Competitive Positioning - Step by Step for Telecom Strategy

With the emergence of technologies, market disruptions and quick turnaround times, it is becoming challenging to sustain long term competitiveness. Operators are exploring fresh competitive advantages with shorter lifespans at the consumer end. However, the resilience is created by building up internal strengths and adaptability. With innovative and more integrated supply chain, companies’ jump quickly from one competitive position to another creating new one and depreciating the old ones at the same time matching rivals.

For telecommunication industry most customers are unable to identify specific features that they are willing to pay for and most product features are not easy to gripe the benefit of pricing in a highly competitive markets. In a highly tempestuous and highly competitive industry such as telecom, the overall usefulness of a strategy can be reapt by following a step by step approach:

Step 1: Build a position map

The challenge operators are facing is that they need to think beyond typical business lines to expand, yet make sure that the revenue is protecting to a large degree in conventional voice services. In order to protect the revenue market share operator must specify the boundaries of the market in which they operate. With the changing technologies tracking the entire market or a specific customer need segment is a key question to answer. Changing the frame of analysis with respect to the customers, products, pricing versus the benefits provides the basis for plotting the competitive benefits vis-á-vis the desired position map especially now when the price war is nearly over. This step helps penetrating the fog that shroud the competitive landscape and help the company locate their unique competitive space beyond the typical voice share.

Step 2: Translating intangible – convert Customer Experience into Value

When interpreted within the context of customer the position map can very well be translated into the customer value. While the entire product may not be translated into the customer’s preference, focusing on the intangible benefits retaining the large chunk of customers by focusing on offering the intangible benefits. Once they have identified what benefits appeal to customers, operators can use the information to decide which features to develop, at what cost, and how soon they must create the next differentiator. In current telecom scenario how customer experience is mapped across the journey with the operator is more valuable as compared to the overall satisfaction the customer with the service. When mapped correctly customer experience can provide a great insight about what products will reap the most value and for which features customers will be willing to pay.

Step 3: Product mapping across customer segments

As the revenue streams for telecom operator are shifting from gradually from voice and text messaging and basic VAS to data services. Operator’s readiness to address the quick changes in the customer demand becomes imperative to secure the target market. In the wake of the changes in the market demands the primary offering of the operator become the platform for offering new products and verticals addressing a particular customer segment.

Step 4: Deliver Value across all channels

As the price lines are becoming steeper the need for unified experience across all distribution channels is required to maintain the competitive advantage. Customer is now more in position to demand the identical and seamless experience shift while they move from one channel another. From physical channels / distribution points to the social media and web based and now the emerging curve of apps telecom service provider now need to have more insight about customers’ experience across all channels to create value across the entire supply chain. Similarly the emergence of two-sided business model is making it even more critical to have the similar value created for all business stakeholders.

Step 5: Identify the clean field to sweep the rivals         

After securing the primary platform for major customer segment operators’ clear strategy to seize the new fields ensures the early territory margins. A successful competitive positioning helps in identifying those untapped areas in the field where competitors. Also operators’ need more industry insight to preempt the competitors actions more easily and place their competitive products to capture the larger untapped territory when the field is still new.

Step 6: Hold the mind share

Customer insight and industry analytics at the same time play crucial role to not only maintain the market share but creating a larger mind share by addressing the market needs quicker than their competitors. Business intelligence on one hand plays a very important role in securing the existing territory while exploring the new opportunities. In doing so, however, a critical analysis of customers’ expectations, behaviors, profile and intended usage coupled with the mapping of their existing experience help maintaining the position at the same time preparing the ground for the new position in future.

All in all, rather than leaving the market positioning to chance, it is imperative to establish a strong strategy and build the execution plan around the position that the company wants to hold.

While companies are focused on making a competitive strategy it is far more important to execute it effectively too. Reinforcing the strategy and aligning all business processes with the strategy is the key factor especially at higher organizational levels. At all levels, incentives must support short-term objectives that are related logically to longer-term strategic ends – creating the right balance between overall company performance, functional performance and individuals performance and behavioral assessment.

The popularity of programs such as the Balanced Scorecard and other management-by-objectives approaches to goal setting also suggests that efforts are being made to ensure that short-term measures of performance are consistent with desired strategic outcomes. This means not only individual or a functional performance, but also rewards cooperation among the individuals or teams involved. 

Ariel Gani's Blog: Balance Scorecard Framework

Ariel Gani's Blog: Balance Scorecard Framework: The balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that is used extensively in business, industry and non-profit organizat...

Strategos: The Art of Generals

The word strategy is derived from the Greek strategos — literally, “the art of the general”. Today strategy planning has become a common process in most organizations. In one form or the other every business seems to be struggling to find that “ONE” winning formula that helps take it flight to the next level of success. Sometimes a formal strategy statement is defined and all processes and elements of business start following the same as a tag line of success; whereas in few organizations merely a mission statement or a vision statement with all its vagueness qualifies for a business strategy.  

It is important to note here that it is hardly necessary that all those elements of organization that are working on this corporate strategy are referring to the same thing. In practice, it is very well possible that a vague understanding of the overall company’s direction exits in most intangible forms. In this regard strategy is sometimes taken as an imaginative or situational act and is not definite in its forms and hence execution.   

Another viewpoint of Strategy researchers takes strategy as a mechanism which helps in chartering new directions for the company and has direct effect on the performance and structure of the business.  This school of thought refers Strategy as “the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of the enterprise and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals. This definition clearly views strategy from the point of both objectives and goals (long term or short term) and execution of the strategy to achieve them allocation appropriate resources.

In practice however, Strategy is viewed in two clear forms: Strategy Formulation & Strategy Implementation. Most organizations spend good hours and efforts in formulating the strategy which seems very gigantic and ready to take the leap at the competitors but in effect the implementation of strategy is neither well planned nor well thought out. As a result the gap between “here” and “there” is never closed.

To me the actual process of strategy remains an intuitive art and rightfully the art of general. Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. It is by attention to this point that expresses a need for a systematic process that defines the organization’s directions, goals, set parameters for internal and external challenges and helps in viewing the actual implementation of the same.  

I have enlisted few steps which if done well can help companies in balancing the focus between both phases. I divide them in two phases

Phase I.            Envisioning & Crafting

Phase II.          Execution & Evaluation

The first phase typically deals with visioning and analyzing the current situation and planning of What WHY and WHERE parts of business; whereas execution phase helps in designing a framework or internal procedures to execute and continuously monitor the implementation and setting and redirecting the efforts required to achieve various goals, the most important “WHO” and “HOW” part of the business.

In later posts I will take each phase in detail and explore the tools that can be used in each.In exploring both phases of this intuitive art I would certainly like your comments, suggestions and experiences to make this journey worthwhile.

Let your plans be dark and as impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt!"Sun tzu: The Art of War"

   

The Pendora Box Opened!

Setting strategy is elegant. It’s a one "swell" process to dig deep into and diving through collecting and analyzing your past achievements, data, commitments and what not!. The whole process of developing the startegy is breath takingly charismatic. Identifying smart paths forward while looking backward at what was real, successful, and pulling... back then, gives an immense satisfaction. But what is it that makes it so worth doing! What is Startegy? What is / was the first thing in your mind when you are / were making one for your company? 

Your replies will help us find the key to the pendora box of "STRATEGY", a well talked phenomenon!

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Strategy: A Practitioner's Perspective

Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations" 

Johnson and Scholes 

Is your company spending enormous time and energy on strategy development, with little to show for your efforts? This blog will combed through hundreds of practices, issues, parameter, models, pitfalls, short term and long term perspectives, including various articles on strategy to help galvanize your organization's strategy development and execution. Your input, queries, and issues you are facing will be addressed and together we can discover our own models and best practices.