Strengths and Weaknesses of Etisalat Company - Case Study Example

Total Quality Management Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction Total quality management consists of all the aspects and steps taken by an organization to ensure the services they offer to customers are of good quality and that they satisfy the customers demand. Total quality management aims to improve the productivity of an organization as well as the quality of the products being manufactured and offered to customers (Alira et al 2005). Without total quality management an organization cannot be able to compete effectively in the market because the customers will not be satisfied with the company’s products thus will seek better services elsewhere. Total quality management can be achieved by training and developing the skills of the employees, motivating them and effective leadership as well as effective implementation of the company policies and procedures. This paper will discuss the total quality management with reference to Etisalat Company which is a telecommunication company. Etisalat is a company of telecommunication network which is operating in Middle East, Asia and Africa. Currently the company is operating in more than 18 countries (Etisalat 2013). According to the statistics of 2012, Etisalat Company was among the best performing network companies in the world and it was ranked number among the world’s largest telecommunication companies. In February 2012, the company recorded total revenue of USD $8.4 billion which is a clear indication that the company is performing well in the market. In this report therefore I will discuss the total quality management principles applied by the company to gain competitive advantage, strengths and weaknesses of the company with solutions, benefits of TQM, criteria for getting ISO certificate and the 5 GAP model analysis. Principles of TQM The first principle which is being applied by Etisalat Company is to satisfy the customers. The customers are the most important stakeholders of the company because they buy the company’s products and provide feedback to the company on their satisfaction (Goetsch & Davis 2010). In this regard, Etisalat Company has put the customers in the first priority as they determine the success of the company. The company has offered many products and services like Samsung galaxy and Nokia Lumia 625 max which have different features to meet the customers’ demands. Through a variety of products, the company has managed to gain competitive advantage thus performing well in the telecommunication industry. The customers of the company include both the external and internal customers. Another principle of TQM is that the company should be able to satisfy the suppliers. Suppliers can be external or internal and they ensure success of the company. If the suppliers are satisfied with the company, they will ensure that they supply quality materials in the company which will in turn lead to the manufacturing of quality products (Goetsch & Davis 2010). If the suppliers are not satisfied with the services they receive from the company, they may not be convenient in their supply and can supply low quality materials or defective materials. Etisalat Company has maintained good relationship with the suppliers and they take into consideration whatever the suppliers put across to ensure they satisfy the suppliers. This satisfaction leads to supply of quality products which gain competitive advantage in the market. On the other hand, there is also the principle of continues improvement of quality of products and services. This comprises of all the policies and procedures in the production process to ensure that there are zero defects in the manufacturing process. Etisalat Company has managed to achieve this by encouraging employees to work harder by training and developing the skills of the employees (Goetsch & Davis 2010). In addition, workers are also given the opportunity to give their suggestions on how continues improvement can be achieved. The company has achieved this by involving the employees in the meetings and decision making process. This continues improvement of quality has enabled the company to improve the quality of telecommunication products and Services the Company offers to customers hence has gained competitive advantage. Furthermore, the company has applied the strategic plans to improve quality of the products and services. This is where the organization adopts a strategy which will enable it to achieve the vision and mission of the organization (Goetsch & Davis 2010). The strategy applied by Etisalat in the improvement of quality is continues improvement. This strategy enables the company ensure that the policies and procedures for maintaining quality are observed and followed with reference to quality improvement. There is another principle which is integrated system. This comprises of all the operations and departments of the organization who work together with the aim of offering best quality products. This system involves everyone in the organization including all the departments, policies and the objectives. When all these functions are integrated, they enable the organization to improve its performance in terms of quality (Goetsch & Davis 2010). Etisalat is a good example of a company which has successfully applied an integrated system leading to its performance in terms of quality of products and services the company offers. Strengths and weaknesses of Etisalat Etisalat Company has gained competitive advantage due to the following strengths. The first strength of the company is the strong financial base. The company has huge financial capacity and has used the financial resources to expand the company to new markets (Etisalat 2013). Through the financial base the company introduced the manufacturing of smart phones like Blackberry 9720 and Samsung Galaxy S4 active which are expensive to manufacture. This enabled the company to gain competitive advantage as it acquired large base of customers. Another strength of Etisalat Company is the strong brand name. Etisalat is known to be a good company which offers products and services of high quality (Yusof & Aspinall 2000). Through the brand name itself, the company has attracted and maintained many customers. Therefore the brand name of Etisalat has enabled it to have large market share. In addition, there is also the strength of manufacturing quality products and rewarding customers. The company rewards the loyal customers with both financial and non financial resources. Through the rewards, the company has been able to attract and maintain the customers thus have managed to maintain its large market share. However there are also weaknesses of the company. The first weakness is the ineffective channels of distributing the products. The products and services of the company are not easily accessed by the customers due to limited retail outlets (Yusof & Aspinall 2000). To end this weakness the company should use middlemen to distribute the products so that they can reach the customers’ disposal with fewer constraints. Another constraint is the lack of market segmentation. Etisalat Company has properly segmented the market into various segments so that pricing and distribution of the products and services could be easy (Etisalat 2013). This hinders many customers from purchasing the company’s products because they are expensive and cannot be afforded by many customers. This weakness can be solved by segmenting the market into various segments like urban and rural segment, high and low income earners segment. This will help in pricing and distributing the products effectively. Benefits of TQM The following are the benefits of TQM; it improves the competitive position of the organization. This is because through manufacturing of quality products and services, the customers will be satisfied with the products hence will develop loyalty to the company’s products leading to high competitive position (Lassâad et al 2006). TQM improves the productivity of an organization. It eliminates all unnecessary operations in the organization and promotes effective utilization of resources and this leads to high productivity (Lassâad et al 2006). The employees are also motivated thus improve their productivity. TQM improves the corporate image of the organization. Through manufacturing of quality products, the image of the organization will be good in the market thus will attract and maintain more customers thus improve the company’s revenues (Van de 2000). TQM enhances customer satisfaction due to quality of products being manufactured. All customers are conscious about how they spend their money and the derivative they get from the product (Van de 2000). Therefore through TQM, the customers will be satisfied with the products and services thus there will be fewer complains. Finally, TQM improves the profitability of the organization. This is because through quality management the company will sale more of the products and services leading to higher sales than the competitors and therefore improving the profitability of the organization (Van de 2000). Criteria to get ISO9000.2000 certificate Generally to get ISO9000-2000 certificate, the requirements are to audit a firm and know how it has managed to maintain quality and how it plans to satisfy the customers’ needs through quality management. These are the basic requirements for any organization to get ISO certificate (Bamford & Deibler, William 2003). The following procedure is followed when an organization wants to get a certificate from ISO9000-2000; the first step is to write a corporate policy concerning quality management. It is important that all the management levels participate in drafting the corporate quality policy as ISO is concerned with quality issues. Then draft a system which shows how the documents are controlled. This will help to prove to the auditor of ISO that the documents are genuine. Next step is to draft how each department plans to achieve the quality requirements and may differ because each department has different functions (Bamford & Deibler, William 2003). Another step is to ensure that all employees in the organization access the instructions and are aware of them and the corporate policy for quality management. Then contact any suitable company that can issue ISO9000 and request them for auditing. All employees should be aware of the audit and be available during the audit so that they can answer the questions as they are required from their respective departments. After passing the audit, the organization will be able to receive ISO9000-2000 accredited organization (Bamford & Deibler, William 2003). The 5 GAP models This is the model used to manage quality and it comprises of five GAPS discussed below; The first gap is the difference between what the customers expect and what the managers think the customers expect (Luis & Joana 2005). For instance customers expect quality products while managers think that the customers expect a variety of products. This gap can be solved by conducting market research to know exactly what the customers expect. The second gap is the perception of the management and the actual specification concerning the experience of the customers (Luis & Joana 2005). For instance, the managers perceive that the customer needs 4G internet while the actual specification is that the customers need telecommunication products with a variety of features. This gap can be eliminated by taking data on the customer experience. Another gap is the experience specification and the delivery experience. The management of an organization should conduct audit to know the customer experience on the products the company delivers currently to know if they live up to the expectation of the customers (Luis & Joana 2005). For instance, after delivering a new product to the market, Etisalat marketing managers should conduct audit to know if the products delivered measured as they expected. The fourth gap is the delivery of customer experience and the satisfaction of the communicated product. This gap exists when companies exaggerate what they will offer to customers but in the real sense the product does not measure up to the communicated expectations (Luis & Joana 2005). For instance an organization can communicate that the product will included value added services but they don’t. The last gap is the customer perception on the experience and customer expectations. The customer expectations can be shaped by word of mouth but the real experience is not what was expected (Luis & Joana 2005). For instance, the customer can expect the products to surf fast but in the real experience it does not. This can be solved by conducting market research to know the satisfaction of the customers. Recommendations In order for Etisalat to remain competitive in the market, it has to improve on the following sections: The organization should segment the market into various segments like rural and urban segment and high income earners and low income earners so that it can be able to market the products appropriately and price according to the potential of the customers to buy the products. In addition, the company should use middlemen to distribute their products so that they reach the customers’ destination at convenient time. The customers will buy more of the company’s products if they can access them easily. Finally, the company should conduct more research and development so that they can be able to come up with new products in the market to meet the customers’ demands. This will help the company to meet the changing demands of the customers hence have competitive advantage. Conclusion Total quality management is an aspect being practiced by al organization so that they can meet their customers’ demands. Quality management helps to improve the performance of an organization, improve productivity and improve the corporate image of the organization. The principles applied by Etisalat to improve quality include supplier satisfaction, customer satisfaction, employee involvement and continues improvement. For an organization to be issued ISO9000-2000 certificate it must be able to provide quality products and services to the customers. The customers must be satisfied with the products of the company in order for it to be issued with ISO9000-2000 certificate. The certificate is issued upon passing the auditing test by a qualified and accredited auditor. References Alira, S., Alojzij, S & Ivan, B 2005, A quality management model based on the “deep Quality concept” International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 22, No. 3, p.278 – 302. 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Yusof, S & Aspinall, E 2000, ‘Total quality management implementation Frameworks: comparison and review’, Total Quality Management, Vol.11, No.3, p.281-294. Read More