The business world is highly competitive. The companies that outperform their competition to become market leaders are those that are constantly planning and developing strategies aiming to differentiate themselves and present themselves as the most attractive offer for their clients. Telecommunications is not unrelated to this reality. In Peru, mobile phone operators seek to offer a constant improvement in their services to dominate the market. To achieve this, they must build year after year new Cellular Base Stations - hereinafter EBC - that is, the points from which the mobile telephone and internet signal is transmitted and received. As a consequence of the speed with which the demand for mobile telephony increases in our country,the operators continually demand a better service from the companies that build and implement their EBCs, both in quality and in price. In order for companies in the industry to achieve the greatest possible market share, they must determine the strategies that allow them to optimize the use of their resources in order to offer better prices without affecting the quality of the service.
According to Osiptel "(…) the gap to 2021 would be 31 thousand antennas" (Gómez, 2018, para. 1). Given this scenario, the companies that provide EBC's construction services have a favorable outlook for the coming years since Mobile Telephone Operators have a great demand to meet, which is equivalent to a large investment to be made. In conclusion, the market offers them a high sales projection, so the best strategies must be put into practice to stay competitive and not lose attractiveness to their customers.
In order to determine how the integration of the value chain impacts operating costs in a company dedicated to the construction of EBC, this research has been carried out, which consists of both theoretical analysis and the study of "The Company ”, one of the leading companies in the field that also has an international presence. With the present investigation it is hoped to provide a new management approach for companies in the field and related fields. Likewise, to serve as a basis for future research on the integration of the Value Chain, contributing to the theoretical-practical application of the main administrative theories in force.
METHODOLOGY
- Design
The research is classified within the category of Applied and Participatory type; likewise, the methodology used is of the Inductive type; and finally, the study is considered Explanatory. The information collected from the analyzed company corresponds to the period from January 2016 to August 2018.
- Population and sample
We start from the premise that the object of study is a company of the analyzed category located in the city of Lima. For the semi-structured interview, a sample made up of three company employees and another sample made up of three employees of one of its main clients was used.
For the cost analysis, the company database was used taking the relation of purchase orders issued for the mentioned period. Likewise, the company's income statement was used.
- Ethical considerations
The company name and business name are kept anonymous, since their information is confidential.
RESULTS
- Data collection
For the collection of data, three research instruments were used: the semi-structured interview, the company's database and financial information, and direct observation through a checklist.
The semi-structured interviews were carried out through the Survey Monkey page. On the other hand, the company's information was collected from the Purchasing and Construction Management, and from the Management Control area. Finally, for direct observation, the manuals and procedures of the Integrated Company Management System were reviewed.
- Analysis of data
With the semi-structured interviews, it was determined that the level of satisfaction of the internal client is medium because the processes are bureaucratic and highly rigid, which does not allow timely attention. Likewise, the level of satisfaction of the external client is low due to the constant delays in the execution of the assigned works. Finally, all the interviewees concluded that improvements are necessary to optimize cost and time, being one of the most representative options the manufacture of metal structures.
After processing the logistical, operational and financial information of the company, it was first determined that the total cost of manufacturing metal structures in the last three years amounts to S /.3.2 million, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. EEMM Manufacturing Cost
| Month | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| Jan | S /. 6,555.95 | S /. 56,915.68 | S /. 148,261.38 |
| Feb | S /. 14,123.21 | S /. 166,183.19 | S /. 88,289.62 |
| Sea | S /. 19,092.70 | S /. 64,200.14 | S /. 43,616.32 |
| Apr | S /. 8,567.23 | S /. 3,395.27 | S /. 41,892.77 |
| may | S /. 146,502.04 | S /. 45,717.61 | S /. 96,138.51 |
| Jun | S /. 3,623.25 | S /. 105,970.24 | S /. 232,750.86 |
| Jul | S /. 43,862.72 | S /. 92,733.52 | S /. 73,393.03 |
| Aug | S /. 40,781.09 | S /. 127,879.02 | S /. 44,092.05 |
| Sep | S /. 207,744.75 | S /. 190,064.69 | |
| Oct | S /. 42,692.95 | S /. 337,209.30 | |
| Nov | S /. 127,664.07 | S /. 305,822.74 | |
| Dec | S /. 49,287.79 | S /. 261,992.52 | |
| Total | S /. 710,497.76 | S /. 1,758,083.91 | S /. 768,434.53 |
Second, it was calculated that on average the company paid S /.7.00 per kg. of steel. Third, the projected demand for metal structures for 2019 is 1,363,450 kg. of steel.
With the data obtained, a projected savings of almost S /. 4 million was estimated for 2019 if it were chosen to implement its own metal structure manufacturing plant as shown in Table 2; In addition, the investment recovery time would be less than 1 month, as shown in Table 3.
Table 2. Projected savings for 2019
| DESCRIPTION | UNIT. | KG. | TOTAL |
| Initial investment | S / 153,964 | ||
| Total cost to outsource | S / 7.00 | 1,363,450 | S / 9,544,150 |
| Annual fixed production cost | S / 740,306 | ||
| Variable cost of production | S / 3.41 | 1,363,450 | S / 4,650,673 |
| Total production cost (3 + 4) | S / 5,390,980 | ||
| Annual projected savings (2 - 1 - 5) | S / 3,999,205 |
Table 3. Investment return time
| DESCRIPTION | QUANTITY |
| Initial investment | S / 153,964.41 |
| Variable unit cost | S / 3.41 |
| Necessary production (Kg.) | 45,138.15 |
| Projected production January (Kg.) | 92,680.00 |
| Return time in months (3 ÷ 4) | 0.49 |
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
It was determined that the company does not currently present a clear value proposition for its clients since, although they have the backing of the Corporation's international trajectory, the local administration is not client-oriented. As proof we have that both the internal and the interviewees of the client agree that there is high bureaucracy in the company, which leads to non-compliance with established deadlines. In addition, in the observation of the processes it was evidenced that the company has ISO 9001 certification, which is why it has procedures to measure internal and external customer satisfaction, however, there is no evidence that it is implemented, which reinforces the conclusion obtained.Taking into account that the value of a good or service depends entirely on the customer's perception based on the level of satisfaction of their needs for what they pay (Thompson et al., 2012) the company has the need to permanently seek to increase the satisfaction of the same, not limited only to the external client, but also to the internal one.
It was determined that for the clients of the item, the mobile telephone operators, the most important and determining factors for their operations are the reduction of costs and the fulfillment of deployment objectives. For this reason, the analyzed company, although it has competitive prices, must constantly seek cost reduction or else it could risk losing sales against other competitors with better commercial offers. In addition, it does not have adequate logistical processes that allow the optimization of time; on the contrary, the delay in the delivery of the works becomes inevitable because all the services are outsourced. In this sense, the interviewees agreed that the process of manufacturing metal structures, mainly towers,It is one of those that has the greatest impact on operating costs, on meeting deadlines and on the quality of the service offered. One of the generic strategies to achieve a competitive advantage is cost leadership, which is ideal for companies with high sales volume, but with low distinguishable product quality. This generic strategy requires the company to have productive and efficient facilities. To this end, cost control and its permanent reduction based on the acquired know-how must be perfected. Likewise, for a competitive advantage to be useful for a company, it must also be sustainable over time (D'Alessio, 2008).One of the generic strategies to achieve a competitive advantage is cost leadership, the same that is ideal for companies with high sales volume, but with low differentiable product quality. This generic strategy requires the company to have productive and efficient facilities. To this end, cost control and its permanent reduction based on the acquired know-how must be perfected. Likewise, for a competitive advantage to be useful for a company, it must also be sustainable over time (D'Alessio, 2008).One of the generic strategies to achieve a competitive advantage is cost leadership, the same that is ideal for companies with high sales volume, but with low differentiable product quality. This generic strategy requires the company to have productive and efficient facilities. To this end, cost control and its permanent reduction based on the acquired know-how must be perfected. Likewise, for a competitive advantage to be useful for a company, it must also be sustainable over time (D'Alessio, 2008).To this end, cost control and its permanent reduction based on the acquired know-how must be perfected. Likewise, for a competitive advantage to be useful for a company, it must also be sustainable over time (D'Alessio, 2008).To this end, cost control and its permanent reduction based on the acquired know-how must be perfected. Likewise, for a competitive advantage to be useful for a company, it must also be sustainable over time (D'Alessio, 2008).
In summary, the vertical integration strategy of the value chain generates a positive impact in the optimization of operating costs for a company dedicated to the construction of EBC, one of the activities with the greatest impact being the manufacture of metal structures, the which represents a profitable investment with a fast return thanks to the projection of assured sales for the coming years. However, other variants of this proposal must be analyzed, such as the acquisition of an existing plant, which could be that of one of its current suppliers. The advantages of this alternative are the immediate operation of the plant, not incurring downtime in search of premises, purchase of machinery, hiring of personnel and similar activities;elimination of the learning curve for both plant employees and the company itself; and the existing client portfolio that can support the operation in the event of low demand from the company.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- ALDANA, J. and BERNAL, C. (2018). "Soft Factors in the Management of Supply Chain and / or Network Integration: Approach to a Conceptual Model". In: Technological Information Magazine. Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 103-114.
- BALLOU, R. (2004). Logistics: Supply chain management. Mexico: Pearson Educación de México SA de CV Consultation: September 16, 2018
By: Jean Pierre Adán Vásquez Vilchez (2)
(1) Article adapted from the Thesis “The integration of the value chain and its impact on operating costs in a company dedicated to the construction and implementation of Cellular Base Stations, Lima - Peru, 2018”, owned by the same author.
(2) Business Administrator graduated from the Technological University of Peru. Operations Management and Maintenance Management Specialist with 18 years of working experience.
