Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and T

International Journal of Information Technology and Business Management
29th August 2013. Vol.16 No.1

© 2012 -2013 JITBM & ARF. All rights reserved
ISSN 2304-0777 www.jitbm.com
STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS

(SWOT) ANALYSIS ON GLOBACOM LTD
Nura Abubakar a & Garba Bala Bello, PhD.b

a
Department of Business Administration,School of Management, Kano State Polytechnic, Nigeria
b
Department of Business Administration and Entrepreneurship,Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria
a b
nuraab1@gmail.com, bello_garbabala@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
This paper is on applying SWOT analysis in the Nigerian Mobile Telecommunication Industry, which is one of
the most competitive industries/markets in the world, using Globacom Limited as a case study, with a view to
determining its competitive advantage. This study therefore presents a SWOT analysis from an independent
observer’s view on a private organization in a very competitive industry. The data used for the analysis are
secondary data. The data were collected from magazines, newspapers and the websites of the organization
under study (Globacom), independent media organizations and the industry regulator - the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC). In the analysis, some key factors were selected and the strengths,
weakness, opportunities and threats of Globacom in relation to its competitors and environment were analysed.
Among the findings are that Globacom is the second in terms of market share (Subscriber base). Also, having
the most advanced network (technology), fast, robust and cheap excess bandwidth from Glo-1, being the
financially strongest and most innovative telecom operator in Nigeria constitute its competitive advantage.
Thus, some of the recommendations are that the company should continue with its network expansion towards
achieving its vision of becoming the biggest and best network in Africa and that it should try to consolidate and
further its success through continuous network upgrading, being innovative and always keeping abreast of
relevant local and international developments.
Keyword: SWOT Analysis, network expansion, Mobile telecommunication industry
INTRODUCTION “understanding this external environment, or

background, is crucial to strategic decision-makers,
Business environment is known to be very complex and has to be taken into account alongside any
and full of challenges. This is true especially when assessment of an orgnisation’s own internal
we consider the current or today’s business environment”. An organization has to consider its
environment which is characterized by rapid internal resources like financial resources, available
changes in processes, laws, technology, prices, facilities, staff strength and their skills, technology
consumer taste and so on. employed and so on. Cole (2006:36)6 observes that
“an important element in assessing an
Therefore, for any business to succeed, it must
organization’s overall situation is the identification
clearly and correctly understand its position in the
of the strengths and weaknesses in its internal
industry within which it operates as well as in the
environment... These include organizational,
business world generally. The organization should
cultural, financial, research and development,
consider its relative power and influence vis-a-vis
production, marketing and resourcing
its competitors and other external factors like
perspectives”.
economic, technological, political and social
influences. According to Cole (2006:28)6,
83
However, a more comprehensive assessment of strengths and weaknesses present internally in the
organization’s overall or current position can be organization, coupled with the Opportunities and
done using SWOT analysis. This is analysis of the Threats that the organization faces externally”.
organization’s internal strengths and weakness,
coupled with the opportunities and threats that the SWOT analysis can also be defined as “an
organization faces externally (Lynch, 2006:450)21. evaluation of an organization’s strengths and
This will suggest firm’s position in its journey weakness in relation to environmental opportunities
towards meeting its strategic objective. Also, and threats” (coursework4you, 2009)7. Also, as
SWOT analysis can be used to determine the culled from Wikipedia (2010)34, “SWOT analysis is
“Competitive Advantage” of an organization a strategic planning method used to evaluate the
(Sagagi, 2010, as cited by Abubakar, 2010)1. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
involved in a project or in a business venture. It
However, conducting a SWOT analysis by an involved specifying the objective of the business
independent observer (or rather outsider of an venture or project and identifying the internal and
organization or industry in terms of access to vital external factors that are favourable and
information) is somewhat a cumbersome task unfavourable to achieving that objective”.
especially if the organization under study is a
“Private Limited Liability Company”. This is We can see that these definitions of SWOT analysis
because by their nature, such companies have high have a cohesion with regard to a careful
level of secrecy and the protection of “non- consideration (evaluation/analysis), internal factors
disclosure” of their account and other related/vital (Strengths and Weaknesses), external factors
information. (Opportunities and Threats) and also a strategic
interest (objective or vision - though only vividly
Nevertheless, this paper presents the application of expressed in the last definition presented).
SWOT analysis in the Nigerian Mobile
Telecommunication Industry taking a case study of In that view, Lynch (2006, 446)21 asserted that “in
Globacom Limited. The selection of Nigerian addition, such analysis [i.e. SWOT analysis] might
Mobile Telecommunication is deliberate because it be supported by a consideration of such issues as
is one of the booming industries in the country and vision, innovation and technology....”. This is in
actively very competitive. With regard to the case agreement with what was obtained from Wikipedia
study, Globacom Limited, the company is selected (2010)34, that “it [SWOT analysis] involves
because of its remarkable initiatives in the industry specifying the objective of the business venture or
like pioneering the then controversial “per second project and identifying the internal and external
billing” and “optic fibre cable” linkage between factors that are favourable or unfavourable to
London and Nigeria (Lagos). achieving that objective”. The vision for Globacom
is “to be biggest and best
Conceptual Definition of SWOT Analysis carrier/telecommunications network in Africa”
(Wikipedia, 2010;
SWOT Analysis, which stands for Strengths, 34
www.gloworld.com/background.asp, 2013) . This
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis, is is what guided the analysis to determine from the
a system or process of considering the internal and internal and external factors, the very factors that
external factors affecting the performance of an constitute the competitive advantage of the case
organization in relation to competitor or market study company, Globacom Limited.
situation. It is also known as TOWS analysis.
Cole (2006:40)6 considers SWOT analysis as “the

combined analysis of external and internal issues
affecting the organizational performance”. Lynch
(2006:450)21 believes that it is “an analysis of the
84
Patterns of SWOT Analysis determine firm’s competitive advantage and or

strategic option appropriate.
Scholars and organizations use different and
various patterns to conduct a SWOT analysis based And for the purpose of this research, this last
on purpose, intended scope and availability and pattern was used and key factors considered are:
type of data at hand.
 Market share/customer base.
One of such patterns is that described by Weihrich
(1982)11 as cited in www.coursework4you.co.uk  Leadership/focus
(2010)7. The four described combinations are as  Innovation
follows:  Differentiation
 Technology
1. Maxi-maxi (S/O) - Striving to maximize
 Service/network quality
organizational strengths to capitalize on new
opportunities.  Network expansion
 Users/customer rating
2. Maxi-mini (S/T) - In essence, an organization  Financial strength
should strive to use its strengths to parry or
minimize threats. Where to Find Information for SWOT Anaysis
3. Mini-maxi (W/O). This combination is an Students when finding the essential information for
exertion to conquer the organization’s weakness by conducting SWOT analysis, would have to look at:
making the most of any new opportunities.
 Company’s business reports
4. Mini-mini (W/T). This combination shows the  Annual reviews
organization’s weaknesses by comparison with the  Published performance data on
current external threats. This is most definitely financial resources, marketing,
defensive strategy, to minimize an organization’s operations - current supplies &
internal weaknesses and avoid external threats. key stakeholders groups
 Various Journals on: Marketing,
Another pattern is that of what we can call a ‘plain Strategy, Human resources, etc
outline’ of the organization’s Strengths,  Other published and referenced
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threat. Example of information on the company’s
this is the sample SWOT analysis on British past experience, its current
Telecommunication(http://www.businessteacher.or position and future objectives
g.uk/businessresource/swo-analysis-databse/british- (www.coursework4you.co.uk,
telecom-swot-analysis/, 2010 )11. 2009)7.
Furthermore, in yet another perspective or pattern, However, other sources of information/data from
Cole (2006:40)6 observes that “most organizations the primary source include questionnaires,
are likely to select just a few key factors and issues interviews and observation(s) (Sulaiman, 1998) 32.
relevant to them, and will then analyse them
systematically in terms of strengths, weaknesses, Limitations of SWOT Analysis
opportunities and threats”. Here, an important and
relevant factor is taken and then the strengths, The following are among the limitations of SWOT
weaknesses opportunities and threats evidences or analysis:
sub factors are identified and analysed as per the
1. Subjectivity elements - what one manager
main factors selected. This is done” to all perceived
(or analyst) sees as an opportunity, another
relevant factors and then be generally analysed to
may see as a potential threat. Likewise, a
85
strength to one can be a weakness to provided through mobile devices using both
another (www.coursework4you.co.uk, the GSM and CDMA networks. Collectively,
2009)7. This tends to affect the there are nine operators in both bands, as
acceptability of even a very culled from NCC’s records of 2013 ( see table
comprehensive SWOT analysis. 1,) . Thus:
2. A number of critics have claimed that the GSM CDMA

output from a SWOT analysis is often either • MTN • Starcomms
trivial or so broad as to be relatively • Glo • Visafone
meaningless in the context of making actual • Airtel • Multilinks
marketing decisions. Mintzberg (1990)22, for • Etisalat • Reltel
example, states that the assessment of strengths • Mtel
and weaknesses may be unreliable, being
bound up with aspirations, biases and hopes Our major concern here is the GSM, being the
(www.coursework4you.co.uk, 2009)7. category or band of our case study - Globacom
(glo). A GSM network is made up of three
3. One of the historical deficiencies of SWOT subsystems (Wikipedia, 2010)34:
analysis was the tendency to rely on very
general, categorical assessment of internal 1. The Network and Switching Subsystem
capabilities (www.coursework4you.co.uk, (NSS)
2009)7.
2. The Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
4. SWOT analysis may tend to persuade an
organization to compile uncritical list rather 3. The Operations Support System (OSS)
than think about what is actually important in
The network simply refers to the band system
achieving objectives. For example, weak
of the wireless communication technology
opportunities may appear to balance strong
(like GSM, CDMA, WAN etc). This comprises
threats(http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/swot
MSC [Mobile Switching Centre] and
-analysis, 2010)10.
associated registers.
Industry Structure
The Base Station Subsystem (BSS) comprises
The NCC defined two specific a BSC [Base Station Controller] and several
Telecommunication markets in Nigeria, BTSes [Base Transceiver Stations].
namely:
The Operating Support System (OSS) is for
1- Mobile Telephone Services monitoring and maintenance of the network.
2- International Internet Connectivity People (Subscribers) use devices known as

User Equipment (UEs) to communicate using a
The mobile telephony market in Nigeria is network. The next linkage facility between
essentially categorized in to two viz. user and network is BTS, which is controlled
by, a parent base station controller via the base
1. GSM (Global System for Mobile station control function (BCF). The BCF is
Communications) implemented as a discrete unit or even
incorporated in TRX (Transceiver) in a
2. CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)
compact base station. The BCF provides an
The International Internet Connectivity is .by operations and maintenance (0 & M)
recent technological advancements, being connection to the network management system
(NMS), and manages operational states of each
86
TRX, as well as software handling and alarm different quarters ranging from media
collection. organizations, independent analysts, the operators
themselves to the national regulator, the Nigeria
On its competitors, we can say Globacom Communications Commission (NCC). As a result,
Limited (glo) has nine (8) (major) competitors some figures tend to vary beyond or against the
as follows: normal and or reported fluctuations in the market
and probably due to propaganda purposes, lack of
GSM Networks CDMA Networks
timing (dating) the figures given and scanty
• MTN • Starcomms explanations among others.
• Airtel • Visafone However, to strike a balance, the researchers

present the table below, which would be used in the
• Etisalat • Multilinks analysis, as extracted from the industry regulator’s
(NCC’s) record:
• Mtel • Reltel
Market Share Based on Number of Active

LinesThe subscriber base of the companies
(operators/networks) in the mobile
telecommunication industry can be obtained from
Table 1: Extract of Quarterly Summary of Telecoms Subscribers in Nigeria (March, 2012 – December,
2012)
% Growth Per
Quarter
OPERATORS Mar‐12 Jun‐12 Sep‐12 Dec‐12 Q1‐Q2 Q2‐Q3

Q3‐Q4
MTN Nigeria 42,898,581 43,184,470 45,639,749 47,440,991 0.67 5.69

3.95
Globacom Ltd. 20,846,604 21,986,864 22,260,822 24,124,716 5.47 1.25

8.37
Celtel Nig Ltd. 18,600,435 19,820,440 21,101,758 23,092,195 6.56 6.46

9.43
M‐Tel Ltd. 258,520 258,520 258,520 258,520 ‐ 0.00

‐
EMTS(Etisalat)Ltd. 11,927,840 13,063,445 14,392,531 14,912,801 9.52 10.17

3.61
Sub‐Total (GSM) 94,531,980 98,313,739 103,653,380 108,829,223 4.00 5.43

5.96
87
Starcomms Limited 725,871 475,841 393,295 307,844 (34.45) (17.35)

(21.73)
Visafone Limited 2,495,790 2,428,011 2,323,647 2,265,874 (2.72) (4.30)

(2.49)
Multilinks Telkom 680,960 526,426 411,351 263,767 (22.70) (21.86)

(35.88)
Reliance Tel.(Reltel) 111,077 111,077 111,077 111,077 ‐ 0.00

‐
Sub‐Total 4,013,698 3,541,355 3,239,370 2,948,562 (11.77) (8.53)

(CDMA Mobile) (8.98)
Source: NCC ( www.ncc.gov.ng/index.php?option=com , ‘Statistics – Quarterly Summary … ’ ),

20132
Methodology of an organization by selecting some relevant

key factors and issues and then considering the
The data used for this paper are secondary, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
which relates to facts and figures about and in Threats in relation to that organization and its
relation to the case study company (Globacom competitors and/or the general environment.
Limited), its operations, products and
relationship with competitors or rather its However, despite its strategies relevance, its
position vis-à-vis competitors and the general major limitation is its inherent subjectivity
environment. elements. Thus, what one manager or analyst
sees as an opportunity, another may see as a
The data were collected from books, business potential threat.
magazines, newspapers and the internet –
Globacom’s website and those of the industry Nevertheless, this study applied SWOT analysis in
regulator, the Nigerian Communications the Nigerian Mobile Telecommunication Industry
Commission (NCC) and many independent using Globacom Limited as a case study with the
media organizations. major objective of determining the competitive
advantage of the studied organization.
With regard to the SWOT analysis, a pattern
favoured by Cole (2006)6, where some key In Telecommunication Industry of Nigeria and
factors are selected and the strengths, Africa in general, Globacom Limited,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats or their otherwise known as “glo”, is one of the
evidences in relation to the organization are prominent companies in everyday discussion
identified and analysed, was adopted. and analysis. As shown by our analysis, glo
has some Strengths, Weaknesses,
The SWOT analysis on Globacom Limited Opportunities and Threats. In terms of market
(glo) vis-à-vis its competitors and environment share (number of active subscribers), glo’s
is presented as follows: position is that it has the second largest share, a
position taken away from Airtel.
Conclusion and Recommendations
So far, we have seen that SWOT analysis is a

systematic process of determining the position
88
Furthermore, it is also believed that glo has the problems of communication barrier in
most advanced network in Nigeria and is the customer care services in some areas and
financially strongest as evidently confirmed by the possible accusations of
glo’s advanced technology and its recently marginalization. Should any accusation be
completed $800 million (N120 billion) 9,800 proved as mere prejudice, a campaign for
km long fibre-optic cable (Glo-1) connection a favourable attitude should be
from London to Lagos, as well as its lower formulated.
tariffs. Globacom Limited (glo) is also the
most creative telecommunication company
considering the numerous services it pioneered
4. The company should start a mass
for the first time in Nigeria and the numerous
awareness campaign and related
national and international awards the company
programmes to counter the earlier
won for innovation and excellence
conceived beliefs that glo’s charges are
(outstanding goodwill). These constitute the
high and arbitrary. Tariffs, terms and
competitive advantage of Globacom Limited
operation of the company’s products and
(glo) which by extension means that the
services should be clearly explained on a
company is evidently on its way to achieving
routine basis especially on a widely
its strategic objective (or vision) of becoming
broadcasted or segmented/localized radio
the biggest and best telecommunications
programmes.
network in Africa.
5. The company should continue expanding
However, despite Globacom’s competitive
its network to other African countries for
advantage, there is need for some adjustments
more market and progress towards
and more improvement so as to consolidate
achieving its vision of becoming the
and further the success of the organization.
biggest and best network in Africa.
Based on the findings of this study, the
6. The company should devise effective
researchers present the following
means of penetrating countries dominated
recommendations:
by MTN, Etisalat and Airtel (eg Egypt,
1. Globacom (henceforth referred to as “the Morocco, Ghana and South Africa), which
company”) should ensure a justified may include lower tariffs, better
steady growth by making more valuable connectivity, wider range of services, new
projects that create more customers than products/services, incentives and other
just profit. This can be through the motivations. The company should also
introduction of more and more customer monitor and plan counter strategies and
oriented services that will add value to the techniques against those of its competitors
customers/subscribers as well as the especially Etisalat for its aggressive
company. marketing techniques and strategies, as
well as the now rising again Airtel.
2. The management of the company should
continue to put more efforts in keeping a 7. The management should ensure proper
well-motivated work force that constitutes utilization of the well celebrated Glo-
the impetus of the company’s creativity. 1optic-fibre connection and fulfill the
promises of better connectivity and low
3. The management should expand the staff rates/charges as this will boost the
composition of the company to counter the company’s good will and profitability.
89
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