UNIVERSITY OF THE AMERICAS

FACULTY OF RIGHTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES SEMINARS VII
VODAFONE EGYPT AND THE ARAB SPRING ESSAY

“Vodafone believed that communications technology supported human rights by enabling

the exchange of ideas and access to information, … increasing transparency”

Freedom of thought, expression and access to information are inherent rights of

people and no government or company should go against these rights. Therefore, what
Vodafone in the face of the situation of the requirement made by Egypt in the Arab Spring
had to do is not to give in and then accept the consequences of its actions; this for reasons
of credibility, strategy and the possibility of opening new markets.
In the first place, the fact that Vodafone rejects Egypt's request gives the feeling of
trust, coherence and consistency of the company's actions with what it always proclaims
and defends: “the strong commitment to freedom of expression”. Otherwise, the company
would lose all its credibility, which would be strongly reflected in the economic losses for
the company, which would also trigger the loss of customers due to lack of trust in the
brand.
Moreover, once Vodafone focuses on staying consistent with its commitment to
freedom of expression, then it can use a great publicity strategy, making the decision
known to the international community. Although this strategy can be very dangerous since
it would cause rejection of the company by other authoritarian governments, there is also
the great possibility that in the countries where they carry out their operations, clients will
develop trust and preference towards the brand and win. ground against competing brands.
Third, maintaining credibility, translated into greater trust, can also lead to the
opening of new international markets for the company, that is, with a good marketing
strategy, the maneuver of rejecting the demands of the Egyptian government could create
sufficient attraction and confidence to recover the amount lost in Egypt and possibly in
authoritarian countries, through the new opening of markets in Latin American countries.
In conclusion, the best option for Vodafone is to reject or not give in to the demand
of the Egyptian government so that in this way the maintenance of its credibility, generate
trust, get it new clients in the countries where it already carries out its activities, and even,
allows them to open new markets in regions where they did not have them before, such as
Latin America.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
ERB INSTITUTE. (2015). Vodafone Egypt and the Arab Spring: When Government and
Business Collide. WDI Publishing. Retrieved from
https://aulasvirtuales.udla.edu.ec/udlapresencial/pluginfile.php/1584958/
mod_resource/content/1/Vodafone%20Egypt%20and%20the%20Arab
%20Spring.pdf