Focus of the study and the research problem
The study focuses primarily on the fundamental objective of figuring out why certain organizations perform well while others fail in spite of operating under the same opportunities and challenges. The research intends to determine why a viable business venture may turn into failure and a how poorly performing company can reacquire success. Additionally, the study aims at realizing how a leading company can sturdily consolidate its current position to rule and direct the activities of the market setting to ascertain a substantial competitive benefit over others. This research seeks to provide a compacted structure for the comprehension of the interaction and competitive behavior particularly in the telecommunication sector and how this has led to a competitive benefit. It also exposes the gap that has lasted between companies that have adopted strategic management procedures and the ones that have not applied. Moreover, the study focuses specifically on measuring the degree of implementation of strategic management practices in the Global System for Mobile-Telecommunication sector and consequential impact on the cumulative performance. It also evaluates the extent to which a company achieves its vision, mission, and overall objectives as an entity. Besides, the research determines the effect of environmental aspects on the general performance of GSM. Another specific purpose of the study is to evaluate the level of nuclear capabilities and competitive benefits obtained by every company after the application of planned management skills. It also measures the effect of the application of strategic management plans on a firm’s overall performance and determines if the management style designed and applied has contributed to ample client gratification.
Literature review
In order to comprehend a company's best approach for efficient performance, one needs to figure out the challenges and chances available in different environments in which the business operates. Therefore, this calls for a need, for a suitable vision statement, mission, environmental scanning and strategy formulation and application to ascertain the organization’s optimal performance (S.A. Adebisi et al., 2015).
Strategic vision
An organization should define its vision to provide a long-term direction for its strategic management policies and the existing workforce. A company’s vision statement describes where it is heading and what it intends to accomplish in the future. In other words, an organization’s vision is a map portraying the route it plans to take in an attempt to strengthen its business dealings. A well-conceived vision comprises of two primary components that are core ideology and envisioned future. Core ideology involves the appealing character of a company that does not change as it goes through the fluctuations of vectors like competitions and technological distortions. Envisioned future, on the other hand, comprises of two components of ten to thirty years audacious objective and a vibrant explanation of what it will be like to accomplish the set goals and objectives. Inspiration, a common sense of purpose, ability to take risks, long-term thinking, integrity, and benefit for people are some of the advantages which accrue to an organization that has a well-stated vision (S.A. Adebisi et al., 2015).
Strategic mission
The mission of an organization briefly summarizes the reason behind its establishment and value or expectations of stakeholders. In other words, a company’s mission is what it is and the reason for its existence. A mission statement usually deals with an organization’s current business scope and purpose while a vision describes the direction the company is taking so as to strengthen its business operations (S.A. Adebisi et al., 2015). Developing a mission, therefore, is a significant starting point for strategy statement.
Strategy analysis and choices
The approach involves the evaluation of both external and internal environments that influence an organization’s optimal performance. Strategic management conducts a SWOT analysis to determine the present position of a company, where it is going and how to get there. It summarizes the primary issues that most probably impact the strategy development of business. External SWOT diagnoses the overall industry and competition levels to enhance a company’s decision-making procedures. Organizations thrive in a macro-environment consisting of influences originating from the prevailing economic conditions, demographic factors, societal values and beliefs, government legislation and technological factors. Micro- environment, in other words, refers to all crucial factors outside the company which are significant enough to have a bearing on its decision-making procedures and objectives. For an organization to perform well, it must either fit its strategy to the general industry environment where it operates or have the ability to reshape it to its advantage using its chosen business strategies (S.A. Adebisi et al., 2015).
Research methodology
The population of the study comprised of all GSM players in the Telecommunication sector of Nigeria such as AIRTEL, MTN, and MTEL. In line with the NCC classification, the study considered two most ancient and biggest services providers in the GSM telecommunication sector that are MTN and AIRTEL. Questioners used were designed and structured into two parts. Part one that comprised of the bio-data of the respondents and necessary information that will enable the author to place every respondent into the specified stratum. Part two of the questionnaire consisted of well-structured closed-ended questions that used the Likert scale of one to five to rate the responses given to each question. Section two was further divided into eight sub-groups namely; strategic intent, environmental factors evaluation, management strategic planning, core competitive advantage, and customer satisfaction, choice of strategy, international level strategy and conclusion. The questions were designed to collect data about key independent and dependent variables of the study
Research findings
• The ability of respondents to recite vision and mission statements of the respective company. The study found out that 83% and 71.7% of the MTN and 73.3% and 68.9%% of AIRTEL sampled staff members were capable of reciting their organizations’ vision and mission appropriately. This proves that the teams of the two firms comprehend the discretional focus of their organizations (S.A. Adebisi et al., 2015).
• The environmental factors assessment of MTN and AIRTEL. The mean responses of the two firms on performance showed a result of 4.26 for MTN and 3.95 for AIRTEL. This analysis depicted that, their abilities to cope with these environmental extremes through the application of various strategies led to an improved performance despite the threatening environmental factors (S.A. Adebisi et al., 2015).
• The blend of approaches by the two firms in the telecommunication industry. It could be noted that both firms judiciously blended strategies together with their competencies to pursue better performance.
• Formulation and selection of strategic choices and the mode of implementations. The research figured out that both MTN and AIRTEL were able to design and apply strategic choices splendidly, a clear evidence of the application of strategic management in these sampled firms.
• Customer satisfaction analysis. The study revealed that there is a negative relationship between the derivative satisfaction by customers and the quality of services rendered by the GSM members. It discovered that the subscribers are not deriving the desired satisfaction from the services of the sampled firms.
Conclusion
The study clearly reveals that companies tend to perform well when they implement their strategic policies and principles well. Additionally, the research discovers that for an organization to follow their policy plans in a way that will augment better-quality organization performance, the members should be in a position to recite their visions, missions, and goals with ease. In order to improve on customer satisfaction, a company can first aim at eradicating the chief contributors of the phenomenon. The firms can also adopt the most appropriate mechanisms for accessing customers’ feedback on the services provided.
Bibliography
S.A. Adebisi et al., 2015. Company Vision, Mission, Environment and Strategies. University of Lagos. Nigeria.
