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Name of the author

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MGT 450: Strategic Management

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Zain Kuwait.

Preliminary analysis.

Zain Kuwait is a telecommunications company that based in Kuwait where it began its
operations in 1983. It is therefore, the pioneer of mobile communications in the Middle East extending
to other regions in Africa. For the past three decades, Zain Kuwait has been able to spread and establish
a strong market base majorly in Middle East and some parts of Africa where it is currently offering its
telecommunications services. Apart from Kuwait, the company has its market spread to Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Sudan, South Sudan, and Morocco. Zain Kuwait also takes part in other activities
including taking part in community outreach where it focuses its local communities, education, and also
partnering with the youth. Zain Kuwait offers a variety of products and services including offering call
services for their subscribers and data and internet services which are the basic products that a
significant portion of the market subscribes to (Zain Kuwait, 2022).

Looking at Zain Kuwait mission statement, the company is “passionate about customer
experience, operational effectiveness, business growth, and the development of its people as well as
human development everywhere.” The company mission is therefore centered on the company’s
operations together with ensuring that its customers get the best services. On the other hand, Zain
Kuwait has the vision of “becoming the leading provider of innovation and digital lifestyle
communications by providing the best and simplest experience for its customers. Kuwait Zain has
several competitors within Kuwait with the two of them being Ooredoo Kuwait and STC Kuwait who are
its major competitors (Zain Kuwait, 2022).

Ooredoo Kuwait has a mission of empowering its customers across all global footprints to make
them access and enjoy internet in a way that is personal and unique to them. This is done by the
continual investment in its networks so as to create seamless connectivity which will ensure the digital
needs of its customers are taken care of. Ooredoo Kuwait has a vision of enriching its customers’ digital
lives by empowering digital transformation. STC Kuwait on the other hand has a mission of aspiring a
new digital age that will transform nations and economies. Its vision is to become a world-class digital
leader that provides innovative services and platforms to its customers while at the same time
enhancing digital transform in Kuwait. Comparing the mission and visions statements of the companies,
it is clear that Zain Kuwait has strong competition in the sense that when it focusing on becoming a
leader, Ooredoo and STC are focusing on offering transformative digital services and products.

External environment analysis.

General environment.

From the Kuwait market, demographic aspect of its environment is fairly helping the company
achieve its marketing and market reach. Of the close to 5 million people in Kuwait, Zain has a local
market command of 2.6 million subscribers. This is more than half of the population meaning that the
company commands a large market. Over the next five years, it is projected that Zain will increase its
number of subscribers by the virtue that there is room for the population to increase meaning an
expanded market. Together with the population that the company is serving in other countries in
Middle East and Africa, there is room for expansion because the number of people using mobile phones
is constantly increasing in these regions. Looking at Kuwait’s economy, Zain Kuwait has been able to
offer services to many subscribers in different variety of products. The half-year report shows that the
company made $165 million in profits which is attributed to a strong economy characterized with low
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interest rates which makes it easy for the company to access credit facilities for the purposes of
expansion and investment (Mahru, 2022).

The political and legal Kuwait environment offers a conducive environment for Zain Kuwait to
conduct its operations. A stable political environment has made it possible for Zain to focus on its
business and economic activities. Kuwait is majorly made up of Muslim people that mean that there is
little divergence of culture and social activities. Having a population that is majorly made up of a single
culture makes it easy for the company to tailor its products and services to meet the specifications of
the society. The little divergence in sociocultural has helped the company reduce its marketing costs in
Kuwait. With the current advancement and development in technology, Zain Kuwait has been able to
tap into this aspect and create a digital platform that is transformative to its subscribers. Technology has
therefore made it possible for Zain to expand its market reach because it has been able to erect
receivers even in remote places hence ensuring a wider reach in its services together with the
incorporation of 5G connectivity (Mahru, 2022).

Zain Kuwait is also focusing on sustainability initiatives by taking part in activities that are aimed
at reducing hunger, reducing poverty, agitating for good health and well-being, being critical players in
offering quality education, fostering gender equality, clean water and sanitation, and providing clean
and affordable energy (Mahru, 2022).

Industry analysis.

The five forces of industry analysis are bargaining power of suppliers, buyers’ bargaining powers,
threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products, and rivalry. First, suppliers in the
telecommunications sector in Kuwait have a moderate bargaining power. This is because the
manufacturers companies in Kuwait have leverage when it comes to negotiating with the service
providers. There are many manufacturers that have different resources which then makes their
bargainining power weak. Buyers have a high bargaining power because there are many service
providers with a range of offers which are more or less the same. Consumers therefore expect low rates
while buyer capacity differs in from one company to another. The threat of substitutes in the
telecommunications industry is considerably high because the sector is now majorly dependent on
technology and innovation. There is competition between buyers and media providers, broadband
internet connection, and satellites can also be used to create connections (Adamkasi, 2021). .

The threat of new entrants in the market is considerably low because there are many companies
that are already in operation in Kuwait. The barriers to entry are also high for new companies which also
make the threat to new entrants to be low. Establishing a telecommunications company requires high
capital investment which is also a hindrance for other firms to enter the market. New firms also have to
deal with the existing strong brands like Zain and Ooredoo. Meeting the regulatory standards for a
starting firm is also another obstacle for entry into the market. Rivalry in the telecommunications
industry is high due to the presence of several service providers which has resulted to an increase in
digital use. The presence of major companies in the market makes the rivalry even higher among the
firms because all these firms need to attract subscribers with low rates (Mahru, 2022).

Internal environment analysis.

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As indicated in the figure, the primary activities of the company are inbound logistics,
operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and services. Support activities on the other hand
are firm infrastructure, human resource, technology development, and procurement.

The core competencies on the other hand are technological knowledge especially in the
telecommunications sector that has provided it strength. IT competency is another key competency
which it uses in creating strong internal control systems and data analytics systems in order to manager
it operations effectively. By the effective use of IT, Zain Kuwait has been able to consistently define
performance metrics which are in line with business strategy (Zain Kuwait, 2022). Innovation is also
another area that Zain Kuwait is competent in by the virtue that it has been able to tap into the
technology and come up with products and services that give the customers a new experience in
different digital platforms. Zain Kuwait has a strong sense of marketing intelligence by developing
products and services that resonate well with its customers. Market intelligence also offers sustainable
advantage for the company as discussed by Aldrich (2019).

So as to remain competitive in the telecommunications sector, Zain Kuwait among other

companies has been at the forefront in addressing the climate change crisis the world is currently facing.
The company perfectly understands that for it to achieve sustainable growth the planet needs to be
protected together with preserving its resources. Zain Kuwait has established targets to reduce
emissions, reducing waste, increasing awareness, and identifying the opportunities that can be put in
place in reversing climate change (Times, 2019). Secondly, Zain has also invested significant resources in
education whereby it partners with other entities and the government in offering training programs for
the young people with the help of the current technological development. As indicated earlier, it has
played a key role in poverty and hunger eradication, providing clean water, being a key player in offering
good health and well-being, and being a campaigner of gender equality. In comparison with Zain Kuwait
and STC Kuwait which are focused largely on community development as opposed to environmental
sustainability, Zain Kuwait has done quite a considerable amount of work in making sure that it achieves
an entire growth remaining competitive both on Kuwait and outside Kuwait market (Times, 2019).
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References.

Adamkasi. (2021). Porter’s five (5) forces analysis - Kuwait telecom - Porter analysis. Porter Analysis.

https://www.porteranalysis.com/p orters-five-5-forces-analysis-america-movil/

Aldrich. (2019). Eight core competencies for future telecom leaders. Aldrich Advisors | Accounting,
Benefits, Technology, Wealth.

https://aldrichadvisors.com/communications/five-core-competencies-for-future-telecom-
leaders/

Mahru, M. (2022). Zain SWOT & PESTLE analysis | SWOT & PESTLE. SWOT & PESTLE.com.

https://www.swotandpestle.com/zain/

Times, K. (2019). Enriching innovation and creativity: Focus of Zain's sustainability strategy. Kuwait
Times.

https://www.kuwaittimes.com/enriching-innovation-and-creativity-focus-of-zains-sustainability-
strategy/

Zain Kuwait. (2022). Zain sustainability report 2021. Zain.

https://zain.com/SR2021/

Zain Kuwait. (2022). About us. Zain.

https://zain.com/en/about-us