Strategic planning in the Saudi telecommunications industry

Submission note: A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Department of Management and Marketing, La Trobe Business School, College of Arts, Social Sciences and Commerce, La Trobe University, Bundoora.

Strategic planning is viewed as an essential tool to gain competitive advantage and profitability for businesses. However, research on its application in the telecommunications industry (TI), particularly outside the Western world, is limited. A linear trend model using secondary data indicates that the Saudi TI will grow at a higher rate than other global markets in the coming years. As both a timely exercise and a contribution toward filling an existing knowledge gap, this study seeks to answer the following three research questions (RQs): RQ1. What are the Saudi TI current strategic planning practices?; RQ2. What are the external environmental factors that influence Saudi TI strategic planning?; RQ3. What are the internal environmental factors that influence Saudi TI strategic planning? A mixed methods analysis was employed for both types of data (questionnaires and interviews), supplemented with data from secondary sources. Results reveal that the managerial personnel of Saudi telecommunication firms understand strategic planning and generally appreciate its value. They use strategic planning of some type in their respective firms, although only 40% of firms had a documented plan. They were also conversant with the various tools and techniques available for strategic analysis. Saudi managers are aware of their competition, various elements of their market and the numerous environmental forces that can influence Saudi TI firm strategic planning have been identified. Moreover, the larger and older firms were more likely to have formal, documented plans. Finally, this study lays the foundation for future research and emphasizes the need to focus on key management practices such as strategic planning, xv particularly for the Middle East region by industry analysts, policy makers and business academics interested in international business.