Essentials of Management: Analysis Telstra Company - Case Study Example

Telstra Company Analysis Student’s Name Institution Date Telstra Company Analysis Introduction Telstra is an Australian telecommunications company providing different types of services to the country’s citizens. It also operates in several Asian countries. The firm provides fixed line, mobile phone and broadband connections to various types of consumers in the country. It serves residential clients, corporate firms and government departments in various parts of the country. It is estimated that the firm has more than 8 million fixed line customers; 12 million mobile phone customers and over 5 million broadband clients. The firm is also heavily involved in other industries which are different from its telecommunications sector. It has agreements with other telecommunication firms in the country which depend on its wide network coverage to serve their clients. The firm also has a joint venture with News Corp. and Consolidated Media Holdings in pay TV channel, FOXTEL. It owns 50% of pay TV channel while the remaining equity is shared by its joint venture partners. Company Overview Telstra has operated in the market for nearly forty years. Melbourne serves as the firm’s headquarters and it is well known for operating fixed and mobile telecommunication networks. The firm has also managed to make itself competitive by providing internet access to both corporate and residential clients, pay television services and other high quality services. As a result, it has been able to maintain its appeal across various customer segments. The firm has operated in the market for a long time and it has managed to align its corporate culture to market conditions in different countries it operates in. As a result, more clients in the country have become aware of its values and what they represent in the industry. The firm’s corporate values help it attract some of the most qualified employees in the industry. As a result, the firm has managed to create strong workplace systems that motivate workers to achieve high quality output in all tasks they are doing (Telstra 2013). Telstra has managed to retain its employees who find it difficult to get tempted by other firms in the industry. As a result, the company has managed to transfer positive organisational values to its employees who have remained loyal to its principles in the whole period it has been in existence. The Australian government sold its stake in the company to private investors in three phases. This approach has ensured the company operates as a full private entity whose decision making is not slowed down by various bureaucratic processes. The firm’s employees are highly motivated because they work for a firm with a strong brand value whose achievements are well known. Telstra’s mission in the industry encourages all its stakeholders to develop caring relationships to ensure improve the quality of various processes which are performed by the firm. All employees are guided by a spirit of excellence, collaboration and knowledge sharing to make them more suitable in their responsibilities in the firm (Telstra 2013). Telstra’s organisational culture has made both its employees and other members or the public to be more interested about its internal systems. All employees understand the firm’s standing in the industry and they work hard to live up to the expectations of all stakeholders who have a strong belief in the firm’s internal systems. The firm’s internal systems help to improve employees’ skills to make them perform their responsibilities more effectively. As a result, it has put in place performance management systems which motivate employees working for the firm to make them register positive results in their duties. The company has managed to carve out a niche for itself in the market and this has helped it understand the needs of its customers and how they should be satisfied (Telstra 2013). Therefore, its employees are willing to make different sacrifices to ensure the firm performs more effectively in the industry. Strategy The firm’s strategy is heavily influenced by market trends in Australia. The firm studies consumption patterns in various market segments and comes up with products which are suitable for consumers in such segments. The firm has been able to implement effective business strategies which have had a positive impact on its growth in the market. These strategies have helped the firm increase its competitive edge over other firms in the industry. Telstra is looking for new opportunities in new markets in Asia to raise its profile internationally. The firm focuses on customer service excellence to make its clients more connected to its services (Griffin & Moorehead 2011). Its clients understand its values and this makes them more interested in what it does in the market. As a result, they have a strong relationship with the firm which makes them stay loyal. The firm also focuses on growing its revenues in the market to stay competitive in various industries it is involved in. Its marketing and communication teams publicise different types of information about the firm and the activities it is involved in the industry. As a result, the firm is able to communicate its vision to various stakeholders in a compelling manner. All employees and senior managers in the firm understand their responsibilities and expectations they are required to satisfy. This makes them work harder to achieve the objectives the firm has set for itself in the industry. They observe high standards of professional behaviour in all undertakings (Griffin & Moorehead 2011). This has enabled the firm to impact positively on its clients in the industry. Since employee commitment is a key part of the firm’s strategy, the firm is able to identify various problems it faces in its operations before they slow down crucial operations. Telstra’s management has set various objectives which guide its operations in the industry. The firm values transparency in all its dealings and discourages its employees from receiving any financial inducements from clients and other interested parties. Since it has business operations in Australia and several other countries, the firm makes sure that its operations have to conform to the laws practiced in a particular country. The company operates in a rapidly changing business environment and this requires it to be in constant touch with consumers’ attitudes and lifestyles (Ahlstrom & Bruton 2010). As a result, it has put in place effective systems to measure and assess the quality of results it gets out of various processes. The firm uses financial records to measure its performance in the industry after specific intervals. Financial records provide the firm with a good method to find out which areas of its operations need to be improved to help it maintain its reputation in the industry. The firm has modernised its infrastructure by replacing copper cable networks with fibre optic infrastructure. As a result, this has helped the firm to make its operations more efficient to enable it compete effectively with its competitors. This approach gives the firm an opportunity to increase its market share to enable it increase its earnings from its operations. After the firm experienced a reduction in market share due to regulatory challenges in Australia, it changed its marketing strategies to attract more customers. As a result, the firm has been able to offer its clients improved services due to more interactions it has with them. The company has been able to identify specific divisions in its operations and the challenges they are facing in their respective industries (Ahlstrom & Bruton 2010). The most profitable service for the firm is mobile telecommunications service. Even though the firm is facing serious competition in the Australian industry, it has managed to maintain its market share. The firm also stands to benefit from the convergence of broadband and mobile telephone technologies in the long term. Since it has managed to establish itself as one of the largest internet service providers in the country, the firm will benefit from offering more electronic content to customers on its network at a competitive price. The firm has increased innovative processes to help it satisfy expectations of consumers whose needs are constantly changing. Telstra has been able to create a long lasting image because of the value its services offer to its customers. As a result, the growth in mobile technologies will make it possible for the firm to shift its attention from large infrastructure investments in favour of improved service and content development (Haberberg & Rieple 2008). The firm has a lot of services it offers and it is likely to increase its profits from offering high quality entertainment content through smartphones, tablets and other computerised devices. Telstra has projected that its new key areas of growth will include media, broadband and positive performance from its Asian operations. The firm is mainly focusing on increasing the number of services it offers to its customers to increase its profit revenues in various industries it operates in. As a result, the firm projects to review its approach to the market to ensure that all customers who get an opportunity to use its services get a positive experience. Customer service excellence is one of the parameters the firm uses to assess and evaluate performance. The firm’s operations are mainly influenced by customers’ needs and expectations in various markets it operates in (Pride 2008). Therefore, the firm relies on customer feedback and opinions to measure the performance of its key departments to find out if they have attained good results or not. Negative feedback is reviewed and the necessary adjustments are made. Telstra’s management have integrated human resource evaluation structures with other aspects of operations. Employees who are in constant touch with customers are highly trained and this makes them well equipped to deal with customers’ issues more effectively. The firm conducts reviews through short messaging services and social networks to find out if customers have complaints about the conduct of its employees and the quality of services they offer. Employees who receive negative customer reviews are informed about this problem immediately to help them change their attitudes towards work. Customer care services offered through social media have become valuable tools for engaging with customers to find out their needs and expectations (Felstead & Gallie 2004). This has helped the firm to live up to its vision of staying connected to its key stakeholders at all times. Telstra has opened up all its processes to scrutiny to ensure it stays accountable for its actions in the market. The firm has made most of its employees to be more committed to its values to because they understand specific expectations they are expected to satisfy in the firm. As a result, they have a positive attitude towards work and this makes them go the extra mile to serve customers appropriately. The firm was recently ranked fifth globally due to its heavy presence on Facebook. This follows the firm’s decision to have a 24 hour customer care service on social media in 2011. The firm online customer care service is of a high quality and this has helped it compete effectively with other firms in the industry. Its biggest rival in Australia, Optus has also realised the importance of online customer care support and has launched a similar service (McHale 2011). Telstra has been able to decentralise its services by opening up new retail networks in different locations. The expansion of retail outlets makes it possible for the firm to sell products and services to customers easily to maintain the strong relationships it has with them. This has enabled the firm to live up to its ambition of providing customers with a high quality service experience, different from what is offered by its competitors. In the long term, the firm aims to benefit from a combination of high quality brands and positive consumer sentiments to raise its profile globally. The firm’s decision to privatise helped resolve some bureaucratic processes which had made it difficult for it to attain positive performance in its operations. As a result, the firm was able to devolve its services to leaner and more efficient units which serve customers’ needs more effectively (McHale 2011). Therefore, the firm has been able to reduce unnecessary costs which do not add value to its long term vision in the industry. The firm’s financial records in the past three years have shown signs of improvement. The firm has been able to do away with high expenditure patterns that slow down its growth in the industry. However, the firm has faced challenges related to the declining value of its equity in the financial markets. There were also high incidents of vandalism of its public payphones in Australia. These issues had a significant impact on the firm’s operations in the industry. The decline in the value of the firm’s equity was caused by stricter regulations imposed by the Australian government on the firm (Rue & Byars 2003). As a result, the firm has restructured its operations to reduce the amount of risks it faces in different locations it operates from. This has helped the firm to do away with costly infrastructure projects in favour of less costly services which add more value to its long term operations. The focus on digital technologies has energised the firm to come up with innovative solutions to various needs of clients in the industry. These innovative solutions have helped the firm to maintain its dominant market power to increase the amount of revenues it gets out of various processes in the market. Employees who attain good results are recognised by the firm for the part they have played to help it attain its goals in the industry. They are rewarded with bonuses, promotions and training packages to motivate them to improve their performance in the organisation (Kalleberg 2001). As a result, the firm’s performance reward schemes helps it strengthen the commitment of its employees to internal organisational values and practices. This makes it easy for the firm to retain its best performing employees. Therefore, it is able to sustain its positive performance in the industry. There are new human resource practices introduced in the firm which encourage workplace diversity. The firm’s management has implemented policies that encourage all the firm’s divisions to hire employees from different cultural, racial and religious backgrounds. These diversity policies have helped the firm to unite all its employees to make them appreciate working together (Battersby 2013). The firm’s management understands that workers’ attitudes are influenced by their cultural backgrounds. Therefore, it has realigned its human resources practices to reflect people’s lifestyles and ways of life in different countries it operates in. Workplace diversity has produced good results for the firm because it has been able to review all policies that are related to internal work systems. The firm’s management is in a position to understand the needs of all its employees because it has an open communication policy. The overall corporate environment in the firm has been improved and this has helped the firm to register positive results in its operations. Cross-cultural business strategies are also used by the firm in its external operations. Since the firm hires employees from diverse cultural backgrounds, it is able to understand specific norms and practices which are observed in various countries. As a result, the firm has been able to implement effective customer relationship strategies to make it understand how to serve the needs of its clients in various market segments effectively. Telstar conducts periodic market research studies in different countries to find out the needs of customers located there. These studies enable the firm to get more information about different trends in the market and how they are likely to affect its operations (DuBrin 2003). Therefore, the firm implements effective business policies that help it improve its competitiveness in the industry. Telstra also has strong risk management policies that help it overcome different problems it faces in its operations. The management are able to plan for various unexpected emergencies which are likely to affect the way the firm performs its responsibilities in the industry. This has helped the firm to introduce effective crisis management policies to protect it from losses that are likely to occur due to unexpected risks. As a result, the company has strong data security systems which limit the risk of external intrusion by cyber criminals. The firm has a strict confidential policy that guides how its employees operate (Hill 2012). Employees who violate these policies are likely to face termination of their contracts and in some instances, legal action. Therefore, customers’ private details are kept confidential to ensure that they are not accessible to unauthorised parties. Recommendations The firm needs to encourage its employees to collaborate on various tasks to improve its performance in the industry. The firm needs to improve the skills and competencies of its employees to ensure they adapt to different trends in the market. The firm also needs to introduce training programs to enable its employees improve their knowledge about various technological changes. This will make them more competent in their duties, which will help the firm to register good results in its operations. The firm needs to maintain the strong relationships it has with its customers to ensure they stay loyal to its services. The firm also needs to improve its diversity policies to make them more effective in different locations they are enforced. It needs to review how it engages with consumers from different ethnic backgrounds to win their trust and confidence. Telstar also needs to change customers’ perceptions about its ties to the Australian government. This will help it dispel some consumers’ beliefs that the firm’s processes are bureaucratic. The firm also needs to improve its benefit schemes to motivate its workers to perform their duties more effectively. Conclusion In conclusion, Telstra has managed to improve the competitiveness of its internal processes. The firm needs to institute high quality internal controls to enable its employees attain good results in their responsibilities. All employees in the firm need to be included in its long term strategies to help the firm attain its true potential. This will make it possible for the firm to register good results in its operations in other countries. References Ahlstrom, D & Bruton, G 2010, International management: strategy and culture in the emerging world, Cengage Learning, Mason. Battersby, L 2013, ‘Telstra chief outlines strategy for growth’, Sydney Morning Herald,3 March, viewed 30 October 2013, . DuBrin, AJ 2003, Essentials of management, Thomson, Peterborough. Felstead, A & Gallie, D 2004, ‘For better or worse? Nonstandard jobs and high involvement work systems’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 15, no. 7, pp. 1293-1316. Griffin, R & Moorehead, G 2011, Organizational behavior: managing people and organization,. Cengage Learning, Mason, OH. Haberberg, A & Rieple, A 2008, Strategic management: theory and application, OUP, Oxford. Hill, AV 2012, Encyclopedia of operations management, FT Press, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Kalleberg, A 2001, ‘Organizing flexibility: the flexible firm in a new century’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 479-504. McHale, N 2011, Transforming teams: develop yourself and your team - transform your results, Ecademy Press, Hertfordshire. Pride, W 2008, Foundations of marketing, Cengage Learning, Mason. Rue, L & Byars, L 2003, Management: skills and applications, McGraw-Hill, New York. ‘The way we work – Telstra Business Principles’ 2013, Telstra, Melbourne, viewed 30 October 2013, < http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/download/document/Telstra-Business-Principles.pdf. >. Read More