Impact of motivation on employees satisfaction at Telenor Pakistan

Abstract

The heading of this particular project is ‘The Talking Companies: Discovering the Marketing, Services, and Branding of Telecomm Operators”. Other than providing basic knowledge regarding the background of Telecomm industry of the country, the aim of the project is to develop a strong and deep understanding of the various market entry strategies that have been adopted by the Telecomm companies’ overtime. It will explore the various means of foreign market penetration that can be adopted by a company such as Joint Ventures, Piggybacking, Ownership and so on, while explaining the necessity of understanding the meaning of provision of ‘service’ as well as coping with ‘brand marketing’ in this particular industry. It will also evaluate the social, economic, technological and political conditions that have to be dealt with whenever a company is to enter the market. This specific project has been proposed to benefit the upcoming Telecomm operators or entrants of the industry as well as those seeking an in depth understanding of the various linkages within the industry.

1.2 Problem Statement/Priority Issue

The problem statement of this project deals with discovering the importance of branding and services and gathering sufficient data for analyzing various marketing and entry techniques.

1.3 Objectives

The main reason or motive behind this research on Zong, Telenor and Mobilink was to determine the market entering strategies used when entering into the Pakistani market, the problems that the Cellular Companies face in providing their services, the major service gaps that Mobilink, Telenor, and Zong are facing, and the importance of brand elements when a foreign company enters into a new market. The project will include the creation of hypotheses to assist the conduction of the research and for the complete and proper analysis of the survival necessities of these Telecomm companies.

1.4 Research Methodology

“Research” is a word derived from the Latin word meaning “to know”. Its about answering certain questions like:

• What would I want to know? • How would I want to gain knowledge? • Why would I want to know this?

There are numerous methods of conducting research including traditional, authoritarian, ideology, legal precedent, universal/absolute truths and myths. In fact, numerous logics depict what the research should include. The research also affects the researcher as it can be a part of their intuition, “common sense” or intra-personal processes. Research is normally carried out over a long period of time by the researcher as its commonly viewed as an established body of knowledge. It starts off with the provision of a background against which the knowledge can be evaluated. It allows researchers to communicate their findings to be compared with other researches and so on. The method of research is what sets it apart from other modes of acquiring knowledge. It’s a collection of tools, techniques, and methods and forms the basis for many research texts and courses.

1.4.1 Types of Research

Exploratory Research

Exploratory research is done qhen a problem is not defined clearly or the scope of the problem is vague. It helps to find the best research plan, subject selection, information gathering methods and can sometimes also conclude the unreality of the problem in questions. This type of research can be exceptionally informal and relies heavily on secondary research including review of present data, qualitative approaches as discussion with consumers, management, competitors, employees and also certain formal approaches that include interviews, focus groups, case studies, projective methods etc. Although exploratory research does not provide us with results that can assist in the process of decision-making but such research gives you with significant data required to look into a situation provided. This research type can give us insight about the “why”, “when” and “how” anything occurs but cannot tell us “how many” or “how often”.

Comparative Research This type of research deals with comparing two or more things to discover something about the things in question. It makes use of several disciplines in one study. The basic manner of comparison is the same for this type of research as in our daily practice of comparison. The similar cases are treated similarly, and vice versa. The thought to ponder on is that if one is unable to distinguish between two cases, this type of research will not produce helpful conclusions. Comparative research normally makes use of secondary analysis of quantitative data mostly because of the cost associated with obtaining primary data.

Descriptive Research Descriptive research is exceptionally common in many cases as a primary or exploratory study but is also considered an independent investigation since it targets describing social systems, social events’ relations, provision of background data about the concerned issue and provision of explanations.

Classification Research Classification research aims to categorize the units in question into groups to evaluate differences, relationship explanation and clarification of social events or relationships. A few examples of this type of research would include ranking of groups in accordance with their attitudes, classification of people according to their body form and so on.

Explanatory Research This type of research deals with the explanation of social relationships or targets to explain social events, advanced structure knowledge, test or revision of theory and so on.

Casual Research Casual research, also known as the ‘respected’ research type of social sciences explains the causes and consequences of social phenomena. It basically establishes relations between variables depicting that one is the case of the other and that they are highly interdependent; ones occurrence will cause the other’s occurrence.

1.4.2 Research conducted by the Researcher

There are a total of six researches in all and this research that has been conducted is a combination of Descriptive Research, Comparative Research and Explanatory Research. The Descriptive Research which has been used, is to describe the whole telecom industry and how different new entrants entered Pakistan as well as how these new players are currently performing in regard to their competitors. The comparative research was hence used to establish grounds on which the players of the telecom industry are standing and the influence of these companies in comparison to their rivals. The third type of research, which has been conducted by the researcher, is the explanatory research. This research was undertaken to determine a connection between the companies. The validity of the both the hypothesis is tested through this research.

1.4.3 Data Gathering Methods

The research was completed with the help of information gathered. The information was gathered by different processes such as; newspapers, magazines, textbooks, Internet search, telecom companies television Advertisements, studying their brand elements, conducting surveys from their customers and also interviewing some of their employees.

1.4.4 Analysis

The thorough information gathering and processing of data helped in developing analysis for the three companies. Also, this analysis was done to testify the hypotheses, which have been mentioned earlier in the report. The literature review provided the strong and intense backbone for this research and appropriate analysis has been done in accordance to the strategies mentioned.

1.4.5 Limitations

The project analysis was started at the completion of our last semester, so it can be observed that some recent aspects might be not included in the research. Also as Zong Telecom is a new player in the market, we have collected primary data for the Zong company.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW To explain the effects of branding and service gaps on a firm, we have identified various aspects. Some illustrated aspects were positive, some negative and some were in the middle of the situation stating that both of these elements are exceptionally important for a product’s demand amongst consumers. Some of these aspects can be viewed with the help of the articles selected below.

“The importance of branding: beyond building customer loyalty, successful brands have the power to enter the consumer unconscious, weaving their way into the fabric of everyday life.” (www.thefreelibrary.com)

This article by Phil Phillips from Chemark Consulting speaks of Branding and states that it is a very important contributor to the prevalence of any kind of a product or a service being distributed by a company. (www.thefreelibrary.com) Brand is also defined as “a means of identification”. A brand is also used as a trademark and is normally referred to as a second name that is entitled to that particular product by its manufacturer and consumers. (www.thefreelibrary.com) However, at Chemark consulting, a brand is viewed in a completely different manner and is not solely restricted to being viewed as legal protection of the product. (www.thefreelibrary.com) Brand management, in their view, should focus on molding the customer’s minds and perceptions/attitudes in relation to a product leading to buying behavior that is positive. To attain this goal, the managers should be well-informed about their end-users. The brand’s effect on buyers normally talks for its power. The power of the brand forces the customer base to ignore other products if this particular brand is not available. There are many examples of brands that have gained massive acceptance and developed huge customer bases and are used as action verbs, like ‘Xeroxing’ documents and ‘Fedexing’ packages. Similarly, Aspirin immediately reminds us of Bayer due to its brand power. (www.thefreelibrary.com) There are two elements associated with Branding including external and internal. (www.thefreelibrary.com)

Internal brand elements include:

- Relation to the customer’s brand description or Personality.

- The social context related to the brand or the Culture. For example: Mercedes' "engineering excellence"

- What the brand depicts/says about us or Self-Image. For example: Driving a Honda rather than a Suzuki.

Similarly, the external elements include:

- A brands physical characteristics that make us curious in relation to its functions or Physique.

- Relation to the prospective nurtured customer or Reflection.

- Relationship – or the brand should have a noticeable relationship with the end-user.

Advertising age carried out a study in 1983 that comprised of 25 companies that had earned phenomenal brand reputations in 1923 and were still strong in their industries 60 years later at either the top or the second position in their industries due to their powerful brands. (www.thefreelibrary.com) Keeping in mind the external and internal elements mentioned above, Sherwin-Williams remained the top brand in architectural paints in U.S. from 1983 to 2006. Keeping at the first or second slots in their respective industries in terms of branding were Coca-Cola Soft Drinks, Gillette Razors, and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. Interestingly enough, out of the 25 companies in the survey in 1983, the five companies mentioned above made it with the number one or two slots through 2006 while the rest lost their slots at the same time.(www.thefreelibrary.com) The other companies/brands slipped to number three or lower positions in lesser time. These companies include Singer Sewing Machines, Eastman Kodak Cameras, Goodyear Tires and so on. (www.thefreelibrary.com) As can be observed through these facts, powerful brands stick around for a longer period of time, even decades but if not taken care of in the right manner, they can loser their identity. The concept of brand loyalty has become excessively fragile in today’s competitive era than it ever had been before. It’s maintenance has become exceptionally difficult.(www.thefreelibrary.com) Brand loyalty loss can be exemplified with Sherwin-Williams’ acquisition of Pratt & Lambert Paint Company. The number one company in size, Sherwin-Williams, took over a smaller company that had a higher ranked quality image. The question arises whether Sherwin-Williams be able to maintain their image or lose the brand value purchased. (www.thefreelibrary.com) Durable brands are exceptionally attractive to the regular customer. On the other hand, new brands have to deal with costly marketing for a breakthrough in the market. (www.thefreelibrary.com)

The second article adopted for projection in our project is relevant to the impact of service performance which is as follows:

"Assessing and improving service performance for maximum impact: insights from a two-decade-long research journey" (Parasuraman, 2004)

This article, by A. Parasuraman, from University of Miami, Florida, talks about assessing and improving the performances in services through reducing quality gaps. The research states the following: - With the assistance of interviews and insights attained from broad focus groups of customers and senior executives belonging to various sectors, the research team came up with the GAPS model. This model states that the gap that deals with the customer’s expectations from the service and perceptions (Gap 5) happens due to a series of shortcomings within the organization of the service provider (Gaps 1-4). Hence, the correction of those shortcomings will result in the closure of Gap 5. (Parasuraman, 2004)

- A need to establish a measure for analyzing how the customers perceive the quality of service was deemed important by the research team. For this purpose, they established a string of experiments that resulted in SERVQUAL. This is a two-part instrument that is viewed in 5 dimensions. It is used to analyze or measure the expectations and perceptions of customers with the service attributes grouped with the 5 dimensions i.e. tangibles, assurance, empathy, responsiveness, and reliability. This tool has become excessively useful as a measure of balance for assessing quality. (Parasuraman, 2004)

- SERVQUAL was followed by an extensive study of the 4 internal gaps. The main idea was to discover the actual cause for the gap’s existence. This study was carried out with the help of various organizational units as well as the analysis of organizational behavior. As a result an extended GAPS model was formed which contained consisted of a list of shortcomings contributing to the gap. This model is extremely helpful in the diagnosis and closure of the gaps. (Parasuraman, 2004)

- Another phase established that the end-users did not only succumb to a single expectation but in fact carried with themselves a range of expectations. If labeled at the tolerance zone, the top contains the desired services whereas the bottom contains the adequate services. A service falling within the zone and or above the desired services is satisfactory and pleasing for the end-users. However, a service that falls out of the tolerance zone normally leads the end-user to look for another service. (Parasuraman, 2004)

These phases led to the refinement of the instrument with the conclusion of the following features of service quality:

• The desired service level. • The minimum service level acceptable to the customer. • The perceived level of service offered.

When attained, they establish a tolerance zone for each SERVQUAL dimension. The research team went on to document multiple aspects that had an interrelation with the remaining aspects in one manner or the other. The research concluded with a ‘SQ information system’ containing transactional surveys; mystery shopping; new, declining, and lost-customer surveys; focus group interviews; customer advisory panels; service reviews; customer complaint, comment, and inquiry capture; total market surveys; employee field reporting; employee surveys; and service operating data capture. Hence, for libraries to excel in the provision of service to end-users, they should recognize the most useful channel for user interaction which can differ by user and transaction type. They should also understand that the type of e-service expected by the end-users is more in-depth and involves more than having a good website. They should also be well aware of user’s and employee’s acceptance for technology based systems of service. Hence they should work to capitalize on technology. They also need to remove the barriers that result in poor service. The libraries need to make use of many methods to listen to and understand users and their needs. Most importantly, the service expectations of users should be understood and the level to which they are being met. (Parasuraman, 2004)

2.1 SERVICES

Services can be defined as a collection of deeds, performances and processes. These services can be a part of the main product, which is being provided, or the service itself can be a core product. There are five characters of a service; Lack of ownership, intangibility, inseparability, perishibility and heterogeneity. (www.themanager.org)

SERVICE GAPS Services are hard to handle compared to products. There are other problems associated to services, which can give birth to gaps that are very difficult to comprehend. (www.themanager.org)

Quality of Service This is the most important concept but also it is difficult to define and measure. Though, it can be defined in various methods how the service can meet the expectations. We can get hold of it such as by measuring as the difference in customer expectation and the perception of service. Measuring the quality of service helps in comparing the before and after changes. For this, The SERVQUAL approach is the mostly used method. (www.themanager.org)

2.2 Model of Service Quality Gaps

The concept of service quality basically caters seven major gaps. These gaps have a direct connection with the customers and they are listed below:

• Gap1: The expectations of customers versus management perceptions It exists when there is a lack of productive market research direction and also due to the reason of inadequate communication in upward direction.

• Gap2: The perception of management versus service specifications This gap is came across as a result of inadequate amount of commitment shown to quality provided by the service or not provision of standard maintenance also due to absence of setting specific goals.

• Gap3: Service specifications versus the delivery of service This occurs on the basis of uncertainty of the role or presence of any sort of conflicts. It might also be due to poor employee-job fit or technology-job fit.

• Gap4: Service delivery versus the external communication This gap is there due to the too little horizontal communications.

• Gap5: Difference between customer expectations and their perceptions of the service delivered If there is any kind of pressure or influence exerted by the customer or there is faced any kind of inefficiency by the service provider, we face this gap. This influence or the expectation maybe due to personal needs or any kind of past experience, with the product.

• Gap 6: Discrepancy between customer expectations and the perception of employees’ The gap is a result of the differences in the understanding of customer expectations by front-line providers of service.

• Gap7: The Gap between employee’s perceptions and management perceptions This happens to be when there is any kind of misunderstanding in the management perceptions in regard to the customers' expectations. (www.themanager.org)

2.3 BRAND MARKETING

A brand is the symbolic representation of any kind of offering by the company. This is a way of marketing which includes representing the company's name in a unique way either bye designing the logo or using other visual elements. A brand also is the representative of the perception of product in psychological terms, known as brand image. It is the construct of the product in the minds of the people also the expectations associated to it. That is why the most important task of researcher is to align the product with the consumer's expectations, which he does by branding. (www.wikipedia.com)

2.4 Brand Elements

Logo Logo is an important brand elements known logotype (logo). Logo has to be set in a special style or font, which is easily readable and understandable. The Brand element has to be distinguishing from other competitors in the same industry. The organization must protect its brand logo with the help of registration. With the help of this no illegal use of the logo can happen. Once the brand image is developed in terms of the organization it can be a valuable asset known as intellectual property. People are in a mistaken belief that considering logo as just a symbol. A logotype can consist of name only or a name and symbol. (en.wikipedia.org)

Slogan There are some slogans which are included in the logo. In this case it is known as a claim or tagline. This helps in supporting the image of the brand. There is a basic difference between slogan and brand slogan; the later remains the same for a very great amount of time however, the slogan is linked to different products/services offered by the company. (en.wikipedia.org)

Monograms It is a design made by corresponding or combining two or more letters or other symbols to develop a monogram. They can also be formed by combining the initials of the name of the company. (en.wikipedia.org)

Jingles It is a catchy way of advertising a brand in a melodious way. This is used on radio or Televisions. This way helps memorizing the product/service in the minds of the potential as well as present customers. (www.google.com.pk)

Brand Perception The most important brand element is the perception that the customers take home. This can lead to success or complete failure. The key to a successful brand perception lies in the fact that the perception that clients entails is parallel to what the company wants to represent. For complete success it has to be comprehensive and clear. Developing a proper brand perception is a long term process and requires greater strategy. (www.wikipedia.com)

Brand Personality It is related to the brand image which is formed in the mind of customers. Once the image is formed it is very difficult to change the image. Brand Personality unites the brand to the customer. There is an association between the brand personality and the personality of the clients. Brand Personality develops by an amalgamation of marketing communications and definite experience with the brand. (www.wikipedia.com)

3 INDUSTRY OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS

3.1 Market Analysis

Pakistan came into being in the year 1947, its creation led to the birthright of great British Post, Telegraph & Telephone (PTT), which only had started with the installation of 7000 telephonic lines. The in 1962 it divided into two parts i.e. Telephone & Telegraph Department and the Postal departments. In 1991, under the PTC act the department was further reorganized and private companies came into play respectively. The noncore services were granted license, these included services like, Paging, Data Network Service and manufacturing of telephone exchange. In the 90s,Paktel and Pak com (Instaphone) were given the license to operate as cellular companies. The dawn of internet and its practice helped the Global Telecom scenario during 1995. Telecom monopoly was no longer able to fight the entry of new innovatory technologies. The internet enabled the Voice mail and email to become the part of PTCL . As of now there are six cellular companies operating. There has been an incredible increase in Cellular market. (www.pta.gov.pk)

3.2 Pest

The analysis of the Pakistani market is vital to understand the strategies adapted by foreign Cellular Organizations, therefore the focus has been throen upon the Political, Economic, Social and Technological market conditions Political Factors In 2004, about 182 licenses were issued to 66 companies, which also include Telenor and Zong. These licenses allowed foreign investors to enter the market and has also increased competition among the local companies who have indulged in a price war. This helped the Telecomm sector grow instantly.( www.pta.gov.pk)

Economic Factors A country's economy has a very critical connectivity with its political conditions. The economic factors have added to its political instability. At first Paktel and Instaphone were leading the Telecomm sector, until Mobilink entered the market in 1994.Mobilink targeted Executives class and expanded into the market with its competitive advantages such as GSM. The buying behavior of the consumer has increased substantially. The credit can be given to the amount of Multi Nationals that entered the Pakistani market and catere with employment opportunities. This granted the individuals with more buying power. The companies like, Ufone, Mobilink, Paktel, were not working upto the mark. However, they were competing to gain shares of the markets through lowering their prices and changing their images. ( www.finance.gov.pk)

Social Factors

Social factors take into account the buying behavior and affordability of the consumers. The buying behaviors of Pakistani consumers are influenced by their social circles.