Determining Competitive Advantage and Business Strategy of Flight Centre

This assignment analyzes the determination of competitive advantage and business strategy of Flight Centre, a leading travel company. It evaluates external and internal issues, identifies stakeholders, and explains competitive advantage. The paper also highlights issues with the strategy and factors prohibiting success and provides strategic implications.

Running head: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Business Management
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Author Note

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Introduction
Flight Centre is one of the leading retailers of the services and the products related to
travel in the domain of corporate markets and leisure. The company generally operates in the
corporate, retail and the wholesale brands on an international basis (Flight Centre 2018).
After the acquiring of the liberty travel, the company raised as one of the largest and
recognized travel agencies of the United States. The mission and the goal of the company are
towards the commitment towards the positive contribution and the social responsibility to the
community both in and out the organization. The purpose of Flight centre is to be the most
exciting travel company together with the delivery of the most amazing experiences to the
customers, people and the stakeholders. The assignment illustrates the clear explanation of
the determination of the competitive advantage of flight centre together with the effective
determination of the differences among the dynamic and the fundamental view. The
assignment furthermore illustrates a business strategy of the company, Flight centre on the
basis of the comprehensive situational analysis.
Evaluation of the external issues
The external issues of the travel company can be evaluated by the means of PESTEL
analysis that tends to provide details regarding the operating challenges of Flight Centre.
Political factors like the importance of the customer services, political stability and the level
of corruptions play are important role in the determination of the factors impacting the long
term profitability of the company. Furthermore regulations related to pricing, wage related
legislations, mandatory employee benefits and the issues related to the intellectual property
protection falls under the category of political factors (Williams 2017). The macro economic
factors such as the savings rate, the rate of inflation, the rate of interest, the foreign exchange
rate and the cycle of economies tends to determine the factors of the economic forces in the

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determination of the aggregate demand and investment of Flight centre. Social factors such as
the demographics and the skill level of the population in Australia, the spirit of
entrepreneurship and the nature of the society falls under the category of social factors that
tends to impact the culture of Flight Centre. The technological factors serves as the most
important factor since Flight Centre need to speed up with the technological disputes and the
analysis of the recent technological development by the competitor firms (Erkmen and
Hancer 2015). Factors such as the impact on the cost structure, technological effect on the
product offering and rate of the technological diffusion serves as the important technological
factors. Finally laws related to the environmental pollution and the regulations of the air and
the water in the consumer service industry serves as the environmental factors affecting the
company.
Analysis of the internal issues
The internal issues of light Centre can be analysed by the tool of SWOT analysis.
SWOT analysis basically stands for the strength, weakness, opportunities and the threats of
the company (Flight Centre 2018). The major strength of the Flight centre includes high end
profits earned by the company, the skilled labour force employed in the company and the less
labour cost for the flight centre. Some of the internal weakness of the travel company
includes the current cost structure of the company which is alarming for the management of
Flight centre. Furthermore the debt rating of the company in the upcoming future scenario is
quite high. In relation of the analysis of the internal issues, some of the upcoming
opportunities for the Flight centre include the availability of new market and the availability
of the new and innovative services and the products for the travel company in the highly
competitive market (Lopes et al. 2016). Some of the alarming threats of Flight Centre include
the increasing cost of the services and the products, the increasing arte of the interest, the
alteration of the governmental regulations and the changes related to the technology.

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Identification of the stakeholders
The stakeholders of the company play a very important role in the growth and the
productivity of the travel company. Flight Centre’s internal stakeholders include the list of
administrative staffs, the managers, the supervisors, the investors of the company (Flight
Centre 2018). The external stakeholder of the company includes the government, the service
suppliers, the vendors and the travellers or the customers who are availing Flight Centre.
Explanation of the competitive advantage
The gaining of the competitive advantage will be a very important factor for the Flight
Centre travel group. They should try to afford the new products and services in their industry
that would be highly helpful for the organization to get the much needed success (Wagner
and Hollenbeck 2014). The innovation of the new products and services will bring a range of
new customers under their grasp and they can provide the customer satisfaction to them as
well.
The customers will be prone to use the several products and services of the Flight
Centre travel group for their benefits (Wagner and Hollenbeck 2014). They might look to
build the proper economies of scale that can help them to lower the transportation costs and
the manufacturing costs as well (Setó-Pamies 2012). They should expand their capacities and
spend the needed money on the research and development of their products in the best ways.
They must define their standards on a regular basis so the new entrants in this dynamic
industry will not be able to make ground very soon. The sustainable differentiation strategies
should be built properly so the company can maintain their profits (Hill and Brierley 2017).
Issues with the strategy and factors prohibiting success- strategic implications
Some of the issues will be highlighted in this context as the company Flight Centre is
not being able to make the desired profits of late. Some people have also said that the

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company has not been paying their customers properly (Wagner and Hollenbeck 2014). The
underpaid employees have protested in this issue so the proper steps can be taken to meet the
organizational success. The engagement with the customers is not at its proper place indeed.
The corporate governance of the organization should be strengthened properly so the
marketing of their services and products should be done accordingly (Campbell, Coff and
Kryscynski 2012). The company must be very strong in the implication of their strategic
measures in the best manner. The Equal Employment Policy should be implied by the
organization so the able candidates can get the opportunities properly. The different factors
like the age, gender, ethnicity and cultural backgrounds should be considered by the
organization (Hill and Brierley 2017). The advertising campaigns should be made in the
social media depending on the preference of the customers. The competency of the
candidates should be focused on their managerial power and their merits. The offers should
be disclosed by the organization for the benefits of the customers (Campbell, Coff and
Kryscynski 2012).
Conclusion
As per the above discussion, it can be concluded that the Flight Centre Travel Group
is regarded as one of the most famous travel companies in Australia. Some of the internal
policies have been disturbing them in course for their success. The issues will be very
important for them to utilize in order to get the needed success. The ways the company can
achieve the competitive advantage in such a dynamic industry like travel industry have been
highlighted in this paper. However, the accusations of underpaying should be dealt with
proper implications. The manufacturing costs can opt to be lowered down to pay the
customers as they need. This will create a better working environment for the employees and
a better service experience from the customers’ end.

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References
Campbell, B.A., Coff, R. and Kryscynski, D., 2012. Rethinking sustained competitive
advantage from human capital. Academy of Management Review, 37(3), pp.376-395.
Erkmen, E. and Hancer, M., 2015. Linking brand commitment and brand citizenship
behaviors of airline employees:“The role of trust”. Journal of Air Transport Management, 42,
pp.47-54.
Flight Centre. 2018. Cheap Flights, Hotels, Tours, Cruises and Holidays - Flight Centre.
[ONLINE] Available at: https://www.flightcentre.com.au/. [Accessed 03 December 2018].
Hill, N. and Brierley, J., 2017. How to measure customer satisfaction. Routledge.
Lopes, I.T., Ferraz, D.P. and Rodrigues, A.M.G., 2016. The drivers of profitability in the top
30 major airlines worldwide. Measuring Business Excellence, 20(2), pp.26-37.
Setó-Pamies, D., 2012. Customer loyalty to service providers: examining the role of service
quality, customer satisfaction and trust. Total Quality Management & Business
Excellence, 23(11-12), pp.1257-1271.
Wagner III, J.A. and Hollenbeck, J.R., 2014. Organizational behavior: Securing competitive
advantage. Routledge.
Williams, G., 2017. The airline industry and the impact of deregulation. Routledge.