VODAFONE:

Today, in India, becomes Vodafone. Now, the pink color logo of Hutch is replaced by

Vodafone Essar’s corporate red colored one.

In 2005-06, the Orange brand in Mumbai was phased out to introduce (now Vodafone). The

company also changed the colors of its logo from orange to pink and then red.

After acquiring 67 per cent of stake (around Rs. 250 crores) in ison Essar from Hong Kong-

based ison Whampoa, Vodafone Essar is expecting to touch over 35 million customers across

400,000 shops and thousands of ’s own employees along with employees of its business

associates.

Vice chairman, Ravi Ruia, Vodafone Essar, said “We’ve had a good innings as in India and

today marks a new beginning for us, not as a departure from the fundamentals that created , but

an acceleration into the future with Vodafone’s global expertise.”

Vodafone CEO, Marten Pieters of the Vodafone Essar will be landing in India for the

meeting that would discuss branding exercise, expansion plans, spectrum requirements for its

expanding subscriber base and future plans.

Vodafone offers a host of premier value added services (VAS) including national and

international roaming in over 70 countries in over 160 networks, Wireless Application Protocol

(WAP), short message service, voice mail service, auto roam, fax and data, cricket updates, M-

banking, general information, tarot line, etc. The company launched WAP in Delhi in October
2000, much before its rival Bharti. It has 5000 WAP customers, as in December 2000. The

company has been a prime mover in introducing these value-added services in the Delhi circle.

The values are stated simply. To be fair and transparent in what they do and how they do it. To

provide the quality services with more customer friendly practices. To make one’s

communications experience simple, pleasurable and fun. Where he doesn't simply get technology

- but technology that is relevant. Where solutions are not just promised in the future - but

delivered in the present.

 CORE VALUES :

 We shall uphold the dignity of the individual.

 We shall honor all commitments.

 We shall be committed to Quality, Innovation and Growth in every endeavor .

 We shall be responsible corporate citizens.

Vodafone Logo
Accomplishments:

- Over the years, Vodafone Essar, under the Hutch brand, has been named the ‘Most

Respected Telecom Company´, the ´Best Mobile Service in the country´ and the ´Most

Creative and Most Effective Advertiser of the Year´.

- Vodafone is the world´s leading international mobile communications group with

approximately 315 million proportionate customers as at 30 June 2009.

- Vodafone currently has equity interests in 31 countries across five continents and around

40 partner networks worldwide

- The Essar Group is a diversified business corporation with a balanced portfolio of assets

in the manufacturing and services sectors of Steel, Energy, Power, Communications,

Shipping Ports & Logistics, and Projects.

- Essar employs more than 50,000 people across offices in Asia, Africa, Europe and the

Americas.

- The company now has operations across the country with over 78.68 million customers.

Services:
Staying connected becomes a lot easier with Vodafone. We have a wide range of

services you can access right from your Vodafone phone. From cell banking to flight

updates to call management services, get all that you want, instantly.

Prepaid services(latest):

- Vodafone Essar, one of India’s leading cellular service providers announced a new

Bonus Card 25 for its prepaid customers in Punjab. With this new bonus card,

Vodafone customers can enjoy the benefit of unlimited national SMS at just

20paisa/SMS. The new bonus card comes with 30 days validity.

Rajiv Kohli, Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone Essar - Punjab said, “We have always

aimed to provide value offering to our customers. The new Bonus Card 25 facilitates Vodafone

customers to stay connected with their loved ones across India at an economical rate.”

- Has introduced two new Bonus Cards. Bonus Card 17 and Bonus Card 27 come with one

month validity and are priced at Rs 17 and Rs 27 respectively. All Vodafone prepaid

customers including the lifelong customers in Kolkata and rest of Bengal can enjoy the

new Bonus Cards offer available across Stores and Ministores.

- ‘Lifelong Prepaid @Rs.46 plan’ for its prepaid customers in Kerala. This new prepaid

offer comes with lifetime validity and a talk time of Rs.5.  Vodafone customers can make

local calls to all Vodafone numbers, other mobiles and landlines at Re 1 per minute and
 all STD calls are at Rs1.50 per minute. Customers need to recharge with Rs 200

cumulative in 180 days to stay connected.

Postpaid services(latest):

- Vodafone Essar, one of India’s leading cellular services providers has launched three new

monthly rental plans - Budget 500, Budget 750 and Budget 1000 - for its postpaid

customers in Kolkata and West Bengal. These Budget plans offer combinations of free

minutes over local and STD calls along with free local SMS. This offer is valid for new

and existing customers.

 Customer Satisfaction

3.1) Introduction:

Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a
company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within
business and is part of the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard.

In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is

seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy.

There is a substantial body of empirical literature that establishes the benefits of customer
satisfaction for firms.

3.2) Measuring customer satisfaction

Organizations are increasingly interested in retaining existing customers while targeting non-
customers; measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the
organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace.

Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the
state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product/service. The
state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which
correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction
can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products against
which the customer can compare the organization's products.

Because satisfaction is basically a psychological state, care should be taken in the effort of
quantitative measurement, although a large quantity of research in this area has recently been
developed. Work done by Berry, Brodeur between 1990 and 1998 defined ten 'Quality Values'
which influence satisfaction behavior, further expanded by Berry in 2002 and known as the ten
domains of satisfaction. These ten domains of satisfaction include: Quality, Value, Timeliness,
Efficiency, Ease of Access, Environment, Inter-departmental Teamwork, Front line Service
Behaviors, Commitment to the Customer and Innovation. These factors are emphasized for
continuous improvement and organizational change measurement and are most often utilized to
develop the architecture for satisfaction measurement as an integrated model. Work done by
Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry between 1985 and 1988 provides the basis for the
measurement of customer satisfaction with a service by using the gap between the customer's
expectation of performance and their perceived experience of performance. This provides the
measurer with a satisfaction "gap" which is objective and quantitative in nature. Work done by
Cronin and Taylor propose the "confirmation/disconfirmation" theory of combining the "gap"
described by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry as two different measures (perception and
expectation of performance) into a single measurement of performance according to expectation.
According to Garbrand, customer satisfaction equals perception of performance divided by
expectation of performance.

The usual measures of customer satisfaction involve a survey with a set of statements using a
Likert Technique or scale. The customer is asked to evaluate each statement and in term of their
perception and expectation of performance of the organization being measured.

3.3) Vodafone had highest customer satisfaction index in 2007

Lisbon, 25 August 2008 - Vodafone obtained the highest customer satisfaction index in the
telecommunications sector in 2007, according to annual results published by Anacom. Vodafone
achieved a satisfaction index of 74.4 (on a scale of 0 to 100), the highest score of all the
companies in the Portuguese telecommunications market and considerably above the sector
average of 67.6.

In the report published by Anacom, Vodafone is ranked in first place in all the indicators
included in the survey: Satisfaction with the operator, Image that customers have of the operator,
Customer Expectations, Perceived Quality of the operator's network and services, Perceived
Value for Money, Complaints received and their handling, and Loyalty of customers to their
operator.
In the Perceived Quality indicator, Vodafone obtained a score of 8.3 points for overall quality,
way ahead of the scores of the other two operators (both obtained 7.7 points). Vodafone comes
top in all the indicators for perceived quality of network and services: technical quality of the
network (8.2 points); customer service and advice capability (7.6 points); quality (8.2 points),
diversity (8.0 points) and reliability (7.9 points) of products and services offered; clarity and
transparency of information supplied (7.8 points); network coverage (7.9 points) and clarity and
transparency of price plans (7.9 points).

Similarly, in the indicators measuring the Image of mobile operators, Vodafone comes top in the
five categories analyzed (on a scale of 1 to 10): 'It is a reliable company in terms of what it says
and what it does' (8.1 points); 'It is stable and well established in the market' (8.8 points); 'It
contributes positively to society' (7.5 points); 'It cares about its customers' (7.6 points); and 'It is
innovative and forward looking' (8.5 points).

The methodology used in the ECSI Portugal 2007 survey (ECSI – European Customer
Satisfaction Index) is similar to that used by the European Commission to survey customer
satisfaction in 25 Member States, enabling comparisons to be made between the results obtained
in each country.

The ECSI Portugal 2007 Communications survey was carried out by the Higher Institute of
Statistics and Information Management at Lisbon's New University in partnership with the
Portuguese Quality Institute and the Portuguese Quality Association, with sponsorship from
Anacom.
 SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It
involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal
and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. The technique
is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a research project at Stanford University in the 1960s
and 1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies.

Strengths Weaknesses

Leadership Position Centralized Control – Low

Flexibility
Global Brand Strength
High Consumer churn rates
High Geographical reach

Internal
Opportunities Threats

Expanding marketing boundaries Increased Competition

Growth through 3G Market saturation in Europe

Strategic Alliances Emergencies of Low cost Brands

External

SWOT analysis of Vodafone

4.1) Strengths:

The main strength of Vodafone within the telecommunications market lies in its brand
image and recognition. Vodafone, having established a global presence and having invested
highly in marketing a differentiated image by promoting a Vodafone life style, currently enjoys a
differentiating advantage that, if exploited properly, can offer a lead in competition. The
presence of Vodafone in numerous countries within Europe as well as in all part of the world
enhances this image. It allows customers to travel and enjoy easily the services of their home
country operator. In the few countries that Vodafone is not physically present (e.g. Norway) it
has well established strategic alliances which allow for a better service of mobile clients.

4.2) Weaknesses:

The expansion of Vodafone has been completed at the expense of direct control of its
operations. The company grew through a process of acquisitions of national telecommunications
companies (e.g. the acquisition of the third biggest Czech mobile phone operator, Cesky mobile)
rather than organic growth. This increased its subscribers’ base quickly, offering direct market
knowledge and immediate additions of customer bases at the expense of direct effective control
of the subsidiaries. At the same time though, it implicitly imposed a centralized operational
structure for the group, nominating the UK headquarters as the leading business unit running a
much centralised marketing and handset procurement at group level. This has resulted in the
neglect of local markets and local differences, allowing market share to be gained by smaller
local competitors. Due to the highly saturated Western European market this has resulted in an
increase in the price elasticity of demand, with consumers becoming continuously price oriented.
This has resulted in high customer churn rates reaching the level of 32.8% in the UK compared
to O2’s 24%.

4.3) Opportunities:
 The telecommunications market, even though highly saturated in some regions offers
great potential due to the ageing population and the sophistication of the consumers. It offers
great opportunities through a careful market segmentation and exploitation of particular
profitable segments. Different strategies should be pursued – simple phones and simplified
pricing plans to the ageing population and more updated, sophisticated solutions for younger
generations. The expanding Boundaries of the market could provide further opportunities by
allowing Vodafone to enter more aggressively into fixed‐line service and to better enjoy the
benefits of its high investment in 3G technology. Moreover the company has undertaken its first
steps in establishing strategic alliances to develop customized solutions for end‐users: Vodafone
recently announced two new partnerships, one with supermarket group ASDA to launch an
ASDA branded mobile service in the UK, and another with electrical retailer DSG International
to provide mobile solutions to small businesses. This could further be enhanced to avoid being a
late‐entrant in this new method of distribution which offers access to a wide potential customer
base.

4.4) Threats:

The European part of Vodafone’s market is characterized by existing high levels of

competition. Major brands such as O2 and T‐Mobile are exploiting the price sensitivity of
customers and in this way they are building a stronger image and presence in the market. Indirect
competition is also increasing further, through the presence of Skype and other related (not only
voice) Internet‐based services. This combined with the upcoming European legislative measures
is expected to limit further the tariffs for the network providers imposing further need for price
cuts which could harm the bottom line profitability of the company.