Vodafone Group Plc Research Articles

How can corporate taxes contribute to sub-Saharan Africa’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? A case study of Vodafone

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic and the climate emergency threaten progress in reaching many of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets by 2030. The under-5 mortality and maternal mortality rates are well below the targets, and if we progress at the current pace, there is a high risk of not meeting the 2030 goals. Furthermore, the initial progress in the decline in child and maternal mortality since 1990 is likely to be eroded. Much of this progress has resulted from increased sanitation, drinking water, education, and health service coverage. The adequate provision of public services is possible if there is sufficient government funding. When governments have more income, they spend more on public services, which increases access to fundamental economic and social rights and, thus, contributes to the SDGs. One of the key drivers of government financing, taxation, constitutes 70% of government revenue in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Corporate income tax constitutes 18.8% of tax revenue in African countries compared to 10% of tax revenue in OECD countries. Therefore, it plays a critical role in SDG progress.This paper aims to quantify the contribution of one large taxpayer, that publishes their tax payments, (Vodafone Group Plc) on progress towards SDGs in six African countries. We use econometric modelling to estimate the impact of an increase in government revenue equivalent to Vodafone's average tax paid between 2007–2017.ResultsWe find that government revenue equivalent to Vodafone’s taxes made a significant contribution to progress in attaining selected SDGs. We found that the revenue equivalent to Vodafone’s taxes allowed 966,188 people to access clean water and 1,371,972 people to access basic sanitation each year. Over the time period studied, 858,054 children spent an extra year in school and 54,275 children under five years and 3,655 mothers survived. In just one of these countries, Tanzania, the revenue equivalent to Vodafone's tax contribution allowed 174,121 people to access clean water and 223,586 to access sanitation each year. Over the time studied 187,023 children spent an additional year at school, 6,569 additional children under five and 625 additional mothers survived.ConclusionsThese findings demonstrate that the reported contributions from a single multinational corporation drive SDG progress. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of transparent taxes and explores the responsibilities of global institutions, governments, investors, and multinational corporations.

Appealing the Applicability of the Indian Arbitration Act 1996 to Non-ICSID Investment Arbitrations

Non-ICSID investment arbitrations have been held by Delhi High Court to be outside the scope of the Indian Arbitration Act of 1996. They have been considered fundamentally different as their roots are in public international law, in addition to their non-commercial nature. However, the court escaped a proper analysis of the hybrid foundations of an investor-State relationship, the seat theory, and issues of applicable law – which persuasively establish the applicability of the 1996 Act. In other words, the issue at the heart may be considered to be the nature of an investor’s substantive rights under an investment treaty and how they accommodate with India’s national law principles, when an investor has invoked arbitration against the host-State, which both parties accept, is subject to the law governing at the seat of arbitration. Besides the ongoing cases, India is now potentially facing two enforcement proceedings as an award debtor, in the near future, that may arise from investment claims by Cairn Energy PLC and Cairn UK Holdings Limited (under the UK-India BIT) and by Vodafone Group PLC (under the Netherlands-India BIT). Thus, the question of the applicability of the 1996 Act in respect of these non-ICSID arbitrations is foreseeable and may be addressed by the Supreme Court of India finally in the near future.

Union of India v Vodafone Group plc:1One Step Closer to Reconciling the Jurisdictional Competence of Domestic Courts and Investment Treaty Tribunals?

Union of India v Vodafone Group plc:1One Step Closer to Reconciling the Jurisdictional Competence of Domestic Courts and Investment Treaty Tribunals?

HR Management in the Digital Age: the Main Trends Assessment and Stakeholders

The company’s sustainable development depends from a lot of determinants. The article deal with the theoretical and practical aspects of human resource management on modern enterprises in the field of TV and communication services. The authors noted that for more than a century of human resource management, both theoretical and practical disciplines have evolved in various fields. In this connection the theoretical foundations for the development and preservation of human resource management were investigated. The authors analysed the worlds modern transformations of the workforce, that gives background for the future investigating and creates the preconditions for improving human resource management system on domestic enterprises. The authors emphasizes that the main objective of evolution and development of labour resource management is the efficiency of labour utilization, the search for the potential of employees, the application of techniques and practices to motivate and support staff. Changing the organizational environment in the market has to push managers to increase the effectiveness of the production process, create modern competitive advantages and consider the profitability of human resources. Investigating the features of functioning TV and communication companies has given the opportunity to provide recommendation for improving human resource management system. That would improve production, reduces costs, and at the same time ensures the stable existence and further development of the organization. The provided comparison of human resource management of PJSC “Ukrtelecom” and Vodafone Group PLC concludes that for a quick response to a modern problem, it is necessary to focus on the experience of a foreign company, to introduce modern instruments for the further operation of the enterprise. Key words: HR management, motivation, potential, efficiency, digitalization.

Institutional entrepreneurship and social innovation at the base of the pyramid: the case of M-Pesa in Kenya

This paper explores the agency of multinational corporations that perform social innovation under conditions of institutional complexity and resource constraints. Insights are drawn from a case study of Vodafone Group Plc and Safaricom Kenya Ltd that engaged in mobile money innovation in Kenya. The paper identifies three types of institutional voids that entrepreneurs can exploit to implement a social innovation: market, policy and social voids. Legitimating the social innovation involves appealing to the instrumental needs of target users, early and sustained engagement with policy-makers and redefining meanings of both incumbent and new technologies. The paper argues that spanning institutional voids – which provide entrepreneurial opportunities – also provide contingent legitimation narratives that can be targeted at different audiences. By mobilising insights from institutional theory, this paper provides a fresh perspective of social innovation in a base of the pyramid context.

Acquisition of Hutchison Essar (India) by Vodafone (U.K.): A Case in International Taxation of Indirect Transfer of Shares

ABSTRACT Vodafone is recognized globally as a seminal case in which the taxation of indirect transfer of shares was litigated before a country's highest judicial court. Vodafone Group plc, through a web of its directly and indirectly owned subsidiaries in different tax jurisdictions, acquired a majority interest in Hutchison Essar, an Indian telecommunications company. For failing to withhold taxes, the Indian Revenue Service has assessed $5 billion in taxes and penalties on Vodafone. Whether India's position to tax indirect transfer of shares between two non-Indian entities is consistent with the practices of OECD countries such as the U.S. and whether such tax measures help economic competitiveness are hotly debated topics. The case can be used in a graduate course in international taxation, or in a capstone course to address the topics of tax research and tax policy. It helps students to (1) research tax literature in the U.S. and a foreign country and apply it to a real-world context, (2) understand a complex acquisition transaction and its tax ramifications, (3) determine whether a similar transaction would be taxable in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, and (4) evaluate the pros and cons of taxing the transfer of shares between two foreign entities by tax authorities.

Trademark Disparagement & Advertising Ethos-Pathos: India

This Research Paper deals with following questions of intrinsic importance qua 'trademark disparagement':1. What is 'trademark disparagement'? What acts qua trade-rivals constitute 'trademark disparagement'? 2. What is 'comparative advertising'? Can 'comparative advertising' constitute 'trademark disparagement'? Author asserts that laws qua 'comparative advertising' in India owe their existence to the following case-laws of the U.K.- a. Cable & Wireless Plc v. British Telecommunications, 1998 FSR 383 b. Barclays Bank Plc v. RBS Advanta, 1996 RPC 307, Chancery Division c. Vodafone Group Plc v. Orange Personal Communications Services Limited, 1997 FSR 34 d. British Airways Plc v. Ryanair Ltd., 2001 FSR 32To see how laws qua 'comparative advertising' are positioned in India, author compares laws prevailing in the Indian jurisdiction with laws prevailing as such in U.K. and U.S.3. What is 'generic disparagement'? Does 'generic disparagement' constitutes 'trademark disparagement'? If yes, in what cases?4. What is the difference between "Puffing" and "Trademark Disparagement"?5. What is the difference between "Passing Off" and "Trademark Disparagement"?6. What are the different tests qua ‘trademark disparagement’? How is the 'single meaning rule' different from the 'multiple meaning rule'?7. How adjudication qua ‘trademark disparagement’ has taken place in India in the light of the following case-laws:I. Reckitt & Colman of India Ltd. v. M.P. Ramachandran & Ors., 1999 PTC (19) 741II. Pepsi Co. Inc. v. Hindustan Coca-Cola Ltd., 2003 (27) PTC 305 (Del) (DB)III. Dabur India Ltd. v. Colgate Palmolive India Ltd., 2004 (29) PTC 401 (Del)IV. Karamchand Appliances (P) Ltd. v. Sh. Adhikari Brothers, 2005 (31) PTC 1 (Del)V. Dabur India Ltd. v. Wipro Limited, 2006 (32) PTC 677 (Del)VI. Unibic Biscuits India (P) Ltd. v. Britannia Industries Ltd., MANU/KA/0240/2008VII. Dabur India Ltd. v. Colortek Meghalaya (P) Ltd., (2010) 44 PTC 254 (Del) (DB)VIII. Hindustan Unilever Limited v. Cavincare Private Ltd., 2010 (44) PTC 270 (Del)

Vodafone Egypt (A): the investment decision

Subject area International strategy; finance; corporate innovation and technology management. Study level/applicability MBA/MA. Case overview This case's subject is global/international strategy and how investment decisions are made to enter new markets by global companies such as Vodafone Group Plc. The case follows the executive team that is assigned the task of recommending a course of action to invest in various mobile telephony businesses globally and how to set the criteria and strategy for investing. Expected learning outcomes The case targets graduate students in MBA and technology management programs and can be used in courses in Global Business, Strategy and Policy, Finance, Corporate Innovation and Technology Management. The learning outcomes are expected to be a clearer understanding of the broad political, technical, economic and socio-legal issues to be addressed as well as the firm level strategies employed by transnationals to expand into developing countries. Supplementary materials The case includes teaching materials as well as financial statements, explanations of technologies and demographic data for use in analysis.

Industry dynamics and strategic positioning in the wireless telecommunications industry: the case of Vodafone Group plc

Examines firm strategic positioning and industry dynamics in the wireless telecommunications industry, and the relationship between the two. The study tracks how a firm adjusts resources and capabilities over time to cope with the shifts affecting its industry. Offers insights on what factors drive collaboration of telecommunications firms across industrial borders. The study is based on data on the collaborative relationships of Vodafone Group Plc over a three‐year period. An examination of the motivation, resource contribution and partner industry of Vodafone’s collaborative relationships is provided, to illustrate the complexity of firm strategic responses to the processes shaping the industry. Investigates the key motives and resource needs that have driven Vodafone in its collaborative agreements, and how the company has repositioned itself for the changing environmental demands. Identifies and analyzes the relative importance of a set of collaborative motives in relation to partner industry and resources contributed to the relationships. Finally, the future direction of development of the wireless telecommunications industry is forecast.