Strategic Capabilities for Competitive Advantage in British Broadcasting Corporation-global News, Africa

Abstract

The study aimed at establishing strategic capabilities as a source of competitive advantage at BBC Global News, Africa. Strategic capabilities of a company form an important strategic role to create value and improve business performance. The competitive advantage of companies in today's economy stems not from market position, but from difficulty to replicate strategic capabilities and the manner in which they are deployed. In attempting to get the objectives, a case study research design was adopted. An interview guide was used to collect data on strategic capabilities used by the organization in gaining competitive advantage. The data obtained from the interview guide was analyzed qualitatively. The qualitative analysis was done using content analysis.

The study established that BBC Global News, Africa had several internal strategic capabilities that gave it a competitive advantage over the other international media players. These strategic capabilities range from a strong human resource pool that is well trained, strong brand, credibility, technologically advanced equipment, wide audience coverage due to the presence of BBC Global News broadcasting in regional language. The study also established that strategic capabilities have kept on changing depending on various factors .Respondents identified these factors to include technology, changes in the media sector in Africa, changing demands of the audience, declining finances and also changing stakeholder requirements. It was also concluded that for the organization to achieve desired performance results, the firm’s capabilities and the resources available to it; must interact positively with the requirements of the firm’s markets and their requirements must be defined clearly and explicitly. As a result of the constant change in the world, it was also found out that the organizations strategic capabilities must continuously adapt to the changing operating environment and the human resources plays an important role to achieve this objective.