Portfolio

General Environment at Safaricom

The presence of a diverse economy in Kenya makes it a potential business centre for
Safaricom, as it affords the company investment opportunities. For instance, Safaricom can
benefit from the tourism industry, which has a favorable business climate, particularly for
service companies like Safaricom (Beauchesne et al., 2014). Second, the Kenyan government
has consistently fostered a positive business climate by reducing its business rules, thereby
allowing businesses to operate free of several legal obstacles (Beauchesne et al., 2014). In
addition, Safaricom has facilitated the presence of a well-trained and experienced task force
in charge of its daily operations through its Subject Matter Expert Program, which ensures
that its employees are trained in the finance, technology, and team-building skills required to
perform their assigned duties (Beauchesne et al., 2014). This strategy has been the company's
greatest asset and has allowed it to assemble a staff of highly-qualified individuals to manage
its operations.

The capacity of its competitors to imitate the majority of Safaricom's offerings is a big
external threat that requires immediate response. For instance, competitors like as Telecom
Kenya have begun providing banking services comparable to those offered by Safaricom
(Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2016). The ability of competitors to imitate Safaricom's services
suggests that the company may soon lose its existing market share if it fails to develop fresh
inventive client acquisition strategies. However, the presence of various untapped
telecommunications markets in certain regions of Kenya and throughout Africa presents
Safaricom with a potential to grow and expand its activities abroad (Hitt, Ireland &
Hoskisson, 2016). This indicates that Safaricom will be able to earn greater revenues and
profits in the near future after seizing this growth opportunity.

Competitive Setting of Safaricom

Safaricom controls around 65 percent of the telecommunication services given to Kenyan

clients, making it the country's top telecommunications service provider despite facing severe
competition in Kenya (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2016). YuMobile, Bharti AirtelMobile, and
Telecom Kenya are Safaricom's principal direct competitors in the Kenyan
telecommunications business (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2016). Outside of Kenya, Safaricom
faces competition from MTN Group, Etisalat Emirate Telecommunications Company, and
Millicom, among others (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2016). Safaricom has been able to
surpass its competition by continuously innovating its operations, including the services it
provides to its clients. In addition, Safaricom is believed to have attained monopoly status in
the country, as none of its current or emerging competitors offer comparable quality and
variety of services.

Principal Strategies Employed by Safaricom

The Safaricom Company is pursuing a variety of growth-enhancing tactics. Product

differentiation, product innovation, and technology adoption are the strategies. The company
has differentiated its products in order to suit customer demands. To compete for market
shares, money, and consumers, the strategy entails developing low-cost, high-quality goods.
Due to the fact that other companies on the market produce items with a short lifespan,
Safaricom has resolved to provide durable products. The distinct products give Safaricom a
competitive advantage over its rivals that produce low-quality products (Mutuku, 2017).
Other ways exist by which Safaricom differentiates its products from those of its competitors
outside the use of durable materials. They consist of perceived prestige and rank, rapid
product innovation, and the usage of uncommon characteristics. The differentiation strategy
enables Safaricom to protect itself from competitors whose goods are similar to those of
Safaricom but distinct from its own.

The second strategy pursued by Safaricom Company is product innovation. It involves the
implementation of enhanced or novel manufacturing procedures in order to improve the
production process and product quality. Safaricom has established an innovation center to
enhance the quality of M-PESA services supplied to customers. The innovation center known
as Safaricom Alpha is responsible for identifying M-PESA spending patterns and then
translating those discoveries into other Safaricom products. The innovation has enabled
Safaricom to produce additional network products (Bright, 2017). The innovation is a
strategy to tailor their services to the needs of clients and improve the quality of service
production. The innovation center has invented the small ride-hail application, the Lipa-Na
pay bill services, and digital television. The second strategy pursued by Safaricom is the
incorporation of technology progress. Market competitors have not yet accepted the
technological upgrades that Safaricom is implementing.

The technological breakthrough consists of the Safaricom application, the Safaricom 4G

network, residential fiber, and the M-PESA fintech application. In addition, the company has
implemented an integrated system that integrates all of its technology. The integrated system
is vital for conflict mitigation, inefficient resource utilization, and decision making. This
adoption of technology that have not been implemented by other service industry companies
will provide Safaricom with a competitive advantage over its rivals. The implementation of
Safaricom 4G, for instance, has enabled the company to provide high-speed internet that is
five times faster for video calling, music and video streaming, as well as downloads and
uploads (Mutuku, 2017). In essence, Safaricom is pursuing a variety of competitive
advantage-enhancing measures. These methods include product differentiation, product
innovation, and the embrace of technology, which have enabled the corporation to generate
exceptional, non-competitive products.

Expansion & Growth Strategy

The strategies applied currently by Safaricom are good but they need additional strategies in
order to continue enjoying market leadership. There need to be new strategies which will
continue attracting customers and therefore positively impacting their revunues. The old
strategies when applied repeatedly for a long time may prompt competitors to adopt the same
options which will be risky for the success of Safaricom.

It is anticipated that Safaricom's national and international standing will improve as a result
of its future growth and expansion initiatives. For instance, the choice to begin offering
television services is a positive step that will contribute to the company's revenue and profit
growth because it will establish a new stream of money (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2016).
This diversification strategy will foster its long-term growth. However, it is anticipated that
Safaricom will require a substantial amount of capital to ensure the success of this investment
initiative.

In order to sustain its customer base, Safaricom should also explore differentiating its
banking services from those of its competitors through the use of fresh branding and the
development of customer loyalty programs (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2016).

The purchase of other telecommunications service providers is just another means by which
Safaricom can maintain its dominant position in the country and internationally. This strategy
will allow the company to produce more income and profits from a large customer base and
improve its operations (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2016). In addition, Safaricom can meet the
majority of its strategic objectives by geographically expanding its services into other
countries, namely Tanzania, Rwanda, and Zambia, which have a large untapped market that
may be used to improve earnings and sales. It is crucial that Safaricom invest in 5G LTE
technology in order to improve its services to customers by providing a fast network when
customers utilize its internet-enabled services.

Strategic Objectives for Safaricom

The following table outlines the strategic objectives and illustrates their connection to the
material issues and stakeholders:

Strategic objective Activities K.P.I

Provide the best network in Deliver a high-quality, Network quality
accessible network that is also
Kenya energy efficient.

Please our clients Provide excellent client Customers

experiences
Understand our
customers' requirements
Create solutions that
enhance their life.

Exceed their anticipations

Ensure their privacy.

Stay in front of Develop new and Innovation

the curve transformative products and
services.

YOLO Be youthful, unique, local, Innovation

and remarkable Customers
Provide youth-
focused solutions.

Enhance offer the unbanked Society

financial formal financial
participation services
 Business partner of Offer comprehensive Customers
choice ICT solutions that help Business partners
organizations prosper.
Recognize and assist our
agents, dealers, and suppliers
Table 1: Strategic objectives
Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation

Good governance in project implementation comprises good project organization in which all
roles and duties are clearly defined, a documented cooperation agreement with the partner,
and efficient finance management (Crittenden, 2014).

Monitoring and assessment are crucial project management components. They are conducted
to ensure that the project work is relevant and to assess the progress and efficiency of the
program. Regular monitoring enables the project to foresee potential hazards and identify any
necessary modifications to the project's plans. Monitoring and evaluation are also required for
stakeholder accountability (Macmillan, 2013).

Implementation

An implementation plan outlines how to bring a strategic plan to life by dividing it into
distinct parts and assigning each step to a specific team member within a certain timeframe. It
is divided into pre-implementation, real implementation, and post-implementation
components (Crittenden, 2014).

Pre-implementation

Through investigation and development, the feasibility of the Safaricom concept will be
assessed throughout this phase. The primary purpose of this stage will be to conduct a project
feasibility analysis. At this stage, the management will determine who will participate, the
parties involved, and whether the project has sufficient resources and participation (Pryor
2007).

Throughout Implementation
Project implementation and the various stakeholders' respective duties are carried out at this
phase. Work that is practical is done during this stage. The development of teamwork ensures
that the project's goals are achieved through widespread collaboration (Olsen, 2015).

Post Implementation

It is determined whether the objectives have been achieved during this phase. Writing user
guides, instructing and training users, setting up a help desk, maintaining the result,
evaluating the project itself, writing the project report, throwing a party to celebrate the result
achieved, handing the project over to the directors, and disbanding the project team are
examples of follow-up phase activities (Pryor, 2007).

Implementation matrix

Understanding strategic planning is a fundamental cultural concept. Strategic planning

ensures that goals are clearly stated, examines the internal and external factors needed to
build strategies, puts plans into action, assesses progress, and makes adjustments as needed
(Aaltonen, 2012). The process of assessing what a company plans to do to further its mission
and goals over a specific time frame is known as strategic planning. This means looking at
the present and future situations and coming up with a plan for the future that will be good for
the company. The following matrix will be utilized by Safaricom Company to implement
strategy:

Strategy Action steps Responsibility Time

Create an Implementation 9 months
Develop a five-year
implementation committee
strategic plan that is
strategy and matrix
connected with the
with action steps,
association's mission
and satisfies the responsibility, and

membership's needs. target dates

 Serving customers Formulate a plan that Implementation 9 months
and reducing will ensure the committee
requests for transition from
customer service conventional to
via traditional modern modes of
channels communication

Establishing Creating interactive Implementation One and half years

rapport with platforms where committee
bloggers and other opinions on how to
micromedia ensure the project's
producers success will be
expressed
Implementation One and half years
Extending reach and Developing websites
generating interest that permit interaction committee
and the exchange of
ideas
Building relationships Creating platforms on Implementation One and half years
with community the ground to facilitate committee
communication with
local residents.
Table 2: Implementation matrix

Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation are conducted in order to gain insight from past events and
promote accountability. Monitoring is the systematic and continual gathering, evaluation, and
utilization of information on the project's essential components. Evaluation is a methodical
examination of the effectiveness of a project to determine what works and why. Monitoring,
evaluating, and reporting on a project on a regular basis helps keep it on course and clearly
demonstrates the project's results. Monitoring and evaluation also enables an organization to
make adjustments if things are not moving as expected (Lorange, 2015). Since a substantial
amount of time and effort will be invested in planning and delivering the project, it is crucial
to comprehend what is working, what is not working, and why. The company will be able to
make the required adjustments to get the project back on track with this knowledge.
Monitoring, evaluating, and reporting will ultimately contribute to the success and diffusion
of the organization's project. In practice, monitoring and evaluation are tightly intertwined, as
the monitoring data provides the foundation for the evaluation.

Monitoring and Evaluation Framework

Goals Activities Outcomes Impacts
Serving customers Formulate a plan that will Increased Improved
ensure the transition from
and reducing conventional to modern number of communication
requests for modes of communication users who
customer service interact via
via traditional Safaricom
channels
Developing Creating interactive Improved exchange Improved method of
relationships with platforms where of ideas interaction
bloggers and other opinions on how to
micro media ensure the project's
producers success will be
expressed
Development of Improved
Extending reach and Developing websites that
generating interest permit interaction and the social media interaction
exchange of ideas websites
Building relationships Creating platforms on the Development of Improved interaction
with community ground to facilitate social media
communication with local websites
residents
Table 3: Monitoring and evaluation framework

Monitoring Techniques

Several monitoring metrics will be applicable to the strategic strategy for Safaricom:

Logical framework method: This technique uses a log frame to monitor the projected
changes.

Indicators of performance: This measures how the company is performing as measure by

the revenues and customer satisfaction.

Formal surveys: This technique tell uses interview data from consumers.
Theory-based evaluation: This one provides a deeper understanding since it incorporates
both present and past results to recommend what is best for future. It is therefore the most
useful (Olsen, 2015).

Evaluation Methodology

The following evaluation mechanism will be applied to the process of analyzing Safaricom's
strategic plan:

Impact evaluation: The technique draws its conclusions from accessing how the program
has affected the behaviour of the customer and stakeholders.

Analysis of cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness: It tells whether a program is successful by

looking at how the resources used to implement the program and how the program will
generate revenue.

Participatory techniques: This technique allows all the stakeholders to participate in

evaluation. This one will may give the best results since everyone is involved (Olsen, 2015).

Conclusion

Strategic case analysis is fundamental to strategic management because it assists strategists in

aligning an organization's resources with its operations to achieve its mission and objectives.
In order to achieve their goal, business management must use strategic management
approaches such as case analysis that keep their businesses focused on the efficient
exploitation of scarce resources. In order to ensure that their wants and concerns are met,
policymakers and planners must continue the discussion initiated with customers and other
stakeholders. Additionally, as new programs and efforts are launched in response to this
initial planning process, new vulnerabilities and threats will emerge. This is especially true of
the ever evolving and changing field of technology. Safaricom Plc is the dominant company
in Kenya's communications industry. Despite this, she must consistently design, implement,
and evaluate her plans in order to be responsive to the industry's needs and preserve her
market leadership. As the market leader, Safaricom would need to increase its research and
development capacity and develop new products and processes in order to maintain a
competitive advantage.
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