CHAPTER ONE

1.0       INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

No one business operates in a vacuum, without the influence of factors, or forces which try to control the operations of business and influence their decisions in the allocation of resources to various factors of production. The business world is characterized with formulation, implementation and control of strategies aim at positioning the organization competitively in the market place. The market place is like battle fields where rival parties try all means within the code of war to gain and retain positions, and control what happen in the captured territory. In the process of capturing this territory, business organization must take decisions which will give the organization a “strategic fit” between the organization resources and its market opportunities. The process of achieving a strategic fit, involves managerial decisions, and management cannot take decisions in isolations, they must consider the activities of other players in the market or stakeholder and competitors; in making decisions related to the allocations of the available scarce resources to the organization. The importance of great level of accuracy in their decision is invaluable to the success of the organization.

To achieve this, the need to study and understand with great level of accuracy in the interpretation of environmental trends and data become very relevant and should be considered at all levels of management (top, middle and lower level management).

Fig. 1 Levels of Management

Decision on the business environment cannot be left alone with one level of management. All the three levels of management must contribute information to adequately establish the environmental influences on the business operation. This joint effort is inevitable to achieve a “strategic fit” given the nature and complexity of business environment.

Understanding the environment of business and be able to predict the outcome is the major challenge that faces business managers in this continuous changing and complex environment and the demand of the market has now become more advanced and businesses cannot give room for error. The cost of one wrong decision to the organization can cost the organization to lose up to 50% or more of its market share. Business environment are therefore the factors inside and outside the business that influence the operations of firms either positively or negatively. The challenge facing the manager is now, what make up the business environment and how can these factors be predicted to a great level of accuracy and how to react to these environmental changes?    

Owing to the vastness of this topic – impact of environmental factors and its effect on the organizational performance; we shall have to restrict our investigation to manageable proportions by focusing attention on telecommunication sector Nigeria, using MTN Nigeria Limited. 

The telecommunication industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in Nigeria.  There are so many telecommunication companies owned by foreign and local corporate bodies in Nigeria. These telecommunication industries have covered a large area in Nigeria from urban to rural areas in the country.  As a result of this, the researcher has selected one out of the many telecommunication companies to take a look at its managerial decisions and strategy in managing the environment.

The researcher finds it reason to use MTN Nigeria Limited, Port Harcourt Zone, and has decided to look into its strategic activities, to see how the company has managed the environmental variables/factors.

Profile of MTN Nigeria

MTN Nigeria is the largest member of the MTN group, a South African company with many subsidiaries spread across the world (21 countries in Africa and the Middle East). In Nigeria, the company just marked 10 years of operations (August 2011) and has expressed appreciation to all and for good reason too. With all the billions of dollars it has made as profit over the last 10 years, it”s the least they can do. The company”s vision is to be the country”s leading provider of telecommunications services while their mission is to provide 1st class network quality, customer service and value.

History

MTN Communications Ltd was one of 3 initial GSM companies licensed by the NCC to provide telecoms services to the Nigerian public. It commenced operations in August 2001 and has ever since been the biggest Telecoms companies and one of the largest in all of Nigeria.

Impact

Ever since coming on board the Nigerian Telecommunications market in 2001, MTN Nigeria has made appreciable impact on the lives of Nigerians particularly in the areas of;

· Investments

The company has invested billions of dollars in Telecoms Equipments and infrastructure providing sub stations, base stations and other amenities both in urban and rural areas in Nigeria. With all these investments, MTN has made socio economic life a lot easier for Nigerians.

 Careers

That way it has created thousands of jobs directly and hundreds of thousands more indirectly. MTN”s staffs are among the best paid workers not only in the IT/Telecoms field but in the entire country as a whole.

Products and Services

The company has numerous products and services which it offers the Nigerian public and they include; various prepaid call plans like MTN Funlink Reloaded, MTN Bundles, and MTN happy Hour, MTN Family and Friends Expanded, MTN Super Saver among others. Also the company provides services such as; Internet Browsing,

International roaming (which allows Nigerian subscribers to use their lines in selected countries when not in Nigeria), Enterprise Solutions and Airtime services. But by far the most common among its services is internet browsing from which we have the MTN Blackberry Service, Data bundles, Data Usage, MTN Video Calling, MTN F@stlink, MTN GPRS, MTN Mobile internet and so on.

Reach

Perhaps among all mobile phone networks in Nigeria, MTN is the most widely spread in terms of coverage and availability.

· Number of Subscribers

With over 35 million subscribers and counting, it is clearly the preferred network of choice among Nigerians.

Contact Information

Below is the contact information of MTN Nigeria;

Head office: Fourth Floor, Golden Plaza, Falomo, Ikoyi, Lagos.

MTN Nigeria”s Official Website: www.mtnonline.com

Criticisms

It has not been smooth sailing for MTN there are many grey areas that need to be improved upon such as;

· Over congestion of network

Many consumers complain about MTN”s services especially in terms of delivery of their so called 1st class quality Telecoms services. There is the problem of over

congestion wherein the network is jam packed with many cases of poor network connection and drop calls although this has improved over the years.

· High Tariffs

The company has been severely criticized for overcharging its subscribers. Till date, it remains the most expensive network in Nigeria.

· Illegal fees

MTN has been fined in the past by the National Communications Commission for illegally charging its subscribers fees it was never supposed to have charged such as migration fees for which they collected (N200) from consumers. They were ordered to refund all such monies to the subscribers.

Overall Assessment

MTN is a good company with a good management team, well run and productive. Market leader with an almost insurmountable reach, it seems the best is yet to come (source: http://paulipopo.hubpages.com/hub/Profile-of-MTN-Nigeria).

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

With the dynamic changes in the society organizations are faced with the following problem. They are as follow.

-           Due to poor planning as a result of not having good management team.

-           Organizations who have failed to analyze and diagnose their external environment.

-           The inability to monitor all the forces influencing its operational environment.

-           Due to the volatile nature of today”s performance in business environment and the rapidity which changes occur.

1.3       OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1.         To determine the extent which poor planning due to bad management team affects the organizational performance.

2.         To determine the extent which inability to diagnose the external environment affects the organizational performance.

3.         To determine the extent which the inability to monitor all the forces influencing organizational operations in the environment affects the organizational performance.

4.         To determine the extent which volatile nature of today”s performance in business environment and the rapidity in changes affects the organizational performance.

1.4       RESEARCH QUESTIONS

       The research questions are as follows:

1.    To what extent does poor planning due to bad management team affects the organizational performance?

2.         To what extent does the inability to diagnose the external environment affects the organizational performance?

3.         To what extent does the inability to monitor all the forces influencing organizational operations in the environment affects the organizational performance?

4.         To what extent does volatile nature of today”s performance in business environment and the rapidity in changes affects the organizational performance?

1.5       SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY

This research work is vital in many ramifications in area of transportation. It will go a long way in providing answers to managers on environment factor question, and the impact on organizational performance. The study will also be useful to the academic development on how performance in business environment influence organizational performance and this research can also serve as a reference material for both students and practitioners.

1.6       SCOPE

This research work focuses on the telecommunication industry in Nigeria, but with particular reference to MTN Nigeria, Port Harcourt Zone.

1.7  LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

            This research was faced with a lot of problems and limitations.  The major problem acting as a limitation was a problem of Nigerians attitude to the supply of data to a researcher due to fear of misuse of data.  Secondly, because of financial constraints, the scope and dimension of this study could not be extended beyond this limit.

1.8       DEFINITION OF TERMS

For the avoidance of doubt regarding the use of words and terms in the study, the author has decided to state the following definitions.

1.         Effectiveness: th