Porter’s Diamond outlined the determining factors for the competitive advantage of nations. The listed determinants of competitive advantage include firm strategy, structure, and rivalry, demand conditions, factor conditions and related and supporting industries. In that regard, the analyzed articles related to the mobile and cell phone developments in Uganda and India are fitting into the denoted model with different success, with various factors having different influences on the competitiveness of the country in the aforementioned sectors.
In terms of Uganda, it can be seen that the most contributing factor is the demand factor, where the market being relatively new has a lot of demand for the mobile operators. Another factor can be seen through the governmental support through opening ways for foreign investment can be seen as a contribution to the strategy, structure and rivalry factor. In terms of factor conditions and supporting conditions it can be stated that Uganda is lacking, with only the factor condition of being within the African continent can be seen fitting in building a strong mobile infrastructure connecting the countries.
In India, the factor contributing the most might differ due to different approaches in mobile development. Where in Uganda the emphasis was on the expansion of the infrastructure, in India the article outlined an emphasis on innovative technologies. Accordingly, demand and factor conditions can be seen dominating, with availability of skilled engineers as a human resource, and infrastructure, which can be seen through the leading positions of India in the IT sector. The latter can be attributed to related and supporting industries as well. Nevertheless, the main contributing factor can be seen through the strategies, structure and rivalry, where the emphasis on innovation is an important aspect for the companies to compete in introducing new products and technologies. In that regard, it can be stated that India is fitting better into Porter’s diamond, in terms of correspondence of the industry to the determinant factors.
The relation between industries can explain the development in other industries, where the example in Uganda, according to Porter’s Diamond, can be interacted with factor conditions and strategy and structure. Mobile telecommunication, specifically in rural areas such as Uganda, will allow the farmers for better communication, better monitoring of prices, more flexible financial operations, etc. In that regard, the changes in factor conditions will allow changes in strategy, structure and rivalry conditions in the cotton industry. The latter is directly related to the factor of supporting industries, where taking mobile communication as a supporting industry, the competition in that sector will allow an exchange of innovation in the cotton production, and thus, directly affecting the industry as a whole.
Taking the relation of industries a little bit further, it can be stated that successful developments changing the cotton industry in Uganda might negatively affect the cotton industry in Texas. Both the United States and Uganda are among the leaders in the cotton industry in the world in terms of imports, and in that regard, it can be stated that both are among each other’s determining factors of strategy and rivalry. Thus, positive changes in the position of one industry might lead to negative changes in the position of the other.