Contemporary Business Issues in British Airways: A Critical Analysis of Sustainability

This report critically evaluates the organization British Airways in response to the matter of contemporary issues which are faced in the business. It deals with how the organization is dealing with the issues by the means of academic research. The report identifies the issues to the British Airways and provides diagnostic approaches to the challenges which will demonstrate how the decisions made the management affect the employees of the company.

Running head: CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS ISSUES
CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS ISSUES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The aim of the report is to critically evaluate the organization British Airways in response
to the matter of contemporary issues which are faced in the business. The purpose of the report is
to first identify the issues to the British Airways and then in the next part of the report it will deal
how the organization is dealing with the issues by the means of academic research.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Environmental Sustainability.......................................................................................................3
British Airways............................................................................................................................3
Critical Analysis of Sustainability...................................................................................................4
Fig 1. Represents the Step in Attaining sustainability in British Airways..................................5
Impact of sustainability....................................................................................................................6
Fig 2. Represents the members responsible for Sustainability in British Airways.....................7
Personal views on the topic.............................................................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Environmental Sustainability
The major transport organization is known for facing various types of contemporary
business issues related with sustainability such as the rising fuel costs, environmental issues,
employees strikes and substitutes which are therefore known for reducing the huge customer
base and slashing the profits earned by the company (Mills 2017). Due to the global strategic
business that has been followed by the British Airways for a long time is facing various types of
internal and external challenges that are wholly related with sustainability, operations, and
environmental issues. Therefore all these challenges are responsible for translating the
organization to have reduced profit and less market share (Lange, Saka‐Helmhout and Becker‐
Ritterspach 2015).
British Airways
British Airways was created in the year 1980 gained a broad establishment in order to
manage the nationalized airline cooperation (Helm and Dobson 2016). The British Airways is a
strong international brand which has taken on with the air travel business since the year 1947
(Airways 2017). The organization is a key player in the industry that has undergone various
types of radical changes from its development. In addition to changes in the business it has also
got through diverse strategic challenges which the report will evaluate and at the end. It will also
provide diagnostic approaches to the challenges which will demonstrate how the decisions made
the management affect the employees of the company.

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Four of the organizations which the British Airways solely holds are British Overseas
Airways Cooperation, the British European Airways, Cambrian Airways from Cardriff and the
Northy east Airlines from the New Castole upon Tyne merged together in order to form the
British Airways as a total (Coller, Helms and Mills 2016). Almost after more than 20 years of
existence the organization was privatized by the conservative government of the country
(MacArthur 2016). In addition to it the report will analyze the SWOT Analysis in a way to address
the contemporary issues and will help the organization to maintain its loyal customer base, large
market share and lead the transport market.
Critical Analysis of Sustainability
According to the authors Li and Cui (2017) the present vision of the organization is to
ensure that the company runs a safe and comfortable organization and operation with the
customers, the organization is continuously investing a huge amount of money in the research
and development to invest in the aircrafts and the facilities which will take over the sustainability
issues faced by the organization.
But however the authors Al-Azri and Georg (2015) say that the rivals in the market are
also presenting various types of challenges to the organization. Few of the new market entrants
are much bigger and powerful when compared with the British Airways. Focusing on the
pollution level in the atmosphere the modern day passenger air craft’s of British Airways are
travelling at a height of 35000 ft where the engines are emitting the harmful pollution causing
gases through the exhausts.

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Fig 1. Represents the Step in Attaining sustainability in British Airways
Source : (Coller, Helms and Mills 2016)
The authors Coller, Helms and Mills (2016) also suggest that the exhausts chiefly
comprise the harmful carbon mono oxide gases in the air which is much heavier than the normal
emission of gasses at that level. The harmful gases thus at that stage will not condense but it will
slowly disperse in to vapor pressure. Therefore these gases are known for adding to the fact of
creating a blanket which is known as the green house gases in the air. These are leading or are
impacting the climatic changes in various locations of the earth. Therefore the organization
should take care of the sustainability in the long run and functioning in the transportation
industry. The author King (2017) also determines that due to the challenges which are faced by
the company called upon the management to take radical decisions in order to steer the company

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from a less profit making organization to a higher profit making organization. The author also
says that few of the external factors of sustainability which are faced by the organizational are
the more cheaper modes of transportation that is the roads and the rail ways (Tachitskaia, Panova
and Schislyaeva 2016).
Impact of sustainability
According to the authors Li and Cui (2017) the high exposure to the noise that is emitted
by the airplanes of British Airways is continuing to grow as a challenge to the individuals and
the society. The potential impact which these are known for creating problems like sleep
disturbance, interference with the effective communication, decreased schooling performance of
the kids and increase in the level of stress. The nature of the environmental crises that is being
developed in the society are high blood pressure, asthma, chronic bronchitis, sleep nesses, and
liver damage.
However the authors Coller, Mills and Mills (2016) discusses that the main reason for the
pollution which are caused by the airplanes comes from the APU or the Auxiliary Power Unit
which is also known as the generator that is known to provide power to the engines and adds on
to the air conditioning which is present inside the airplanes. The APU or the Auxiliary Power
Unit is situated at the rear section of the aircraft where the tail cone is situated under pressure.
The installation of these devices does not only create a huge amount of pollution but it also
increases the noise pollution which comes from the engines and the exhaust of the air planes.
The government therefore should take a note of it and impose the Environment Control System
that will help these organizations to reduce the air pollution and the noise pollution that is
associated with it (Dvorak and Razova 2018).

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According to the author COUASME and GURGEY (2016) the British Airways is known
to contribute 2% of the global man made harmful carbon mono oxide gas which been reported by
Intergovernmental Panel of Climatic Change Report. The organization also says that b the year
2020 the British Airways are planning to be planning to make the whole institute of British
Airways a carbon free organization. They are also planning to make it a electric zone where the
electric cars will be responsible for loading the cargo and unloading them. This will reduce the
excessive emission of harmful carbon mono oxide gas into the environment.
Fig 2. Represents the members responsible for Sustainability in British Airways
Source : (PETERS, 2018)
The author MacArthur (2016) says that the airlines are known for connecting people with
friends and bring them together to a united family live for the holidays. The airports are known

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for playing a major role in connecting the economies globally and regionally. It is known for
dealing with a huge number of economic drivers and large employees. But however according to
the authors COUASME and GURGEY (2016) in the present date the organization is operating
their aircrafts with sensitivity to noise and improved emission of air quality from the exhaust of
the air planes and the engagement with the community who are facing various types of issues
with this. In order to tackle with the climatic change the organization is investing a huge amount
of money in the sustainable fuel solutions, flying the air craft’s very efficiently in order to reduce
the excess fuel consumption and emission. They are also known to support the global regulations
which are laid down by the government. They are also planning to set different teams hic will be
responsible for various tasks such as modernizing the fleets, reducing the waste generate and
increasing the use of recyclable materials in the airport premises (Denga 2017).
Sustainability Theories which should be followed by British Airways
The Corporate Social Responsibility theory is known for defining the present practices of
corporate social responsibility (CSR) which has been published by Howard Bowen in the year
1953. The theory argues that the number of stakeholder pressure group created is out to bring a
pragmatic change in the business. Thus the CSR is denoted as a company stakeholder
responsibility.
Whereas on the other hand the Triple Bottom Line theory is framework which is known
for recommending that the companies are known for committing to focus on the social and
environmental concerns. Therefore the theory suggest that British Airways should work on three
things which are profit, people and as well as for the planet.

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Whereas according to the author Lynn Margulis the green economics theory aims at
making the environmental issues lesser than before without degrading the operations of the
company. Therefore it is the methodology which will support the harmonious interaction
between the operation of the company along with the attempts to work better.
Personal views on the topic
I can suggest that the organizations should look into its sustainability measures. They
need to focus on the sonic boom technology which will help them to take care of the excess
sound and vibrations imposed by the engines. The government of the country and the
organization should sit together in order to implement various types of green environment plans.
Making green airports will help the organization to gain sustainability and reuse the earth’s
geothermal energy to gain energy. Taking the example of the Israel’s Ben Ggurion Airport which
is known as world’s first airport to use the solar power in generating the electricity British
Airways should also implement strategies to make clean and green airports.
I think that the organization should also take control of the land which is used in the
project and airport space. The government should try to make new laws so that the organizations
cannot take the lands which are near to the public places. Land use planning such as the keeping
the population on a certain distance away from the airport zone will be helpful in maintaining a
buffer free zone and keep a distance between the noises sensitive area development (Helms and
Dobson 2016). Therefore these types of plans should be a part of the British Airlines master plan
in order to avoid the outer problems which are related with the sustainability and environment. It
can also be said that for the company to remain sustainable for a long time and continue the
ranking of the profit it will have to integrate a strategic plan in its operation globally. I further

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suggest that better Plan for Marketing and Sustainable Strategy will help the organization to
make various types of decisions regarding the challenges which are faced by them in the present
era (Twigg 2017).
According to the authors Dvorak and Razova (2018) a well drafted and formulate
strategy will be able to entail few of the elements which will steer the company to win in the
long run and achieve a huge amount of profit. It can also be said that if the management of the
company aligns itself to the formulated strategies of sustainability it will help or will enable the
company to utilize the available resources and the natural resources very efficiently, that to
without incurring the wastes which are thrown out by the organization (PETERS 2018) .
Therefore the overall goal of the British Airways will be to integrate the airport with
urban and health care planning of the employees and the community who are affected with the
problems. I suggest that the organizations should take necessary steps to implement various types
of strategies and think of various types of innovative ways to reduce the excess emission of the
harmful gases in the environment and decrease the other environmental issues associated with it.
Conclusion
In order to conclude the above research paper it can be said that the British Airways is
facing a lot of challenges which are known to include the global economic downturn which has
created a huge amount of impact in the profits which are earned by the company in the present
days. The organizations also affected with the new competitors which are available in the market
of air line. According to the author King (2017) the competitors of the organization mainly
includes the Asian marketers who are known to offer cheap prices to the customers and other
type of alternatives like the rising fuel price, environmental issues, substitutes and the strikes

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which are imposed by the employees of the organization. In order to counter the threats and
sustainability issues the organizations, the report has recommended that the organization should
formulate a strategic plan which will be able to counter all those threats and sustainability issues
which are faced by the organization in the present era.
It has also further recommended that the organization should emphasize more on its
strengths in order to defeat and carry out the cost cutting measures which will allow it to face the
various types of challenges with the profitability and maximization of profit. The paper has
discussed and critically evaluated the organization British Airways in response to the matter of
contemporary issues which are faced in the business

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References
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britishairways. com/travel/where-we-fly/public/en_gb/map [Accessed 13 November 2017].
Al-Azri, A., Waleed, R., & George, S. (2015). Same strategies different performances: a
comparative analysis of business models & business strategies adopted by turkish airliness and
cathay pacific airways. EXCEL International Journal of Multidisciplinary Management
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Amaglo, J.K., 2019. Strategies for Sustainability of Small and Medium Enterprises in
Ghana (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).
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COUASME, M. and GURGEY, J., 2016. Airlines experiential marketing: gaining and retaining
customers: Case studies of British Airways, SAS, Air France, Easy jet and KLM.
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Helms, E. and Dobson, J., 2016. Heidegger’s Critique of Technology and the Contemporary
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King, J.M., 2017. Business strategy and airline models for operating managers. In Airline
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