Introduction
Etisalat Telecommunication Company is one of the prosperous businesses that have a distinct communication plan, efficient strategy, good practice, perspective investor’s relations, and corporate responsibility. Etisalat is a great holding that incorporates multiple non-telecom businesses. Telecommunication companies of Etisalat operate in many countries of the Middle East and Africa, and they have approximately 100 million subscribers. The company constantly receives different awards. Etisalat takes care about service quality while improving and implementing new technologies.
Company Review and Investor’s Relations
The research paper is based on the analysis of Etisalat Company functioning, its practices, and corporate communication plan. The appropriate analysis needed studying of various literature, articles about the development of the company and its technological innovation. Much information about investors’ relations and corporate structure has been retrieved from the personal site and corporate report of the company. Etisalat is a Monopoly Company and it is widely known all over the world. It was founded in 1976 as a joint-stock company. In 1983, the government became the owner of 60% shares in the company. In 1991, Etisalat got legal rights to provide the wireless service and telecommunications wired in the UAE and other countries. Etisalat increased exchange lines from 36,000 in 1976 to more than 737,000 in 1998, which testifies about constant growth of the company and its efficient strategy. The company is included into the list of 6 largest companies in the Middle East and it takes 140th place among the Financial Times Top 500 corporations in the world (Smith, 2014). The grading is basing on a market capitalization and revenues of the company.
International investments are one of the main purposes that operate out of the UAE. Etisalat Company has good practice in International Investments. The company buys shares of other providers from the different countries. In some countries, Etisalat has more than 80% of shares and it is monopoly provider. The first international investment was biding with the aim to become the second operator of mobile service in Saudi Arabia. In the year 2006, Etisalat won a bid of 2,29 billion euro and got rights for developing Egypt’s third mobile network. The most efficient strategy was buying stakes of the operator who had monopoly rights. For example, Etilasat acquired 15.97% of PT XL Axiata operator of Indonesia and paid only USD $438 million. That investment was not so expensive, as previous, but the company immediately got 15 million of subscribers and soon withdrew its investments (“Corporate Governance Report 2014”, 2014). Nevertheless, such investments are global, and the company cannot control them directly.
Communication Examples and Activities Basing on the Media Relations
Communication activity is very important for attracting the clients and business development. Media relation is a constituent part of the communication activity and has great influence on it. One of the positive aspects that promote communication activity is registration of the company in the social network and elaboration of its web site, which testifies about its customer orientation. It is very important to set communications with the clients and get to know more about weak and strong points for further improving. The other good example of stakeholders and customers communication with Etisalat is their official site. However, it is simple, in spite of great significance in the company’s growth. There, people can find such sections like customer support, business, personal information, and promotions. In the part that calls “mobile section”, customers can find some information about prepayments and post payments. There was also some information about broadband and blackberry (“Mobile Internet”, n.d.). Nevertheless, much useful information is not represented on the site. This information could help customers and attract their attention. Etisalat operates iZone and uses Wi-Fi and filtering system. Those services are very popular and should be advertised on that site. Positive practice and current developments should be described there obligatorily. For example, in the contemporary world, many people begin to ponder on the future of a new generation and prevention of the global warming. Thus, customers and stakeholders can be attracted by the fact of transmission lines replacement by the optical fibers (“Corporate Governance Report 2014”, 2014). That helped to reduce 85% of carbon emission. The company should be interested in attracting the clients. Opening the site and contemplating numerous positive and interesting proposals, clients will definitely choose that provider for use and stakeholders for further collaboration. Etisalat’s engagement with stakeholders comprises multiple interactions and activities. Those activities include consultations, communication, and financial information representation. Stockholders groups are identified due to their interests and significant issues. Etisalat annually organizes meetings with the stockholders and acquaints them with financial surveys. The provider holds bi-annual personal meetings, and annually organizes road shows. Etisalat cares about trust and understanding of stakeholders. The company uses informal and formal mechanisms of interaction with them (Group Corporate Communication, 2012).
Corporate Communication Plan
Internal Communication
Corporate communication plan includes many areas, and among them are internal communication and corporate responsibility. Internal communication is one of the constituent parts of an efficient development of the corporate communication plan. Etisalat has a definite structure that consists of the General Assembly, the Board of Directors, and the Executive Committee. The General Assembly approves the Annual Report that contains information about activities of the Corporation and its financial position. The Board of Directors consists of Chairman and eleven members. The Executive Committee is appointed by the Board of Directors as stated on the company’s official site). All abovementioned workers have close communication contact, and they share their thoughts and ideas, which is very important for corporate communication plan realization. Thus, the communication plan is based on the close interaction of different levels. The internal communication plan is one of the positive aspects that make corporation flourishing. New interesting ideas of workers regarding sustainable and sociable process improvement are always welcome. In its work, Etisalat uses training programs that help to develop skills of employees and give them opportunity to share innovate ideas. A significant aim of the corporate communication plan is minimizing the distance between different levels and organization of the public gatherings for employees. The other positive side of the corporate communication plan is combining collective and personal responsibilities. Individual work is a constituent part of the whole process. Before work performance, the employees should get to know the whole process and understand their role in that process. The individual tasks will be better executed after recognition of the collective object.
Corporative Responsibility
Corporate responsibility is also very important for corporate communication plan development. High responsibility and appropriate level of commitment provide flourishing of the company. Telecommunication service is controlled by the telecommunication department and it is a backbone of the system. The main responsibility of that department is efficient market share, which is an important part of the corporate communication plan unit. Etisalat receives big profits from the network wireless communication. Thus, it needs special control and responsibility of the employees. Its employees should understand their liabilities, never neglect their tasks, and keep the plan and strategy of the company. Corporate communication plan also includes efficient communication of employee with a customer. Call centers provide all necessary information for the clients (Sutton, 2014). When the customers have any problem with mobile or internet connection or any other questions, they can apply to the service operator. The operator should always stay patient, give clear answers, and understand what exactly the users need and want to hear. Thus, absence of corporative responsibility can cause problems with realization of corporate communication plan. Etisalat is very popular operator in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. With the aim of corporate communication plan development the company supports communication with the other operators from different countries, supports exchange experience, and implements new technologies.
Get a Price Quote
Analysis of Etisalat Functioning and Recommendations for Further Improvement
Analysis of Etisalat business, its positive practice, and corporate communication plan shows that the company has many strong sides but also some weak sides that need improving. Etisalat makes many attempts for personal growth in the nearest future. Thus, it should search for a new markets and directly control them that will definitely increase their revenues. For today, they get only dividends and that is why the company loses some profits. The week point of Etisalat is low customer orientation. They are monopoly organization and the customers have restricted choice, which works in the company’s favor. The provider does not try much to achieve customer attraction and does not improve the site, which is harmful for corporate communication plan realization. The information should be represented merely in a way of outlined list of services that Etisalat can provide. The list can contain further information: Etilasat can provide the customers with the most progressive technologies; Etilasat is the largest provider of 3G and 3,5G services; the provider uses the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSDPA technologies and filtering system; Etisalat provides Wi-Fi modem service and special services for iPhone users, has high level Broadband; the provider has the largest DTN and e-vision and has strategic alliances with Alcatel, Huawei, Ericsson. The strong points of the company should be brightly presented. It is difficult to find any advertisement online that could tell about advantages of the provider. The company has great capital and invests more money in shares but forgets to develop the current businesses. For example, the company should concentrate on improving level of service because internet in the UAE is one of the slowest and the most expensive in the world with maximum speed is 30 Mbit/s.
Conclusion
Etisalat is the company with great positive practice. The company continuously develops and uses different innovations in its work. Information about new progressive technologies is acquired from the market investigation and efficient communication. Internal communication and corporate responsibility are on the high level. Nevertheless, in spite of many positive sides, the company also has some weak sides. The company should not stop and soon will be well known not only in Asian but in the European countries as well.
