Analysis of Two Case Studies

The report analyses the marketing strategies of Woolworths and Qantas Airways in gaining competitive advantage in their respective industries. The report is based on articles and newspapers and highlights the success of these organizations. The report concludes that customer-centric approaches are effective in gaining competitive advantage and increasing sustainability of operations.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF TWO CASE STUDIES
ANALYSIS OF TWO CASE STUDIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ANALYSIS OF TWO CASE STUDIES
Executive Summary
The report is based on the analysis of two organizations and the ways by which they have
tried to gain competitive advantage in the industry of their operations. The first organization
which has been considered for this analysis is Woolworths which operates in the retail
industry of Australia. The second organization which has been considered in this case is
Qantas Airways which has its operations in the airlines industry of Australia. The marketing
based activities of the organizations have been analysed with respect to the information that
has been provided by different newspapers and articles as well. The success of these
organizations in gaining competitive advantage in the industry has also been analysed in the
report.

2ANALYSIS OF TWO CASE STUDIES
Table of Contents
a. Introduction................................................................................................................3
b. Description of the cases.............................................................................................3
c. Evidence based on marketing related success............................................................4
d. Explain the ways by which these organizations achieved success in the industry....5
e. Conclusion..................................................................................................................7
References......................................................................................................................8

3ANALYSIS OF TWO CASE STUDIES
a. Introduction
Marketing plays an important in the ways by which an organization is able to operate
within the industry in a profitable manner. The marketing and promotional activities of the
organizations belonging to any sector play a major role in increasing their profitability and
revenues. The competitive advantage can be gained by an organization in the industry with
the help of proper marketing strategies The marketing based activities are therefore vast and
varied in nature and have been an important part of the successful operations of an
organization. The awareness of the brand and its products within the customers can be
increased with the help of effective marketing. The competitors of the organization in the
industry can be faced in an effective manner with the help of proper marketing related
activities (Daspit et al. 2017).
The report will be based on the analysis of the marketing based activities that have
been performed by two different organizations. The organizations belong to different sectors
and have been able to gain success in the industry with the help of their appropriate
marketing based activities. The two organizations which have been considered for this report
are Woolworths and Qantas Airways, which operate in Australia.
b. Description of the cases
Woolworths Group Limited is an Australian organization which operates in the retail
industry all over New Zealand and Australia. The company has acquired the second largest
position in the retail industry in terms of the total revenues that has been earned. Woolworths
has also been able to become the largest takeaway retailer of liquor in Australia. The first
store of Woolworths was established in the year 1924 in Sydney. The organization has
developed its unique position in the market thereafter. The customer relationship based

4ANALYSIS OF TWO CASE STUDIES
activities have played an important role in the formation of a competitive advantage in the
industry in comparison to the other organizations (Woolworths.com.au. 2018).
Qantas Airways is the flag bearer of the airlines industry of Australia. The company
has been able to gain the topmost position in the industry in terms of fleet size and revenues.
The company was established in the year 1920 and the international flight based operations
had started from 1935. The origins of the organization are located in Sydney and the airlines
at present operates in an international basis (Qantas.com. 2018).
The two organization have been able to achieve success in the market with the help of
their innovative marketing strategies and the ways of operations as well. The research on
marketing based activities of these two organization is based on the articles in different
newspapers. The ways by which these two organizations have been able to implement their
marketing strategies in different operations will be analysed with the help of the articles and
newspaper stories.
c. Evidence based on marketing related success
The ways by which Woolworths has been able to gain a competitive advantage in the
retail industry are related to the improvement of the products that are offered to them. The
offers are provided to customers based on their choice and preferences. The relationship
which is created by the company with local farmers and growers has been an important part
of the competitive advantage of Woolworths in the retail industry. The news article that has
been provided in The Sydney Herald has been able to prove that the marketing campaign
which has been designed by Woolworths is successful in providing the company with the
position in the market (Mitchell 2018).
Qantas Airways on the other hand has been able to maintain its sustainable position
with the help of customer centred strategies. The customers have been placed at the centre of

5ANALYSIS OF TWO CASE STUDIES
different activities which are performed by the company in the retail industry. The customer
centric approach of gaining competitive advantage and share in the market has been
successful for the operations of Qantas Airways. The partners of the organization have also
played an important role in the ways by which rewards can be used by the customers
(Gouveia 2018).
d. Explain the ways by which these organizations achieved success in the industry
Woolworths has implemented the strategy of personalised or targeted marketing for
the purpose of gaining a competitive advantage in the retail industry. The customisation of
different marketing activities has been the major agenda of Woolworths in the retail industry
of Australia. The mass marketing based activities of the organization have been changed to
customised activities for different types of customers. The offers that are being provided to
the consumers are based on their needs and demands. The customised offers are based on the
buying history of the customers (Adbrands.net. 2018).
The organization has used new marketing strategies with the aim of repositioning the
brand in such a manner which will help in improving the customer base. The advertisement
based activities of the company have also been organized in a manner which will help in
attracting a larger base of customers. Woolworths has aimed at changing the strategy of its
operations from product oriented to service oriented. The management aims at
communicating the customer proposition in an effective manner by changing the different
buying policies. The operational issues that have been faced by Woolworths are solved with
the help of the changes that are made in the marketing strategies (Financial Review. 2018).
The service oriented operating process of Woolworths has thereby been helpful for
the company to gain a competitive advantage in the retail industry. Woolworths further went
on to become the largest chain of supermarkets in the Australian retail industry by overtaking

6ANALYSIS OF TWO CASE STUDIES
its rival Coles in the year 2006. The company has been able to acquire a dominant position in
the market of local grocery with the help of the relationship which it shares with the local
farmers and growers (Daspit et al. 2017).
Qantas Airways has gone through a huge transformation in the previous years in order
to restructure the costs. The company however did not lose the focus that it had on the
customers in spite of the rough time that it was going through. The foundation of change was
also laid in the organization by keeping the major focus on its customers. The management of
Qantas has mainly invested in the organization with the proper usage of technology and data
in order to drive the business and the customer strategy. The company has given importance
to the process of cross-functional success in order to improve the experience that is provided
to the customers (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014).
The major areas of differentiation which have been achieved by Qantas Airways in
the industry are data, brand and technology. The point of difference is however developed
with the help of the ways by which the organization is able to set up the employees within
different organizational processes. The customer engagement based strategy has been
effective way which is used by the organization in order to create a competitive advantage.
The customers have always been placed at centre of their strategies and thinking and the
management of Qantas was able to create an effective relationship with them. The quality of
service which was provided to the customers had been changed in order to increase the
customer base (James 2016).
Transparency was another important factor which has proved to be a major driving
force for the confidence of customers in the brand of Qantas. The trust levels had increased
the growth of the organization and sustainable earnings as well. The data of the consumers
have been used in an effective manner by Qantas Airways in order to build the competitive

7ANALYSIS OF TWO CASE STUDIES
advantage in the market. The experience which was provided by Qantas to the customers has
been an important part of its operating process in the airlines industry. The rewards have also
helped in creating a loyal base of customers and further increase their levels of trust as well.
The market share of the company will be increased with the help of proper marketing
strategies and increased trust of the customers (Michael, Storey and Thomas 2017).
e. Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating that the two organizations namely,
Woolworths and Qantas Airways have used different strategies for the purpose of creating
competitive advantage in their respective industries. The two organizations have been able to
operate in a profitable manner with the help of different approaches which have been made
by them. The approaches have however been customer centric in nature for both the
organizations. The customers have been provided with huge importance by the organizations
which belong to different industries or sectors. The levels of effectiveness of the marketing
strategies have thereby been proved with the help of the success that has been achieved by
them in the industries. Competitive advantage can be gained by the organizations with the
help of approaches that are made in a customer centric manner. The sustainability of
operations can also be increased with the help of effective marketing approaches.

8ANALYSIS OF TWO CASE STUDIES
References
Adbrands.net. 2018. Woolworths : marketing and advertising profile at Adbrands.net.
[online] Available at: https://www.adbrands.net/au/woolworths_au.htm [Accessed 1 Aug.
2018].
Daspit, J. J., Chrisman, J. J., Sharma, P., Pearson, A. W., and Long, R. G., 2017. A Strategic
Management Perspective of the Family Firm: Past Trends, New Insights, and Future
Directions. Journal of Managerial Issues, 29(1).
Financial Review. 2018. How Woolworths’ personalised marketing is lifting loyalty and
sales. [online] Available at: https://www.afr.com/it-pro/how-woolworths-personalised-
marketing-is-lifting-loyalty-and-sales-20130213-jz5jx [Accessed 1 Aug. 2018].
Gouveia, M. 2018. Use marketing and trust to deliver competitive advantage: Qantas CMO -
Which-50. [online] Which-50. Available at: https://which-50.com/use-marketing-trust-
deliver-competitive-advantage-qantas-cmo/ [Accessed 1 Aug. 2018].
Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., and Schilling, M. A., 2014. Strategic management: theory: an
integrated approach. Cengage Learning.
James, S.D., 2016. Strategic bankruptcy: A stakeholder management perspective. Journal of
Business Research, 69(2), pp.492-499.
Michael, S., Storey, D., and Thomas, H., 2017. Discovery and coordination in strategic
management and entrepreneurship. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, 45-
65.

9ANALYSIS OF TWO CASE STUDIES
Mitchell, S. 2018. Woolworths kicks off new marketing campaign. [online] The Sydney
Morning Herald. Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/woolworths-
kicks-off-new-marketing-campaign-20151020-gkd4dl.html [Accessed 1 Aug. 2018].
Qantas.com. 2018. Fly with Australia’s most popular airline | Qantas AU. [online] Available
at: https://www.qantas.com/au/en.html [Accessed 1 Aug. 2018].
Woolworths.com.au. 2018. Woolworths.com.au. [online] Available at:
https://www.woolworths.com.au/ [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].