The Competitive Advantage Analysis of the Telecommunication Corporation after the Restructuring of China’s Telecommunications Industry in 2008 : Case study of China Mobile Communication Corporation

Abstract: China has the world’s largest telecommunication market and the competition in this market is becoming fiercer among corporations. To survive and increase market shares, competitive advantages are the key factors each corporation strives for. As one of the representative companies in the industry, China Mobile established in 2000, with its competitive advantages, has expanded rapidly and led to huge profit gap between itself and other corporations. This is however a strong indication that China’s telecommunications industry is becoming more and more imbalanced. To obtain better competitive environment and market structure, several restructuring of the telecommunication industry has been implemented by the Chinese government. Such restructurings especially the one in 2008 has brought great impacts on the development of China Mobile. In this thesis, we investigate the effects of restructurings on the competitive advantages of companies through a case study of China Mobile with a focus on the restructuring in 2008. The analysis framework of the thesis starts with analyzing the competitive environment of the whole telecommunications industry through Porter’s five forces analysis. Then, SWOT analysis model combiningwith the resources-based view and capabilities-based view,is used for a comparative research of the changes of China Mobile’s competitive advantages. In the long run, the goal of this research is to understand how to maintain and gain competitive advantages of a company under industry restructuring by government intervention. Additionally, the finding will facilitate the government in future policy making.