Choose two businesses within the same industry. Compare and contrast their operations strategy on dimensions such as cost, quality, time, and flexibility. How are they creating their competitive advantage over the others?

Airtel and MTN

Explanation: The Indian telecommunications industry is one of the fastest growing in the world, with about 19 million additions a month. The industry has witnessed consistent growth during the last year on the back of rollout of newer circles by operators, successful auction of third-generation (3G) and broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, network rollout in semi-rural areas and increased focus on the value added services (VAS) market  

As the Indian telecom industry enters its third phase, growth in the markets is bound to mirror the growth in the economy. This provides valuable pointers to the next driver of growth – the rural India – where mobile penetration levels still remain an abysmal 15%. Airtel has been looking to expand and learn in the rural/low income market segment.

Mission

We will meet the mobile communication needs of our customer through  error-free service delivery

Innovative Product and Service

Cost efficiency

Unified messaging solution

Objectives/Goals

To undertake transformational projects that have a positive impact on society and contribute to the nation building process

To diversify into new businesses in agriculture, financial services and retail business with world class partners

To lay the foundation for building a conglomerate for future.

Environment Analysis

MTN

is an emerging market mobile operator with a clear vision to lead the delivery of a bold, new digital world to our 233 million customers across 21 operations. We are inspired by our belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life.

Ours is one of the most admired brands in Africa and is also among the most valuable African brands. MTN is one of the largest companies listed on the JSE in Johannesburg, and had a market capitalisation of R168 billion at the end of 2018.

We were established in South Africa at the dawn of democracy in 1994 as a leader in transformation. Since then, we have grown by investing in sophisticated communications infrastructure and by harnessing the talent of our diverse team of people across Africa and the Middle East.

How we manage our business  

Our portfolio

To ensure robust operational oversight across our opcos, we manage the group as follows: South Africa, Nigeria and then the SEAGHA, WECA and MENA regions and their respective operations. The CEOs of MTN South Africa and MTN Nigeria and the vice presidents of each of the regions are members of our executive committee

Where we operate  

Strong position in the right markets We operate in Africa and the Middle East – some of the world’s fastest growing regions for mobile communications. We are in three of the four largest economies in these regions and through our extensive investments have a leading share of the market – either number one or number two – in each of these countries. This ensures in-market scale that is the key to profitability.

Exciting demographic opportunity The countries in which we operate have fast-growing, youthful populations that are forecast to grow by another 50 million over the next few years. Data and fintech adoption is low across our footprint and there is opportunity to develop strong positions in the enterprise and wholesale markets which are still at an early stage of maturity.