Strategic alliance between Bharti Airtel and IBM

Abstract

Thus we observe that so far Airtel has been successful in managing its alliances with IBM in India as well as in Africa. The Indian alliance has been on for more than 6 years with both the organization committed to mutually contribute and make the alliance a success. Bharti also has alliance with other players like Qualcomm and Ericsson for its infrastructure requirement. Thus we see that Airtel is quite successful in managing a portfolio of alliances and the same can translate into creation of a firm level capability. The model of outsourcing of non-core operation via alliances has been very favourable for Airtel’s performance in India and the same is being copied by other competitors in Indian Telecom Market. But the alliance with IBM in Africa is relatively new and it has to be tested if the model can be replicated in other countries with similar results. Till now, Airtel is still making losses in its African operations and thus there is no clear indication whether the strategy is successful or not. It might take a couple of years before any substantial results are observed from the partnership.