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A CASE STUDY ON

OVERALL AND OVERALL OF GRAMEENPHON COMPANY

Submitted to:

Nusrat Fatema

LecturerDepartment of Business Administration

Stamford University Bangladesh

Submitted By:

Submitted Date: 08/08/2015

STAMFORD UNIVERSITY BANGLADESH

Name IDNiloy Saha BBA 054 16669Rimon Khan BBA 054 16679Sonia Akter Tumpa BBA 054 16690Saiful Islam Saif BBA 054 16695

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Dated: 08th August, 2015

Nusrat FatemaLecturerDepartment of Business AdministrationStamford University Bangladesh

Subject: Submission of a Case Study regarding overall and overview of Grameen Phone.

Dear Madam.

With due regards and respect GP state that GP are very thankful to you as you assigned us this Case Study on “overall and overview National or Multinational organizations”. It is a great opportunity for us to acquire theoretical and practical knowledge about Strategies that makes a Company Successful. GP have tried our best to gather what GP believe to be the most complete information available. Your kind acceptance and any type of appreciation would surely inspire us. GP would always be available and ready to explain further any of the context of the whenever asked.

Sincerely yours,

On behalf of the Group

Niloy SahaID: BBA 054 16669Batch: 054 (D)Stamford University Bangladesh.

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CONTENT…

No: Name Page No

1 Introduction 4

2 Company Overview 4

3 SWOT Analysis 10

4 Functions of Management 11

5 Problem Identification 13

6 Recommendation 14

7 Conclusion 14

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Introduction: Grameenphone (Bengali: গ্রা�মী�ণফো��ন) (DSE:GP, CSE:GP), widely abbreviated as GP, is the leading telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh. With more than 50 million subscribers (as of October 2014), Grameenphone is the largest mobile phone operator in the country. It is a joint venture between Teleport and Grameen Telecom Corporation, a non-profit sister concern of the internationally acclaimed microfinance organization and community development bank Grameen Bank. Telenor, the largest telecommunications company in Norway, owns 55.8% shares of Grameenphone; Grameen Telecom owns 34.2% and the remaining 10% is publicly held.

Grameenphone was the first company to introduce GSM technology in Bangladesh. It also established the first 24-hour Call Center to support its subscribers. With the slogan Go Beyond, Grameenphone promises its customers to bring the best of communication technologies so that they can Go Beyond.

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Company Overview:

Main History of Grameenphone:The idea of providing universal mobile phone access throughout Bangladesh, including its rural areas, was originally conceived by Iqbal Quadir, who is currently the founder and director of the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT. He was inspired by the Grameen Bank microcredit model and envisioned a business model where a cell phone can serve as a source of income. After leaving his job as an investment banker in the United States, Quadir traveled back to Bangladesh, after meeting and successfully raising money from New York based investor and philanthropist Joshua Mailman, and worked for three years gaining support from various organizations including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank and the Norwegian telephone company, Teleport. He was finally successful in forming a consortium with Telenor and Grameen Bank to establish Grameenphone. Quadir remained a shareholder of Grameenphone until 2004.

Grameenphone received a license for cellular phone operation in Bangladesh from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications on November 28, 1996. Grameenphone started operations on March 26, 1997, the Independence Day in Bangladesh.Grameenphone originally offered a mobile-to-mobile connectivity (widely known as GP-GP connection), which created a lot of enthusiasm among the users. It became the first operator to reach the million subscriber milestone as well as ten million subscriber milestones in Bangladesh.

Changing logo:On the November 16, 2007 GP formally changed its logo to match its parent company Telenor's logo. According to GP the new logo symbolizes trust, reliability, quality and constant progress. The name Grameenphone was kept as part of the new identity because the name Grameenphone carries with it all of the heritage, success and values of the company's past, added the then CEO of GP.

Numbering scheme:Grameenphone uses the following numbering scheme for its subscribers:

+880 17 XXXXXX24 , 880 is the ISD code for Bangladesh and is needed only in case of dialing from outside Bangladesh (otherwise, it may be substituted by a 0, making the prefix 017). 17 is the prefix for Grameenphone as allocated by the government of Bangladesh. The eight-digit number XXXXXXXX is the subscriber number.

Network:According to Grameenphone, it has invested more than BDT 259 billion (USD 3.27 billion) to build thenetwork infrastructure since 1997. It invested over BDT 15 billion in 2014 alone.

Grameenphone has built the largest cellular network in the country with over 8,000 base stations. As of presently, over 99 percent of the country's population is within the coverage area of the Grameenphone network.

The entire Grameenphone network is also GPRS/EDGE/3G enabled, allowing access to dial-up quality speed Internet and data services from anywhere within the coverage area. There are over 10 million GPRS/EDGE/3G users in the Grameenphone network. Also has 3G network at most of the urban and sub-urban area.

Products offered:

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Mobile telephony:-

Grameenphone was the first operator to introduce the pre-paid mobile phone service in Bangladesh in September 1999. It offers the pre-paid subscription under the name Easy Prepaid which is currently called "Nishchinto, Amontron, Shohoj, Bondhu, Aapon, Smile, Spondon, Business Solution prepaid". Besides Nishchinto, Amontron, Shohoj, Bondhu, Aapon, Smile, Spondon, Business Solution, Grameenphone also offers a youth based mobile to mobile connectivity within Bangladesh named djuice'.

Grameenphone also offers postpaid mobile service. Xplore Postpaid is the name of its post paid service. Grameenphone also provides several other packages which can be selected based on the type of tariff or features like pulse, sms, internet. Detailed information about packages provided by Grameenphone can be found dialling 121 from your Grameenphone number and can also be found using the official Grameenphone android app available for free download on Google Play Store.

Other services:-

Internet: Grameenphone provides internet service in its coverage area. As it has EDGE/GPRS/3G enabled network, any subscriber can access to internet through this network. Grameenphone was the first mobile operator in Bangladesh to offer EDGE and 3G services to its subscribers.

Bill Pay: A service to enable users to pay their utility bills Electricity/Gas through mobile.

Ekhanei.com : A service (formerly known as CellBaazar) to enable users sell or buy products through mobile or internet. And it is free to use for all Grameenphone customers.

Various other services like Stock Information, Instant Messaging, SMS Based Alerts/Services, Voice-based Services, Downloads, Music, Cricket Updates, Web SMS, Mobile Backup etc.

Corporate social responsibility:

Grameenphone has several projects related to social responsibility. These include:

1. Online School: Currently 10 online schools are operating around the country, where children are being educated through video conference by the teachers stationed in Dhaka.

2. Safe Motherhood & Infant Care Project- More than 1.7 million free primary healthcare services to underprivileged pregnant mothers & their infants.

3. Free eye care support for around 28,780 people- 3,458 eye sights restored so far.4. Awareness building on varied national issues- AIDS, National Immunization Day.5. Information boats with digitized livelihood contents and internal access for remote riverine communities.6. Economic freedom for more than 400,000 Village Phone Operators.7. More than 500 Community Information Centers- connecting life and learning.8. Proud sponsor of Bangladesh Special Olympics team.9. Proud sponsor of Bangladesh National Cricket team.10. Employment opportunity to acid survivors.11. Scholarship for underprivileged meritorious students.12. Blood donation camps for underprivileged Thalassaemia patients.

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13. Establishment of Blood Bank at Bogra for underprivileged patients.

14. Emergency relief effort in natural calamities.

Other activities:

1. Village phone:-

With the help of Grameenphone, Grameen Telecom operates the national Village Phone programmed, alongside its own parent Grameen Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), acting as the sole provider of telecommunications services to a number of rural areas. Most Village Phone participants are women living in remote areas. Village Phone works as an owner-operated GSM payphone whereby a borrower takes a BDT 12,000 (USD 200) loan from Grameen Bank to subscribe to GP (Grameenphone) and is then trained on how to operate it and how to charge others to use it at a profit. As in September 2006, there are more than 255,000 Village Phones in operation in 55,000 villages around Bangladesh. This program has been replicated also in some other countries including in Uganda and Rwanda in Africa.

2. Community Information Centers:-

Community Information Center (CIC) or GPCIC is aimed at providing internet access and other communications services to rural areas. In February 2006, 26 CICs were established across the country as a pilot project. In this project, Grameenphone provides GSM/EDGE/GPRS infrastructure and technical support and other partners Grameen Telecom Corporation and Society for Economic and Basic Advancement (SEBA), are involved in selecting and training entrepreneurs to run the village centers. The computers in these centers in the pilot project are used by an average of 30 people a day, who pay a small fee to access email or Web pages. These CICs are used for a wide variety of business and personal purposes, from accessing health and agricultural information to using government services to video conferencing with relatives overseas. Grameenphone also trains the entrepreneurs so that they can give people advice on how to set up an e-mail account and best make use of the Internet.

CIC project is giving up to 20 million people the chance to use the Internet and e-mail for the first time. Following a successful pilot project, Grameenphone is going to set up approximately 560 centers in communities throughout Bangladesh by the end of 2006. The centers will be located in each Upazila (sub-district) of Bangladesh. As a result, up to 15 villages containing up to 40,000 people will be within reach of each CIC. In this information center, there will be personal computers connected to Grameenphone existing GSM mobile network, which has been upgraded with EDGE technology to offer data transfer speeds of up to 16 kilobytes per second.

Grameenphone Centers:-

A Grameenphone center (GPC) serves as a "one stop solution" for customers, with all telecommunications products and services, under a single roof. A Grameenphone center also sells phones from vendors like Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sagem and Benq. EDGE/GPRS modems and accessories such chargers and headphones are also sold at GPCs.

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As of February 2013, there are 85 GPCs and they are strategically located at all major locations of the country is operated by Grameenphone. As of late most of the newly opened gpc's are franchised. Most of these franchised outlets are in non-metropolitan areas.

The GPCs also provide the flexi-load service without charging extra for small denominations unlike many retailers in the country. Thus making the gpc's and ideal place for many for such a service. Every once a while, the GPCs tie up with handset manufactures and start a nationwide marketing scheme by selling the specific vendors products at a price lower than the market's or in bundle with a Grameenphone connection loaded with free minutes.

Awards:

1. Grameenphone received the GSM in the Community Award at the global GSM Congress held in Cannes, France in February 2000 for its Village Phone initiative.

2. In 2002, Grameenphone was adjudged the Best Joint Venture Enterprise of the Year at the Bangladesh Business Awards.

3. Grameenphone was presented with the GSM Association's Global Mobile Award for ‘Best use of Mobile for Social and Economic Development' under Bridging the digital divide category at the 3GSM World Congress held in Singapore, in October 2006, for its Community Information Center (CIC) project.

4. In the next year, 2007, Grameenphone was again presented with the same award for its `Health Line Service' at the 3GSM World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain, in February.

5. Grameenphone received Green Mobile Award at Mobile World Congress 2014 for its extensive climate change program.

Criticism:In October, 2007 the Government of Bangladesh fined Grameenphone USD 24.5 million for illegally depriving the government of revenue by ignoring laws requiring private operators to use the state-owned BTTB land phone network for international calls by its subscribers, when they used Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to receive such calls.

It soon emerged that GP was making a bigger business out of VoIP operations than initially stated. They were providing a host of ISPs and operators services that enabled VoIP. In December 2007, Grameenphone's corporate office was raided by government agencies and documents were confiscated. This was in connection to Grameenphone providing VoIP equipment and services to an ISP, AccessTel. This fact was not disclosed by Grameenphone when it was fined just two months ago. Grameenphone representatives commented “some additional irregularities were found” regarding Grameenphone providing special services to illegal VoIP operators.

In January 2008, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has filed a case against GP's two former CEO's and other officials for involvement in illegal VoIP business.Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has fined Grameenphone Tk 2500 Million for illegal VoIP business, the second time the country's largest mobile phone operator has been penalized for such rogue activities, the telecoms regulators announced in August 2008.

Highest Call Rate:

e 12pm-4pm 4pm-12pm

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On-net BDT 0.49 BDT 0.99Off-net BDT 0.99Community BDT 0.75 (VP-VP)Pulse 1 secondSMS 24 hours at BDT 0.50/SMS (within 160 character space)

Other Operator call rate between GP:

Call type time window paisa/10 sec(excl. vat)

All operators 24 hours 10

special fnf 24 hours 5

sms type time window paisa/ sms(excl. vat)

all local sms 24 hours 50

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SWOT Analysis:STRENGTHS:

Largest Geographical Coverage Largest International roaming Service Strong Distribution Channels Pre-Paid service that are so Flexible Low price handsets with quality and variability for rural people Lease of Fiber-Optic cable from Bangladesh Railway Market Leadership & financial soundness Good Owner Structure Competitive Price Dynamic Management Team 24 Hours Customer Services Skilled Human Resource Access to the Widest Rural Distribution network through Grameen Bank More Attractive VAS (Value Added Services)

OPPORTUNITIES:

Unmet demand Possibility of further network expansion Increasing interconnection with BTTB Favorable Regulatory Authority Possibility of innovative products and services

WEAKNESS:

Billing inflexibility Growing customer dissatisfaction Lack of follow-up from customers Deviation from original business plan Marketing plan.

THREATS:

Introduction of BTTB mobile phones Aggressive marketing by competitors Possibility of new entrances using GSM Technology. Better relationship of competitors with regulatory body.

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Functions of Management

Planning Organizing Staffing Directing Controlling

Our Management functions: A manager who happens to manage a farm or horticultural business. A manager challenged to make efficient use of resources. A manager challenged with getting things done through people. A manager who has opportunity to use of all the tools of management that any other manager

uses. A manager who has a way of life like any other manager.

Management functions are about changing people not about changing businesses. We change people by helping them improve their management skills. Our expectation is that with these tools, they are then likely to change their businesses.

Management:

In Management Function, we start with an assumption of the universality of management. Management is management. Management is generic. Management principles are general rather than specific to a type of firm or organization. However, management is universal only if the manager has become familiar with the specific situation in which it is applied. Production technology, customer characteristics and the culture of the industry are examples of specifics that managers need

to learn to be effective in applying their generic management skills.

A definition:

Management is creative problem solving. This creative problem solving is accomplished through four functions of management: planning, organizing, leading and controlling. The intended result is the use of an organization’s resources in a way that accomplishes its mission and objectives.

In Management Function, this standard definition is modified to align more closely with our teaching objectives and to communicate more clearly the content of the organizing function. Organizing is divided into organizing and staffing so that the importance of staffing in small businesses receives emphasis along side organizing. In the management literature, directing and leading are used interchangeably.

Planning:

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Planning is the ongoing process of developing the business’ mission and objectives and determining how they will be accomplished. Planning includes both the broadest view of the organization, e.g., its mission, and the narrowest, e.g., a tactic for accomplishing a specific goal.

Organizing:

Organizing is establishing the internal organizational structure of the organization. The focus is on division, coordination, and control of tasks and the flow of information within the organization. It is in this function that managers distribute authority to job holders.

Staffing:

Staffing is filling and keeping filled with qualified people all positions in the business. Recruiting, hiring, training, evaluating and compensating are the specific activities included in the function. In the family business, staffing includes all paid and unpaid positions held by family members including the owner/operators.

Directing:

Directing is influencing people’s behavior through motivation, communication, group dynamics, leadership and discipline. The purpose of directing is to channel the behavior of all personnel to accomplish the organization’s mission and objectives while simultaneously helping them accomplish their own career objectives.

Controlling:

Controlling is a four-step process of establishing performance standards based on the firm’s objectives, measuring and reporting actual performance, comparing the two, and taking corrective or preventive action as necessary.

Each of these functions involves creative problem solving. Creative problem solving is broader than problem finding, choice making or decision making. It extends from analysis of the environment within which the business is functioning to evaluation of the outcomes from the alternative implemented.

An Important Qualification to Success:

Management success is gained through accomplishment of mission and objectives. Managers fail when they do not accomplish mission and objectives. Success and failure are tied directly to the reasons for being in business, i.e., mission and objectives. However, accomplishing mission and objectives is not sufficient. Success requires both effectiveness and efficiency. Managers who accomplish their mission and objectives are said to be effective. Efficiency describes the relationship between the amount of resources used (input) and the extent to which objectives were accomplished (output). If the cost of accomplishing an objective is prohibitive, then the objective is not realistic in the context of the firm’s resources. Additional planning is necessary.

Management Skills:

Management Function concentrates on building management skills. There are three basic management skills: technical, human and conceptual. A technical skill is the ability to use tools, techniques, and specialized knowledge to carry out a method, process, or procedure. Much of the technology that farmers know and can use so well comes under this management skill. Human skills are used to build positive interpersonal relationships, solve human relations problems, build acceptance of one’s co-workers, and relate to them in a way that their behavior is consistent with the needs of the organization. Conceptual skills involve the ability to see the organization as a whole and to solve problems in a way that benefits the entire organization. Analytical, creative and intuitive talents make up the manager’s conceptual skills.

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Problem IdentificationBroad Statement

To identify what factor is important for usage of Grameen Phone (GP) Internet.

Objectives

Determine the satisfaction of Grameen Phone Internet Service user.

Identify of the effectiveness of every factors to each other.

Identify the factors responsible for Internet Users.

Variables:

Dependent Variable:

Usage of GP Internet

Independent Variables:

1.                              Speed

2.                             Internet Service Charge

3.                             Promotional offers

4.                            Customer Care

5.                             TV commercials

6.                              Network coverage

7.                             Connectivity

8.                            Off time Service Charge

9.                            EDGE Service vs. GPRS Service

Approaches to the Problem

The research has been started with some secondary data available in the market. Then an

exploratory type research has been conducted to identify the problem which includes qualitative

investigation among the Internet User of the Grameen Phone (GP). Some of the factors have been

pointed out which may influence to be satisfied on the job. These are mainly Speed, Internet Service

Charge, Promotional Offers, Customer Care, TV Commercials, Network Coverage, Connectivity, off

time Service Charge, EDGE Service vs. GPRS Service etc.

By considering all of this issue the researcher tried to learn the following things:

  Who are the Users of the Grameen Phone?

  What are the factors involved for the usage of Grameen Phone Internet Service?

  Why the customers use the Internet Service?

  When to use the Internet Service?

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  Where to use the Internet Service?

  What are the ways to use the Internet Service?

Based on the above I have designed the research, collect the data and analysis accordingly.

RECOMMENDATION

Based on the findings & analysis, some realistic recommendations are mentioned in the following:

QA department is strongly working but the department should give more concentration on contractual employees in making them permanent to make faster growth of GP than the present time. Besides existing customers, other customers should be strongly targeted. Performance appraisal system should be controlled and followed to measure the performance of each employee.Should give more concentration on advertising & sponsorship. GP should increase the service quality/after sales service.

CONCLUSION

Grameenphone Company is still a growing company in spite of all the success it has achieved so far. It holds a kind of a monopoly position in the mobile telecommunications market. Completion is always on the lookout for new ideas and schemes. In order to maintain no: 1 position GP use to follow many strategies like business level strategies, functional level strategies, global level strategies & corporate level strategies.

From the survey on measuring the level of satisfaction of the GP BS segment, it has found that the level of satisfaction is very high. In addition, it has found at the time of collecting information that some subscribers are very much loyal to the organization. This is for the reason that the subscribers are getting adequate support and facilities from the company. Most of the respondents are not feeling any sort of problem for using business solutions with GP. Some, who are facing a little problem, is the creation of their own. In addition, GP authority is taking initiatives for this problem.The findings of the comparison of the Business Sloutions of GrameenPhone with other 3 BS segment (Banglalink, Robi & Citycell) is that GP BS segment if the most effective and easiest communication. The comparison was among the companies & the opinion standard. The opinion standard is the average outcome of the opinion of the ‘Head of Region of GrameenPhone (Dhaka region), ‘Regional Commercial Head’ Banglalink (Dhaka region) and Regional Sales Manager’ Warid telecom (Dhaka region). The finding is that GP is holding more points than the opinion standard. Rests of the companies are below the standard though the position of Banglalink is good. However, in comparison the effectiveness of the BS segment of Robi & Citycell is very poor, where Citycell is holding the lowest position.So finally it is to say that among the four BS segment on which a have conducted my study GrameenPhone Business Solution is the best.

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