British Airways CRM Case Study: An Analysis of Relationship Management

This case study examines British Airways' relationship management strategies, tracing its history from a government entity to a privatized global airline. It highlights the three quality dimensions of British Airways: technological, functional, and corporate image. The analysis includes the sales funnel used by BA, differentiating between low-cost and regular airline customers, and how the company acquires and retains its target consumers. The study further explores the implementation of CRM software for managing stakeholder information, reservations, and baggage tracking. Finally, it reviews consumer and employee feedback, noting a generally positive sentiment but emphasizing the need for improvements in employee work-life balance and cabin staff training. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

Running head: RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Relationship Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
1. History of British airline and who is British Airways today
Being established by the British government in 1974, the British Airway board was created
to manage four airway corporations, namely British overseas airways, British European Airways,
Cambrian and northeastern airways. Initially, it was a state organization for 13 years. In 1987,
the company got privatised (Michael and Richard). The prosperity of British Airways enhanced
with the acquisition of Dan-Air, Caledonian and finally British midland international, in the year
2012. Besides that, at that point in time, the mentioned organization stated increasing its
resources by buying 59 Airbus A320, 12 Airbus A380 and 24 Boeing 787 dreamliners. Today,
the British Airway is the World's third largest company.
2. 3 quality dimension of the British Airways
 Technological quality: This quality refers to the technical parameters that help the
company to identify its technological parameters. BA is constantly working on the
enhancement of its technical qualities like renewals of its aircraft fleet.
 Functional quality: In order to enhance the satisfaction of its consumers, BA invests a
commendable amount onboarding, checking and departure and arrival of the aircraft so
that the experience of the consumers is hassle-free and smooth ( Joep and Joep ).
 Corporate Image: Being a globally renowned airline company, BA’s Corporate image is
commendable. The company maintains the image by symbolism, behaviour and
communication strategies.
3. Sales funnel used by BA
BA uses the Broad and narrow funnel in order to enhance its competitive advantage. This
funnel, used by BA can be divided into 7 phases, namely, Awareness phase, Interest Phase,

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Evaluation Phase, decision Phase, Purchase Phase, Revolution phase a Repurchase Phase
(Albert).
4. Differences between the low-cost customers and regular airline customers
Regular Airline Consumers Low cots consumers
 Consumers can avail compensation in
cases like a flight delay or lost baggage.
 No extra charges apart from the
booking charge are paid by the
consumers (John).
 When both low cost and regular airlines
use the same airport, the consumers
may feel deceived.
 No such help to the consumers is
provided.
 Several time consumers are compelled
to pay charges to avail extra facilities.
 In case of usage of the same airport, the
consumers get benefitted.
5. How the company acquire the ‘right consumers’?
Europe and UK being the target market of BA, the company detected the several changes in
the retail travel sectors and has modified its strategy accordable to retain and enhances its
consumer loyalty (Albert). For instance, in order to cope up with the usage of online booking and
searching, the company promotes its business through popular social media platforms.
6. Consumer relationship management of BA

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BA has implemented the CRM software in order to manage detailed information about its
stakeholders and consumers (John). The mentioned software also helps BA to manage
reservation, check-ins and checkouts as well as baggage tracking.
7. Analysis of Consumers and employee reviews of BA
When it comes to consumers a the ratio of positive and negative feedback about BA is 3:1. A
majority of the staffs of the company are found to be satisfied with their work culture and travel
facilities. However, BA should concentrate on enhancing the work-life balance of the employees.
In order to enhance the satisfaction of the consumers, the company should provide effective
training to its cabin staffs as this is found to be the only concern of the consumers (Michael and
Richard).

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Reference list:
Cornelissen, Joep, and Joep P. Cornelissen. Corporate communication: A guide to theory and
practice. Sage (2017): 123-127
Grundy, Michael, and Richard Moxon. "The effectiveness of airline crisis management on brand
protection: A case study of British Airways." Journal of Air Transport Management 28 (2013):
55-61.
Hayes, John. The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan (2014): 34-36
Mills, Albert J. "Cockpits, Hangars, Boys, and Galleys: Corporate Masculinities and the
Development of British Airways☆." Insights and Research on the Study of Gender and
Intersectionality in International Airline Cultures. Emerald Publishing Limited (2017): 237-263.