internship report(whole document)

i

INDEPENDENT UNIVERSITY, BANGLADESH

A WORKING REPORT ON THE PRODUCT MANAGEMENT VOICE

DEPARTMENT OF GRAMEENPHONE LIMITED

Submitted to

Md Rajib Rahman

Lecturer (Marketing)

School of Business

Independent University, Bangladesh

By

Md. Ali Armanur Rahman

ID: 0820086

Date: 28th April, 2011

An Internship Report Presented in Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree

Bachelor‟s of Business Administration (BBA)

ii

28th April, 2011

A WORKING REPORT ON THE PRODUCT

MANAGEMENT VOICE DEPARTMENT OF

GRAMEENPHONE LIMITED

By


ID: 0820086

Date: 28th April, 2011

An Internship Report Presented in Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree

Bachelor‟s of Business Administration (BBA)

iii

Letter of Transmittal

April 28, 2011

To

Md Rajib Rahman

Lecturer (Marketing)

School of Business

Independent University, Bangladesh

Subject: Submission of internship report

Dear Sir:

Please find herewith my internship report titled “WORKING REPORT ON THE PRODUCT

MANAGEMENT VOICE DEPARTMENT OF GRAMEENPHONE LIMITED”. I have

prepared this report as part of my internship program. The report has been compliant as per your

requirement and those set by the organization. The internship project has given me the

opportunity to explore the most important aspects of development and management of products

by Product Management Voice department of Commercial division of Grameenphone and

expand my knowledge thereby.

I sincerely hope that this report will live up to your expectation and you will appreciate my

efforts.

Yours Sincerely,

___________________


ID: 0820086

iv

Abstract

I have selected Grameenphone Ltd. for attaining on-field experience as an intern for a period of

twelve weeks as a part of my internship program of Bachelors of Business Administration

requirements. During the internship in Grameenphone I was assigned in the Consumer Products,

Product Management Voice, Commercial Division. In the following report, my day to day

activities during my internship days in Grameenphone are described. I have tried to neatly sort

all my activities separately to describe a clearer picture of my responsibilities assigned by my

supervisor at Grameenphone. The report covers how products and offers are developed,

improved and managed throughout their lifecycle and how was I involved in those processes for

the last three months. It also briefly discusses how the other departments work with us to carry

out our day-to-day activities and which departments are our contact points. To conclude, in the

report I tried to express how my academic knowledge was applied in different situations in the

internship tenure. Also, it needs to be mentioned that some processes cannot be explained clearly

in this report due to the confidential policy of the company.

v

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my internship program supervisor of IUB Mr. Rajib Rahman for his careful

guidance and instruction which actually enabled me to accomplish the internship report

successfully.

I would like to thank my supervisor Mr. A.B.M. Naimul Huq for giving me the opportunity to

perform my internship program under his supervision in Consumer Products, Product

Management Voice of the Commercial Division, Grameenphone Ltd.

I would also like to express my humble gratitude to all the colleagues in the organization and

specially my department for showing exceptional belief in my capabilities and trust me with

different important tasks and helped me with their guidance and sharing their valuable

knowledge. Colleagues of my department also helped me incredibly in preparing this report.

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction 01

1.1 Company Background 01

1.2 Grameenphone – The Brand 02

1.3 Ownership Structure 04

1.4 Organization Structure 05

2. Products & Services 06

2.1 The Products 06

2.2 The Services 06

2.3 Special Feature 06

3. Divisions at Grameenphone Ltd. 08

4. My Assigned Department 09

4.1 Commercial Division 09

4.1.1 Product Management Voice Department 10

4.1.1.1 Consumer Product Unit 13

5. My Assigned Duties 16

6. Managing the Product Life Cycle 19

6.1 Product Life Cycle 19

6.2 The Process 20

6.3 Working Synergies 23

7. Evaluation of Internship Exposure 24

8. Conclusion 25

9. Reference 26

1

1. Introduction

1.1 Historical background of the company

Grameenphone Ltd. is the largest telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh with more

than 23 million subscribers as of December 2009. Grameenphone was the first company to

introduce GSM technology in Bangladesh when it launched its services in March 1997. It has so

far invested more than BDT 10,700 crore (USD 1.6 billion) to build the network infrastructure

since 1997. It has invested over BDT 3,100 crore (USD 450 million) during the first three

quarters of 2007 while BDT 2,100 crore (USD 310 million) was invested in 2006 alone.

Grameenphone has over 12,000 base stations across the country. These base stations are in itself

a huge investment into the business and the country. Thanks to this re-investment,

Grameenphone can provide the best, widest and clearest network in Bangladesh. Presently,

nearly 98 percent of the country's population is within the coverage area of the Grameenphone

network.

The entire Grameenphone network is also EDGE/GPRS enabled, allowing access to moderate

speed Internet and data services from anywhere within the coverage area. There are currently

nearly 4.5 million EDGE/GPRS users in the Grameenphone network. Along with their core

service, Airtime, Grameenphone also offers Health line, Bill Pay and many other value added

services.

Grameenphone is a joint venture between Telenor (56%) of Norway and Grameen Telecom

(34%) of Bangladesh. Grameenphone is a public limited company listed with the Dhaka Stock

Exchange Limited and Chittagong Stock Exchange Limited.

1.1.1 Contribution to Government Exchequer

The company has so far invested more than BDT 14,500 crore to build the network and

infrastructure since its inception, as well as the largest tax payer in recent years with the

cumulative contribution to the National Exchequer standing at over BDT 14,000 crore, as of

third quarter of 2009. In fact for every BDT 100 Grameenphone earns, BDT 48 is paid to the

National Exchequer in direct and indirect taxes.

2

1.1.2 Employment

Grameenphone has also generated direct and indirect employment for a large number of people

over the years. The company presently has over 4,800 employees with another 150,000 people

are directly dependent on Grameenphone for their livelihood, working for the Grameenphone

dealers, retailers, scratch card retail outlets, suppliers, vendors, contractors and other business

partners.

1.1.3 Narrowing the digital divide in Bangladesh

Grameenphone has been actively working to narrow the digital divide since its inception. The

Village Phone project, which started on the same day as Grameenphone‟s commercial

operations, is such an example. The Village Phone Program was a unique initiative to provide

Universal Access to telecommunications service in remote, rural areas. Village Phones have

proven their immense potential in boosting income of poor households in rural areas, promoting

health care, development of agri-business and in the social empowerment of rural women.

Similarly Grameenphone has a few more innovative services and products, like the EDGE

modem, already active in the market that are doing a lot to narrow the digital divide between the

rural and urban areas and making people‟s lives easier by using technology to benefit the

underserved. GP was awarded the "GSM in the Community Award" for its Village Phone

program in February, 2000.

1.2 Grameenphone – The Brand

Our brand promise is “Stay Close”. This comes from the realization that a connection exists

between every person regardless of the distance that separates. And each person is designed to

seek out those connections, to stay in touch.

Grameenphone serves as that correlating string that connects thousands of people across the

country, across the world. It makes the daunting physicality of distance and time trivial. And thus

it bring people together, holding their dreams and hopes, joys and sorrows, helping them stay

close.

This power to connect all, eliminating all differences, is the power of Grameenphone - the power

to create magic for every common man, the magic of love, the magic of closeness.

3

Our Mission:

Leading the industry and exceed customer expectations by providing the best wireless services,

making life and business easier

Our Vision:

“We exist to help our customers get the full benefit of communications services in their daily

lives. We want to make it easy for customers to get what they want, when they want it. We're

here to help.” This means that Grameenphone helps their customers to get the best out of

communications services in their daily lives. “We‟re here to help” isn‟t a slogan; it‟s a way of

life for all the stakeholders of Grameenphone.

The key to achieving this vision is that we work together and draw on our renewed Values and

build them into guiding light behaviors in our workplace, wherever that may be... Make it easy.

Keep promises. Be inspiring. Be respectful. Four simple statements, but when embraced by

Grameenphone people around the world, they will help transform Grameenphone into the global

driving force for modern communication and customer satisfaction.

Our Values:

Make It Easy – We're practical. We don't over complicate things. Everything we produce

should be easy to understand and use. No waste. No jargon. Because we never forget

we're trying to make customers' lives easier.

Keep Promises – Everything we set out to do should work, or if you don't get it, we're

here to help. We're about delivery, not over promising - actions not words.

Be Inspiring – We are creative. We strive to bring energy into the things we do.

Everything we produce should look good, modern and fresh. We are passionate about our

business and customers.

Be Respectful – We acknowledge and respect the local culture. We are respectful and

professional in regard to all our interactions, both internally and externally. We are open,

helpful and friendly.

4

1.3. Ownership Structure

It is a joint venture enterprise between Telenor (55.8%), the largest telecommunications service

provider in Norway with mobile phone operations in 12 other countries, and Grameen Telecom

Corporation (34.2% ), a non-profit sister concern of the internationally acclaimed micro-credit

pioneer Grameen Bank. The other 10% shares belong to general retail and institutional

investors.

The technological know-how and managerial expertise of Telenor has been instrumental in

setting up such an international standard mobile phone operation in Bangladesh. Being one of the

pioneers in developing the GSM service in Europe, Telenor has also helped to transfer this

knowledge to the local employees over the years

The international shareholder brings technological and business management expertise while the

local shareholder provides a presence throughout Bangladesh and a deep understanding of its

economy. Both are dedicated to Bangladesh and its struggle for economic progress and have a

deep commitment to Grameenphone and its mission to provide affordable telephony to the entire

population of Bangladesh.

Telenor, 55.80%Grameen

Telecom, 34.20%

Others, 10%

5

1.4. Organization Structure

In the fast-paced world of telecommunications, vibrant and dynamic Corporate Governance

practices are an essential ingredient to success. Grameenphone believes in the continued

improvement of corporate governance. This in turn has led the Company to commit considerable

resources and implement internationally accepted Corporate Standards in its day-to-day

operations.

Being a public limited company, the Board of Directors of Grameenphone have a pivotal role to

play in meeting all stakeholders‟ interests. The Board of Directors and the Management Team of

Grameenphone are committed to maintaining effective Corporate Governance through a culture

of accountability, transparency, well-understood policies and procedures. The Board of Directors

and the Management Team also persevere to maintain compliance of all laws of Bangladesh and

all internally documented regulations, policies and procedures.

Grameenphone is a truly transparent company that operates at the highest levels of integrity and

accountability on a global standard. The shareholders of Grameenphone contribute their unique,

in-depth experience in both telecommunications and development. The members of the top

management equally contributed to Grameenphone‟s superior leadership, by carrying out their

unique roles. They worked well together, respecting each other‟s abilities, & arguing openly &

without any rancor when they disagree.

6

2. Products and Services

2.1. Products

Grameenphone mainly provides the telephony service to the customers. But in the recent years

GP‟s is showing interest to capture the whole customer insight by offering them different type of

products. It offers pre-paid products like Smile, Shohoj, Aapon, Bondhu, Djuice, Baadhon,

Business Solution, Ekota, GP Public Phone, BPO and Village Phone. In addition it has a very

exclusive post-paid package named Xplore. It also offers internet modem along with an internet

sim that may be pre-paid or post-paid.

2.2. Services

Grameenphone also introduced a number of value-added services during the last 13 years. It may

be noted that Grameenphone was the first mobile phone operator in the country to introduce

value-added services like Voice Mail Service, Text Mail Service and fax and data transmission

services, in particular Internet access, downloadable content and ring-back tone services.

Grameenphone also launched the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). Other services include

International Roaming, SMS (short message service), SMS Push-Pull Services, Voice Mail

Service (VMS), Voice SMS, Web to SMS, Cell E-mail, MMS, EDGE/GPRS, GP World,

BlackBerry services, Welcome Tunes, Call Block Service, Dynamic Pricing, E – Bill, Music

Radio, Study Line, Mobile Backup Service and Missed Call Alert. People‟s life is now much

easier as they are getting services as per their necessities. Cell phones are now something more

than just a cell phone. And Grameenphone pioneered in taking telecom industry to new and more

dynamic heights.

2.3. Special Feature

Grameenphone is always working relentlessly to introduce new features and packages in the

industry. They are always looking for a way to make life simpler for their customers. That is

why, for the first time in Bangladesh, Grameenphone launched the feature “My Zone”. It is a

magnificent feature where customers might get upto 83% discount on a base tariff of BDT

1.50/min for on-net calls, BDT 1.00/min for F&F and community calls. The discount is based on

7

the network usage of the area you are in and the time of the day. It is a fully automated discount

system based on previous usage patterns. We have already launched it all-over the country and it

is getting hugely appreciated and accepted by our customers. Even with such a success,

Grameenphone is constantly monitoring the customer satisfaction level and striving hard to

ensure and sustain maximum satisfaction. This shows the integrity with which Grameenphone

does its business. And it is not a surprise why they are the market leaders since the birth of this

industry.

8

3. Divisions at Grameenphone Ltd.

Grameenphone Ltd. has more than 4500 employees working at different levels of organizational

hierarchy. There are 7 functional divisions engaged in managing these employees- with the aim

to meet organizational objectives. Grameenphone follows a mix of centralized and decentralized

decision making process-where the top management mainly takes all the strategic decisions

while the functional managers have flexibility to take decisions by themselves on a day-to-day

basis. At Grameenphone the Managing Director is assisted by 9 Senior Executives who are

heading different departments in the strategic decision making process. The departmental names

of Grameenphone are given below:

Corporate Affairs Division

Commercial Division

Finance Division

Human Resource Division

Technology Division

MD Division

Communication Division

Grameenphone follows a 3-layer management philosophy in Bangladesh. These are Directors,

Managers and Officers. The CEO is the top most authority of all the levels. Directors are the

departmental heads that are responsible for the activities of their departments. Managers have the

authority next to directors. These two layers represent the management level of Grameenphone.

Officers are the next persons to stand in the hierarchy list. They are the typical mid-level

employees of Grameenphone‟s organizational hierarchy. These officers are responsible for

managing the operational activities and operating level employees.

9

4. My Assigned Department

In this huge corporate organization, I was appointed as an Intern in the Consumer Products Unit,

Product Management Voice Department, Commercial Division. All the products, services, and

VAS are created and managed here at Product Management Voice department. This is the

business end or heart of the organization in terms of revenue generating activities. And all the

other departments of all divisions play an equally important and significant role in supporting

and enabling whatever offer or package we come up with.

Grameenphone believes in teamwork and synergy. That is why each department works hand-in-

hand with others to make our plans work. The Product Management Voice team is further

divided in to 6 units of which Consume product is one. Consumer product deals with all the

packages, feature and offerings that is designed and intended for general people, hence our

consumers. This unit is the brain behind most revenue generating activities of Grameenphone, as

this unit concentrates on our actual target market.

4.1. Commercial Division

The Commercial division is responsible for all the marketing activities of the organization except

for the communication part which is taken care of by the Communications division. This

division, headed by one of the directors Arild Kaale, is divided in to 9 further departments. One

of the most vital ones is Product Management Voice. The organogram of the commercial

division of Grameenphone is given below:

10

4.1.1. Product Management Voice Department

The product management voice department, as I mentioned earlier, deals with all voice related

products, services, packages and offerings. This department consists of 6 units. The main

functions of the Product Management Department are given as follows:

Identifying new product candidates

Gathering market requirements

Defining product requirements

Determine business-case and feasibility

Scoping and defining new products at high level

Evangelizing new products within the company

Building product roadmaps, particularly Technology roadmaps

Working to a critical path and ensuring all products are produced on schedule

Ensuring products are within optimal price margins and up to specifications

Product Life Cycle considerations

Product differentiation

Detailed Product planning

7 functions of marketing

Product positioning

Promoting the product externally with press, customers, and partners

Conduct customer feedback and enabling (pre-production)

Bringing new products to market

Monitoring the competition

The organogram of the Product Management Voice Department is given below:

11

The main responsibility of each of the units is briefly discussed below:

Business and Pricing Management – This unit works with the pricing of products and services,

monitors and reports departmental performance and provides business cases for better forecasts

on new and modified developments. Some of their core duties are mentioned below:

• Manage Product Roadmap

• Monitor KPI & performance across units

• Departmental reporting

• P&L monitoring and analysis

• Product & market monitoring & analysis

• Business-case support

• Strategic pricing support

• Forecasting and target breakdown support

• Facilitate Business Review material

Consumer Product – This unit is involved in the life cycle management and designing of the

consumer prepaid (Smile, Shohoj, Apon, Bondhu, Baadhon, Djuice) and postpaid (Xplore)

products. They are responsible for planning all the marketing and functional activities for each

consumer product from setting sales and revenue target to training customer services. Some of

their core duties are mentioned below:

• Manage consumer product development and all stakeholders in value chain

• Life cycle management of consumer prepaid and postpaid products (i.e. product

management, quality assurance, profitability)

• Consumer Product roadmap

• Strategic pricing and profitability of consumer products

• Channel marketing, i.e. break down sales and revenue targets

• Training of Sales and CS accordingly

Business Product - This unit is involved in the life cycle management and designing of the

business prepaid (GP Public Phone, BPO, Village Phone, Ekota, Business Solutions Prepaid) and

postpaid (Business Solutions Postpaid) products. They are responsible for planning all the

12

marketing and functional activities for each consumer product from setting sales and revenue

target to training customer services. Some of their core duties are mentioned below:

• Manage business product development and all stakeholders in value chain

• Life cycle management of business prepaid and postpaid products (i.e. product

management, quality assurance, profitability)

• Business Product roadmap

• Strategic pricing and profitability of business products

• Channel marketing, i.e. break down sales and revenue targets

• Training of Sales and CS accordingly

International Roaming – This unit is concerned with all the marketing and product

management responsibilities regarding International Roaming products. They are responsible for

the coordination with other international operators who support our roaming service. Some of

their core duties are mentioned below:

• Manage product development and all stakeholders in value chain for International

Roaming (IR) products.

• Life cycle management (i.e. product management, quality assurance, profitability)

• IR product roadmap.

• Strategies to attain IR goals.

• Responsible for maintaining GSM info center issues.

• Coordination with Telenor Global Roaming team.

• Training of Sales and CS accordingly.

Device Management – This team is responsible for all device related activities of

Grameenphone. They contact with external parties, control the expenditures and prepare

forecasts for Grameenphone handsets. Some of their core duties are mentioned below:

• Manage P&L account for all mobile devices.

• Ensure strategic alliance with different external partners.

13

• Select portfolio of devices according to segmentation model, prepare forecast and ensure

availability.

• Management of device testing, certification, and distribution channel.

• Align the yearly OPEX CAPEX of all managed mobile devices.

SIM and Scratch Card Management – The modality and specifications of SIM and Scratch

Cards is looked after by this team. This unit is involved in forecasting the requirements of these

cards and preparing them for the market. They also deal with the future developments of SIM

and Scratch Cards based on complaints and market analysis. Some of their core duties are

mentioned below:

• Forecasting & Budgeting SIM & SC requirement.

• SIM & Scratch Card Specification Management & Procurement.

• SIM Kit Production Management.

• Product Complaint & Query Management.

• System Management & Reporting.

All the responsibilities discussed earlier add up as the whole duty of the Product Management

Voice department. The coordinator of this department coordinates the reports and works of these

6 units, thus creating synergy and promoting team effort towards the departmental goals.

4.1.1.1. Consumer Product Unit

The consumer product team is a very vibrant and creative team whose responsibility is to design

and manage the life cycle of the consumer prepaid and postpaid packages of the company. The

products under consumer products are Smile, Shohoj, Aapon, Bondhu, Baadhon, Djuice and

Xplore. The consumer products earn 89% of the total revenue of Grameenphone. This shows the

importance of this team‟s performance. The consumer product team does not only focus on their

own products but also focuses on what the competitor‟s are doing and come up with proper

mitigation plans and better products. Also, this team works in adding new features (i.e. „My

Zone‟) to its existing products, thus providing better value to their old and new customers. We

also focus on adding important VAS such as Welcome Tunes, Mobile Facebook, Cricket Alert,

14

etc. Many campaigns and offerings are initiated from our end on a regular basis to attract new

customer and churn the old customers. This team serves as the brain for all new innovations

regarding consumer products that brings in large chunk of revenue in Grameenphone‟s account.

Some basic responsibilities handled by the Consumer Product Unit, in addition to the

aforementioned ones, are given below:

• Responsible for overall consumer product portfolio, comprising of prepaid & postpaid

voice products, value added services and dynamic pricing.

• Formulation of product development strategy.

• Develop new products for the portfolio.

• Ensure time to market for product offering in accordance with the roadmap and business

targets.

• Ensure product life cycle management for assigned portfolio.

• Undertake activities to support market launch as per the campaign plans development by

segments.

The organogram for the Consumer Product Team is given below:

Consumer Product

A. B. M. Naimul Huq

Prepaid Portfolio

Postpaid & Other Voice

Portfolio

VAS Portfolio

Roadmap

Dev. & Follow-up

CLM Micro Campaign

Dev. & Follow-up

15

The figure above also gives a better idea about the functions of the consumer product unit. The

consumer product unit maintains a prepaid portfolio where the performance of each prepaid

product is constantly monitored. The consumer product team‟s main responsibility is to manage

the life cycle of the existing consumer products and develop new products when necessary.

16

5. My Assigned Duties

During my period as an intern in the Consumer Product, Product Management Voice,

Commercial, I have been assigned to various roles and responsibilities. I had to work with

numerous colleagues within or outside my department. I had to carry out a lot of tasks which is

probably not the duty of our department, but those were given to me so that I could be exposed to

different conditions and learn a lot of new things. And all these things worked wonders for me as

I not only learned the working process of my unit and department, but I also learned how our

contact points (other departments who support our activities) work and what are their

responsibilities. I also learned how some of the other significantly important departments fulfill

their duties because that made me understand the way this industry works and how

Grameenphone align its business with 3rd

parties and the Government.

My assigned supervisor was Mr. A.B.M Naimul Huq, who is also the head of the consumer

product team. So I got the opportunity to work with all the members of the team at various

projects at various times. During my internship period at Grameenphone, we were working on

the nationwide launch of „My Zone‟ and we needed to prepare, monitor and test this feature

before we could finally launch it throughout the nation. Even after the launch, till the last day of

my internship, we strived hard to learn about our customer experiences and modify our feature as

necessary. This project was headed by Mr. Kazi Emran Mahboob, who is also the product

manager of „My Zone‟, with whom I got the pleasure of working relentlessly for 3 months and

learn a lot of vital things. I was very actively involved in all the activities during the pre and

post-launch periods of „My Zone‟. And I was luckily entrusted with lots of responsibility by Mr.

Emran in this project, so I was able to make significant contributions in the development, testing,

monitoring and launching of „My Zone‟. I was also sent outside Dhaka for testing this feature in

various cities of Bangladesh.

Few of my general responsibilities as an Intern are enlisted below:

Generate new ideas.

Explore existing ideas and suggest appropriate and feasible improvements.

Design & apply UAT (User Acceptance Test) in accordance with the set parameters.

Perform UAT for many products and services.

17

Report findings of UAT with the concerned and take corrective actions by contacting our

contact points.

Keep continuing the UAT process until every problem is resolved.

Organizing, Planning and Coordinating UAT sessions.

Contact internal/external stakeholders for technical support.

Keep contact with customer services to attain valuable customer feedback.

Directly talk with customers to understand their satisfaction and requirements regarding „My

Zone‟

Recommend and implement improvements for the „My Zone‟ offer.

Study, document and report competitor activities regarding voice.

Recommend mitigation plans.

Planning research activities.

Documented a „Tariff comparison‟ file which includes all packages of us and our competitors‟

for ease of comparison.

Documented all our packages and tariffs in a useful way, which was appreciated and currently

in use by Customer Services and our department.

Prepare white paper

Study different offers by foreign telecom companies and suggest packages feasible in

Bangladesh.

Study and understand the product life cycle of the consumer products and how we implement

it in practice.

Document Competitor‟s Product Portfolio

Document Grameenphone‟s Product Portfolio

Gather customer insights and transform them into useful data.

I was specifically assigned to work on the „My Zone‟ offer, and I got the opportunity to

specialize in it through the process. Some of my activities regarding „My Zone‟ are given below:

Determine special arrangements for „My Zone‟ during World Cup games.

18

Understand the total procedure and how „My Zone‟ works and how it helps our business.

Work hand-in-hand in all phases with the working group in development of the offer.

Change the language and wordings in the USSD Menu and SOCN.

Plan and perform UAT at different phases of its development and mitigate sustaining

problems.

Recommend and implement feasible new ideas for the offer.

Go outside of Dhaka to investigate the status of „My Zone‟ there.

Keep contact with Customer Service Department in order to get valuable customer

feedback regarding „My Zone‟.

Work closely with Customer Experience team and talk in person with customers and

gather valuable insights and report them.

Contact with internal-external stakeholders for assistance.

Come up with mitigation plans for sustaining problems.

Observe and resolve challenges during launch.

Post-launch observation and recommend further improvement.

Analyzing revenue data and making interpretation.

Predicting financial performance for next few months.

Design future research activities for determining customer satisfaction level and

improving our product.

Stated above are the responsibilities that I had to meet every day as part of my routine tasks.

Apart from these responsibilities I also had to get involve in different projects and work as per

needed. My colleagues were very helpful and they believed in me a lot to assign me different

kind of activities in order to ensure that I gather valuable experience and knowledge about how

products are developed and maintained throughout their lifetime.

19

6. Managing the Product Life Cycle – The Core Responsibility of Consumer

Product

Till now, when we talked about the responsibilities of the Consumer Product Team and my

assigned duties, the term „Product Life Cycle‟ came into play frequently. This is because all our

efforts are actually based on the management of the product life of each product. We take

decisions, modify old products, design new offers in accordance to the phase that the existing

product is in. Before we get into how product life cycle management works in Grameenphone,

let me explain the term and phases of product life cycle and which consumer products of

Grameenphone are in which phase currently.

6.1. Product Life Cycle

Product life cycle management is the succession of strategies used by business management as

a product goes through its life cycle. The conditions in which product is sold (advertising,

saturation) changes over time and must be managed as it moves through its succession of stages.

Consumer product‟s duty is to do exactly that for the consumer postpaid and prepaid products.

Product life cycle has four stages: Market introduction, Growth, Maturity, Saturation and decline

stage. For each product, Grameenphone has to seek out different strategies depending on the

corresponding stage it is in. That is what caused Grameenphone to come up with so many

different products for different kinds of customers. The offers are revamped and redesigned

when necessary. For example, the old postpaid package had been in the market for a long time

and had been doing really well throughout the period. But recently its popularity and revenue

reached stagnancy. That is when our product team analyzed the problem and came up with a

solution by revamping the whole package. Now, the new Xplore postpaid have become

immensely popular once again and it is rapidly seeing growth though it was in its maturity stage.

That is what the Consumer product team works on. They renovate a product and extend its life

cycle or introduce new best-fit packages for different customer segments.

There are many different GP prepaid packages in the market for consumers. All of them are

designed depending on consumer‟s usage patterns and requirements. We already offer „Shohoj‟

20

plan for people who likes flat call rates (Tk.0.79/min) for any calls, as it is easier to understand.

Also, there is „Baadhon‟, package plan similar to „Shohoj‟, which is targeted for the rural people.

„Bondhu‟ package is there for people who love to talk on their F&F numbers. „Aapon‟ is for the

ones who talk more on other GP numbers. And there is „djuice‟ specially designed for the young

generation who loves to have quality time with their community and likes to talk in late night

hours. „Smile‟, the first prepaid package of GP is also there, though we are not pushing it

because it is on the verge of its saturation. In addition, the new Xplore postpaid is also there for

the taking which is recognizing enormous growth, though it was in its maturity stage just a few

weeks ago. Most of our prepaid products are also back in the growth stage after due to our

prepaid revamp.

So, the consumer product team makes sure that its customers get the best products available for

their use and also is conscious about new developments and ready to modify any offerings to

extend the lifecycle of a particular product.

„My Zone‟ is one of the best examples of the endeavor of consumer team in ensuring customer

satisfaction. This dynamic offer is launched after 2 years of relentless work. And even now, we

are closely monitoring its performance and planning future activity in order to ensure its growth.

So, all our efforts go on maintaining the product life cycle of the consumer product after its

introduction.

6.2. The Process – New Product Development or Modification

In Grameenphone, the following steps are followed for new product development or

modification:

1. Idea Generation is often called the "fuzzy front end" of the product development

process. Ideas for new products can be obtained from basic research using a SWOT

analysis, Market and consumer trends, competitors, focus groups, employees,

salespeople, corporate spies, trade shows, or international offerings may also be used to

get an insight into new product lines or product features. Idea Generation or

Brainstorming of new product, service, or store concepts - idea generation techniques can

21

begin when you have done your OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS to support your ideas in

the Idea Screening Phase (shown in the next development step).

2. Idea Screening

o The object is to eliminate unsound concepts prior to devoting resources to them.

o The screeners should ask several questions:

Will the customer in the target market benefit from the product?

What is the size and growth forecasts of the market segment/target

market?

What is the current or expected competitive pressure for the product idea?

What are the industry sales and market trends the product idea is based

on?

Is it technically feasible to manufacture the product?

Will the product be profitable when manufactured and delivered to the

customer at the target price?

3. Concept Development

o Develop the marketing and engineering details

Investigate intellectual property issues and search patent data bases

Who is the target market and who is the decision maker in the purchasing

process?

What product features must the product incorporate?

What benefits will the product provide?

How will consumers react to the product?

How will the product be produced most cost effectively?

Prove feasibility through virtual computer aided rendering, and rapid

prototyping

4. Business Analysis

o Estimate likely selling price based upon competition and customer feedback

o Estimate sales volume based upon size of market

o Estimate profitability and break-even point

5. Beta Testing and Market Testing

o Produce the product or feature for „Test SIM‟.

22

o Perform UAT in typical usage situations

o Conduct customer interview

o Make adjustments where necessary

o Produce an initial run of the product and sell it in a test market area to determine

customer acceptance

6. Technical Implementation

o New program initiation

o Finalize Quality management system

o Resource estimation

o Requirement publication

o Publish technical communications such as data sheets

o Engineering operations planning

o Logistics plan

o Resource plan publication

o Program review and monitoring

o Contingencies - what-if planning

7. Commercialization (often considered post-NPD)

o Launch the product

o Produce and place advertisements and other promotions

o Fill the distribution pipeline with product

o Critical path analysis is most useful at this stage

8. New Product Pricing

o Impact of new product on the entire product portfolio

o Value Analysis (internal & external)

o Competition and alternative competitive technologies

o Differing value segments (price, value, and need)

o Product Costs (fixed & variable)

o Forecast of unit volumes, revenue, and profit

23

Though advertisements are produced by communications, the requirements are specified by

PMV. For consumer products, all these steps are carried out by the consumer product team on

behalf of PMV.

6.3. Working Synergies

For the development of any product, services, campaign, new initiative the Product Management

Voice works with many departments and/or divisions. From the first phase of development, we

form a working group involving Segments department, Technology department, Networks

department and IT. This working team works together in developing and testing the products.

The Product team presents their requirements for development of the product to the working

group, the Technology, Network and IT works at the technical end to make it feasible. And

Segments works with the go-to-market plan in order to launch the product in the market.

Segments also produce necessary documents for different stakeholders such as FAQ for

Customer Services. Within the PMV, the Business Process Management team produces the

business cases for the Consumer product team. The consumer product team uses these business

cases to design or redesign their product/service. The working group also communicates the

Communication Division at the pre-launch face. The Communications division then takes

necessary initiatives for going into the mass media. They create TV commercials, print Ads,

billboards, etc.

Once the product is launched, we move onto the performance review period. Here, we get a lot

of input from the Customer Services departments, as they provide us with valuable insights on

the problems and quarries reported by customers on which the consumer team may work on. We

also rely on the Business Process team, Business Intelligence department, Assurance Technology

department, Networks department and Revenue Accounting department for reviewing the

financial performance and technical performance. The Customer Experience department also

performs a „Customer Journey Mapping‟ to understand customer‟s perspective. The working

group sits together regularly to analyze these data and come up with mitigation plans and

develop new plans where necessary. And the process goes on in this loop.

24

7. Evaluation of Internship Exposure:

While working, I had to take lot of decisions that were completely new to me. Firstly, I was

groomed and then slowly responsibilities were given to me. I was given the charge to maintain

GP Prepaid product portfolio, plan and carry out different UATs, coming up with mitigation

plans, generating new ideas and many more. Throughout this incredible journey of 3 months, I

learned a lot of things from this organization:

The importance of team-work – Everything in GP depends on team-work, you cannot

do anything on your own here. You have to rely on other and make yourself reliable to

others. I also learned that you need to have very clear communication with your working

group in order to attain your desired goal. Every employee of GP goes beyond their line

to help the other, this shows the mutual respect and affection they have towards each

other. The whole GP is like a giant family.

The art of presentation – This is a learning which will help me in every aspects of my

life. In Grameenphone, I learned what people really expect from you in your

presentations and the importance of it. I was given hand-in-hand training on this matter

because it is a very important part in corporate culture to present your idea and plan

clearly to others.

The value of integrity – In Grameenphone, integrity is a major factor for its success.

Each and every department does their duty rightfully and honestly. This brings out the

best result for the company.

The freedom of decision making – Here in Grameenphone, all the employees have the

liberty to take free decisions up to a certain extent. I got this opportunity many times as I

planned and leaded a lot of major UATs, mostly for „My Zone‟. Also, during the launch

of „My Zone‟, the product manager was out of country. So I was given the responsibility

to contact the concern and mitigate all the issues during the launch with the help of my

other colleagues.

Building trust – Every employee is entrusted with lots of major responsibilities. I, being,

an intern was not an exception either. The trust on me shown by all the employees I work

with was very overwhelming. And I am glad I succeeded in repaying their faith on me.

This really motivated me to learn more work and give extra effort in everything I did.

25

8. Conclusion:

Getting an opportunity to do internship in the largest telecommunication company of Bangladesh

has been a great experience. It was a great honor for me to work in such a professional company

where everything is so organized and perfect. The corporate culture that I learned from

Grameenphone is a thing to be mentioned especially and adapting to it was a big challenge in

such an early stage of my career. The things learnt from real time work experience for the first

time has indeed been a privilege. Being actively involved in the development of products and

offerings like „My Zone‟ has been increased my knowledge about this industry and developed

leadership skills as I was entitled to plan and carry out different UATs. To work in such a big

organization was a pressure itself and adapting to this pressure was also a new experience. After

completion of my work tenure as an intern, I feel blessed to have learned so many things in such

a short span of time. New learning‟s and helpful attitude of colleagues is a thing to be

remembered for a long time. I certainly believe this experience of working in Grameenphone

will help me to be a successful professional in life and also work as an added advantage for the

years to come. Thanks to Grameenphone for giving me a head start in my career.

26

9. References:

(2011, March).Retrieved from Grameenphone:

https://wow.telenor.com/grameenphone/en/opco/Pages/history.aspx


http://investorrelations.grameenphone.com/Company-Facts.html


http://investorrelations.grameenphone.com/Dividend.html


http://investorrelations.grameenphone.com/Major-Shareholdings.html


https://wow.telenor.com/grameenphone/en/Pages/default.aspx


https://infocube.grameenphone.com

(2011, March) http://www.grameenphone.com

(2011, March) http://en.wikipedia.com

internship report(whole document)

Documents