Bharti Airtel: Evolution and strategic alliances

Abstract

In India, there had been an exponential growth in the Telecom industry over the past decade, however recently the Indian Telecom Market being Bharti Airtel has maintained its domination in the industry with its innovative business strategies. Bharti Airtel is the largest provider of mobile telephony and second largest provider of fixed telephony in the country. In in the first part of this report, we try to understand the various business strategies adopted by Bharti Airtel to reach and sustain the leadership position in the industry. This report consists of the analysis of the Indian telecom industry in the present scenario done through Porter’s five forces framework model and PEST analysis. The analysis of the functional strategies of Bharti Airtel in the current scenario is also studied through various frameworks. In the second half of the report, we touch upon understanding what strategic alliances are and their benefits to a firm. In accordance with this, we have studied the various strategic alliances of Bharti Airtel over the years in various segments. The individual strategic outsourcing done by Airtel was studied in depth and the risks associated with such alliances in addition to Airtel’s intent in going for such outsourcing.. Finally, an outsourcing Map was created which gives the overall flow of outsourcing activies carried out by Bharti Airtel for its various business divisions and implications that it has for its growth. Through this study we understand the importance and the various risks associated for a firm,such as Bharti Airtel in adopting the business strategy of Outsourcing and carrying strategic alliances with vendor firms for its business.