Organizational Part

1. A. Introduction:
Grameenphone is the largest mobile telecommunications operator in Bangladesh in terms of revenue, coverage and subscriber base. The company was incorporated on October 10, 1996 as a private limited company. Grameenphone converted to a public limited company on June 25, 2007. Trading of the company‘s shares started at Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchanges from 16 Nov. 2009. The shareholding structure comprises of mainly two sponsor Shareholders namely Telenor Mobile Communications AS (55.80%) and Grameen Telecom (34.20%). The rest 10.00% shareholding includes General public & other Institutions.

Since its inception in March 1997, Grameenphone has built the largest cellular network in the country with over 12,000 base stations in more than 6000 locations. Presently, nearly 98 percent of the country's population is within the coverage area of the Grameenphone network.

The company has so far invested more than BDT 15,260 crore to build the network infrastructure since its inception in 1997. Grameenphone is also one the largest taxpayers in the country, having contributed more than BDT 16,600 crore in direct and indirect taxes to the Government Exchequer over the years.

Grameenphone was also the first operator to introduce the pre-paid service in September 1999. It established the first 24-hour Call Center, introduced value-added services such as VMS, SMS, fax and data transmission services, international roaming service, WAP, SMS-based push-pull services, EDGE, personal ring back tone and many other products and services.

The entire Grameenphone network is also EDGE/GPRS enabled, allowing access to high-speed Internet and data services from anywhere within the coverage area. There are currently nearly 3 million EDGE/GPRS users in the Grameenphone network.
Grameenphone nearly doubled its subscriber base during the initial years while the growth was much faster during the later years. It ended the inaugural year with 18,000 customers, 30,000 by the end of 1998, 60,000 in 1999, 193,000 in 2000, 471,000 in 2001, 775,000 in 2002, 1.16 million in 2003, 2.4 million in 2004, 5.5 million in 2005, 11.3 million in 2006, 16.5 million in 2007, 20 million in 2008 and end 2009 with 23.26 million customers.
Grameenphone considers its employees to be one of its most important assets. GP has an extensive employee benefit scheme in place including Gratuity, Provident Fund, Group Insurance, Family Health Insurance, Transportation Facility, Day Care Centre, Children's Education Support, and Higher Education Support for employees, in-house medical support and other initiatives.

From the very beginning, Grameenphone placed emphasis on providing good after-sales services. In recent years, the focus has been to provide after-sales within a short distance from where the customers live. There are now more than 600 GP Service Desks across the country covering nearly all upazilas of 61 districts. In addition, there are 78 Grameenphone Centers in all the divisional cities and they remain open from 8am-7pm every day including all holidays.
GP has generated direct and indirect employment for a large number of people over the years. The company presently has more than 4500 full and temporary employees. Another 150,000 people are directly dependent on Grameenphone for their livelihood, working for the Grameenphone dealers, retailers, scratch card outlets, suppliers, vendors, contractors and others.
In addition, the Village Phone Program, also started in 1997, provides a good income-earning opportunity to more than 210,000 mostly women Village Phone operators living in rural areas. The Village Phone Program is a unique initiative to provide universal access to telecommunications service in remote, rural areas. Administered by Grameen Telecom Corporation, it enables rural people who normally cannot afford to own a telephone to avail the service while providing the VP operators an opportunity to earn a living.
The Village Phone initiative was given the "GSM in the Community" award at the global GSM Congress held in Cannes, France in February 2000. Grameenphone was also adjudged the Best Joint Venture Enterprise of the Year at the Bangladesh Business Awards in 2002. Grameenphone was presented with the GSM Association's Global Mobile Award for ‗Best use of Mobile for Social and Economic Development' at the 3GSM World Congress held in Singapore, in October 2006, for its Community Information Center (CIC) project, and for its Health Line Service project at the 3GSM World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain, in February 2007.
1. B. Founders:
The shareholders of Grameenphone contribute their unique, in-depth experience in both telecommunications and development.

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 is emerging as one of the fastest growing providers of mobile communications services worldwide with ownership interests in 12 mobile operators across Europe and Asia. Telenor is organized into three business areas; Mobile operations covering 12 countries, and Fixed-line and Broadcast services covering the Nordic region. Telenor holds 55.8 per cent of Grameenphone, with Grameen Telecom Corporation owning the remaining 34.2 per cent. The rest of the shares belong to general retail and institutional investors. Telenor has played a pioneering role in development of cellular communications in Bangladesh.
The Telenor Group:

TMC, a company organized under the laws of the Kingdom of Norway, seeks to develop and invest in telecommunications solutions through direct and indirect ownership of companies and to enter into national and international alliances relating to telecommunications. It is a subsidiary of Telenor Mobile Holdings AS and an affiliate of Telenor. Telenor AS is the leading Telecommunications Company of Norway listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. It owns 55.80% shares of Grameenphone Ltd. Telenor's strong international expansion in recent years has been based on leading-edge expertise, acquired in the Norwegian and Nordic markets, which are among the most highly developed technology markets in the world. It has substantial International operations in mobile telephony, satellite operations and pay Television services. In addition to Norway and Bangladesh, Telenor owns mobile telephony companies in Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan and India with more than 174 million mobile subscriptions worldwide as of December 31, 2009. Telenor uses the expertise it has gained in its home and international markets for the development of emerging markets like Bangladesh. As part of the conversion of Grameenphone from a private limited to a public limited company, Telenor Mobile Communications AS transferred 10 shares each on May 31, 2007 to its three (3) affiliate organizations namely Nye Telenor Mobile Communications II AS, Norway; Telenor Asia Pte. Ltd., Singapore; and Nye Telenor Mobile Communications III As, Norway. | |

 More than 150 million mobile subscribers worldwide

 Strong subscription growth, particularly in our Asian operations

 Listed as No.1 on Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2008

 Ranked as the world's seventh largest mobile operator

 Revenues 2007: NOK 105 billion

 Workforce 2007: 35 800 man-years

 Listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, with headquarters in Norway.

Grameen Telecom

Grameen Telecom Corporation, which owns 34.2% of the shares of Grameenphone, is a not-for-profit company and works in close collaboration with Grameen Bank. The internationally reputed bank for the poor, has the most extensive rural banking network and expertise in microfinance. It understands the economic needs of the rural population, in particular the women from the poorest households. It works in close collaboration with Grameen Bank, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 along with its founder Professor Muhammad Yunus. The internationally reputed bank for the poor has the most extensive rural banking network and expertise in microfinance. GTC‘s mandate is to provide easy access to GSM cellular services in rural Bangladesh and creating new opportunities for income generation through self- employment by providing villagers, mostly to the poor rural women with access to modern information and communication-based technologies. GTC is also one of the three National distributors of Nokia brand handsets in Bangladesh and also the authorized service provider of Nokia Care network, providing after sales services to the Nokia customers. With the help of Grameen Bank, Grameen Telecom, with its field network, administers the Village Phone Program, through which Grameenphone provides its services to the fast growing rural customers. Grameen Telecom trains the operators, supplies them with handsets and handles all service- related issues. GTC has been acclaimed for the innovative Village Phone Program. GTC & its chairman Nobel peace prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus have received several awards which include: First ITU World information Society Award in 2005; Petersburg Prize for Use of the IT to improve Poor People‘s Lives‖ in 2004; GSM Association Award for ―GSM in Community Service‖ in 2000. Grameen Bank currently covers more than 67,000 villages which are serviced by 2121 bank branches all over the countryside. As of may 2006, the bank had 6.33 million borrowers, 97 percent of whom were women. Grameen Telecom‘s objectives are to provide easy access to GSM cellular services in rural Bangladesh, creating new opportunities for income generation through self- employment by providing villagers with access to modern information and communication based technologies.

Major Shareholdings The shareholding structure comprises mainly two sponsor Shareholders namely Telenor Mobile Communications AS (55.80%) and Grameen Telecom (34.20%). The rest 10.00% shareholding includes General public & other Institutions. |
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 vision to help people get full benefit of communications services in their daily lives. | | Telenor Mobile Communications AS (TMC) | | TMC, a company established under the laws of the Kingdom of Norway, seeks to develop and invest in telecommunication solutions through direct and indirect ownership of companies and to enter into national and international alliances relating to telecommunications. It is a subsidiary of Telenor Mobile Holdings AS and an affiliate of Telenor. Telenor ASA is the leading Telecommunications Company of Norway listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. It owns 55.80% shares of Grameenphone Ltd. | | Telenor's strong international expansion in recent years has been based on leading-edge expertise, acquired in the Norwegian and Nordic markets, which are among the most highly developed technology markets in the world. It has substantial International operations in mobile telephony, satellite operations and pay Television services. In addition to Norway and Bangladesh, Telenor owns mobile telephony companies in Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan and India. Telenor has 148 million consolidated mobile subscriptions worldwide as of December 31, 2012. | | Telenor uses the expertise it has gained at its home and international markets for the development of emerging markets like Bangladesh. | | As part of the conversion of Grameenphone from a private limited to a public limited company, Telenor Mobile Communications AS transferred 10 shares each on May 31, 2007 to its three (3) affiliate organizations namely Nye Telenor Mobile Communications II AS, Norway; Telenor Asia Pte. Ltd., Singapore; and Nye Telenor Mobile Communications III AS, Norway. | Grameen Telecom (GTC) | | Grameen Telecom, which owns 34.20% of the shares of Grameenphone, is a not-for-profit company in Bangladesh established by Professor Muhammad Yunus, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2006. | | GTC’s mandate is to provide easy access to GSM cellular services in rural Bangladesh and create new opportunities for income generation through self-employment by providing villagers, mostly the poor rural women, with access to modern information and communication-based technologies. | | Grameen Telecom, with its field network, administers the Village Phone Program, through which Grameenphone provides its services to the fast growing rural customers. Grameen Telecom trains the operators and handles all service-related issues. | | GTC has been acclaimed for the innovative Village Phone Program. GTC & its Chairman Nobel Peace prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus have received several awards which include; First ITU World information Society Award in 2005; Petersburg Prize for Use of the IT to improve Poor People’s Lives” in 2004; GSM Association Award for “GSM in Community Service” in 2000. | | As part of the conversion of Grameenphone from a private limited to a public limited company, Grameen Telecom transferred 1 share each on May 31, 2007 to its two affiliate organizations namely Grameen Kalyan and Grameen Shakti. | Top Twenty Shareholders as on 31 December 2012 SL | Name of Shareholders | Number of Ordinary
Shares Held | Percentage | 1 | Telenor Mobile Communications AS | 753,407,724 | 55.80% | 2 | Grameen Telecom | 461,766,409 | 34.20% | 3 | Grameen Bank Borrower’s Investment Trust | 11,037,221 | 0.82% | 4 | Investment Corporation of Bangladesh | 8,848,000 | 0.66% | 5 | AB Investment Limited – Investors Discretionary Account | 5,470,700 | 0.41% | 6 | IDLC Investment Limited | 4,570,114 | 0.34% | 7 | ICB Unit Fund | 3,827,200 | 0.28% | 8 | A.K.Khan & Co. Limited | 2.398,200 | 0.18% | 9 | SSBT For SSB LUX Morgan Stanley Asset Management | 2,149,328 | 0.16% | 10 | United Commercial Bank Ltd. | 2,096,700 | 0.16% | 11 | Bangladesh Fund | 1,740,000 | 0.13% | 12 | NTC A/C Prince Street Opportunities Ltd. | 1,474,000 | 0.11% | 13 | NTC A/C Prince Street Institutional Ltd. | 1,366,000 | 0.10% | 14 | Rupali Bank Limited | 1,283,800 | 0.10% | 15 | SSBT For SS LUX A/C Goldman Sachs Funds – Goldman Sachs N-11 (R) Equity Portfolio | 1,254,000 | 0.09% | 16 | Sonali Bank | 1,151,400 | 0.09% | 17 | Delta Life Insurance Co. Ltd. | 1,130,400 | 0.08% | 18 | BRAC Bank Limited | 1,097,600 | 0.08% | 19 | BRAC EPL Investments Limited | 978,800 | 0.07% | 20 | The City Bank Ltd. | 975,600 | 0.07% | | Total | 1,268,023,196 | 93.93% | |

1. C. Mission, Vision and Values:
GP Vision
We exist to help our customers get the full benefit of communications services in their daily lives. We‘re here to help.

GP Mission
Grameenphone is the only reliable means of communication that brings the people of Bangladesh close to their loved ones and important things in their lives through unparalleled network, relevant innovations & services.

GP Values

 MAKE IT EASY
Everything we produce should be easy to understand and use. We should always remember that we try to make customers‘lives easier.

 KEEP PROMISES
Everything we do should work perfectly. If it doesn‘t, we‘re there to put things right. We‘re about delivery, not over-promising. We‘re about actions, not words.

 BE INSPIRING
We‘re creative. We bring energy and imagination to our work. Everything we produce should look fresh and modern.

 BE RESPECTFUL
We respect each of our customers. We listen to them and try to accomplish their desire respectfully. We acknowledge and respect local cultures. We want to be a part of local communities wherever we operate. We want to help customers with their specific needs in a way that suits way of their life best.
1. D. Business Strategies:

Grameenphone operates a digital mobile telecommunications network based on the GSM standard in the 900 MHz and1800 MHz frequency bands, under a license granted by the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC). As per the terms of the "Licensing Agreement" with Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, (succeeded by Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission), the radio system operating license of Grameenphone will expire on 11 November 2011.
The license is, however, subject to renewal upon fulfillment of certain terms and conditions. Management foresees no uncertainty regarding the renewal of the license. Grameenphone serves both rural and urban customers across Bangladesh, where mobile telephony is a major driver of socioeconomic development.
Bangladesh has one of the lowest teledensity rates and the highest subscriber growth rates in the world. Grameenphone built its network on a nationwide basis. As of March 2010, Grameenphone‘s network covered 99.14% of Bangladesh‘s population and 88.84% of the total land area, and the network infrastructure included around 114,000 TRXs in more than 7200 base stations. Grameenphone network is EDGE/GPRS enabled, allowing our customers to gain access to high-speed Internet and data services from anywhere within the coverage area.
Grameenphone has been a market leader in introducing new products and services in Bangladesh. The company was one of the first mobile phone operators to launch GSM service in the country. Grameenphone was also one of the first operators in Bangladesh to offer the subscribers mobile to mobile service, EDGE, prepaid service, voice SMS and ―over-the-air‖ top-ups. In January 2008, Grameenphone became the first mobile operator in Bangladesh to offer Blackberry TM services.

1 .E. Grameenphone Organizational Structure:

Corporate Governance is the structured process through which an organization is directed, controlled and held accountable. It clearly defines the rights and responsibility of the Board, Management, Shareholders and other Stakeholders like Government and the society at large. 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. | | 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 ensure maintaining of compliance with all laws of Bangladesh and internally developed policies, procedures and controls. 1.F.Corporate Governance in GrameenphoneGrameenphone (GP) throughout its entire business operations puts persistent efforts to ensure stakeholders' trust and confidence as governance and stakeholders' value are interconnected. With this end in view, GP has been providing and maintaining innovative, user-friendly and best-value telecommunications services to create sustainable stakeholders' value. To reach these objectives, the Board of Directors of the Company is dedicated to ensuring higher standards of Corporate Governance to keep the Company's business integrity and performance on the right track. Being a responsible corporate entity, GP maintains adequate transparency and encouraging sound business conduct both in its in-house practices and in its external relationship with the community as well as suppliers, customers and business partners. The Company, at the same time, expects acts of honesty and integrity from its Board of Directors, employees and suppliers.GP being a public listed company, its Board of Directors plays a crucial role in upholding the interests of all its stakeholders. The Board of Directors and the Management Team are also dedicated to maintaining a well-established culture of accountability, transparency, easy-to-understand policies and procedures to ensure effective Corporate Governance at every level of its operations. The Board of Directors and the Management Team also put their best efforts to comply with all the laws of the country and all the internal regulations, policies and procedures to make GP a thoroughly transparent company. Moreover, recognizing the fact that compliance has been the corner stone of good governance, the Company meticulously undergoes through the process of statutory audit and compliance certification as required by laws of the land. As a result, GP has been able to maintain the highest level of integrity and accountability of global standards over the years.Board Organization & Structurea) Role of the Board The Directors of the Board are appointed by the Shareholders at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and accountable to the Shareholders. The Board is responsible for ensuring that the business activities are soundly administered and effectively controlled. The Directors keep themselves informed about the company's financial position and ensure that its activities, accounts and asset management are subject to adequate control. The Board also ensures that Grameenphone Policies & Procedures and Codes of Conduct are implemented and maintained and the Company adheres to generally accepted principles for good governance and effective control of Company activities.In addition to other legal guidelines, the Board has also adopted “Rules of Procedure for the Board of Directors” for ensuring better governance in the work and the administration of the Board. The Board is also guided by a Delegation of Authority which spells out the practices and processes in discharging its responsibilities.b) Board Composition The Board in GP is comprised of ten (10) Directors, including the Chairman who is elected from amongst the members. In compliance with the Corporate Governance Guidelines issued by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) the Board of Directors has appointed two (2) Independent Directors. We believe that our Board has the optimum level of knowledge, composure and technical understanding about the Company’s business which, combined with its diversity of culture and background, stands as the perfect platform to perform and deliver.c) Board MeetingsThe AoA of the Company requires the Board to meet at least four times a year or more when duly called for in writing by a Board member. Dates for Board Meetings in a year are decided in advance and notice of each Board Meeting is served in writing well in advance. Such notice contains detailed statement of business to be transacted at each meeting. The Board meets for both scheduled meetings and on other occasions to deal with urgent and important matters that require attention.d) Division of work for the Board and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) The roles of the Board and Chief Executive Officer are separate and delineation of responsibilities is clearly established, set out in writing and agreed by the Board to ensure transparency and better corporate governance. To that end, GP has also adopted “Rules of Procedure for Chief Executive Officer”. The CEO is the authoritative head for day-to-day management in GP. He acts to reasonably ensure that GP operates business as per the Articles of Association, decisions made by the Board and Shareholders, as well as according to Grameenphone Policies and Procedures and applicable regulatory legislations.e) Subsidiary’s RelationshipThe Board of Directors of the subsidiary company of GP is obliged to provide the Board of Directors of GP with any information which is necessary for an evaluation of the Company’s position and the result of the Company’s activities. GP notifies the subsidiary company’s Board of Directors about the matters which may be of importance to the Company as a whole. GP also notifies the subsidiary company’s Board of Directors about decisions which may be of importance to the subsidiary company before a final decision is made. As per regulatory guidelines, the minutes of the GP subsidiary Board of Directors are routinely placed before GP Board meeting and those are reviewed and assessed by the GP Board for regular evaluation and governance.f) Access to Information The Board recognizes that the decision-making process is highly dependent on the quality of information furnished. In furtherance to this, every Director has access to all information within the Company. Throughout their tenure in office, the Directors are continually updated on the Company’s business and the regulatory and industry specific environments in which it operates. These updates are by way of written briefings and meetings with senior executives and, where appropriate, external sources.Board CommitteesFor better, quicker and furnished flow of information and thereby exercising effective governance, the Board has also constituted a number of Committees and has delegated certain responsibilities to the Board Committees to assist in the discharge of its responsibilities. The role of Board Committees is to advise and make recommendations to the Board. Each Committee operates in accordance with the Terms of Reference (TOR) approved by the Board. The Board reviews the TOR of the committees from time to time. The Board appoints the members and the Chairman of each committee. A brief description of each Committee is presented below: | | |
a. Audit CommitteeThe Grameenphone Audit Committee was established in late 2008 as a sub-committee of the Board and has jurisdiction over Grameenphone and its subsidiaries. The Audit Committee is comprised of three members of the Board. The Chairman of the committee is an Independent Director. The Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer, the Company Secretary and the Head of Internal Audit are permanent invitees to the Audit Committee meetings.The Audit Committee assists the Board in discharging its supervisory responsibilities with respect to internal control, financial reporting, risk management, auditing matters and GP’s processes of monitoring compliance with applicable legal & regulatory requirements and the Codes of Conduct. The Audit Committee Charter, as approved by the Board, defines the purpose, authority, composition, meetings, duties and responsibilities of the Audit Committee. b. Treasury CommitteeThis committee consists of three members who are appointed by the GP Board. All significant financial matters which concern the Board are discussed in this committee meeting in detail. Upon endorsement of the Treasury Committee, such issues are forwarded to the Board for their final review and approval.c. Human Resources CommitteeThis Committee consists of three members who are appointed by the GP Board. The Committee supports the Board in discharging its supervisory responsibilities with respect to Company’s Human Resources policy, including employee performance, motivation, retention, succession matters, rewards and Codes of Conduct. d. | Health, Safety, Security and Environment Committee |
This Committee consists of three members who are appointed by the GP Board. The Committee meets whenever necessary and supports the Board in fulfilling its legal and other obligations with respect to Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) issues. The Committee also assists the Board in obtaining assurance that appropriate systems are in place to mitigate HSSE risks in relation to the general environment, company, employees, vendors, etc.Company SecretaryTo ensure effective assimilation and timely flow of information required by the Board and to maintain necessary liaison with internal organs as well as external agencies, the Board has appointed a Company Secretary. The Corporate Governance Guidelines issued by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) also require a listed company to appoint a full fledged Company Secretary, as distinct from other managers of the Company. In pursuance of the same, the Board of Directors has appointed Company Secretary and defined his roles & responsibilities. In GP, among other functions, the Company Secretary:• performs as the bridge between the Board, Management and Shareholders on strategic and statutory decisions and directions.• Acts as a quality assurance agent in all information streams towards the Shareholders/Board.• is responsible for ensuring that appropriate Board procedures are followed and advises the Board on Corporate Governance matters.• acts as the Disclosure Officer of the Company and monitors the compliance of the Acts, rules, regulations, notifications, guidelines, orders/directives, etc. issued by BSEC or Stock Exchange(s) applicable to the conduct of the business activities of the Company so as to protect the interests of the investors and other stakeholders.Management Team (MT)The Management Team is the Executive Committee of Grameenphone managing and running the affairs of the Company. The Management Team consists of the CEO and other key Managers across the Company. The CEO is the leader of the team. The Management Team endeavors to achieve the strategic goals & mission of the Company set by the Board of Directors. The Management Team meets on a weekly basis to monitor the business performance of the Company.Control Environment in GrameenphoneIn implementing and ensuring the right Governance in Grameenphone, the Board and Management Team ensures the following: a. | Beyond Budgeting Management Model |
GP employs a Beyond Budgeting strategic management model whereby the company reviews its strategy for the next three years and sets annual and quarterly targets on key KPIs for the upcoming year. The targets/KPIs are set on relative terms to reflect the changes in business environment and thus ensuring a performance culture focused on attaining the targets and steering the company towards fulfilling its strategic ambitions. In every quarter the company also prepares forecast for the next five quarters. These forecasts are realistic projections of future directions. The model focuses on initiatives to minimize the gap between the targets (KPIs) and forecasts. The corporate level initiatives are cascaded down to divisional as well as individual levels. The forecasts on the key KPIs which serve as radar screen on future directions are reviewed and monitored against targets. This is a forward-looking and action-oriented approach towards managing the business. The resource allocations are dynamic and are based on the intended actions linked with the target and strategy. It aims to build a culture of freedom through responsibility and thereby leading to increased responsiveness to surrounding changes. b. | Financial Reporting |
Grameenphone has strong financial reporting procedures. Financial statements are prepared in accordance with International/Bangladesh Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS/BFRS), the Companies Act 1994, the Securities and Exchange Rules 1987 and other applicable financial legislations. The financial data are captured from the financial reports generated from Oracle ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system. These financial statements, once prepared, are reviewed by CFO and CEO on a regular basis. Upon submission to Group in the form of Management Accounts, these financial statements are reviewed by Group Accounting and Group Finance. At every quarter, external auditors review the quarterly financial statements prepared in accordance with local financial reporting policies and company procedures, which consist of the financial performance and position of Grameenphone as a group. Separate sets of financial statements for both Grameenphone Ltd. and Grameenphone IT Ltd. are also prepared. The annual audit is conducted by the external auditors, who are appointed by the Board of Directors followed by the shareholders’ approval in the annual general meeting. Apart from the statutory reporting of financial statements, Grameenphone also maintains regular reporting to its group company Telenor, which consolidates all its subsidiaries’ financial information in its consolidated financial statements. c. | Operational Excellence |
To ensure better shareholder return on investment, cost efficiency plays a vital role in any organization. In view of that, Grameenphone keeps operational excellence as one of the key focus areas.One of its major cost and operational efficiency initiatives has been the swapping of network equipment with energy efficient equipment and future ready technology. Swapping of the entire network equipment of 7,272 base stations was completed in November 2011. This initiative has not only improved the network performance in terms of quality and capacity, but also has significantly reduced fuel and power consumptions by taking out air conditioners from the base stations as well as lowered power requirement of the equipments. Moving to its corporate headquarter “GPHouse” and associated benefits such as waste water recycling, reduced illumination requirement, paperless approval systems and various scale effects are some of the notable efficiency drives in addition to numerous large and small efficiency initiatives across the company.
Grameenphone has also made significant advancements in green initiatives which have reduced its carbon footprint and led to increased utilization of solar energy. Since 2011, Grameenphone has undertaken a companywide cost transformation project which aims towards streamlining GP processes thereby optimizing costs and making the company more efficient in the years to come. This has given notable contribution to cost efficiency, along with a structured operational efficiency method that helped the company to save as high as BDT 2.4 billion in operational cost in the year 2012. d. | Business Review and Financial Review |
Business reviews and financial reviews are conducted on a quarterly basis by the Group. The purpose of business review is to ensure strategic control and follow-up of results based on the prevailing strategic objectives, value drivers and key changes to risk exposure. Financial reviews provide the internal quarterly results follow-up for the Company. The purpose is to provide an analysis of the economic and financial situations, which will then form the basis for external reporting and presentations, and to provide quality assurance for the financial reporting. In addition to quarterly business and financial review with Group, CEO and CFO review financial results on a monthly basis and set action points to achieve the company business goals. e. | Management of Assets |
Grameenphone, in its pursuit of best quality network for its subscribers, has been investing in cutting edge telecom technology since its inception. Transparency and accountability is ensured at all stages from acquisition to disposal to protect the interest of Shareholders. Internationally accepted safety measures have been implemented and periodic physical verification is undertaken on a test basis to safeguard the assets and to ensure representational faithfulness of reported numbers. All the assets are adequately insured against industrial risks with local and international insurance companies. f. | Statutory Audit |
Statutory Audit of the Company is governed by the Companies Act, 1994 and Securities and Exchange Rules 1987. As per these regulations, auditors are appointed by Shareholders at each Annual General Meeting (AGM) and their remuneration is also fixed by the Shareholders at the AGM. Appropriate structure is in place as per corporate governance best practices to ensure independence of statutory auditors. In addition to the audit of annual financial statements, the auditors also carry out audit of half-yearly financial statements of the Company.Further, to ensure adequate regulatory discharge, a Compliance Certificate is also obtained from licensed practicing professionals who certify that the Company has duly complied with all the regulatory requirements as stipulated by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC). g. | Internal Audit |
Internal Audit supports the Company in achieving its objectives by bringing a systematic and disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of its risk management, control and governance processes. In order to ensure organizational independence of Internal Audit, the Head of Internal Audit reports functionally to the Audit Committee and administratively to the Chief Executive Officer.Grameenphone Internal Audit is empowered to carry out its activities in Grameenphone and its subsidiaries. Internal Audit activity is governed by the Internal Audit Charter, which is approved by the Board. Grameenphone Internal Audit department discharges its assurance and consulting activities through management of three distinct audit streams: Finance, Technology and General Business processes. Additionally, a separate team is responsible for quality assurance of internal audit activity. A risk-based annual audit plan is in place, which takes into consideration the strategic imperatives and major risks surrounding Grameenphone, while considering pervasive audit needs. Grameenphone Internal Audit also works closely with Telenor Group Internal Audit in sharing knowledge and resources to ensure achievement of internal audit deliverables. h. | Internal Control |
Corporate Governance is well-built in GP and is reached to even greater height in terms of sound internal control pursuits. In 2012, the practice has been strengthened as control owner/performers are getting more involved, aware and proactive rather than being enforced. Partnering among Board of Directors, Management and Employees of the Company has made this continuous success story of pursuing Sarbanes Oxley Act in GP since 2006. The outcome of the effort is award winning true fair representation of financial report. The scope of ICFR includes Company Level Control (CLC) along with General Computer Control (GCC) as well to ascertain operational efficacy, consistent and dependable financial reporting, information security and legal compliance. This reasonable assurance has become even more crucial after being a listed company in the country’s Stock Exchanges. | I. | Related Party Transactions | | |

The Board through its Audit Committee reviews all the related party transactions time to time. Abiding to the laws, a Director who has an interest in a transaction abstains from deliberation and voting on the relevant resolutions in respect of the transactions at the Board meetings. Details of these transactions are set out under Notes to the Financial Statements.

| j. Dividend Policy |
The Board of Directors has established a consistent dividend policy which forms the basis for the proposals on dividend payments that it makes to the Shareholders taking into consideration the business performance of the Company and its strategic initiatives. The Board believes that it is in the best interest of Grameenphone to draw up a long-term and predictable dividend policy. The objective of the policy is to allow the shareholders to make informed investment decisions.

k. | Risk Management & Risk Mitigation |

Risk Management at GP is concerned with earning competitive returns from the Company’s various business activities at acceptable risk level. It supports the Company’s competitiveness by developing a culture, practice and structure that systematically recognizes and addresses future opportunities whilst managing adverse effects (i.e. threats) through recognizing risk and acting appropriately upon it. The Company has well defined risk management manual and processes to mitigate strategic and enterprise level risks. | | | | | | |

l) | Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management |

Revenue Assurance function secures the revenue generated by any business activity and its realization through preventing or fixing any possible revenue leakages. This function also supports in revenue reporting accuracy. In place Fraud Management system and processes ensure innovative & effective defense mechanisms to prevent losses from internal / external Telecom fraud.

m) | Compliance with Rules & Regulations of the Country |

Compliance helps to build trust among the Board Members, Shareholders, Customers and other stakeholders. As the leaders of a compliant Company, the Management Team of Grameenphone adopted strategies that assure compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements. This ensures that good governance cascades right throughout the Company. Grameenphone is subject to close monitoring process of regulatory bodies that focus on transparency and require that Grameenphone provides accurate and periodic reporting of issues/events and certification where necessary. In this context, Grameenphone regularly provides a complete set of financial statements and relevant documents to the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), Stock Exchanges, National Board of Revenue (NBR), Registrar of Joint Stock Companies & Firms (RJSC), Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the Board of Investment (BOI) and all other relevant bodies and authorities. Further, in order to conduct day-to-day business in a compliant way, Grameenphone renders its best efforts to comply with the existing applicable laws of the country as well as with the directives/guidelines/ regulations of various Government Authorities. Grameenphone also takes various initiatives to conduct awareness sessions on existing and proposed laws and regulations of the country to ensure compliance throughout the Company. Overall, Grameenphone has always strived to remain a fully compliant Company accommodating every possible ways and strategies to ensure the same.

n. | Business Continuity and Crisis Management (BCCM) |

Grameenphone has adopted Business Continuity and Crisis Management (BCCM) program as part of corporate governance. Business Continuity Management is a holistic process of identifying potential threats and consequent proactive preparation for creating organizational resilience. This is to enable Grameenphone to avoid threats or if it happens, to respond effectively. It aims the objective that threats are not escalated to crisis rather managed at earlier stage.
Crisis management process requires being ready with Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and Crisis Management Plan (CMP). BCPs are made to run the business at minimum acceptable level in case of any threat in real life. The CMP documents procedures to be followed in case of an incident escalated to crisis. It is expected from such readiness that Grameenphone would be able to deliver critical services at an acceptable level and to bring the business back to normal within an acceptable time period.
BCCM approach encompasses all enterprise-wise critical business processes. Risk Assessment (RA), Business Impact Analysis (BIA), Creating & updating BCP & CMP, exercising & review are the key process-cycle followed as BCCM practice at Grameenphone. o. | Ethics and Behavior |

Code of conducts:
GP has adopted Code of Conduct (“Code”) approved by the Board of Directors, which reflects GP’s core values, integrity, respect, trust and openness. It provides clear direction on conducting business, interacting with the community, government, business partners and general workplace behavior. It also includes guidance on disclosure of conflict of interest situations, maintaining confidentiality and disclosure of information, good international practices and internal control and the duty to report where there is a breach against the Code. The Codes are properly communicated to all the employees including its Board members and others acting on behalf, who are strictly required to abide by it. All of them have certified in writing that they have read and understood the Codes.
Restrictions on dealings in GP Shares by Insiders
The Company has established a detailed policy relating to trading of GP shares by Directors, Employees and other Insiders. The securities laws also impose restrictions on similar transactions. All the Insiders are prohibited from trading in the GP shares, while in possession of unpublished price sensitive information in relation to the Company during prescribed restricted trading period. Directors and Employees are also required to notify their intention to trade in the GP shares prior to initiating the same.
Supplier Conduct Principles
The Supplier Conduct Principles (“SCP”) outline the standards for ethical and business conduct expected for suppliers and contractors in their relationship with the Company. The SCP are binding on the Company’s suppliers through the confirmation and signing of the Agreement on Responsible Business Conduct to ensure high standards of business ethics amongst all suppliers of the Company.

p. | Investor Relations (IR) |

As the largest public listed corporate house in Bangladesh, Grameenphone has always placed high importance to the investor community and catering to their various information requirements. With a vision of establishing the most effective two-way communication between the investors and the Company, a dedicated Investor Relations Department started its journey in 2010. IR as a specialized department has maintained contact with both local and international investors, analysts, market experts and financial community on a proactive basis. This also reflects GP’s commitment towards developing the Capital Market of the country by introducing global best practices and ensuring transparency and accountability from the general investors’ perspective. Notable events that IR conducted during the year are Asian Road Shows in Hong Kong & Singapore, quarterly financial publications and press conferences, institutional investors’ nights & analyst call conferences, Annual Investor Night 2012 and Financial Journalist Workshop on Capital Market.

| |
Q. Shareholders:
Communications with Shareholders
We believe good Corporate Governance involves openness and trustful cooperation between all stakeholders involved in the Company, including the owners of the Company – the Shareholders. Information is communicated to the Shareholders regularly through a number of forums and publications. The Company has adopted a detailed policy on information disclosure and communication. In compliance with continuous disclosure requirements, the Company’s policy is that Shareholders will be informed in a routine manner of all major developments that impact the business of the Company and also be able to make informed decisions.

Information Disclosure: In accordance with the disclosure requirements, the Company follows these three main forms of information disclosure:

• Continuous disclosure – which is its core disclosure and primary method of informing the market and Shareholders;
• Periodic disclosure – in the form of quarterly and yearly reporting of financial results and other issues; and
• Event based disclosure – as and when required, of administrative and corporate developments, usually in the form of stock exchanges & press releases. General Meeting | The General Meeting is the supreme governing body in Grameenphone. The Company recognizes the rights of Shareholders and the Shareholder’s interests are primarily ensured through GP’s Annual General Meeting (“AGM”). The Company requires its Board and auditor to attend each AGM so as to be available to answer Shareholders’ queries on the result of the Company. |

Corporate Responsibility at
Grameenphone

Corporate Responsibility Department

GP INTERNAL
Corporate Responsibility
Departmental chart with Scope of work
Md. Arkanul IslamM. Hafizur Rahman Khan
Reazun Nabi
Scope of work:
Formulate and periodic revisit of the CR Strategy in line with overall company strategy.
Develop processes and guidelines to undertake new projects and partners
Study, analysis, evaluation and reporting of CR projects
Identify and drive business integrated CR projects.
Develop and implement CR Governance model
Ensure alignment with Group CR activities
Back to Divisional Chart

I worked under the corporate responsibility department of Grameenphone. Mr. Debashis Roy is the head of Corporate Responsibility department. The CR department is divided in to main two parts. These are CR Engagement and CR governance. CR Engagement is looking after by Mr. Arkanul Islam and Mr. Hafizur Rahman Khan and CR Governance is looking after by Mr. Reazun Nabi. Grameenphone has been able to do a lot of CR activities throughout this whole time. Now I will briefly discuss their previous and recent CR activities.
CSR at Grameenphone:
Around the world, development is attributed to myriad factors. From education to stable governance, hundreds of issues are directly linked with the process of growth. Curiously, connectivity has never been canonized in the same vein and has often been viewed as a peripheral tool rather than a genuine factor towards development. That perspective must change as we, at Grameenphone, understand the essential correlation between connectivity and development. We realize that when a rural farmer purchases a SIM card, he has purchased more than just a means of communication. What he has actually done, is to open up a gateway of hope and possibilities. The ‘mere’ SIM card offers the farmer a level of connectivity that can steer him out of poverty.
But things have not always been this way. For decades, our people were deprived of access to convenient low cost communications. From the ashes of those problems arose mobile telephony and Bangladesh has never been the same since. As the pioneers of mobile telephony in Bangladesh, we have connected more than 20 million people across the country, many of whom previously had little or no access to such communication. The ripple effects of such connectivity can be felt in the larger picture of development in Bangladesh. Access to information transforms lives every day and generates business opportunities through direct and indirect employment. This is where connectivity meets development.
The village phone helps to bring both social and economic empowerment to the rural women as they take center stage in earning a living and setting an inspiring example. Connectivity also brings with it entrepreneurship, such as setting up Community Information Centers (CICs). It drives people to invest in technology and bridge the digital divide, thus helping both individuals and the communities along the way towards development. Connectivity also assists towards making informed business decisions as well as reducing the dependency on middlemen. CellBazaar – an electronic marketplace – facilitates traders with necessary market information and thus contributes towards business growth.
In connecting the unconnected, we have contributed towards bringing the urban to the rural and the rural to the urban, generating employment, increasing GDP, empowered millions and generally making life easier. In our march towards development, no one is left behind and every day we hope to keep connecting the unconnected.

Village Phone (Every freedom counts):
In rural areas, where isolation and poor infrastructure services are often the norm, telecommunications can play an extremely important role in enhancing social and economic development. The Village Phone (VP) initiative has made tremendous social and economic impact in the rural areas of Bangladesh, creating a ‘substantial consumer surplus’ for the users. On the other hand, it has created an income-earning opportunity for the VP operators, mostly poor women and borrower members of Grameen Bank, who are now able to make their opinions count.
Launch Date:
26 March, 1997, the same day commercial service of Grameenphone was launched.
How It Works:
Grameen Telecom supervises the village phone activities in cooperation with Grameen Bank and Grameenphone. The Village Phones work as an owner-operated pay phone. A member of Grameen Bank takes a loan to buy a handset and a GP subscription and she is trained by Grameen Telecom on how to operate it. The VP operators then retails the mobile phone service among her fellow villagers, thus earning an income.

Community Information Center (Every opportunity counts):
The Grameenphone Community Information Center (CIC) is a shared premise where rural people may access a wide range of state of the art services such as Internet, voice communications, video conferencing and other information services. It aims to bridge the “digital divide” by providing access to information-based services to under-served and underprivileged rural people, as well as to build local entrepreneurships and create employment opportunities for the unemployed youth.
Launch Date: February 2006
How it Works:
It is designed to be run independently as small businesses by local entrepreneurs. Each CIC is equipped with a computer, a printer, a scanner, a webcam and a modem to provide internet-based services. CIC entrepreneurs are trained and are provided with continuous support from Grameenphone so that they can extend their knowledge and service to the communities they serve. CICs also provide other GP services, such as payphones and electronic recharge for pre-paid and post-paid mobile accounts.
In order to achieve its vision, Grameenphone has united with NGOs and development organizations as strategic partners. The rollout partners are Grameen Telecom, Society for Economic and Basic Advancement (SEBA), and Eagle for nationwide implementation, and Kalikapur Daridro Kallan Sangsta (KDKS), Socio-Economic Development Association (SEDA), Karmakutir, Goriber Asroy, and SSTD Communication for divisional implementation.

CellBazar (Every enterprise counts):
Limited communication has always been a hindrance for performing business, especially in developing countries. In Bangladesh, the isolated and uninformed farmers and traders have little bargaining power with exploitative middlemen.
Using Grameenphone CellBazaar, buyers and sellers are able to trade goods (e.g. rice, motorcycle, electronics, etc.) through their mobile phones, bringing the benefits of information exchange, community networking and one-to-many trading to a previously unwired rural population. It facilitates the system of trading, so that the traders can gather market information for smart and informed decision-making while staying at home and grow their business. CellBazaar simply connects and empowers.
Launch Date: July 2006
How it Works:
Every imaginable product is listed on CellBazaar, from Grameenphone CellBazaar project is about using the mobile phone to create an electronic market place. CellBazaar users register via a simple procedure and can then post items for sale via the mobile phone or a computer. For buyers interested in purchasing items or services, the process is just as easy. A simple search through an SMS, or browsing with WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and WEB (www.cellbazaar.com), or even through IVR (call 3838) gives access to the listed available items with their respective price and the address of purchase.
Poultry in Habiganj to fridges in Rangamati, opening up a world of possibilities for all involved.

Healthcare (Every life counts):
“He, who has health, has hope. And he, who has hope, has everything.” – An Arabian proverb.
Health is, indeed, our greatest capital. It fosters our potential and harnesses our abilities towards greater equality and prosperity. Without good health, the challenge of progress becomes one that is almost insurmountable. In light of this, public health indicators for Bangladesh paint a disconcerting picture. Only 30% of the poorest of the poor (those who make less than US$ 1 a day) can avail the primary healthcare services, only 13% women get Skilled Attendants during delivery and millions have to suffer the agony of preventable blindness. The magnitude of the challenge necessitates the engagement of all those who are able, and not just those who are assigned, such as the government and non-governmental bodies, in the health sector. We must all contribute, no matter how humble our contributions may be.
Thus “Health” is one of the key focus areas where Grameenphone has consolidated its social investments. We believe we should work together to create means through which we will not only assist in raising awareness but also take the available services door to door and reach the mass population of the country. For this, we are committed to work with the Bangladesh Government and development agencies to make every life count and are focused on improving basic service quality, developing infrastructure and ensuring access to healthcare for all.
To that end, we have undertaken a number of healthcare projects. Through USAID’s network of 318 Smiling Sun Clinics in 61 districts, we launched the “Grameenphone Safe Motherhood and Infant Care Project,” giving free and comprehensive safe motherhood and infant care services essentially to all economically disadvantaged mothers and their infants nationwide. We have also been conducting free eye-care camps in rural areas where people have little or no access to quality healthcare; carried out mass-media campaigns on National Immunization Days and to raise awareness and advocate for necessary policy reforms on HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh. We also sponsored the development and upkeep of five wards and one operation theatre at the under construction Dhaka Ahsania Mission Cancer and General Hospital. The Healthline project, a 24-hour Medical call center manned by licensed physicians, provides access to healthcare information through interactive teleconference.

Safe Motherhood and Infant Care Project:
Motherhood is rightly celebrated as the most extraordinary time in a woman’s life, and ideally, there possibly cannot be any experience that is more gratifying. However, reality sometimes differs. In Bangladesh only 13% women get Skilled Attendants at Delivery. The country has one of the highest maternal mortality rates (32 per 10,000) and infant mortality rates (52 per 1,000) in Asia. Safe motherhood is not only vital to avoid untimely and painful maternal and child deaths, but to nurture a healthy and prosperous nation too. Henceforth, reducing infant mortality and improving maternal health have been identified as two of the eight millennium development goals. Grameenphone Safe Motherhood & Infant Care Project is thus designed to ensure free, yet quality, safe motherhood and infant care services to poor mothers and their infants throughout the country. It also aims to assist in necessary infrastructure development and extension of basic healthcare services, especially in the hard-to-reach and remote areas.
Launch Date: May 2007
How it Works:
In partnership with Pathfinder International and through USAID’s network of Smiling Sun clinics in 61 districts, free primary healthcare services are being provided by health professionals via 318 static clinics, 8000 satellite clinics and 6000 community-based health-workers across the country. In addition, we have introduced clinic-on-wheels (i.e. mobile mini-hospital) to complement these existing service touch-points to enhance the accessibility of services in remote areas.

Free Eye Camps (Every sight counts):
Bangladesh has the highest number of blind people in terms of its population. There are about 750,000 adults and 40,000 children, who live blind due to cataract or other ocular diseases that could have easily been cured with timely and proper intervention.
The major challenge in eliminating blindness in Bangladesh is reaching the rural and underserved population as the majority of country’s eye-care facilities are based in the big cities. 80 percent of Bangladeshis living in rural areas are almost completely deprived of all eye-care services. Bangladesh is a signatory of the VISION 2020: Right to Sight, a global initiative jointly launched in 1999 by WHO and IAPB to eradicate blindness from the world by the year 2020.
Hence, with a mission to combat blindness, Grameenphone, in partnership with Sight savers International, organizes free eye-care camps in different parts of the country where eye-care services are not readily available.
Launch Date: July 2007.
How it Works
Grameenphone, jointly with Sight savers International, organizes the eye camps and pro-vides associated actual cost for organizing the camps and also provides surgery costs which includes transportation and follow-up visit cost of patients.

Fight against HIV/AIDS (Every voice counts):
With a prevalence rate of less than 1%, HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh may not look like a major threat. However, with a population of nearly 150 million, a mere 1% rise would mean an addition of more than a million victims to the numbers. The first case of HIV in Bangladesh was detected in 1989. According to a 2004 UN study, HIV infections have tripled globally in the last six years. UNAIDS estimated that 13,000 adults and children were living with HIV at the end of 2002 in Bangladesh. Again, one of the eight Millennium Development Goals for Bangladesh is to halt the spread of HIV and AIDS by 2015. Hence, Grameenphone is committed to work closely with Bangladesh Government and concerned development agencies to achieve that target, with the aim to raise awareness and advocate for necessary policy reforms on HIV/AIDS through different communication channels.
Launch Date: September 2007
How it Works:
Grameenphone, jointly works with UNAIDS, an initiative of the United Nations which brings together the efforts and resources of ten UN agencies i.e. UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNFPA, UNODC, ILO, UNESCO, WHO, and the World Bank, to help prevent new HIV infections, care for those already infected, and mitigate the impact of the epidemic. This partnership works through the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum (APLF) with the aim to create an enabling environment in support of policy actions on HIV and AIDS.
APLF is a ground-breaking advocacy platform of UNAIDS to promote enhanced leadership roles in response to HIV and AIDS. The initiative involves high-level leaders from different sectors of the country, including governance, education, development, business, media and women, and engages them in helping to create an enabling environment in support of action on HIV and AIDS, as per the global directive from the UN. A major focus of the initiative is to feature these leaders through various communication platforms, with customized messages targeting specific segmenting of the society, as high profile advocates for the necessary policy reforms. The campaign highlights their messages with an objective to raise awareness and encourage an open and candid social dialogue on this crucial issue.
The current APLF ambassadors are: Prof. Jafar Iqbal (educationist), Bibi Russel (fashion designer and activist), Runa Laila and Alamgir (cultural personalities), and Mamun Rashid (Banker and economist).

Cancer Management for the Poor (Every fight counts):
It is estimated that there are around 1 million cancer patients in Bangladesh and about 200,000 new cases are being added every year. Around 150,000 cancer patients die annually. The problem of cancer in Bangladesh is particularly acute because cancer receives neither recognition nor funds as addressing the primary healthcare issues and ensuring associated services to the nation have still remained a challenge. As a result, the treatment facilities are lacking, trained doctors are scarce and the inadequate infrastructure in place is ill-maintained. Only 15,000 patients receive right treatment every year.
In this situation, the Dhaka Ahsania Mission Cancer and General Hospital brings hope to all and Grameenphone is proud to be a part of the initiative to ensure cancer treatment for the disadvantaged people of the country.
Launch Date: Construction of the hospital is currently ongoing.
How it Works: Grameenphone sponsors the complete development and upkeep of five wards and an Operation Theatre (OT) at the under construction Dhaka Ahsania Mission Cancer and General Hospital. One third of the beds sponsored by GP will be reserved for more economically-disadvantaged patients who will receive free admission and full treatment. Other disadvantaged patients screened will also receive treatment, which will be significantly subsidized by Grameenphone.
Grameenphone also works closely with Dhaka Ahsania Mission towards technical capacity building for cancer management.

NID Awareness Campaign (Every drop counts):
Since 2006, no new cases of polio have been reported in Bangladesh. There is strong reason to believe that the disease can be completely eradicated from the country if all children in Bangladesh can be brought within the Immunization program. However, almost one-third of Bangladeshi children still do not receive the seven essential vaccines required for immunization within their first year of life under the routine Expanded Program of Immunization, and while a large cohort of children remain unvaccinated, we have little hope of eliminating potentially deadly diseases as polio.
But it is vaccine-preventable. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), spearheaded by World Health Organization, works with governments around the world to reduce the incidence of polio.
In an effort to eradicate and stop the re-emergence of polio, Bangladesh has observed several rounds of the National Immunization Days (NIDs) in 2007 to immunize 24 million children under the age of five. Grameenphone, along with the Government and the WHO, was a proud partner of the mass awareness campaign during the NIDs in March, April and October 2007. The main objective of this unique campaign was to raise awareness on immunization and help the Government of Bangladesh to eradicate polio from the country.
Launch Date: March 2007.
How it Works:
As part of the campaign, radio and newspaper announcements urged parents to bring their children to vaccination centers across the country, free SMS alerts were send to all Grameenphone subscribers, and the occasion was specially promoted at the Japan-Bangladesh Friendship Hospital, a Thank You partner of Grameenphone. As a result, 98.7% (as per independent observers’ checklist) of the targeted children were covered during those NIDs

Blood Bank at Rafatullah Community Hospital (Every smile counts):
Safe blood transfusion is one of the most important pre-conditions for health safety. Yet, more than 50% of the total blood needed every year in Bangladesh is donated by professional donors who pose serious health risks of many contagious diseases. On the other hand, a mere 0.05% of the total population donates blood voluntarily in the country. If the numbers would rise to even 0.2%, the total requirement of blood could be fulfilled.
In view of this, Grameenphone launched a full-fledged blood bank at one of Thengamara Mohila Sabuj Sangha (TMSS) health initiatives, the Rafatullah Community Hospital (RCH) in Bogra. This is the first and the largest blood bank in the northern region of the country funded by a private organization.
The Rafatullah Community Hospital is located in Bogra right next to the Dhaka-Rangpur Highway, which is also an accident prone area with a high incidence of need for surgeries and blood transfusion. In 2006, RCH transfused 1260 bags of blood to its patients. The surgery department of the hospital now takes complete shape with the establishment of this blood bank.
Launch Date: August 2008
How it Works:
Grameenphone provided the financial assistance to set up the blood bank at the hospital, which will ensure adequate resources required for safe and hygienic blood transfusion for every patient requiring blood at RCH, especially the underprivileged. Grameenphone also aims to create awareness among the mass for voluntary blood donation through this project.

789 Health line:
Ensuring access to basic healthcare is a major development challenge in Bangladesh, as there is lack of adequate medical practitioners and infrastructure. Grameenphone is offering communication solutions using its core services to address this challenge.
Our Health line service is thus launched with the aim to enhance access to primary healthcare services using mobile communications technology.
Launch Date: October 2006
How it Works
The Health line service, first of its kind, is designed to extend primary healthcare information and services to people in both rural and urban areas. It is a 24-hour Medical call center which provides services through an interactive teleconference between a Grameenphone mobile user and a licensed physician.
Grameenphone subscribers may seek medical advice on emergency, non-emergency or regular medical situation by simply dialing ‘789.’ A 789-caller will also enjoy additional medical information services, such as doctor and medical facility information, interpretation of laboratory test reports and data, and emergency support information.

Empowerment:
Empowering the Disempowered
Lack of empowerment and poverty is a chronic and complex problem for Bangladesh. According to the UNDP HDI report (2006), which measures the average progress of a country in human development in terms of life expectancy, adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), etc., Bangladesh ranks 137th among 177 countries. Moreover, 50% of the total population of Bangladesh lives below the poverty line, defined as an income of less than a dollar a day.Some of the major factors contributing to this situation are inequality in income distribution, lack of access to resources, lack of access to information and inadequate infrastructure. The rural people of Bangladesh especially are deprived of these facilities, which is a major issue to break out from the shackles of poverty prevailing in the country. Empowerment is a key constituent towards poverty reduction, and it is a key driver for sustainable development. It is a process whereby the capacity of individuals or groups are enhanced to make important choices and decisions, and to transform those choices and decisions into desired actions and outcomes. This, in turn, helps them to secure a better and more prosperous life. We firmly believe that we have significant contribution to make on this key issue. In our CSR journey, we have become the proud sponsor of Bangladesh Special Olympics team, which won 71 medals in the Special Olympic Games 2007 in Beijing, China. Six acid survivors have been assisted in their rehabilitation process with employment opportunities in Grameenphone. We have initiated the Information Boat project with Care Bangladesh with an aim to empower riverine rural communities with digitized livelihood contents and internet access while the CSR partnership with Ashokti Punorbshon Nibash (APON) aims to support treatment and rehabilitation of economically-disadvantaged drug addicts.
We acknowledge that development and poverty reduction depend on holistic economic prosperity. Therefore, our aim is to increase development opportunities, enhance development outcomes and contribute towards improvement of the quality of life of the people through our CSR initiatives and innovative services. We are committed to facilitate empowerment opportunities to the vulnerable people of Bangladesh, so that it enables them to better influence the course of their lives and live a life of their own choice.

Partnership with Special Olympics Bangladesh (Every win counts):
Ten percent population of Bangladesh is challenged with some form of disability or the other, and, outside the initiatives of the Government and a handful of private and non-profit organizations, there is very little done for the welfare of the disabled.
Thus, Grameenphone, in association with Special Olympics Bangladesh, aims to empower intellectually-challenged athletes by nurturing and nourishing their sporting capabilities. This will help them become independent and confident in themselves, so that they can not only be a part of the society in which they live, but also play an active role with their own achievements to stand upon.
Launch Date: August 2007
How it Works:
As the sole sponsor, Grameenphone provided necessary support and training for the athletes for participation in the Special Olympic Games 2007 in Beijing, China. Special Olympics International is the world’s largest program of sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Grameenphone also organizes national talent hunts throughout the regions to form a “national talent pool” and to ensure sustainable supply of new talent. The National talent pool will be further groomed and nurtured centrally preparing them for the next International Special Olympic Games in 2011

Information Boat Project (Every information counts):
Information is a powerful enabling tool that opens up a wide range of opportunities. But in reality, a farmer from rural Bangladesh can hardly relate to the words: information technology. As the current scenario stands, less than 15% of the population has access to satellite or cable broadcasts and approximately 60% of the population does not have access to electricity. Thus, it is not surprising that information communication technologies (ICT) are generally restricted to a handful of the elite.
To break that taboo, the Information Boat Project sailed out of a partnership between Grameenphone and CARE Bangladesh whereby information hubs are being created to meet the communication needs of rural communities, especially in the Char and Haor areas.
Launch Date: December 2007
How it Works:
The Information Boats will work as information hub to meet the communication needs of rural communities, especially in the Char and Haor areas, as people of these areas have limited access to up-to-date livelihood and other information owing to their remote presence from the mainland. A typical Information Boat will be equipped with computers, Internet and email facilities, photocopiers, fax machines, printers, webcams and video machines, scanners and much more, depending on the needs of a specific community. These boats will also be equipped with digital content, such as livelihood and agricultural information, suited for the specific areas served by the designated boats. At the same time, skilled trainers from CARE Bangladesh will provide training to the local community people on different livelihood options.

Skill Development Center (Every hand counts):
There is no denying the fact that, drug addiction has become a growing phenomenon globally. Bangladesh, as a part of the global village, is affected by it with an estimated 2 million drug users, including women and children. The issue of drug abuse touches the most vulnerable: the majority of drug users in South Asia belong to the poorest strata of society and, unfortunately, most of the victims of drug abuse in our country are the youth who could have been actively contributing to the economic and social development of the country.
Drug rehabilitation centers play a significant role in this fight towards a drug-free society, as they are aimed at helping people get over their dependency on drugs and arming them with the techniques and willpower to ensure they stay drug-free. Therefore Grameenphone formed a CSR partnership with Ashokti Punorbshon Nibash (APON), to support rehabilitation of economically disadvantaged drug addicts.
Launch Date: September 2007
How it Works:
Through this partnership, Grameenphone provided financial support for the construction of a skill development center at APONGaon to assist in the rehabilitation and social integration process of these lost souls. We also established a computerized information center on its premises, which serves as an alternative income stream for APONGaon. The information center is equipped with a computer, a printer, a scanner, a webcam and a modem to render internet-based services to the local community. It also provides other GP services, such as payphones and electronic recharge for pre-paid and post-paid mobile accounts.

Rehabilitation of Acid Victims (Every confidence counts):
Acid throwing is an extreme form of violence in Bangladesh. Though both sexes are victims to this heinous crime, majority of victims are women and girls. The assaulters are, however, always men seeking retribution, motivated by hatred or jealousy. They throw acid not only to destroy the victims’ faces, but their hopes and dreams of ever being happy. It is meant to break their spirit and confidence.
But, with proper encouragement and support, these survivors can still stride forward leading a life in their own terms and hence escape the social stigma of being a ‘victim.’ Grameenphone is lending support to the Acid Survivors’ Foundation (ASF) in the rehabilitation and reintegration of these victims into the society.
Launch Date: September 2007.
How it Works:
Grameenphone has so far recruited six individuals who had been supported by the Acid Survivors’ Foundation. These individuals have been provided with the training by GP to help them develop the necessary skills to take on their new responsibilities at Grameenphone.

Education:
Funding the Future: Education is a basic human right. Article 26 of The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948) recognizes education along with other necessities such as food, shelter, and water as a fundamental human right. At the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000, participants from 164 countries pledged to provide education for all by 2015 and Bangladesh is a signatory to that charter.
Education works as a catalyst for human development. It provides people with the tools and knowledge they need to understand and participate in today’s world, and benefit from globalization and technological change. It is one of the most effective weapons against HIV/AIDS and other diseases, and raises awareness of living conditions and environmental protection. Life expectancy rises by as much as 2 years for every 1 per cent increase in literacy.
Education also plays an active role in economic development and eradicating poverty. It allows people to be more productive, to play a greater role in economic life, and to earn a better living. It has been found that, an adult with a primary education earns twice as much as an adult without any schooling. Education enables people to be responsible and informed citizens, and to have a voice in politics and society, which is essential for sustaining democracy. A report shows that in Bangladesh, women with a secondary education are three times more likely to attend a political meeting than are women with no education.
Consequently, education is considered as one of the key focus areas of GrameenPhone’s social investments. We aim to work with the Government and development agencies, to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of ensuring universal primary education for all. In collaboration with Grameen Shikkha, an organization of the Grameen Bank family, we provide scholarship to some 100 bright but underprivileged students at different academic levels through a scholarship fund annually. We also provide educational support to a number of special schools – Tauri Foundation, HANS, CDC, and SEID Trust – with an objective to aid in the learning process of the gifted children in our society. Grameenphone is also a proud partner of the Enrichment Program of Bishsho Shahitto Kendro through which free books are distributed. We recently initiated a CSR project to publish and distribute illustrated publications on the Liberation War for school-going children, with the objective to inspire them with the heroics of our freedom-fighters.
We are aware that the initiatives still serves less than what the nation needs. But, we are committed to keep contributing in whatever way we can towards achieving an enlightened Bangladesh. This dream is one that we all share as a nation.

Scholarship Program (Every dream counts):
Today’s children are tomorrow’s gilded reality. Education opens up unlimited possibilities for them and builds the foundation for a prosperous future. But in reality, 65 percent of our people live in the darkness of illiteracy, 40 percent of our children have never gone to school, and 93 percent of primary school-going students will never progress beyond the primary education level. Poverty is the main cause behind this.
Grameen Shikkha Scholarship Management Program has made it possible for the bright but underprivileged students to realize their educational endeavor. Grameenphone is honored to be participating in that program.
Launch Date: December 2003.
How it Works:
Grameenphone, in collaboration with Grameen Shikkha, an organization of Grameen Bank Family, provides financial assistance to 100 bright but underprivileged students through a scholarship fund at different academic levels annually. Of these scholarships, 60% are for female students. The fund is being managed directly by Grameen Shikkha.

True Liberation War Stories (Every inspiration counts):
The Liberation War is the central component of Bangladesh’s history. It symbolizes the glorious sacrifice of our heroes for the independence of our country. Thus, Grameenphone, in partnership with Centre for Bangladesh Liberation War Studies, sponsors the publication and free distribution of a series of illustrated books on Liberation War. The stories in these publications are based on true events of the heroics of our freedom fighters, essentially during frontal battles fought in the battle-fields of Bangladesh.
Launch Date: July 2007
How it Works: The series consists of a total of six books. The targeted beneficiaries are school children, from class IV to class VIII, who will be provided with copies free of cost. The aim of these books is to familiarize children with the country’s Liberation War of 1971, and, in the process, create a sense of love and pride in them for their motherland. The books will be distributed in all six divisions of the country.

Partnership with Bishsho Shahitto Kendro (Every mind counts):
Young people are arguably the principal resource of a country’s future. They are the leaders of tomorrow. They represent prospects for economic and social development and the potential for change. In order to realize their full potential, the country needs to invest in them and make way for new opportunities for them. It is not simply the commitment of one generation to another to respond to their dreams and aspirations and translate them into reality, but indeed it is essential for the very survival of the country to do so.
Thus, Grameenphone launched a strategic partnership with Bishsho Shahito Kendro, to support two of BSK’s programs: the Enrichment Program (Book Reading Program) and the ‘Know Bangladesh’ (Deshke Jano) program, with the objective to enlighten the youth of the country.
Launch Date: February 2008
How it Works:
As a part of the partnership, Grameenphone will be donating books to Bishsho Shahito Kendro for its “Enrichment Program”. In addition, GP will also sponsor the Prize Giving Ceremony of BSK’s Book Reading Program in three locations across the country – Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna.
On the other hand, the “Know Bangladesh” program is a bicycle tour initiative across Bangladesh by the youth. Participants will be assigned with places to visit and will learn about the relevant demographics, hardships and lifestyle of rural people in their assigned localities, and prepare write-ups on their experiences. Through the whole process, the participants will get to know Bangladesh better – a process towards becoming an enlightened human being.

Education Center cum Cyclone Shelter (Every help counts):
Cyclone Sidor, a category 4 storm, struck Bangladesh on November 2007. The cyclone first hit the offshore islands and then swept across the southern coast east to west. This caused extensive damages. More than 3.1 million people in the 28 southern districts are reported to have been directly affected by the cyclone. It has been estimated that more than3, 500 people died, with extensive damages been done to roads and public buildings, including the destruction and partial destruction of 4,306 educational institutions. The most affected areas include Bagerhat, Barguna, Barisal, Bhola, Gopalganj, Khalkathi, Khulna, Madaripur, Patuakhali, Pirojpur, Shatkhira and Shariatpur districts.
Hence, Grameenphone as part of the company’s rehabilitation plans in the SIDR affected areas is to provide financial assistance to build education center cum cyclone shelters in the southern belt of the country.
Launch Date: August 2008
How it Works: The cyclone shelters will be used as education centers throughout the year to provide non-formal primary education to underprivileged children of the locality. RDF and Shushilan, local NGOs that operate in the selected areas, will be responsible for the overall management of the project, including the construction and operation of the schools. Each primary school cum cyclone-shelter will be a two storied building along with an adjacent playground.
A co-ordination committee, comprising local Government official (UNO office), RDF official and representatives from the community and Grameenphone, will monitor the progress of the construction work and supervise the school-cum-shelter after its construction.

Recent CR Activities of Grameenphone:
Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action [MAMA]
Grameenphone is the design and connectivity partner of MAMA initiative, a public-private partnership driven by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). MAMA uses mobile phones to deliver life-saving health information to parents-to-be and new parents in Bangladesh. After registration, pregnant/new mothers get weekly SMSs as well as they can call IVR for getting necessary information related to maternal & child health. The service aims to reach 500,000 pregnant women and new mothers within next three years.

National Immunization Day campaign with BD Govt and WHO
GP has partnered with Bangladesh Government and WHO to eradicate the re-emergence of polio in Bangladesh through National Immunization Day (NID) awareness building campaign. Campaign activities included: SMS reminder, RJ endorsement (FM radio) and mobile vaccination centre. 1145 children (0-5 years) got two drops of polio vaccine, 600 got Vitamin A supplementation aged 06 months - 5 years from GP’s mobile vaccination centre.

Child Protection filter: Stop Child Pornography
Introduced a filtering system at the Grameenphone internet gateway for both mobile and PC to block anyone trying to access child abusive contents. The filter was launched on 5 December, 2010.

Online Class Room
Partnering with Jaago Foundation, we have launched ‘Online Classroom’. A suburban classroom will be connected online with a classroom in Dhaka while both the classes will be conducted by one instructor simultaneously with the support of a regular stuff at the suburban class.

Houlin Zhao, Deputy Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Zia Ahmed, BTRC Chairman was amazed at this accomplishment when they visited Grameenphone supported first Online School of Bangladesh located at Jaago Foundation Tongi Branch during a visit at 25th May 2012.
Tele Dermatology
Tele-dermatology initiative is enabling patients suffering from skin diseases to consult with a specialized doctor real-time via video-conferencing method with the help of Digital Imaging and Communication in Telemedicine (DICOT) & Telemedicine Information, Management and Education System (TIMES). In the pilot phase, 4 CICs are equipped with telemedicine hardware and software to deliver skin care services. They will also provide a printed version of the e-prescription and will maintain a database of each consultation for lifetime for future reference.

It’s our Turn: An employee engagement activity
It’s our turn is a platform to engage youth in the community work. All GP employees were invited to be a part in 4 different type of projects (Sharing Marketing knowledge with the indigenous community, help improving English skill of youth, Sharing IT skill and help building house for poor community). Employees from different divisions joined in the program

Stay Green, Stay Close: Bengali New Year campaign
Grameenphone organized a cleaning campaign named “Shobuje Thakun, Kachey Thakun” (Stay Green, Stay Close) around Dhaka University and to celebrate Bengali New year 1418 with the aim to build a cleaner and greener Bangladesh. Each year the grand celebration for welcoming the Bengali New Year leaves more than 100 tons of wastes in Dhaka University area. Grameenphone joined forces with Dhaka City Corporation for this clean up campaign.

Special Olympics [Athens]
In 2011, 5 regional games and a National Games were arranged to select the participants and a dedicated team of 40 members were finalized. After extensive grooming and nurturing programs, the team of individuals took part in six game categories which included aquatics, athletics, badminton, bocce, football and table tennis and brought home a total of 60 medals- 37 Gold, 17 Silver and 6 Bronze. More than 7,500 athletes from 180 nations participated in this year’s Special Olympic Games

Global Earth Hour Campaign
To increase internal awareness on energy efficiency, Grameenphone celebrates earth hour at Gphouse premise. All internal employees, along with their family members took part in the celebration to enlighten a better future for the next generation. 18 billion people across the world has celebrated earth hour on 31st march 2012.

Blanket & Clothes Distribution
7700 pieces of new blankets had been distributed to the cold effected poor community across the country. We have also collected 5015 pieces of old clothes from our colleagues and donated to EngenderHealth Bangladesh office for distribution.

Corporare Responsibility knowledge sharing with young student
Aga Khan School, a renowned educational institute showed keen interest in GP’s Corporate Responsibility and Green initiatives. CR team arranged a small knowledge sharing session with the enthusiastic young students. Different CR initiatives were discussed including Its our turn campaign, Earth Hour and climate change program. Debashis Roy, Hafizur Rahman Khan and Nafis Ehtisham presented different CR and Green initiatives amongst the bright talents from the school. The session ended with a Q&A session

Green Campaign: Stay Green Stay Close
Grameenphone Launched “Environmental and Climate Change Photography Competition” on World Environment Day, 5th June, 2012 as a part of Corporate Responsibility Environmental Initiative. This year, this campaign expands to a broader level of participation including employees along with general mass who will participate through GP Facebook Fan Page and professional photo journalists who will participate via e-mail.

Press conference at GPHOUSE: Tanveer Mohammed, CTO of Grameenphone, Debashis Roy, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Syed Tahmeed Azizul Haque, Head of Corporate Communication, Mr. Shafiuddin Ahmed, president of Bangladesh photo journalist association along with members of print and electronic media.

GIZ
With the assistance from GIZ Bangladesh office, we have undertaken a Feasibility Study on affordable Green Energy Solutions. The objective is to find a low cost alternative energy solution for illuminating a particular village

Community Power Project
GP launched a Community Solar Power Project at Paharpur village in Bangladesh in partnership with University of Oslo. As a result, some 136 households in the remote village, which is not connected to the national electric grid, are now getting power.
Also undertaking a Feasibility Study on Green Energy Solutions with GIZ Bangladesh. The objective is to find a low cost alternative energy solution

HYSAWA (Hygiene Sanitation and Water Supply)
Partnering with HYSAWA, a solution had been developed using M-Reporting platform. A hotline number (01769911111) also circulated for any emergency call to HYSAWA office. This partnership already generated 2000 new sales for GP so far and 3,000 new sales in progress (by July).

Project Part

Functional Area Analysis of 4 new products:
Functional Analysis: Porter‘s Five Forces Model
Porter's five forces analysis stands as a framework for industry analysis and business strategy development. The model focuses on the pure competition aspects, which in turn implies that risk adjusted rates of return should be different across firms and industries as in most of the cases industry generally sustain different levels of profitability of these different industry differs. The strategic business managers using the five forces seek to develop an edge over rival, this model also leads them to have a better understanding of the industry context in which the firm operates.
The Porter analysis examines three horizontal forces, or competition in the same industry: Threat of new entrants, threat of substitute products and threat of established rivals. Two forces are from vertical competition, or those from the supply-chain: Bargaining power of customers and bargaining power of suppliers. This is generally easy to exercise where the industries are relatively performing in a stable and uniform manner.

Our analysis is done on a solution, which is ―Grameenphone CR Solution‖ rather than doing the analysis on the whole industry. The analysis from different perspectives is given below.

1. Bargaining Power of Buyers: Moderate
The power of buyers in an industry describes the effect that customers have on the profitability of business. The transaction between the seller and the buyer creates value for both parties, which ―Grameenphone CR Solution‖ has to keenly focus on. The bargaining power of buyers also tends to create an important role in determining the desirability of the environment in which standardized products are offered in the existing telecom industry.
2. Bargaining power of Suppliers: High
Any business requires inputs—labor, parts, raw materials, and services. Like all the industries ―Grameenphone CR Solution‖ has to consider the cost of inputs which can have a significant effect on company‘s profitability. Whether the strength of suppliers represents a weak or a strong force hinges on the amount of bargaining power they can exert and, ultimately, on how they can influence the terms and conditions of transactions.
Those solutions are created by Grameenphone itself do not necessarily have suppliers. But for the solutions that are created by any third party developer gives high bargaining power to the supplier. For most of these solutions, some parts are created by a third party like Huawei or maybe the software’s are developed by GPIT or some other vendor. For those cases the suppliers have a good deal of bargaining power both in terms of money and time.
3. Threat of New Entrants: High
The threat of new entrants addresses the possibility of how many new firms will enter the industry or in this case how many firms will come up with similar products that are offered by Grameenphone CR Solutions. In general the primary restrictions that the new entrants face while entering an industry are the barriers to entry. It is often seen that the higher the barriers to entry are within an industry the smaller the threat of new entrants to that industry. The current market trend is to copy any product that is being successful. The success of Mobile PBX, Conference Bridge, Business Voice SMS or the Corporate Bulk SMS will attract Robi, Banglalink, Citycel and Airtel to launch similar kind of product. So the threat for new entrants will always be high.
4. Rivalry among existing competitors in Industry: Low
Competition is the foundation of the free enterprise system, yet with small businesses even a little competition goes a long way. Because companies in an industry are mutually dependent, actions by one company usually invite competitive retaliation. Rivalry among competitors is often the strongest of the five competitive forces, but can vary widely among industries. If the competitive force is weak, companies may be able to raise prices, provide fewer products for the price, and earn more profits. If competition is intense, it may be necessary to enhance product offerings to keep customers, and prices may fall below break-even levels.
Although the rivalry between the existing companies for existing solutions is very high but for the case of Grameenphone CR Solution it is low. The main reason is, other operators still do not have similar kind of offering like the Grameenphone CR Solution does. One important thing here to mention is, the other operators still have similar CR activities like online doctor, online school etc. so the competition is still intense.
5. Threat from Substitute: High
Products from one business can be replaced by products from another. Substitute products are those that can fulfill a similar need to the one his product fills. In Porter's model, substitute products refer to products in other industries. As more substitutes become available, the demand becomes more elastic since customers have more alternatives. It is seen that the threat of substitute products often acts as the key detriment of different industry to engage in this line of business.
Conclusion after Combining Porter’s five forces
From the preceding discussion it is found the Porter five forces suggest that the Grameenphone CR Solution will be highly competitive as all the forces are in favor of the solution. The profitability of the industry can be really high. So, this solution does have the opportunity to be one of the dominator in the Telecom industry and thus ensuring future sustainable competitive advantage.
Summary of Porters Five Forces from Grameenphone’s Perspective:

Five Forces | Result | Remarks | Buyers Bargaining Power | Moderate | Try to make buyers bargaining power low. | Suppliers Bargaining Power | High | Maintain good relationship with suppliers. | Threat of New Entrants | High | Try to do more CR activities in various different occasions and come up with more new product. | Competitors Rivalry | Low | Maintain the current flow and try to grab more customers | Threat from Substitute | High | Come up with different products with various attractive packages and do more CR activities to make more emotional bonding with the customers. |
1.0 Brief Introduction of the Study
This proposal is prepared for getting the approval of conducting a research on selected topic as per requirement of completing the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) course from North South University. I am doing my internship at Grameenphone Limited in Bangladesh, where I am attached in the Corporate Responsibilities (CR) Department, which is a part of the Communication division of Grameenphone Bangladesh. Grameenphone is the biggest and fastest growing telecom company in Bangladesh, in terms of both profits and market share. Maintaining this high growth and profitability requires continuous selling of existing products and services to new customers and selling new products and services to existing customers.
Bangladesh is one of the world’s poorest countries. More than 40 percent of its population can be classified as extremely poor (German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) 2010). While economic growth has averaged roughly six percent since 2004, the urgent problems of inadequate infrastructure and corruption continue to impede further growth. Along with employment in the textile industry, remittances from expatriate Bangladeshis working in the Gulf region are an important source of income. These payments make up some 11 percent of GDP, a larger share than in any other country in the world. The informal economy plays a major role in Bangladesh, leading not only to low tax revenues, but also to low educational levels and unfavorable working conditions. There are lots of companies who does some sort of CSR activities in Bangladesh. Most of them are done by the textile industries. Grameenphone carry an important part in CSR activities in Bangladesh. They do many CR related projects and CR initiatives for Bangladesh. CR department act as an important part and provide necessary information to the communication division of Grameenphone so that GP can serve their customer smoothly.
I am working under the Corporate Responsibility (CR) department. That is why I have selected this area and wants to do a research to find out how Grameenphone is contributing in the society and how CR is providing the necessary information to Grameenphone for doing these CR activities smoothly.
1.1 Title of the study
“Consumers Perception about Grameenphone’s CR activities”
1.2 Profile of the Organization
Before Grameenphone’s inception, the phone was for a selected urbanized few. The cell phone was a luxury: a flouting accessory for the select elite. The mass could not contemplate mobile telephony as being part of their lives. Grameenphone started its journey with the Village Phone program: a pioneering initiative to empower rural women of Bangladesh. The name Grameenphone translates to “Rural phone”. Starting its operations on March 26, 1997, the Independence Day of Bangladesh, Grameenphone has come a long way. Grameenphone pioneered the then breakthrough initiative of mobile to mobile telephony and became the first and only operator to cover 98% of the country’s people with network. Since its inception Grameenphone has built the largest cellular network in the country with over 8000 base stations. Presently, nearly 99 percent of the country's population is within the coverage area of the Grameenphone network. Grameenphone has always been a pioneer in introducing new products and services in the local telecom market. GP was the first company to introduce GSM technology in Bangladesh when it launched its services in March 1997. Grameenphone was also the first telecommunication operator in Bangladesh to introduce the pre-paid service in September 1999. It established the first 24-hour Call Center, introduced value-added services such as VMS, SMS, fax and data transmission services, international roaming service, WAP, SMS-based push-pull services, EDGE, personal ring back tone and many other products and services. The entire Grameenphone network is also EDGE/GPRS enabled, allowing access to high-speed Internet and data services from anywhere within the coverage area. There are currently nearly 5.8 million EDGE/GPRS users in the Grameenphone network. Today, Grameenphone is the leading and largest telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh with more than 40.02 million subscribers as of December 2012.

At Grameenphone, we live by the statement "Development is a journey, not a destination." Our work is not just about ensuring connectivity; it is about connecting with people and building relationships, based on trust, with our subscribers, business partners, employees, shareholders, as well as the wider community. We have always believed that good development is good business. While we maintain our business focus, taking the nation forward remains our top priority. Thus our relationship with Bangladesh is built on a partnership which strives to achieve common economic and social goals. Corporate social responsibility, as we see it, is a 'complementary' combination of ethical and responsible corporate behavior, as well as a commitment towards generating greater good for the society by addressing the development needs of the country. GP’s Corporate Responsibility vision is to be recognized as the most socially responsible mobile operator in Bangladesh and in the corporate sector. Grameenphone’s CR goals have created shared value for Grameenphone and society through our mobile technology which integrate responsible business practices in all operation. Grameenphone’s CR initiatives focus on creating shared value through maximize the enabling effect of mobile telecommunications, promoting safer products and services and minimizing our carbon footprint. GP’s CR initiatives are based on three main focus areas which are Health, Education and Environment respectively.

1.3 Rationale of the study

By conducting this research I will be able to analyze the perception Corporate Responsibility, how GP’s consumers is thinking about the CR activities and what are the impacts of GP’s CR activities. I also be able to analyze how CR is providing the necessary information to Grameenphone for doing these CR activities smoothly and so on. The whole research will help me to understand the whole procedure of Corporate Responsibility. 1.4 Statement of the problem
As a developing country Bangladesh has set some rules and regulation for the whole telecom industry for doing their business. As a leading telecom company, Grameenphone provide services to help the consumer in every possible way. Corporate Responsibility provides necessary support to Communication Division. The employees Corporate Responsibility department collect all the necessary documents from the customers for giving the service. After that, they send it to the Communication Division. Than the division check and process those documents and if everything is fine than they approve it and inform the CR department so that they can inform the customer. For getting the approval, Communication division employees may face some problems, they may not be satisfied with the way Corporate Responsibility department provide the service or they may totally satisfy with the service. I want to do a survey on the consumers of Grameenphone Bangladesh and if possible on the employees as well to find out their perception. From the research I would like to find out what are the bottlenecks of the service, what customers perception about the service, what type of procedure delaying the service, what are field they are complaining about. Also, want to show in which area there is scope of improvements and recommend how to improve the service, which will make the procedure smoother and faster. 1.5 Scope and limitation of the study
To prepare the research report, the possible limitations I may come across and can cause significant effect on the reliability of the report are:
Firstly, the report will not conduct in all the divisions; it will conduct only in the communication division. As a result, the findings of the report may vary according to other divisions.
Secondly, in the survey the corresponding respondent may provide misleading information, which can hamper the overall findings.
Lastly, the period given to prepare this report is not enough. This report may be prepared more effectively by taking personal interviews, expert advices and verifying all the data. 1.6 Objective of the study
Broad Objectives
The broad objective of preparing this internship report in to know the perception of Corporate Responsibility of Grameenphone and what consumers thinks about Grameenphone’s CR activities.
Specific Objectives * To find out the bottlenecks of the service provide by the Corporate Responsibility Department. * To find out the customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction area about the service of the CR department. * To find out the specified problems in the service that the customers are facing in the CR department. * To find out the limitations faced by the staffs of Corporate Responsibility department, when they provide support to the customers. * To find out the reason why GP has not been able to be a vital player in contributing in the society as an important source of income. * To find out the area where there is scope of improvement and suggest of improvement for the CR department. * Understand and gain knowledge about the background, functions and operation of the organization (Grameenphone) of attachment during the internship period.

1.7 Hypothesis
In this research study, the Null and Alternative Hypothesis are:
Ho1: Consumers have negative perception about the service of Corporate Responsibility department.
Ha1: Consumers have positive perception about the service of Corporate Responsibility department.
Ho2: There is no scope of improvements of the service provided by the Corporate Responsibility department.
Ha2: There is scope of improvements of the service provided by the Corporate Responsibility department.
Ho3: Grameenphone is doing the wrong thing by investing on Corporate Social Responsibility activities.
Ha3: Grameenphone is doing the right thing by investing on Corporate Social Responsibility activities.
Ho4: Grameenphone should not consider all the social problems; it should only consider the social problems that it has created.
Ha4: Grameenphone should consider all the social problems along with the social problems that it has created.
Ho5: Grameenphone do not conduct Corporate Social Responsibility activities because it does not improve the corporate image/brand.
Ha5: Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities because it improves the corporate image/brand.
Ho6: At present Grameenphone is not doing sufficient amount of CR activities for the society.
Ha6: At present Grameenphone is doing sufficient amount of CR activities for the society.
Ho7: Grameenphone has not been successful for giving their information about CR activities to mass people.
Ha7: Grameenphone has been successful for giving their information about CR activities to mass people.

1.8 Methodology of the study
For the preparation of this internship report, I will be using both primary and secondary data.
Primary Research: For my primary research, I will conduct a survey with mostly quantitative questions. This report is based on extensively based on extensive primary research in terms of conducting surveys on the consumer of Grameenphone. By this survey questionnaire, I would try to find out what consumers think about the service of the Corporate Responsibility department. In addition, I will talk to some of the employees of the CR department to know their views. Moreover, I will also take interview to know how they are providing services and what type of limitations they face in terms of providing the service.
Secondary Research: Secondary research will be performed by undertaking various literature reviews and internet-based research to gather information about the background and history of Grameenphone worldwide and Bangladesh operations. Furthermore, secondary research in terms of various journal and literature review and related wed research will also be undertaken to gather relevant information about the structure and scope of operation of remittance service in Bangladesh.
Target Population: Mass people (Not GP Consumers) & GP Consumers

Sample size: Total Sample size | 120 | Sample Division | Two | Name of Sample Division | GP User and Non GP User | Sample Size of GP User Respondent | 64 | Sample Size of Non GP User Respondent | 56 | Age Group of Sample (Years) | 21 – 40 |

Data Analysis Method: I will be analyzing the data in different ways. Since, I will be doing a quantitative research; I will be conducting different kinds of test, regression, ANOVA etc.
Data Analysis Tool: I will be using SPSS and MINITAB both for data analysis.

Calculation Part

Total Number of Respondents: 120
Number of GP user Respondents: 64
Number of Non GP user Respondents: 56
Software used for Calculation: Minitab and Microsoft Excel

Scale: 1- Strongly Agree 2- Agree 3- Neutral 4- Disagree 5- Strongly Disagree

In this Calculation Part I have discussed 10 important questions from which 8 of them have been discussed for 120 respondents and the other 2 have been compared between GP and Non GP users. From this calculation both of my Null hypotheses have been proved wrong.

Q. Grameenphone is doing the right thing by investing on Corporate Social Responsibility activities.
Excel Calculation

Mean | 1.766666667 | Standard Error | 0.115186691 | Median | 1 | Mode | 1 | Standard Deviation | 1.261806983 | Sample Variance | 1.592156863 | Kurtosis | 1.103869526 | Skewness | 1.574535856 | Range | 4 | Minimum | 1 | Maximum | 5 | Sum | 212 | Count | 120 | Largest(1) | 5 | Smallest(1) | 1 | Confidence Level(95.0%) | 0.228081151 | Bin | Frequency | Cumulative % | 1 | 75 | 63.03% | 1.4 | 0 | 63.03% | 1.8 | 0 | 63.03% | 2.2 | 24 | 83.19% | 2.6 | 0 | 83.19% | 3 | 0 | 83.19% | 3.4 | 0 | 83.19% | 3.8 | 0 | 83.19% | 4.2 | 12 | 93.28% | 4.6 | 0 | 93.28% | More | 8 | 100.00% | | | |

Minitab Calculation
Welcome to Minitab.

One-Sample T: C2

Variable N Mean StDev SE Mean 95% CI T P
C2 120 1.767 1.262 0.115 (1.539, 1.995) 2.32 0.022

Histogram of C2

Individual Value Plot of C2

Test and CI for One Variance: Grameenphone is doing the right

Method

The standard method is only for the normal distribution.
The adjusted method is for any continuous distribution.

Statistics

Variable N StDev Variance
Grameenphone is doing th 120 1.26 1.59

95% Confidence Intervals CI for CI for
Variable Method StDev Variance
Grameenphone is doing th Standard (1.12, 1.45) (1.25, 2.09) Adjusted (1.09, 1.50) (1.19, 2.24)

Q. Grameenphone should only consider the social problems that it has created
Excel Calculation Mean | 3.2 | Standard Error | 0.126136292 | Median | 4 | Mode | 4 | Standard Deviation | 1.381753848 | Sample Variance | 1.909243697 | Kurtosis | -1.170716186 | Skewness | -0.5224452 | Range | 4 | Minimum | 1 | Maximum | 5 | Sum | 384 | Count | 120 | Largest(1) | 5 | Smallest(1) | 1 | Confidence Level(95.0%) | 0.249762453 | Bin | Frequency | Cumulative % | 1 | 24 | 20.00% | 1.4 | 0 | 20.00% | 1.8 | 0 | 20.00% | 2.2 | 16 | 33.33% | 2.6 | 0 | 33.33% | 3 | 8 | 40.00% | 3.4 | 0 | 40.00% | 3.8 | 0 | 40.00% | 4.2 | 56 | 86.67% | 4.6 | 0 | 86.67% | More | 16 | 100.00% |

Minitab Calculation
Welcome to Minitab. One-Sample T: C2

Variable N Mean StDev SE Mean 95% CI T P
C2 120 3.200 1.382 0.126 (2.950, 3.450) 2.38 0.019

Histogram of C2

Individual Value Plot of C2

Test and CI for One Standard Deviation: C2

Method

The standard method is only for the normal distribution.
The adjusted method is for any continuous distribution.

Statistics
Variable N StDev Variance
C2 120 1.38 1.91

95% Confidence Intervals CI for CI for
Variable Method StDev Variance
C2 Standard (1.23, 1.58) (1.50, 2.50) Adjusted (1.28, 1.51) (1.63, 2.27)

Q. Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities because it improves the corporate image/brand
Excel Calculation Mean | 2.133333333 | Standard Error | 0.09388393 | Median | 2 | Mode | 1 | Standard Deviation | 1.028446927 | Sample Variance | 1.057703081 | Kurtosis | -0.914085385 | Skewness | 0.482119706 | Range | 3 | Minimum | 1 | Maximum | 4 | Sum | 256 | Count | 120 | Largest(1) | 4 | Smallest(1) | 1 | Confidence Level(95.0%) | 0.185899556 | Bin | Frequency | Cumulative % | 1 | 40 | 33.33% | 1.3 | 0 | 33.33% | 1.6 | 0 | 33.33% | 1.9 | 0 | 33.33% | 2.2 | 40 | 66.67% | 2.5 | 0 | 66.67% | 2.8 | 0 | 66.67% | 3.1 | 24 | 86.67% | 3.4 | 0 | 86.67% | 3.7 | 0 | 86.67% | More | 16 | 100.00% |

Minitab Calculation
Welcome to Minitab.

One-Sample T: C2

Variable N Mean StDev SE Mean 95% CI T P
C2 120 2.1333 1.0284 0.0939 (1.9474, 2.3192) 2.49 0.014

Histogram of C2

Individual Value Plot of C2

Test and CI for One Standard Deviation: C2

Method

The standard method is only for the normal distribution.
The adjusted method is for any continuous distribution.
Statistics

Variable N StDev Variance
C2 120 1.03 1.06
95% Confidence Intervals CI for CI for
Variable Method StDev Variance
C2 Standard (0.91, 1.18) (0.83, 1.39) Adjusted (0.94, 1.14) (0.88, 1.29)

Q. Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities in order to follow the rules and regulations of government
Excel Calculation

Mean | 2.1 | Standard Error | 0.109365371 | Median | 2 | Mode | 1 | Standard Deviation | 1.198037611 | Sample Variance | 1.435294118 | Kurtosis | -0.421192446 | Skewness | 0.877869531 | Range | 4 | Minimum | 1 | Maximum | 5 | Sum | 252 | Count | 120 | Largest(1) | 5 | Smallest(1) | 1 | Confidence Level(95.0%) | 0.216554354 | Bin | Frequency | Cumulative % | 1 | 48 | 40.00% | 1.4 | 0 | 40.00% | 1.8 | 0 | 40.00% | 2.2 | 40 | 73.33% | 2.6 | 0 | 73.33% | 3 | 8 | 80.00% | 3.4 | 0 | 80.00% | 3.8 | 0 | 80.00% | 4.2 | 20 | 96.67% | 4.6 | 0 | 96.67% | More | 4 | 100.00% |

Minitab Calculation

Welcome to Minitab. One-Sample T: C2

Variable N Mean StDev SE Mean 95% CI T P
C2 120 2.100 1.198 0.109 (1.883, 2.317) 2.74 0.007

Histogram of C2

Individual Value Plot of C2

Test and CI for One Standard Deviation: C2

Method

The standard method is only for the normal distribution.
The adjusted method is for any continuous distribution.
Statistics

Variable N StDev Variance
C2 120 1.20 1.44
95% Confidence Intervals CI for CI for
Variable Method StDev Variance
C2 Standard (1.06, 1.37) (1.13, 1.88) Adjusted (1.08, 1.35) (1.16, 1.82)
Q. At present Grameenphone is doing sufficient amount of CR activities for the society.

Excel Calculation

Mean | 1.733333333 | Standard Error | 0.105674659 | Median | 1 | Mode | 1 | Standard Deviation | 1.157607888 | Sample Variance | 1.340056022 | Kurtosis | 0.93359648 | Skewness | 1.464544913 | Range | 4 | Minimum | 1 | Maximum | 5 | Sum | 208 | Count | 120 | Largest(1) | 5 | Smallest(1) | 1 | Confidence Level(95.0%) | 0.209246376 | Bin | Frequency | Cumulative % | 1 | 76 | 63.33% | 1.4 | 0 | 63.33% | 1.8 | 0 | 63.33% | 2.2 | 20 | 80.00% | 2.6 | 0 | 80.00% | 3 | 8 | 86.67% | 3.4 | 0 | 86.67% | 3.8 | 0 | 86.67% | 4.2 | 12 | 96.67% | 4.6 | 0 | 96.67% | More | 4 | 100.00% |

Minitab Calculation

Welcome to Minitab. One-Sample T: C2

Variable N Mean StDev SE Mean 95% CI T P
C2 120 1.733 1.158 0.106 (1.524, 1.943) 2.21 0.029

Histogram of C2

Individual Value Plot of C2

Test and CI for One Standard Deviation: C2

Method

The standard method is only for the normal distribution.
The adjusted method is for any continuous distribution.
Statistics

Variable N StDev Variance
C2 120 1.16 1.34

95% Confidence Intervals CI for CI for
Variable Method StDev Variance
C2 Standard (1.03, 1.33) (1.06, 1.76) Adjusted (1.00, 1.37) (1.01, 1.87)

Q. Grameenphone has been successful for giving their information about CR activities to mass people.

Mean | 2.1 | Standard Error | 0.089661673 | Median | 2 | Mode | 1 | Standard Deviation | 0.982194422 | Sample Variance | 0.964705882 | Kurtosis | -0.861387375 | Skewness | 0.445900901 | Range | 3 | Minimum | 1 | Maximum | 4 | Sum | 252 | Count | 120 | Largest(1) | 4 | Smallest(1) | 1 | Confidence Level(95.0%) | 0.177539066 | Bin | Frequency | Cumulative % | 1 | 40 | 33.33% | 1.3 | 0 | 33.33% | 1.6 | 0 | 33.33% | 1.9 | 0 | 33.33% | 2.2 | 40 | 66.67% | 2.5 | 0 | 66.67% | 2.8 | 0 | 66.67% | 3.1 | 28 | 90.00% | 3.4 | 0 | 90.00% | 3.7 | 0 | 90.00% | More | 12 | 100.00% |

Minitab Calculation
Welcome to Minitab. One-Sample T: C2

Variable N Mean StDev SE Mean 95% CI T P
C2 120 2.1000 0.9822 0.0897 (1.9225, 2.2775) 3.57 0.001

Histogram of C2

Individual Value Plot of C2

Test and CI for One Standard Deviation: C2

Method

The standard method is only for the normal distribution.
The adjusted method is for any continuous distribution.

Statistics

Variable N StDev Variance
C2 120 0.982 0.965

95% Confidence Intervals CI for
Variable Method CI for StDev Variance
C2 Standard (0.872, 1.125) (0.760, 1.266) Adjusted (0.896, 1.087) (0.803, 1.181)

Q. Instead of focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility activities, Grameenphone should use its resource and talent for its own growth to ensure better service to the society
Excel Calculation

Mean | 3.366667 | Standard Error | 0.130681 | Median | 4 | Mode | 4 | Standard Deviation | 1.431538 | Sample Variance | 2.0493 | Kurtosis | -1.14715 | Skewness | -0.46075 | Range | 4 | Minimum | 1 | Maximum | 5 | Sum | 404 | Count | 120 | Largest(1) | 5 | Smallest(1) | 1 | Confidence Level(95.0%) | 0.258761 | Bin | Frequency | Cumulative % | 1 | 20 | 16.67% | 1.4 | 0 | 16.67% | 1.8 | 0 | 16.67% | 2.2 | 16 | 30.00% | 2.6 | 0 | 30.00% | 3 | 16 | 43.33% | 3.4 | 0 | 43.33% | 3.8 | 0 | 43.33% | 4.2 | 36 | 73.33% | 4.6 | 0 | 73.33% | More | 32 | 100.00% |

Minitab Calculation
Welcome to Minitab.

One-Sample T: C2

Variable N Mean StDev SE Mean 95% CI T P
C2 120 3.367 1.432 0.131 (3.108, 3.625) 2.04 0.044

Histogram of C2

Individual Value Plot of C2

Test and CI for One Standard Deviation: C2

Method

The standard method is only for the normal distribution.
The adjusted method is for any continuous distribution.

Statistics
Variable N StDev Variance
C2 120 1.43 2.05
95% Confidence Intervals CI for CI for
Variable Method StDev Variance
C2 Standard (1.27, 1.64) (1.61, 2.69) Adjusted (1.32, 1.56) (1.75, 2.44)

Q. The Corporate Social Responsibility of Grameenphone makes its user/consumers feel good about the organization and prevents them from leaving Grameenphone.

Excel Calculation

Mean | 1.66666667 | Standard Error | 0.07968191 | Median | 1 | Mode | 1 | Standard Deviation | 0.87287156 | Sample Variance | 0.76190476 | Kurtosis | 1.11812639 | Skewness | 1.32497204 | Range | 3 | Minimum | 1 | Maximum | 4 | Sum | 200 | Count | 120 | Largest(1) | 4 | Smallest(1) | 1 | Confidence Level(95.0%) | 0.15777813 | Bin | Frequency | Cumulative % | 1 | 64 | 53.33% | 1.3 | 0 | 53.33% | 1.6 | 0 | 53.33% | 1.9 | 0 | 53.33% | 2.2 | 40 | 86.67% | 2.5 | 0 | 86.67% | 2.8 | 0 | 86.67% | 3.1 | 8 | 93.33% | 3.4 | 0 | 93.33% | 3.7 | 0 | 93.33% | More | 8 | 100.00% |

Minitab Calculation
Welcome to Minitab. One-Sample T: C2

Variable N Mean StDev SE Mean 95% CI T P
C2 120 1.6667 0.8729 0.0797 (1.5089, 1.8244) 2.84 0.005

Histogram of C2

Individual Value Plot of C2

Test and CI for One Standard Deviation: C2

Method

The standard method is only for the normal distribution.
The adjusted method is for any continuous distribution.

Statistics
Variable N StDev Variance
C2 120 0.873 0.762

95% Confidence Intervals CI for
Variable Method CI for StDev Variance
C2 Standard (0.775, 1.000) (0.600, 1.000) Adjusted (0.754, 1.037) (0.568, 1.075)

Comparing GP USER and NON GP USER through their answers: Q. Grameenphone is doing the right thing by investing on Corporate Social Responsibility activities
Excel Calculation

GP USER | | | Mean | 1.25 | Standard Error | 0.05455447 | Median | 1 | Mode | 1 | Standard Deviation | 0.43643578 | Sample Variance | 0.19047619 | Kurtosis | -0.6218932 | Skewness | 1.18260018 | Range | 1 | Minimum | 1 | Maximum | 2 | Sum | 80 | Count | 64 | Largest(1) | 2 | Smallest(1) | 1 | Confidence Level(95.0%) | 0.10901841 | NON GP USER | | | Mean | 2.357142857 | Standard Error | 0.213852376 | Median | 1.5 | Mode | 1 | Standard Deviation | 1.600324642 | Sample Variance | 2.561038961 | Kurtosis | -1.399875342 | Skewness | 0.600509213 | Range | 4 | Minimum | 1 | Maximum | 5 | Sum | 132 | Count | 56 | Largest(1) | 5 | Smallest(1) | 1 | Confidence Level(95.0%) | 0.428569735 |

| GP USER | | Bin | Frequency | Cumulative % | 1 | 48 | 76.19% | 1.142857 | 0 | 76.19% | 1.285714 | 0 | 76.19% | 1.428571 | 0 | 76.19% | 1.571429 | 0 | 76.19% | 1.714286 | 0 | 76.19% | 1.857143 | 0 | 76.19% | More | 15 | 100.00% | | NON GP USER | Bin | Frequency | Cumulative % | 1 | 27 | 49.09% | 1.571429 | 0 | 49.09% | 2.142857 | 8 | 63.64% | 2.714286 | 0 | 63.64% | 3.285714 | 0 | 63.64% | 3.857143 | 0 | 63.64% | 4.428571 | 12 | 85.45% | More | 8 | 100.00% |

Minitab Calculation
Welcome to Minitab.
One-Sample T: GP User

Variable N Mean StDev SE Mean 95% CI T P
GP User 64 1.2500 0.4364 0.0546 (1.1410, 1.3590) 2.75 0.008

Histogram of GP User

Individual Value Plot of GP User

Test and CI for One Standard Deviation: GP User

Method

The standard method is only for the normal distribution.
The adjusted method is for any continuous distribution.

Statistics

Variable N StDev Variance
GP User 64 0.436 0.190

95% Confidence Intervals CI for
Variable Method CI for StDev Variance
GP User Standard (0.372, 0.529) (0.138, 0.279) Adjusted (0.381, 0.511) (0.145, 0.261)

One-Sample T: Non GP User

Variable N Mean StDev SE Mean 95% CI T P
Non GP User 56 2.357 1.600 0.214 (1.929, 2.786) 2.14 0.037

Histogram of Non GP User

Individual Value Plot of Non GP User

Test and CI for One Standard Deviation: Non GP User

Method

The standard method is only for the normal distribution.
The adjusted method is for any continuous distribution.

Statistics

Variable N StDev Variance
Non GP User 56 1.60 2.56

95% Confidence Intervals CI for CI for
Variable Method StDev Variance
Non GP User Standard (1.35, 1.97) (1.82, 3.87) Adjusted (1.45, 1.79) (2.10, 3.19)

Q. Grameenphone should only consider the social problems that it has created

Excel Calculation GP USER | | | Mean | 3.5625 | Standard Error | 0.160410869 | Median | 4 | Mode | 4 | Standard Deviation | 1.28328695 | Sample Variance | 1.646825397 | Kurtosis | -0.282333803 | Skewness | -0.980527159 | Range | 4 | Minimum | 1 | Maximum | 5 | Sum | 228 | Count | 64 | Largest(1) | 5 | Smallest(1) | 1 | Confidence Level(95.0%) | 0.320555539 | NON GP USER | | | Mean | 2.785714286 | Standard Error | 0.185013663 | Median | 3 | Mode | 4 | Standard Deviation | 1.384515481 | Sample Variance | 1.916883117 | Kurtosis | -1.48543398 | Skewness | -0.111353345 | Range | 4 | Minimum | 1 | Maximum | 5 | Sum | 156 | Count | 56 | Largest(1) | 5 | Smallest(1) | 1 | Confidence Level(95.0%) | 0.370775664 |

| GP USER | | Bin | Frequency | Cumulative % | 1 | 8 | 12.50% | 1.5 | 0 | 12.50% | 2 | 8 | 25.00% | 2.5 | 0 | 25.00% | 3 | 0 | 25.00% | 3.5 | 0 | 25.00% | 4 | 36 | 81.25% | 4.5 | 0 | 81.25% | More | 12 | 100.00% | | NON GP USER | Bin | Frequency | Cumulative % | 1 | 16 | 28.57% | 1.571429 | 0 | 28.57% | 2.142857 | 8 | 42.86% | 2.714286 | 0 | 42.86% | 3.285714 | 8 | 57.14% | 3.857143 | 0 | 57.14% | 4.428571 | 20 | 92.86% | | | | More | 4 | 100.00% |

Minitab Calculation
Welcome to Minitab. One-Sample T: GP USER

Variable N Mean StDev SE Mean 95% CI T P
GP USER 64 3.562 1.283 0.160 (3.242, 3.883) 2.88 0.005

Histogram of GP USER

Individual Value Plot of GP USER

Test and CI for One Variance: GP USER

Method

The standard method is only for the normal distribution.
The adjusted method is for any continuous distribution.

Statistics

Variable N StDev Variance
GP USER 64 1.28 1.65

95% Confidence Intervals

CI for CI for
Variable Method StDev Variance
GP USER Standard (1.09, 1.55) (1.19, 2.42) Adjusted (1.10, 1.53) (1.22, 2.34)

One-Sample T: NON GP USER

Variable N Mean StDev SE Mean 95% CI T P
NON GP USER 56 2.786 1.385 0.185 (2.415, 3.156) 2.08 0.042

Histogram of NON GP USER

Individual Value Plot of NON GP USER

Test and CI for One Standard Deviation: NON GP USER

Method

The standard method is only for the normal distribution.
The adjusted method is for any continuous distribution.
Statistics
Variable N StDev Variance
NON GP USER 56 1.38 1.92
95% Confidence Intervals CI for CI for
Variable Method StDev Variance
NON GP USER Standard (1.17, 1.70) (1.36, 2.90) Adjusted (1.26, 1.53) (1.59, 2.35)

Summary Calculation Table 1 Question | Mean | St. Dev | Frequency | P Value | Variance | Remarks | Grameenphone is doing the right thing by investing on CSR activities | 1.767 | 1.261 | 1(75, 63.03%) | 0.022 | 1.592 | P Value is less than 0.05; therefore we reject the null hypothesis. | Grameenphone should only consider the social problems that it has created. | 3.2 | 1.382 | 4(56, 86.67%) | 0.019 | 1.909 | P Value is less than 0.05; therefore we reject the null hypothesis. | Grameenphone conducts CSR activities because it improves the corporate image/brand. | 2.133 | 1.028 | 1&2(40,40, 66.67%) | 0.014 | 1.057 | P Value is less than 0.05; therefore we reject the null hypothesis. | GP conducts CSR activities in order to follow the rules and regulation of government. | 2.1 | 1.198 | 1(48, 73.33%) | 0.007 | 1.435 | P Value is less than 0.05; therefore we reject the null hypothesis. | At present Grameenphone is doing sufficient amount of CR activities for the society. | 1.733 | 1.157 | 1(76, 63.33%) | 0.029 | 1.340 | P Value is less than 0.05; therefore we reject the null hypothesis. | GP has been successful for giving their information about CR activities to mass people. | 2.1 | 0.982 | 1&2(40,40, 66.67%) | 0.001 | 0.964 | P Value is less than 0.05; therefore we reject the null hypothesis. | Instead of focusing on CSR activities, GP should use its resource and talent for its own growth to ensure better service to the society. | 3.366 | 1.432 | 4(36, 73.33%) | 0.044 | 2.049 | P Value is less than 0.05; therefore we reject the null hypothesis. | The CR department of GP makes its consumer feel good about the organization and prevents them from leaving GP. | 1.667 | 0.873 | 1(64, 53.33%) | 0.005 | 0.762 | P Value is less than 0.05; therefore we reject the null hypothesis. |
Summary Calculation Table 2 Q. Grameenphone is doing the right thing by investing on CSR activities | GP USER | NON GP USER | Mean | 1.25 | Mean | 2.35 | Frequency | 1 (48, 76.19%) | Frequency | 1(27, 49.09%) | St. Dev | 0.4364 | St. Dev | 1.6003 | Variance | 0.1904 | Variance | 2.5610 | P Value | 0.008 | P Value | 0.037 |

Summary Calculation Table 3 Q. Grameenphone should only consider the social problems that it has created. | GP USER | NON GP USER | Mean | 3.56 | Mean | 2.79 | Frequency | 4 (36, 81.25%), 1(8, 12.50%) | Frequency | 4(20, 57.14%), 1(16, 28.57%) | St. Dev | 1.2832 | St. Dev | 1.3845 | Variance | 1.6468 | Variance | 1.9168 | P Value | 0.005 | P Value | 0.042 |

In table 1, I have summarized the calculation of eight important questions, where I have shown the mean, standard deviation, frequency, P Value, variance. By calculating all answers of the respondents I have found that, in each and every question the P Value is less than 0.05; therefore I have reject the null hypothesis, and accept the alternative hypothesis.
In table 2&3, I have compared the answer of GP User respondents and Non GP user respondents. And from this I have found that , both the GP and Non GP user answers has a P value less than 0.05, which means in both the case we are accepting the alternative hypothesis and rejecting the null hypothesis, but there are some slights difference between the GP and non GP users answers. These are the frequency of Strongly Agree with the answer is higher in GP user than Non GP user. The P value of GP user is much less than the P Value of Non GP User. This pattern of answers tells us that there are some respondents in the Non GP user who do not agree with the question. In my opinion, I think these people disagree because they are not GP user and that’s why they are being bias to their own operator and giving negative answer for Grameenphone..

Interpretation of the Above Calculations: 1. Grameenphone is doing the right thing by investing on Corporate Social Responsibility activities.

By calculating all the answers of the above question, I get to find that the frequency was higher in answer 1 and 2. This tells us that more 50% of the total respondent gave the answer 1 and 2. We can also see from the above chart that, most of the respondents answered 1 and then 2. So they are agreeing with the fact that, Gp is doing the right thing by investing on Corporate Social Responsibility activities. The histogram from Minitab also indicates a similar king of thing, which also clarifies the calculation. And the P value is also less than 0.05, which rejects Ho. 2. Grameenphone should only consider the social problems that it has created

By calculating all the answers of the above question, I get to find that the frequency was higher in answer 4 and 5. This tells us that more 50% of the total respondent gave the answer 4 and 5. We can also see from the above chart that, most of the respondents answered 4. So they are disagreeing with the fact that, Gp should only consider the social problems that it has created. The histogram from Minitab also indicates a similar king of thing, which also clarifies the calculation. And the P value is also less than 0.05, which rejects Ho.

3. Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities because it improves the corporate image/brand

By calculating all the answers of the above question, I get to find that the frequency was higher in answer 1 and 2. This tells us that more 50% of the total respondent gave the answer 1 and 2. We can also see from the above chart that, most of the respondents answered 1 and then 2. So they are agreeing with the fact that, Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities because it improves the corporate image/brand. The histogram from Minitab also indicates a similar king of thing, which also clarifies the calculation. And the P value is also less than 0.05, which rejects Ho.

4. Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities in order to follow the rules and regulations of government

By calculating all the answers of the above question, I get to find that the frequency was higher in answer 1 and 2. This tells us that more 50% of the total respondent gave the answer 1 and 2. We can also see from the above chart that, most of the respondents answered 1 and then 2. So they are agreeing with the fact that, Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities in order to follow the rules and regulations of government. The histogram from Minitab also indicates a similar king of thing, which also clarifies the calculation. And the P value is also less than 0.05, which rejects Ho. 5. At present Grameenphone is doing sufficient amount of CR activities for the society. By calculating all the answers of the above question, I get to find that the frequency was higher in answer 1 and 2. This tells us that more 50% of the total respondent gave the answer 1 and 2. We can also see from the above chart that, most of the respondents answered 1 and then 2. So they are agreeing with the fact that, at present Grameenphone is doing sufficient amount of CR activities for the society. The histogram from Minitab also indicates a similar king of thing, which also clarifies the calculation. And the P value is also less than 0.05, which rejects Ho. 6. Grameenphone has been successful for giving their information about CR activities to mass people. By calculating all the answers of the above question, I get to find that the frequency was higher in answer 1 and 2, but there is also a handsome amount of people who are neutral. This tells us that more 50% of the total respondent gave the answer 1 and 2. We can also see from the above chart that, equal amount of the respondents answered 1 and 2. So they are agreeing with the fact that, Grameenphone has been successful for giving their information about CR activities to mass people. The histogram from Minitab also indicates a similar king of thing, which also clarifies the calculation. And the P value is also less than 0.05, which rejects Ho.

Comparing the answers between the GP Users and the Non GP Users Q. Grameenphone has been successful for giving their information about CR activities to mass people. From the above chart we can see the answer of both the GP and Non GP respondents. But there is a difference between the patterns of answer of the different respondents. Firstly, if we consider only the GP User we can see all the GP respondents have agreed the fact that Grameenphone has been successful for giving their information about CR activities to mass people. We also see the frequency is high in the answer 1 (Table 4) for the GP respondents. In addition to that, the histogram from Minitab also shows a similar answer. And the P value is also less than 0.05, which rejects Ho. On the other hand, if we consider the Non GP respondents, we can see that there are respondents who have agreed and there are also some who hasn’t with the fact that Grameenphone has been successful for giving their information about CR activities to mass people. So in this case we can find a different opinion between the GP and Non GP respondents. Table 4: GP USER | NON GP USER | Mean | 1.25 | Mean | 2.35 | Frequency | 1 (48, 76.19%) | Frequency | 1(27, 49.09%) | St. Dev | 0.4364 | St. Dev | 1.6003 | Variance | 0.1904 | Variance | 2.5610 | P Value | 0.008 | P Value | 0.037 | Q. Grameenphone should only consider the social problems that it has created. From the above chart we can see the answer of both the GP and Non GP respondents. But there is a difference between the patterns of answer of the different respondents. Firstly, if we consider only the GP User we can see most of the GP respondents have disagreeing the fact that Grameenphone should only consider the social problem that it has created. We also see the frequency is high in the answer 4 (Table 5) for the GP respondents. In addition to that, the histogram from Minitab also shows a similar answer. And the P value is also less than 0.05, which rejects Ho. On the other hand, if we consider the Non GP respondents, we can see that there are respondents who have agreed and there are also some who hasn’t with the fact that Grameenphone should only consider the social problem that it has created. We can see from the chart that, number of non GP respondent agreeing the fact is much higher than the GP user respondents and the number of non GP respondents disagreeing the fact is much lower than the GP user respondents. So in this case we can find a different opinion between the GP and Non GP respondents. Table 5 GP USER | NON GP USER | Mean | 3.56 | Mean | 2.79 | Frequency | 4 (36, 81.25%), 1(8, 12.50%) | Frequency | 4(20, 57.14%), 1(16, 28.57%) | St. Dev | 1.2832 | St. Dev | 1.3845 | Variance | 1.6468 | Variance | 1.9168 | P Value | 0.005 | P Value | 0.042 | Results: From the overall calculation what I have found is that, all the respondents have a positive image about Grameenphone and their corporate responsibility activities. But there are some changes in answer between the GP user respondents and the Non GP user respondents. This tells us there are still some scopes for Grameenphone to improve their corporate responsibility activities. From the beginning of my research I took seven null hypotheses which I needed to prove wrong. The seven null hypotheses are as follows:
Ho1: Consumers have negative perception about the service of Corporate Responsibility department.
Ho2: There is no scope of improvements of the service provided by the Corporate Responsibility department.
Ho3: Grameenphone is doing the wrong thing by investing on Corporate Social Responsibility activities.
Ho4: Grameenphone should not consider all the social problems; it should only consider the social problems that it has created.
Ho5: Grameenphone do not conduct Corporate Social Responsibility activities because it does not improve the corporate image/brand.
Ho6: At present Grameenphone is not doing sufficient amount of CR activities for the society.
Ho7: Grameenphone has not been successful for giving their information about CR activities to mass people. From my calculation all of null hypothesis has been proven wrong. All the respondents have a positive perception about Grameenphone’s CR activities and according to the respondents different answer there are still some sort of scopes of improvements in GP’s CR activities, which in other sense, is proving the alternative hypothesis correct, which are,
Ha1: Consumers have positive perception about the service of Corporate Responsibility department.
Ha2: There is scope of improvements of the service provided by the Corporate Responsibility department.
Ha3: Grameenphone is doing the right thing by investing on Corporate Social Responsibility activities.
Ha4: Grameenphone should consider all the social problems along with the social problems that it has created.
Ha5: Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities because it improves the corporate image/brand.
Ha6: At present Grameenphone is doing sufficient amount of CR activities for the society.
Ha7: Grameenphone has been successful for giving their information about CR activities to mass people.

Limitation for study:

Main limitation for this study is the time limitation. As per research methodology, it is better if the number of in-depth interviews taken is more. Because less number of in-depth interviews might result in would be ―highly indicative‖ for this study.

Another big limitation was the accessibility to necessary information. By working in Grameenphone as an intern, I did not have the accessibility to all the necessary information that I wanted. So, limited data was a big limitation.

Apart from that, because of the great support from everyone working in my department, I did not face any limitation that affected my study. Recommendations: * Grameenphone should send a proper message to mass people and the government of Bangladesh more precisely about their Corporate Responsibility activities. * Grameenphone should involve more by doing more CR activities. * They should take some initiatives about their CR activities, so that all the people of Bangladesh can be informed by what they are doing. * Grameenphone should increase their investment budget for doing more CR activities. * They should create a smooth in house process for doing more prompt CR activities.

Conclusion: To work for Grameenphone was a great experience for me. The amount of things I have learnt here will really help me in future to pursue a career in the field of telecommunication. Especially the project work was very relevant to the actual studies done by Grameenphone on regular basis. Hopefully Grameenphone will soon be increase the budget for CR and will take necessary action for their different fields of improvements in CR activities and my hard work will be able to make contribution.

Dear Respondent,
I am a student of North South University, doing my internship at Grameenphone want to do a survey on Consumers perception about Grameenphone’s CR activities. The findings gathered from this survey will be incorporated into a research paper on the topic above for my BUS 498 (Internship) Program. It will take only few minutes of your time. Your response would be of great help in accomplishing the study. I’d appreciate your honest answer to the questions. However, this information in only for academic purpose and will not be disclosed elsewhere. I heartily thank you for your cooperation.
Appendix:

Research Topic: Consumers perception about Grameenphone’s CR activities.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

General Profile of Respondent

1. Gender: Male Female

2. Age (years): 18-22 23-27 28-32 33-37 38-42 43-50 51-60 Above60

3. Highest level of education: Masters or above Graduation HSC/A Level SSC/O Level

4. Do you use GP as your cell phone operator? Yes No Please read the following statements carefully and fill up the questionnaire according to your level of agreement. Statements | StronglyAgree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | StronglyDisagree | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities because it improves the corporate image/brand | | | | | | Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities in order to increase the quality of living where it operates which eventually would create empathy and admiration towards Grameenphone | | | | | | Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities in order to follow the rules and regulations of government | | | | | | Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities in order to be a company where people likes to work | | | | | | Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities in order to participate in the solution of national problems such as poverty, curable diseases, etc. | | | | | | Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities in order to give a share of the profit back to society | | | | | | Grameenphone conducts Corporate Social Responsibility activities as it is a source of competitive advantage | | | | | | At present Grameenphone is doing sufficient amount of CR activities for the society. | | | | | | Grameenphone has been successful for giving their information about CR activities to mass people. | | | | | | Grameenphone is doing the right thing by investing on Corporate Social Responsibility activities | | | | | | The company has significantly increased its investments on Corporate Social Responsibility activities that have positive social and economic impact | | | | | | Corporate Responsibility of Grameenphone has communicated both positive and negative activities of the company in a balanced, transparent and honest way. | | | | | | A social responsible program may be helpful in discouraging irresponsible behavior at Grameenphone | | | | | | Grameenphone can avoid further regulation by adopting the Corporate Social Responsibility activities. | | | | | | Grameenphone can have a cost advantage if it ignores the Corporate Social Responsibility activities | | | | | | Grameenphone should only consider the social problems that it has created | | | | | | Instead of focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility activities, Grameenphone should use its resource and talent for its own growth to ensure better service to the society | | | | | | The amount of money spent on Corporate Social Responsibility activities is adequate | | | | | | Employees lack of interest of is one of the main barriers of Corporate Social Responsibility activities of Grameenphone | | | | | | Low top level commitment is one of the main barriers of Corporate Social Responsibility activities of Grameenphone | | | | | | Low level of awareness about the issues related to the Corporate Social Responsibility activities is one of the main barriers of Corporate Social Responsibility activities of Grameenphone | | | | | | Lack of finance is one of the main barriers of Corporate Social Responsibility activities of Grameenphone | | | | | | Lack of skills and training is one of the main barriers of Corporate Social Responsibility activities of Grameenphone | | | | | | The Corporate Social Responsibility of Grameenphone motivates the employees to work for the company | | | | | | The Corporate Social Responsibility of Grameenphone makes its user/consumers feel good about the organization and prevents them from leaving Grameenphone | | | | | |