Innovation in Vodafon Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Innovation in Vodafon - Case Study Example Hendricks & Singhal (1997. pp432-435) conducted a research in relationship between timing of new product introductions and market value of firms to discover that all firms that are late in introducing new products to the market lose market value. These theories indicate the importance of innovations for organization to remain competitive in the markets & the overall industry. As presented by Brown and Kozinets et al (2003. pp30-33), just carrying forward the heritage of the brand will not ensure its survival - old brand need to keep on learning new tricks of survival. In this essay, the author presents a brief introduction of innovations of Vodafone whereby the history, innovation characteristics and most innovative service of Vodafone have been covered in brief. In the end, the author has presented they perspective of his contribution to the innovations of Vodafone. Vodafone has slightly more than two decades of history and hence is relatively younger compared to many competitive firms in the telecommunications industry. It started in 1988 as a 100% owned subsidiary of Racal Electronics Plc and was operating in the name of Racal Telecom Plc which first time got listed in 1988 offering 20% of the overall capital to the public. Racal Telecom Plc became independent of Racal Electronics Plc in 1991 and was renamed as Vodafone Group Plc after the de-merging. As on today, the Vodafone Plc executive board is chaired by Sir John Bond and the Group CEO is Vittorio Colao who has taken charge from Arun Sarin very recently after the latter's retirement. Vodafone operates in 20 countries directly or through franchises that are Albania, Australia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Spain, Turkey and the UK. In every country, the local operations are led by the country CEO who acts as the business in-charge of Vodafone in the country. All the country CEOs collectively report to the group CEO. (http://www.vodafone.com/start/about_vodafone/who_we_are.html) Vodafone Group Plc is one of the largest global mobile communications company having the vision to achieve the number one position in this industry. The vision statement of Vodafone states that "Our goal is to be the communications leader in an increasingly connected world". The "Cute Dog" advertisement with the "Happy to Help" message at the end itself is an innovation. Currently, this advertisement is getting close to hearts of the Indians with many variants of it floating in the local markets (http://www.resourcesforlife.com/docs/item1413). Vodafone has largely focussed on the global wireless communications market unlike their nearest global counterparts AT&T Inc. & British Telecom Plc. that are engaged more in wired telecommunications markets across the world. In the statement by the Group Chairman, Sir John Bond, it is emphasized that Vodafone is actively looking at mobile communicat