Candidate No:
Emirates airlines
Business & Management Internal Assessment
Higher Level
Main Essay: 2000 Words
Executive Summary: 200 Words
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who gave me the possibilities to complete this proposal report. I thank specifically the management of The Emirates Airline Company for their corporation during my data collection and offering me the opportunity to interact with their staff and clients within its premises. I thank them for allowing me permission to use their departmental data in my research.
I would also like to thank all my colleagues from my department, with whose ideas I borrowed help. I want to thank them also for their support, interests and valuable assistance. I am deeply indebted to my supervisor at the school and all my teachers for their contributions.
Especially, I would like to give my special thanks to my entire family on whose patient love I was able to complete this report.
Executive Summary
The Emirates airline is the national carrier of the national government of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Its first flight out of Dubai took off on 25 October 1985, having leased two aircrafts, which were Boeing 737 and Airbus 300B4 in the commencement of its operations. It was established by the government of Dubai, and has since remained under this government.
This assignment of business & management IA for an IB curriculum has several sections, which include the introduction, environmental analysis, marketing mix, and the conclusions and recommendations. The introduction gives the reader an outline of the airline in the light of its mission. The introduction also gives a general outlook of the company’s services and operations. The environmental analyses section deals with analysis of the SWOT, customer analysis, company analysis, and the analysis of its major competitors.
The marketing mix, also known as the tactical integrated marketing plan section, focuses on the 5Ps of the marketing mix: which include the products of the Airline, the people, their prices, place and physical evidence and promotion. The conclusion and recommendations section majorly focuses on the various measurements desired by the marketing plans of the Emirates Airline in measurement of performance.
Introduction
The Emirates Airline, popularly known as ‘fly Dubai’ is the national airlines of the Dubai government, United Arab Emirates. Its ability to operate over 2400 passengers from the Dubai hub of international Airport terminal three to up to 105 cities of 62 countries in the world, has branded it the largest airline in the middle east. It has a blend of Boeing wide body aircraft and Airbus fleets. It also ranked in the top ten carriers worldwide in terms over passenger kilometers and revenue. Due to its commitment to safety and operational brilliance, customer service, perfect financial conditions such as 22 years successive annual profit, it won the Airline of the year award in February 2011, of the Air Transport World.
Rationale
Research Question
Procedure or Method
In my research, I adopted several methods in order to collect a detailed data to complete a comprehensive report for the purpose of the study. The methods are divided into two types as the primary and the secondary research methods.
Primary Research
I adopted these methods in obtaining for the first time. They include interviews, questionnaires, surveys and observation.
Interviews
After conducting personal investigations on the right person to contact on the sales of the airline company, I considered Mr. Thierry Antinori, the executive vice president-passenger sales worldwide appropriate. His responsibilities of overseeing commercial operations, revenue optimization, business intelligence and commercial support, distribution and interline and leisure and management skywards, all caught my attention. Due to the costs involved in conducting the face-to-face interview with the executive, I decided to have a telephone conversation with him with regard to my objectives of my research.
Questionnaires
I adopted this method in my research since I intended to reach several people in the airline provider at a reduced cost and within the minimal time. I also had to distribute the questionnaires to its customers and conduct an evaluation of the available competitors. I had to move with the questionnaires, explain them to the target audience, and have them answered before the respondent. Tim Clark, the President Emirates Airline was my major respondent to the questionnaires since he has been part of the Emirates team since launch.
Surveys
Observation
This is the last method that I adopted in my research, though, due to its complicated nature, I employed it least in my research. I had to go to the airline provider and make observations of the staff-customer relations.
Secondary research
Since some information could not be availed by the primary research methods, I employed the use of secondary research. The following are the methods that I used.
Internet research; I considered reading from internet sources about some information regarding the extent to which Emirates airlines improved financially since changing terminals in October 2008. These were available from their official websites and other related sources on the internet that relate to this discipline.
Library sources; books and journals from several library sources also served as an important research method. I selected them in relation to my area of concern and the articles the articles that I used were detailed and comprehensive on this subject of study.
Limitations of research
The questionnaires were limited in terms of the information, which resulted from them. The answers were also limited in depth. It was not easy using complex questions in these questionnaires since the answers got complicated and difficult to understand. In surveys where the questionnaires had to be sent by post, the respondents did not return some questionnaires, hence the information in these unreturned questionnaires were not unavailable. Some people could not understand the questionnaires since they were not explained to them as opposed to those who answered them in my presence.
The major challenge that I encountered in the interview was the expense of having to make a telephone call to the executive. In the interview, due to lack of personal presence, the respondent ignored some questions. The secondary research methods posed little challenge. All the research methods were time consuming too.
Findings, Analysis and Discussion
Marketing Mix
The marketing mix entails the different kinds of choices made by an organization in the process of bringing a product or service into the market. It is a tool used by the marketing department of every successful organization. For the purpose of this research and its findings, the marketing mixes that were discovered are as discussed below.
Product
For this purpose, the aircraft and the various services that the organization provides are the points of consideration. As earlier stated, the airline uses Boeing and airbus, including the A380 airplanes, after the Singapore airlines. During the interview, I recognized that the company has a reputable purchase for its aircraft. It purchases a large number of aircraft at specific times in order to increase it carrying capacity, and the number of destinations. In its purchases, the company ensures that it procures the best and most comfortable airlines to enhance customer satisfaction.
People
The Emirates airline is reputable for the excellent customer service from its cabin crew to the staff on the ground. In the year 2010, the company paid dividend of AED 956 million. This is due to the proper coordination of all organization departments, which are motivated to living-up to the slogan: “Fly Emirates. Keep Discovering” in my observations, the staffs of the organization had a good mutual relationship with their clients. These clients were handled with dignity and respect without discrimination or favoritism. The organization has a large number of staff that I estimated at over 15,000-cabin crew from over 135 countries, this has also enhanced cultural diversity.
The price
The Emirates Airline also has distinguished criteria in its pricing strategy. Its low cost of fares compared to most of the European airlines, coupled with the convenient ticketing procedure is key success areas and survival in the industry. I also discovered from the internet research that the airline’s target airports such as Auckland, Sydney, Bangkok, Singapore and Melbourne are carefully planned in terms of fares and ticketing compared to its competitors. From my surveys of different clients and potential customers, I realized that this low cost of pricing while offering excellent services in flight experience are the indicators for the increased number of passengers intending to explore the Emirates Airline’s services. This has also kept the already existing users not to opt for alternative airlines.
Place
Since changing terminals in October 2008, the organization has established airlines that fly to major hubs. This has proved profitable. The Emirates airline has introduced several new routes to the already existing ones. Due to this, the airline continues to offer uninterrupted flights to several destinations all over the world. In addition to the company’s international routes, the locals also enjoy their local travels in the airlines of the Emirates. The company is located in the centre of a major market with an average population of 4 billion people.
Promotion
The Emirates has been committed to sponsorship in both United Arab Emirates and all over the world. The executive informed me that the airline views sponsorship as key to the airline marketing strategy saying that this helps in sharing and supporting of the interests of the clients and builds a closer relationship between them. The company also has packages such as KIDS GO FREE campaign, which allows kids below the age of 16years to accompany their parents for free on their travels and enjoy hospitality at no expense.
Conclusions and Recommendations
After analyzing external and internal environmental conditions, Emirates airline has advantages in relation to its competitors. However, the management has the obligation of identifying the capabilities of the competitors and compare this against its competitive advantages in the industry.
In an economic recession, for the company to survive these effects, it should follow reliable directions of development strategies in terms of further reducing its cost and market penetration.
Recommendations
- Several studies have identified labor to contribute to 25-35% of the total cost of production in any given industry. In order to increase revenue, Emirates should reduce the number of staff. This could be done by employing new technologies that can handle work that could be performed by several employees.
- For proper market penetration, the company needs to reduce it prices further in the existing markets in relation to the competition. This will in turn increase turn over and the profit margin will automatically rise.
- Even though the company views sponsorship as an important tool, in reaching their clients, some sponsorship instead waste funds and do not achieve the desired objectives. Therefore, the company should restructure the procedures used in approving sponsorships by adopting those that are preferred to increase sales over the resource consuming ones.
- Emirates also require accessing its profitably within some geographical markets. Joining code-share alliances in predetermined markets where the company records a decline in profitability is an advantageous move since it helps reduce significant costs while gaining market benefits of large size and reduce competition in routes that are duopolistic in nature.
Limitations of my research
In my research, the major problem that I encountered generally relies on the time frame. The duration that was available for the collection of data and having to analyze them were limited and subject to assignment deadliness. This offered just specific predetermined periods for conducting the research, where a delay in one process would mean a delay in the whole process. The other challenge lied on the respondents to the primary research methods. Some people withheld vital information for various reasons, usually personal.
Bibliography
Books
Holloway, Stephen. Straight and Level: Practical Airline Economics. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008, Print.
Lamb, W. Charles. Marketing. Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning, 2011, Print.
Interviews and Questionnaires
Interview: Mr. Thierry Antinori, the executive vice president-passenger sales worldwide
Questionnaire: Tim Clark, the President Emirates Airline
Websites
Booking, planning, promotions and reservations. (2013). Recent promotions. Retrieved February 13, 2013, from http://www.emirates.com/english
Emirates Group. (2013). Home. Retrieved February 13, 2013, from http://www.theemiratesgroup.com/english/our-company.aspx
Appendices
Appendix 1 – Information Regarding Market Share Estimate
Considering competition from the other airline services providers, a survey conducted in the Australian airline market between January 2009 and January 2010, showed that the Emirates airline increased its market share from 6.5% to 7.7%. This increase in share market attributes to improved marketing skills such as the KIDS GO FREE campaign, which allows children between the ages of 12 to 16 to accompany their parents on flights free. Adjusting to technological advancements such as online ticket booking is another contributing factor. In 2012, Emirates airline’s market share rose by six percent from the recent year, this due to the reduced prices that attracted more clients.
Appendix 2 – Sources of Customers
The major source of customers for the Emirates airline has been its official website. The company has both a mobile and desktop-supported versions of its website. The internet has become a very important marketing tool and the company tries to keep up with the competition by providing its services to be accessed online. The company sponsors projects and events with an aim of reaching a wide range of potential clients. These sponsorships offer clients opportunities to express their views and feelings, these help in creating awareness.
Appendix 3 – SWOT Analysis
The company is a well-renounced organization having its branches all over the world, from developing to developed economies. It has a very extensive network all over the United Arab Emirates and several other destinations. The SWOT analysis of the company would provide its in-depth understanding.
