Strategic Planning for Cathay Pacific Airlines: Overview, Environmental Analysis, and Future Recommendations

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Cathay Pacific
Airlines Strategic Planning

STRATEGIC PLANNING 1
Executive Summary
This report is being prepared in order to provide the overview of Cathay Pacific Airlines
which will involve the explanation of its basic general environment and current strategies that
it is implementing in order to survive in the market. It will highlight the role of stakeholders,
analysis of the competitive environment. Besides this, it will suggest some changes for the
company that are very important for future survival. Moreover, it will suggest some future
recommendations along with its execution and communication plan that need to be adopted
by the company.

STRATEGIC PLANNING 2
Table of Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................1
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Overview of Cathay Pacific...................................................................................................4
Task 1 Environmental Analysis.................................................................................................5
Importance of Internal Analysis.............................................................................................5
Importance of External Analysis............................................................................................5
Key Stakeholders of Cathay Pacific Airlines.........................................................................6
Analysis of the Current Business Environment.....................................................................8
PESTLE Analysis...............................................................................................................8
SWOT Analysis.................................................................................................................9
Market selection of Cathay Airlines....................................................................................11
Product position...................................................................................................................11
Cathay Pacific Airlines position in the market....................................................................12
Competitive Analysis...........................................................................................................13
Strength and Weaknesses of Singapore Airlines.................................................................14
Task 2.......................................................................................................................................14
Porter Five Force Framework..............................................................................................14
Rivalry among Competitors.............................................................................................15
The threat of New Entrants..............................................................................................15
The threat of substitute products......................................................................................15
Supplier’s bargaining power............................................................................................15
Customer’s bargaining power..........................................................................................15
Change activities for Cathay Pacific Airlines......................................................................16
The process of Gathering Feedback from the Stakeholders.................................................16
Selecting a channel to communicate with the stakeholders.............................................16
Proper planning of the selected channel collecting the feedback....................................16
Scheduling team meetings................................................................................................17
Active listening to every stakeholder’s concern..............................................................17
Creating Action Plan........................................................................................................17
Implementing or applying agreed strategies....................................................................17
Strategy Selection Criteria...................................................................................................18

STRATEGIC PLANNING 3
Tests of a Winning Strategy.............................................................................................18
Future Strategy for Cathay Pacific Airlines.........................................................................19
Task 3 (a)..................................................................................................................................19
Organizational Culture.........................................................................................................19
Organizational Culture for new Strategy.............................................................................20
New Vision and Mission Statement for Cathay Pacific Airlines.........................................21
Financial Objectives.............................................................................................................21
Performance Measurement Tool..........................................................................................21
Task 3 (b).................................................................................................................................22
Effective Scheduling............................................................................................................22
Recognize obtainable time...............................................................................................22
Plan Vital Actions............................................................................................................22
Plan high-priority activities..............................................................................................22
Plan Contingency Time....................................................................................................22
Communication Plan............................................................................................................23
Monitoring and Evaluation process.....................................................................................24
Conclusion................................................................................................................................24
References................................................................................................................................26

STRATEGIC PLANNING 4
Introduction
Strategic planning is said to be very important for every organization as it offers an outline,
measurable goals and direction. It is a tool that is used for directing daily decisions of the
company and also for assessing development and altering methods while moving forward
(Albrechts, Balducci and Hillier, 2016). To use a maximum of the strategic planning, the
company need to provide careful thought to the strategic goals or objectives it summaries,
and provide backup for these goals with accurate, carefully investigated, computable
standards for assessing results (Abraham, 2012). This report is being presented in order to
prepare a strategic plan for the Cathay Pacific Airlines by evaluating its current business
performance. The report will perform the environmental analysis of the existing business plan
of Cathay Pacific Airlines, strategic options will be determined, and executing and evaluation
of strategy. The report will be divided into three tasks to analyze the current and potential
business strategies of the airlines.
Overview of Cathay Pacific
The Cathay Pacific Airlines is Hong Kong’s flag carrier, with headquarter in Hong Kong.
The airline’s subsidiaries and operations possess cargo services and scheduled passengers to
201 locations in around 60 countries around the world involving joint ventures and
codeshares (Cathay Pacific, 2018). Cathay Pacific Airlines drives a fleet of broad-body
aircraft involving Boeing 777, Airbus A350 and Airbus A330 equipment. The Cathay Dragon
which is wholly owned subsidiary operates its functions in 44 locations in the region Asia-
Pacific from its Hong Kong base. The company was established in 1946 and always remained
committed towards its home base, and putting considerable investments in order to develop
Hong Kong and convert it as the leading international hub of aviation (Cathay Pacific, 2018).

STRATEGIC PLANNING 5
Task 1 Environmental Analysis
Importance of Internal Analysis
An internal analysis is performed in order to identify the competence, competitive viability,
and cost position of the company in the marketplace. Performing an internal analysis also
evaluate the important information of the company i.e. strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats which is called a SWOT analysis (Williams, 2018). The information extracted
from an internal analysis is very important as it can be used to create objectives of strategic
planning in order to survive and develop the business. A strong company make use of
updated equipment and updated technology to complete its work. The attainment of the
financial goals and objectives of strategic planning are analysed (Mukher, 2018). The internal
analysis is very important for an organization to identify its areas of weaknesses so that it can
overcome that. It helps in analysing the competencies of the firm and highlights the possible
opportunities for the business in future (MBA Skool, 2018). While performing in the market
it is very important to be aware of the changes taking place in the market such as
technological, economic and competitor’s strategies which can arise threats for the company
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016).
Importance of External Analysis
The external analysis plays an important part in influencing the future of whole businesses
and of individual businesses. In order to uphold the company forward from its competitor, the
administration should regularly adjust their policies and strategies in order to show the
environment in which business functions (Teik, 2013). It is said to be a useful application to
perform an external analysis at the beginning of the review process of the strategy. The
external environment analysis involves various factors that affect the business such as
political, environmental, social, economic, legal, and technological (Boasson and Wettestad,
2016).

STRATEGIC PLANNING 6
Key Stakeholders of Cathay Pacific Airlines
A stakeholder is said to a party that has some interest in the business and that can influence
the business by its activities or can get influenced by the activities of the business. The key
stakeholders in a usual company are its customers, suppliers, investors, government and
employees (Rouse, 2018). Cathay Pacific Airlines has accomplished various achievements till
now and it is possible due to their stakeholders that are employees, customers, investors, and
shareholders, etc. The stakeholders of the company support them in communication strategy,
sustainable development strategy. It is very important that business understand the issues of
their stakeholders such that business can resolve it (Cathay Pacific, 2012). Various people are
attracted towards the airlines because of their way of doing business and how they do
planning to resolve the issues. Some of the concern of the stakeholders of Cathay Pacific
Airlines are:

STRATEGIC PLANNING 7