Strategic Management and Leadership | Q&A

Running Head: MANAGEMENT 0
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STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
AND LEADERSHIP

MANAGEMENT 1
Question 1) Ryanair’s distinctive resources & capabilities and VRIO Framework
Introduction
Ryanair is one of the Europe largest airline group founded in 1984 and currently
having its presence in more than 40 nations on a fleet of over 470 aircraft. With a team of
more than 19,000 highly skilled aviation professionals, Ryanair entitles itself as Europe
preferred airline and the world’s prime international carrier in terms of passengers
(corporate.ryanair.com, 2019). Ryanair annual revenue raised at nearly 7.7 billion euros in its
2018-19 fiscal year and this growth has been reflected due to rise in the number of passengers
and this makes Ryanair 5th in relation with largest airline groups by passengers number
globally and also the foremost carrier in Europe (statista.com, 2019).
In relation with VRIO framework, it is one of the tools used by organisation for the
purpose of internal analysis and uncovers their resources and capabilities that presents them a
long term competitive gain. This context mostly used by organisations after creating long
term vision statement, however, prior to the strategic planning process (Grunig & Kuhn,
2015). For case, this framework is applied well on Ryanair identifying its competitive
advantage in the industry.
VRIO Framework and Ryan Case
Ryanair
Resources/Capability
Valuable Rare
Difficult to
Imitate
Exploited by
the
organisation
Competitive
advantage
Brand Name Yes Yes Yes Yes
Long-term
competitive
advantage
Management by
Michael O’Leary
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Long-term
competitive
advantage
No Frills Low Cost Yes No No Yes Competitive

MANAGEMENT 2
Strategy Parity
New Fleet Yes No No Yes
Competitive
Parity
Low Cost Culture Yes No Yes Yes
Unused
Competitive
advantage
Physical Resources Yes No No No
Competitive
disadvantage
To progress a successful strategy, Ryanair internal strategic capabilities must be identified
built on the above resources, Ryanair builds its core competence, on which competitive
advantage is possible. Furthermore, it is explained below critically how VRIO helped Ryanair
to gain competitive advantage in the industry.
 Valuable – The brand name of Ryanair is valuable as the company have transformed
business of commercial carriers with bringing of innovative low fare business models.
It can be further evidenced by its 2015 full-year post-tax profits identfied to almost
867 million euros (investor.ryanair.com, 2015). Management by Michael O’Leary is
also a valuable capability for Ryanair as his predictions were gone right for the
company and he also pledges to drive out rivals recently in 2019 statement to the
press (Spero, 2019). The heart of company no-frill strategy relies upon offering no-
frill services with low fares designed to stimulate demand. Ryanair also have a
valuable low cost culture as the company is known for using several cost saving
measures and management practices also presenting a competitive edge to the airline.
It also benefits to maintain its physical resources effectively and hence, all these
valuable resources and competencies help Ryanair to respond to environmental
opportunities.
 Rare – In terms of rarity, it’s no frills low cost strategy and culture cannot be count as
other carriers such as EasyJet, Flybe and Wizz Air business model also based on such
competencies. In addition, physical resources including carriers can also not be count
as rare because Ryanair fleets include its aircraft from Boeing 737-800 series and it is
also held by EasyJet airlines and other carriers. However, the management approach