing rapidly.

• Unemployment Rates: about 40% of the population is underemployed; many

persons counted as employed work only a few hours a week and at low wages.

As in 2017 Bangladesh has 4% unemployed.

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3. Sociocultural :

• Population: Comparing to other countries, Bangladesh ranks 8th in population.

Bangladesh has roughly 157,826,578 population as in 2017.
• Age Distribution: 0-14 years: 27.76% (male 22,283,780/female 21,521,977)
15-24 years: 19.36% (male 15,309,543/female 15,241,971)
25-54 years: 39.73% (male 30,094,014/female 32,614,286)
55-64 years: 6.93% (male 5,405,900/female 5,527,330)
65 years and over: 6.23% (male 4,666,033/female 5,161,744) (2017 EST.)

Roughly 72% people in Bangladesh has the age to use cellphone and it’s a great
business opportunity for Grameenphone.

• Career Attitudes: Work values are high in Bangladesh and most of the fresh
graduates intend to go for MNC. As an established MNC, Grameenphone get the
opportunity to employ fresh graduates easily. It’s an opportunity for grameenphone.

• Safety Emphasis: Due to recent incident in Bangladesh, grameenphone put their

upmost concentration to give their employees safe working environment.

• Health Consciousness: telephone antennas gives away radiation which is harmful

for human. Grameenphone built many telephone antenna in residential areas.

Grameenphone took few initiative to solve this problem in past years. It’s a threat
for Grameenphone.

• Cultural Barriers: As a subcontinent country, Bangladesh has a rich culture.

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 People are festive here and people like to gossip here. It’s a great business opportunity
for Grameenphone.

4. Technological
• Technology incentives: Bangladesh government gives huge incentives per
year in technology sector. It’s an opportunity for Grameenphone.

• Level of Innovation: technology in telecommunication is growing fast and

Grameenphone has the strong network right now and with new technological
innovation Grameenphone is improving way faster comparing to the rest of the
telecommunication networks available in Bangladesh. Innovation is an
opportunity for Bangladesh

• Automation: Grameenphone has web based M2M Control Center portal to

manage your M2M subscriptions with choice, control and confidence. No
other telecommunication company has this sophisticated technology apart
from Grameenphone. Automation is an opportunity for Grameenphone.

• R&D Activity: Grameenphone is the highest spender at R&D in

telecommunication industry. They have their own research team and developer
team. As they are trying to switch into M2M, they’ve developed app both in
IOS and Android platform so that their user can have smooth experience.

Grameenphone’s new product skitto which is a full internet based system

targeting young people is a success. Due to heavy research and development,
grameenphone has achieved the ability to provide their customer with the
lowest ping and high speed internet connection and it improved their voice
quality marginally along with call drop. R&D Activity is an opportunity for
Grameenphone

• Technological Change: 4G is the new wave for telecommunication industry

and Grameenphone has the highest 4G internet user in Bangladesh due to their

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 superior high speed connection comparing to their competitor. As most of the
people with 4G enabled cellphone switching to 4G connection Grameenphone
adapted with this change.

• Technological Awareness: Grameenphone has updated their network system

and they’re still developing their network for 5G connection. Grameenphone is
well aware of this change. They recently launched a full web based sim system
name skitto for young cellphone user who prefers to get their job done on
internet rather than using old USSD system. They’re the first
telecommunication company in Bangladesh to launch this kind of service.
Thus Grameenphone has turned Technological Awareness into one of their
opportunity.

5. Environmental :
• Weather: geographically Bangladesh has a monsoon season. Bangladesh
faces natural disaster from time to time. These disaster often damages
network equipment.Grameenphone is well aware of these disasters and they
intend to repair their damaged network system faster comparing to their
competitors

• Environmental Policies: cellphone towers often creates radiation. Most of

the time in Bangladesh telecommunication companies intend to facilitate
their network tower in residential areas which hampers the environment.
Grameenphone took initiative and switching their cellphone towers from
residential areas.

6. Legal :
• Discrimination Laws: Gender Discrimination in workplace is a crime.
Grameenphone is well aware of it and they made their corporate culture
based on equality in work place.

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 • Employment Law: Grameenphone strictly follows employment laws.
Grameenphone is a flat organization. If their employee can’t give their best
and failed to get output, they offer special training for them.

• Consumer Protection Law: Data is one of the sensitive issue right now.
As a telecommunication company Grameenphone respect their customer’s
privacy and helps the government in special cases.

• Copyright and Patent Laws: Grameenphone has a copyright on its

official site grameenphone.com and all content included on that site Ex:
logos, graphics, images. Grameenphone has copyright on its software,
content suppliers ex: software. All these property is protected by
Bangladesh and International copyright laws.

SWOT Analysis

Strength:
 Largest network coverage and access to rural network: It has the largest international
roaming coverage in the rural area in the country which itself is a strengths of the
organization.

 Financial soundness and leading market share: In Bangladesh the current telecom
industry, Grameephone is accommodating with the leading position in the form of
subscription number, BTS number and rang of networks. Due to this GP has the most
market share.

 Skilled workers in all department: They make employee effective and efficient by
motivating through various way.

 High band name with high ethical standard: GP has enormously maintaining over
management body with a very powerful and professional workers in different departments
of the organization .GP prepare guideline to manage the human resources of the
organization.

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 Effective and efficient organization structure: The organization make employee effective
and efficient by motivating through various way.

market share

9% GP
14%
Airtel
53% Robi
24%
Teletalk

Weakness:

 Complicated pricing structure and high call rates: The pricing structure of GP
product is complicated for the general public and it is a little bit higher comparatively
to the others existing telecom operators in Bangladesh.

 Promotional activities provided fathomless message: Recently most of the offer was
failed due to technical fault, fathomless promotional message about the products and
overcharged which led to dissatisfaction among the heads of the organization as well as
customer.

 Intercommunication barrier: Intercommunication bared between different

departments due to working in different projects is bit low as well as it’s a product
based company so the incentive is also low.

Opportunities:

 Growth in new and better interconnection agreement: Grameenphone is trying to

approach in the field of T&T to have better communication from land phone. Now
the organization is thinking of going in to an agreement with other operators to
provide a better internal connectivity.

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  Rapidly rise of demand for telecom services: As we all know the telecom industry is
expanding in different fields. So GP took first step ahead through the Fiber Optic

Network for this the organization holds the major portion of market due to its
leading position.

 New market international gateway: New gateway has been established by BTTB to
connect international services such as ISD call and international roaming service.

 Increasing communication facilities boarder cross: GP has maintained the

opportunity to increasing communication facilities Boarder Cross. The network
activities increasing in the domestic country as well as the outside of the country. It
also has uninterrupted growth opportunities.

Threats:
 Rigid government regulation: Law and regulation which are uncompromised by the
government can also be granted as threat for the organization. Now the government
infused restriction for work permit for the international employees which is a huge
threat to the organization.

 Migration technology use by competitor: Currently the collision of Robi and Airtel is
a big threat to all the telecom industry in Bangladesh. Even other competitors are
threat to GP in team of subscribers and revenue. Also many skilled and professional
worker works in those organization too.

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  Changing taste and preference of customer: Again there are customer who have
variety of choose so they switch to other operators and it is all considered as threat due
to customer choose and preference which can led to lose in term of market share for
GP.

Objectives of Grameenphone

 Grameenphone’s first priority is provide and maintain quality network Over the year
the company is working to ensure their best in class GSM cellular mobile network for the
customers of Bangladesh. Fulfilling customer’s satisfaction through wide range of
coverage over the entire country. Introducing improved quality and performance of their
network now they are trying to properly establish their 4G networks tower all over the
country with the LTE service which better than the WiMax 4G service introduced by
Qubee and Banglalion.

 Conformance of specification
Grameenphone promised to provide the best service even in the rural and remote
areas of the country, as its slogan in their mission was to stay connected with their
customers as they said and it is something which is fulfilling its gap and creating its
bridge among the users.

 Poverty alleviation
Grameenphone takes prides in improving the country’s infrastructure in the urban
areas as well as in the rural areas also. It also helps to eradicates of poverty which can
be uprooted if illiteracy is removed and therefore, Grameenphone has initiated some
CSR activities and also compatriot with Grameen Bank to develop its work on the
rural areas.

 Exceeding customer satisfaction

Grameenphone is determined to meet the expectation of the customers all the time and
its lucrative offerings are exceedingly pleased the users. Providing the satisfaction at
its best has become a benchmark for Grameenphone and they feel that to make the
country more advanced, there is no alternative to using higher quality of internet,

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 which is why they initiated to convert all their SIMs to convert into 4G SIMs. So, that
they can provide the best service and provide better customer satisfaction.

 Alternate to requirement
Grameenphone always fulfil the requirements of the customers. Besides providing
network services, it comes ahead with many initiatives to improve the condition of the
society and voluntarily serves the coastal inhabitant with cautionary warning for
coming danger. Grameenphone is keeping its promise staying connected with the
whole country with its strong network of web so that decentralization can be done
without hassle.

Management issues

Managerial Functions:

 Planning

In Grameenphone LTd., the strategic and organization’s basic planning is done by the top level
management. Top level managers set the organizational goal and the rest of the employee
work on the basis of the strategies taken by the top level. Traditional goal setting style is used
and followed down through the organization.

 Organizing

Grameenphone follows the goal implementation process more strictly. Top level management
of the company designs the strategy and the lower level managers implement them and
organizes the function accordingly. Grameenphone believe in working as a team and intend to
create a value in the telecommunication area in Bangladesh.

 Leading

Although Grameenphone follows centralization process, employees have the full authority
within their departments. It offers a wonderful working environment in the office. Micro
management is less encouraged and employees have the freedom to get works done through their
knowledge and motivations.

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  Controlling

The managers and the senior officers control their own departments and work accordingly.
The work is divided into different departments and line authority is given to the managers to
look after the overall process and development. Through different departments, grameenphone
has achieved sustainability and customer satisfactions.
Achievements:

As one of the most successful telecommunication operators in Bangladesh, Grameenphone first

launched 3G services in our country back in 2013. Though they got the license from the
authority in 2011. After many years of services through WAP service, health line,

MOBICASH, traffic plan, map, GP music, MY ZONE and many other value added services,
Grameenphone finally started to serve its consumers with their strong 3G network all over the
country. It touches 10,000 3G BTS landmark on 26th June, 2016. According to their press release
on 2014, it is the first ever telecommunication operator in Bangladesh to reach 50 million
subscribers based company since it received the operating license in November 1996.

Grameenphone also lunched its 4G/LGE services on February 19, 2018 in Dhaka and
Chittagong. Currently it is the fastest mobile network in Bangladesh according to Ookla.

As a result Grameenphone has the huge growth in business over the years. According to the
press statement of the company, it reported revenue of TK 128.4 billion for 2017, up 11.8
percent from last year. It makes Grameenphone one of the important role player in the
telecommunication industry in Bangladesh. In recognition of the efforts Grameenphone put
each year, we try to illustrate the awards and recognition over the years of this company.

Awards and Recognitions:

Grameenphone has achieved these awards and recognition through absolute hardworks and
the efforts the employees put in. Although the customers have been always supportive to the
company; which makes it possible to ace in the top. Till now, it is in the leading position by
means of active users in telecommunication sector in Bangladesh. Through dedication and
hard work, Grameenphone manages to become the center of attraction both in the customers’

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perspective and in the corporate sectors. These awards and recognitions are the illustration of
the past years works and efforts Grameenphone put on. This is just the glimpse of the
glorious journey Grameenphone had over the years.

Title Time and/or Given By

GSM in the Community GSMA in 2000
Commonwealth Innovation Award 2003
Best Use of Mobile for Social & Economic 3GSMA Global Mobile Award, 2007
Development
Best Brand Award Brand Forum in 2007
Telecom Asia Awards Asian Telecom Innovation of the year, 2008
3GSMA Global Mobile Award 2008 in the category of "Best Use of mobile
for social and economic development"

Building a Greener Mobile Network GSMA Mobile Congress 2009

Best Brand Communication 2009
Best Employer 2010 BDJOBs
Best Employer 2011 BDJOBs
Best Employer 2013 BDJOBs
mBillionth award South Asia 2013 for the SMS based solution to ensure
safe drinking water in partnership with

Green Mobile Award
Most Female Friendly Organization
Best Presented Annual Report 2016
Best Brand Award 2017
HYSAWA
GSMA for extensive Climate Change
Program at Mobile World Congress 2014
In the ‘Yellow Inspiring Women Award
2016’
By SAFA, ICAB, ICSB (National Award
2016 for Corporate Governance Excellence)
by Bangladesh Brand Forum

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 Global Telecoms Business Awards 2017 Grameenphone and Huawei Technologies
jointly received a recognition award at the

Global Telecom Business Awards 2017 for

Infrastructure Service Innovation
Digital Marketing Award 2017 (along with by Bangladesh Brand Forum
two partner agencies)

Challenges:

Switching Tendency of Customers:

Though GP has the strong organizational capability and achieved enormous success over the
years, it faces some challenges both from the outside and inside of the organization. As
competitors are aggressively coming into the market Grameenphone has been faced with a
serious problem in terms of retention of the existing customers. Other competitors offering very
low priced and tarrif products, a huge customer base has already switched to other operators.
Also there is a great possibility to switch of the young generations.

New Product Challenges:

After the declination of the product “Djuice”; Grameenphone has launched “Skitto” to attract
the young generation in a more different way than “Djuice”. Although it has offers and
benefits for the youth; it is still facing some challenges to become the center of attraction for
youth. Grameenphone is yet to figure out the strategies for the “Skitto”.

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Logistics and Technological Issues:

Though Grameenphone lunched 4G/LTE in Dhaka and Chittagong; it is facing big challenge to
provide quality service. They also face problems in providing 3G services to some places due
to the logistics and technological problems and remoteness of those areas. So in this current
situation, they are facing a big contests in providing the better and quality 4G services to its
customers.

Smartphone Issue:

Another challenge they faced was during the launch of Grameenphone mobile set. They
launched their own branded android operating system smartphone “Crystal” in 2011. Their target
was to grab the smartphone market with the help of their brand recognition. But as the inventory
cost was increasing up, they faced difficulties to manage this product line. Vendors and

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inventory management were also the issues they faced after the launched their own smartphone.
They did not succeed in the smartphone business.

Governmental Issue:

Recent reports show that, NBR claims about unpaid taxes of the largest telecommunications
operator in Bangladesh, Grameenphone. The amount of unpaid taxes are continuing to pile
up. According to the claim of NBR, the total due amount is Tk 3,000 crore. However
Grameenphone filed a case against this claim. It is also claimed that Grameenphone is
making no effort to pay its taxes. The BSEC (Bangladesh Securities and Exchange
Commission)’s help is called by NBR. Also the company did not pay VAT amounting to
Tk7.25 crore for renting new buildings and plots, from January to June in 2017. There are
also several tax related claims against Grameenphone by government agencies which are yet
to be solved.

Conclusion

Different perspective like Grameenphones performance result, their future endeavor like having
a total revenue of 114.9 billion in the last year with an increase of 9.6 percent of revenue, profit
of 22.5 billion BDT last year after paying all the operating expenses and taxes. The number of

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subscribers till December 2017 is 58 million among them 15 percent are currently using
smartphones. More than 24.5 million people use Grameenphone mobile data.

The total number of mobile phone in Bangladesh is 131.956 million and the company which
had maximum number of subscribers is Grameenphone. They have 58 million subscribers. As
they are in the top but still want to take their telecommunication business to the next level with
much broader and successful vision, that is why want to have larger portion of subscribers.
Their main focus is to improve their network and set a benchmark.

Being a good and established company doesn’t mean that always had to think about profits but
sometimes should be thinking about the betterment of the society and that is why it is
necessary to do CSR activities. Grameenphone also focuses on social areas like health,
education and environment and therefore, they have schools, daycare centers and
environmental projects and campaigns like community power project, click green project to
promote them.

Reference

1. Pugh, D.S., Hickson, D.J., Hinings, C.R. and Turner, C., 1968. Dimensions of
organization structure. Administrative Science quarterly, pp.65-105.

2. Rahman, M, 2010. eCRM and eCRM practices in Grameenphone and its Impact.
3. https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/GrameenPhone-Dhaka-Salaries
4. GP adjudged fastest mobile network. (2018, July 27).
Retrieved from https://en.prothomalo.com/corporate/news/180470/GP-
adjudged-fastest-mobilenetwork

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 5. Grameenphone's tax disputes drag on. (2018, February 03). Retrieved from
https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2018/01/31/grameenphones-unpaid-taxesreach-
new-heights

6. Independent, T. (n.d.). GP posts Tk 128b revenue in 2017. Retrieved from

http://www.theindependentbd.com/printversion/details/135121

7. Grameenphone Serving 50 Million Customers in Bangladesh | Grameenphone. (2018).

Retrieved from https://www.grameenphone.com/about/media-
center/pressrelease/grameenphone-serving-50-million-customers-bangladesh

8. Grameenphone launches Android handset | Grameenphone. (2018). Retrieved from

https://www.grameenphone.com/about/media-center/press-
release/grameenphonelaunches-android-handset

9. Awards and Recognition | Grameenphone. (2018).

Retrieved from https://www.grameenphone.com/about/media-center/awards-
and-recognition

10. Annual Report | Grameenphone. (2018). Retrieved from

https://www.grameenphone.com/about/investor-relations/ir-annual-report

Appendix

• Group picture with the General Manager Kazi Emran Mahboob inside Grameenphone.

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• Visiting card

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Interview Questionnaires
• What is the current situation in the company?
• In recent times what kinds of problems they are facing?
• Present working conditions?
• Training and development of employees related to regular working situations  What
kind of R&D things are currently running in the company?
• Salary and compensation of the employees, middle management and top management?
• Work flow of different within department to department?
• Any future threat that might occurs?
• Working facilities that the company provides to the employees?
• What initiatives they are taking for their competitors to decrease the percentance of
threats?
• Any future plans to strategize for upcoming years?

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