The Role of Collaborative Partnerships with Business Clients for the Sustained Growth Strategies of Telecom Service Providers

In the last decade, the traditional telecommunications business began to decline and has continued to decline since. Service providers are still trying to survive and achieve sustained growth in a highly competitive industry. The central aim of this research is to investigate how collaborative partnerships might help telecommunication service providers (TSPs) achieve sustained growth. The study critically evaluates the existing theories and empirical studies related to collaborative partnerships and explains why and how they are performed. The literature review showed a gap and a lack of a unified theory to explain the problem under consideration. To carry out the investigation, empirical, multi method qualitative research is applied. Primary data from individual semi-structured interviews and focus groups were collected and thematically analysed. Fourteen providers were involved; twenty-eight interviews and two focus group sessions were conducted. The research takes constructivism and interpretivism as the epistemological positions, and the embedded single case as the design choice. The results show that resources only cannot create competitive advantages. TSPs’ internal resources are not enough to compete in a highly dynamic market. To achieve sustained growth, TSPs must build dynamic capabilities and be adaptive to meet complex client requirements. With these capabilities, a new relationship with business clients must be developed to gain trust as a basis for long-term investment and the sharing of resources. This relationship is what characterises a successful collaborative partnership where TSPs see the positive impact on sustained growth. The results are shown in the growing demand of business clients and the continuity of current business. It is a challenge to survive and grow in a declining business unless TSPs adapt and make the necessary changes. Traditional TSPs may struggle to change their core business and make the shift to new IT-based cloud services and products. At the same time, their current commercial model, and short-term strategies are not helping them to achieve sustained growth. The findings illustrate the need for TSPs to make changes and collaborate more with clients. However, there are concerns about whether the growth of traditional TSPs, if achieved, can be sustained for a long period. The research findings provide guidance to managers as to how they can develop successful collaborative partnerships that can help providers create competitive advantages. At the same time, the empirical findings contribute to the theory by increasing knowledge on collaborative partnerships and how developing these partnerships might help service providers achieve sustained growth in a dynamic business environment.