Emirates Case Study: Strategy, External Environment, and Competitive Forces

Running head: EMIRATES CASE STUDY
EMIRATES CASE STUDY
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1EMIRATES CASE STUDY
Table of Contents
1. Summarize the case in 300 to max 400 words.........................................................................2
2 a. Is the original vision still applicable given the present circumstances?............................3
2. b .How the external environment might affect Emirates’ strategy? Assess the political/legal,
economic, sociocultural/demographic, technological and global forces.........................................4
2.c. Which are the current forces in the industry environments that affect Emirates’ ongoing
strategy? Please apply Porter’s Five Forces of competition to the international airline industry.. .6
2.d Since some of Emirates new competitors are also fairly new airlines (Qatar and Etihad), what
implications does this have for threat of new entry into the industry?............................................8
3. a. How does Emirates compete: Overall cost leadership? Differentiation? Or focus strategy?. 9
3.b. What are the primary and support activities in the value chain of Emirates? What challenges
does Emirates have in its value chain?..........................................................................................10
3.b What are the tangible resources, intangible resources, and organizational capabilities of
Emirates?.......................................................................................................................................12
3.c Are the internal resources valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, or difficult to substitute (VRIN)
to help Emirates sustain a competitive advantage?.......................................................................13
3.e Please assess the effectiveness of Emirates’ leadership..........................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................16

2EMIRATES CASE STUDY
1. Summarize the case in 300 to max 400 words.
The case study is based on the overall operates of Emirates Airlines. The firm is one of
the largest Middle East Carriers as present and focuses to provide a flagship operations to Dubai
and to undertake initiatives which will help the firm in becoming one of the most successful
airlines as present around the globe (Emirates.com 2019). The company has been growing
considerably and with respect to this, it becomes considerably important to understand that in
case the company aims to ensure high growth in the future it would be required to compete
against the new firms as present and undertake measures to maintain its overall positioning. The
Emirates airlines along with the new upstarts like Qatar and Etihad have aimed to conquer the
global market and have come up with various strategies to ensure the same. The case study
provided then aims to talk about the overall inception of the airlines and the overall journey of
the airlines has been traced which talks about the manner in which it has been able to gain
considerable importance in the market. As Emirates new that around 2/3rd of the population
travelling to any part of the world has to travel to Dubai, they undertook advantage of this and
undertook various measures to ensure that they were largely successful in their operations and
earned a high amount of revenue. The main objectives of the firm has been traced and it can be
largely understood that the overall aim of the firm lies in ensuring that, they are successfully able
to engage in fruitful relationship with the different customers and provide them with an
experience which would enable them to gain long term success (Ethiraj, Gambardella and Helfat
2016). The airlines serves various classes of passengers and all of them are provided with an
access to a great lounge which helps them to rest while they travel.
The firm has also been able to come up with a considerable plan to provide relevant
training to the employees of the firm as present (Emirates.com 2019). The airlines realises the

3EMIRATES CASE STUDY
potential of the employees and provides them with adequate services which will then assist them
to meet the required measure of standardized operations which they are required to meet up with.
In the scenario of marketing, Emirates tends to undertake considerable measures so as to ensure
that it is being able to come up with advertising campaigns to let out their organizational
message in the right manner. Irrespective of the various measures which the firm is undertaking
to ignore all the challenges which take place and to ensure that it is being able to gain the
competitive advantage as present, these comprise of the competition faced by the firm from
various different competitors as present, comfortable services provided by various competitor
airlines and others.
2 a. Is the original vision still applicable given the present circumstances?
The president of Emirates, Sir Tim Clark had laid down a considerable vision for the
organization whereby the firm mentioned that, in case the firm wants to ensure long term
success, it would be required to see to it that, the company is able to meet up with its latest
visions which laid that, it wanted the firm to become a global organization and in line of this, it
wanted the world to become a smaller place by bringing about the different people together
(Ethiraj, Gambardella and Helfat 2016). Hence, it can be stated in line of this that the firm aims
to set itself apart from the other competitors as present. Hence, in line of this, it can be rightfully
mentioned that the company is not being able to meet the needs of the customers well as the firm
is simply looking out for means to increase its upper segment customers who will add up to the
profits of the firm without being able to add to the capacity. Therefore, in line of his, it can be
mentioned that the firm has been trying to improve its overall capacity and undertake measures
which will ensure that it is successfully being able to provide the convenience to the different
customers which will allow them to stay associated with the firm in the long run (Iordanova