Public Relations Activities of Vodafone Company

Vodafone is a multinational company, which deals in telecommunications. It is based in Britain with its headquarters in London. Chins Mobile is the largest telecommunications and Vodafone comes in second to it. This is both with regard to the number of subscribers it has and the amount of revenue. As at December 2011, it had an estimated 440 million subscribers. Vodafone operates the telecommunication networks in about thirty countries and has partnerships with other companies in forty countries. Such a partnership exists with Verizon Wireless, a company based in the United States. Vodafone owns 45% of this telecommunications company.

The name ‘Vodafone’ originated from the aim of the company, which was to provide voice and data services by the use of mobile phones. It was established in 1982, and it has gradually grown to the present position that it holds in the market now. Initially, it was a subsidiary of Radical Strategic Radio Ltd from its inception to 1991. It has several divisions, which specialize in different aspects of communication. An example of such a division is the Vodafone Global Enterprise whose main specialty is in the provision of IT services to most of their corporate customers. Vodafone has a market capitalization of about £90 billion, and it is listed in the London Stock Exchange. Additionally, it is also a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index and is listed in the NASDAQ (Fletcher & Priest, 2009).

The media portrays Vodafone through magazines and newspapers in a specific way. Vodafone is portrayed as a customer friendly organization by most of the media centers; however, there have been some negative remarks about the company in some newspapers and magazines. Those who support Vodafone attribute its success to the proper treatment that they offer to their customers. The quality of service they offer is also another reason why the media portrays the company positively. On the other hand, some customers have complained about the effectiveness of the company. The complaints are mostly due to the services the company offered to their customers. For instance, some customers are disconnected without warning, and this has been a particularly significant problem for the company. Some newspapers have taken up this matter, and they have written several articles that pertain to the matter (Vodafone, 2008).
The people’s opinion toward this brand is varied. Some people have remained the ever-loyal customers to the telecommunications service. This group of people stays loyal to the company based on the level of quality the company offers. The greater majority of this group is from the corporate society. However, most of the citizens are against the company. This was initially due to the small misunderstandings that occurred between the firm and the said customers. In the past year though, the criticism that the company has faced has been due to the sudden increases in prices of their services. These increases have affected the fixed rate customers the most. The latest increase in pricing took place at the beginning of November in which the increase was expected to be about £1.55 for every customer (Jones, 2012). Customers have turned to the social networks to express their frustrations. Most of these customers are threatening to leave the company altogether, of these price changes keep occurring.
The majority public does not support the actions of Vodafone presently. The reasons why they are no longer in support of the company are varied. Some complain about the treatment that they receive from the customer service centre. Allegedly, the people who work in this section are often rude to the subscribers or simply do not help them with their problems (Vodafone Group, n .d). This has angered several customers since the department was set up to help the subscribers with their problems yet it does not. Another thing that has affected the subscribers’ opinion of the company is the sudden price changes that they effect to the customers without notice. These changes have caused a lot of debate since they do not explain the reasons why they make the changes. Most customers consider this a tactic for the company to keep making supernormal profits. Vodafone has disagreed with this but they have done nothing further to assure the customers of the transparency of the company. The minority, which still supports the company’s actions, is mostly from the corporate sector and this is probably because the price changes do not affect their operations as much as it affects the individual customers (Kapur, 2012).
Vodafone has set up several techniques that enable them to maintain their relationship with their customers. The most notable attempt to maintain a good relationship with their customers was the creation of the customer care service. This section of the company was created to address any questions or complaints that the subscribers would have pertaining to the products they purchased from the company or the services they acquired from them (Champniss & Rodes, 2011). Another attempt to maintain a good relationship with the customers has been the use of the social networking sites to obtain the opinions of the customers. They have even created online polls whereby they obtain the opinions of the customers pertaining to several diverse matters related to the company (Vodafone, 2012). Vodafone also formed a partnership with Accanto systems. Accanto is a company that deals with the creation of software systems for companies. The partnership was to facilitate the creation of the Intelligent Customer Service Assurance (ICSA) System that was to monitor the functioning of the network systems in the company. By the formation such software, the company would be able to solve any problems that may arise in the company. This was to increase the effectiveness of the company (Accanto Systems, 2012).
Vodafone focuses on helping the less fortunate people in the society through their corporate responsibility programs. The company conducts several different activities with this regard. For instance, the company has a charity program called the Vodafone Foundation. It donates to institutions like orphanages, which are genuinely in need of their help. They also have programs aimed at the conservation of the earth. Such a program is The Green Agenda (Burchell, 2008). It serves to create awareness on the effects of global warming on the earth. In addition to this, the program also participates in activities like planting of trees to improve the environment. The named programs are just a few examples of the activities that Vodafone partakes in as part of their corporate responsibility agenda (Vodafone, 2012).

References

Accanto systems (2012) Case Study: Vodafone OneNet. Retrieved from: http://www.accantosystems.com/resources

Burchell, J. (2008). The corporate social responsibility reader. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Champniss, G., & Rodes, V. F. (2011). Brand valued: How socially valued brands hold the key to a sustainable future and business success. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley.

Fletcher, M., & Priest, K. (2009). Vodafone world headquarters. (Pidgeon digital.) London: Pidgeon Digital.

Jones, Rupert. (2012, October 5). ‘Vodafone’s Fixed Contracts Provoke Outrage.’ The Guardian. Retrieved from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/oct/05/vodafone-fixed-contracts-outrage

Kapur, Ravi. S. (2012) Analyst Opinion on Vodafone Group plc and Sprint Nextel Corp. — Wireless Communications Companies Mixed in the Third Quarter. Retrieved from: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/analyst-opinion-on-vodafone-group-plc-sprint-nextel-corp-wireless-communications-companies-nasdaq-vod-1720496.htm

Vodafone, (2012) Corporate Responsibility. Retrieved from: http://www.vodafone.ie/aboutus/csr

Vodafone, (2012). Vodafone Customer Care Poll. Retrieved from: https://community.vodafone.ie/t5/Network/Vodafone-Customer-Care-Poll/td-p/18119

Vodafone Group. (n.d.). Vodafone Group PLC SWOT Analysis. Cleveland: Datamonitor Plc

Vodafone, (2008) Vodafone Group. Retrieved from:Company/Info.com

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