Diversity of Telecommunication Sector in Kuwait Zain

Question: Discuss about the Diversity of Telecommunication Sector in Kuwait Zain. Answer: The company started in 1983 in the same country with its name as Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) before it was branded as Zain in 2007 (Abbas, Hamdy, 2015). The organization is not only in Kuwait, but it is also an international company with branches in North Africa countries and the Middle East. The Zain offers several services to the public such as the voice platform which facilitates VoIP calls, and this is the primary service provided. Other services include internet services, the cloud for storing data online, and WLAN networks with VPN and VPLS network to provide private networks to other institutions. Zain Company is the leading telecommunication organization in the Middle East Industry category The Zain Company lies under the telecommunication industry sector. Its primary competitors in the same industry are the Gulfsat, Fast and Arab telecommunications (Sharabati, Shamari, Nour, Durra, Moghrabi, 2016). Due to the changing environmental, social, legal and technological activities, the telecommunication industry in Kuwait is experiencing growth and development. Several companies are coming up to offer the services to the residents. Kuwait is believed to have established the industry in early 1980s which used to provide essential communication services only (Mumuni, Luqmani, Quraeshi, 2016). However, due to dynamics in the external environment as well as liberalization of telecommunication companies, the sector has developed to be multi-function by giving more than the essential services. The industry has benefited the country by increasing flexibility, time-saving, the accuracy of information and also making people stay in touch with friends and relatives through the use of smartphones (Alzabi, Shah, 2014). In this descriptive case study, I shall be discussing the diversity of the industry in Kuwait, and I shall use the Zain Company to address the process. Purpose of the Project and the Business Challenge Although the sector is experiencing growth and development, it is important to consider how the process is being achieved as well as the challenges the Company is facing when diversifying. The Zain started as an ordinary mobile operator firm. Diversity commenced in 2003 where it acquired other key players in the Middle East and Africa, for example, Celtel (Ahmad, (2014). In 2008, it became the fourth largest mobile operator worldwide for it was used in about 22 countries. However, diversity has not been as easy task. Currently, the organization is experiencing very stiff competition from competitors in Kuwait. (Ghosh, (2016) says in the financial year 2015/2016, Zains profits declined to 33%. The company is also in a dilemma due to challenges of the digital era such as the introduction of 4G internet is making the firm to incur extra cost to upgrade. Despite the challenges, Zain has set projects to accomplish so as to satisfy the shareholders, employees, customers and the community which are the major stakeholders of the company. This has been achieved by a well-established board which ensures corporate governance is exercised (Harb, Yaacoub, Kassem, Baena, 2015). The projects include; partnering with Ericson phone Company to improve the customer experience and joining hands with the Huawei Company to provide 4.5G internet network in Kuwait (Rodriguez, Mitra, Thampi, El-Alfy, 2016.)These projects will make Zain have a competitive advantage which will assist it to outshine the competitors. The reason for the success of the firm is that it has been able to develop sound decisions to solve problems. First of all, it established an Employee Training and Development Program which makes its employees competent enough to offer the best services to the customers. Secondly, its Board of Directors ensured transparency to the public with zero scandals of corruption. The Kuwait Transparency Society quoted Zain as the most corruption-free organization in Kuwait in 2014 (Ahmad, Naser, Shebiab, 2013). To win more customers, the enterprise introduced the Taaleb e-learning project which is an electronic portal to link parents, teachers and students in Kuwait. This was a good approach since in 2015, the portal had over 65000 registered users in about 290 schools which increase the number of customers thus improving its revenue. Moreover, the Zain is more concerned about the society and therefore actively participates in the corporate social responsibility. For example, it sponsored football players who took part in the Zain League (Hill, Vincent, Curtner-Smith, 2014). Its collaboration with the Mala3ibna offered a football tournament where 96 teams competed. This activity raised social responsibility making the firm to gain popularity within Kuwait. Furthermore, the company is aimed at nurturing talents, skills and abilities for university students by creating Zain Kuwait Future University Network where it employs students with professional and leadership skills to secure job vacancies in the organization. It is making a positive approach towards solving the unemployment problem in Kuwait. Benefits of the Case Study The study about the diversity of telecommunication industry in Kuwait assists readers in knowing different steps that such companies undergo to be fully developed. The Zain Company has been able to diversify in 17 countries and is still moving on. In 2012, the number of customers the company had was 42.7 million. Right now, in the third quarter of 2016, it is reported to have 45.8 million active customers (Alfraih, 2016). This shows a qualitative diversity of the organization. However, due to numerous external challenges as well as internal issues such as diseconomies of scale, the net revenues have been increasing and declining within a margin of 10% with the current revenues being KWD 124 million. This has been so because the firm spends much in making its services to be the best in Kuwait a process which may incur non-profit business activities, for example, sponsoring football tournaments only made the firm famous but did not assure that the players sponsored subscribed to Zain p roducts. Conclusion For diversity to be achieved, firms undergo various challenges which cause them to formulate sound projects to win the competition in the market. Zain has had an efficient team which has assisted it to survive in the past 33 years having millions of customers and diversifying to be one of the best mobile operators worldwide. This case study finds that the Zain Company has been able to penetrate in many new markets including the Middle East and Africa. This has been so due to its telecommunication diversification strategy. Therefore, this report concludes that Zain Company has been in the front line in improving the telecommunication industry in Kuwait. References Abbas, H. A., Hamdy, H. I. (2015). Determinants of continuance intention factor in Kuwait Communication market: Case study of Zain-Kuwait. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 648-657. Ahmad, A., Naser, A., Shebiab, F. (2013). The Impact of Adopting E-Government on Reduce Administrative Corruption: Empirical Evidence from Kuwaits Public Sector. Academy of Contemporary Research Journal, 2(2), P31-43. Ahmad, S. Z. (2014). Partnering toward internationalization at four Arabian mobile telecom Firms. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 33(6), 51-68. Alfraih, M. M. (2016). Have financial statements lost their relevance? 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