British Airways: Strategies for Competitive Advantage Report

This report provides a comprehensive business analysis of British Airways (BA), examining its strategies for competitive advantage in the airline industry. It explores BA's differentiation strategies, including digitalization, customized services, and various travel classes, in comparison to competitors like Ryanair. The report delves into key functional units such as human resources, finance and accounting, marketing, and operations/logistics/supply chain management, highlighting their roles in achieving operational efficiency and market positioning. It further analyzes BA's technological advancements, including connectivity, biometric technology, virtual reality, and cloud solutions, and assesses its recent performance and financial standing. The report concludes with recommendations for BA to improve marketing, enhance customer loyalty, and adapt to changing market demands to ensure continued success and growth in the next 2-5 years.

Business Essential

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Business refers to an economical activity which consists of continuous manufacturing
and distribution of products and services in order to satisfy person's need and want. It is a
combination of various activities related to the purchasing and selling of goods & services with
the main aim of achieving higher revenue (Ajagbe, Long and Solomon, 2014). There are various
functional unit which affects the business operations of a company such as marketing, human
resource, finance and operational department. In this project British Airways is consider as an
example, in this we conduct an detail analysis over various approaches that it uses to remain
competitive in market and how company differentiate itself from its competitors.
MAIN BODY
British Airways is the largest airline in the United Kingdom which flies to more than 400
destination in nearly 80 countries. It is also a part of International Airline Group(IAG) which
also owns three more brands such as Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling. BA is the largest
international airlines in the world and carries more than 44 million passengers which is
equivalent to 80 passengers check in every minute a day (About British Airways, 2018).
British Airways put more emphases on digitalization and information technology as well
as high level of customized service provision in order to achieve service differentiation. BA
follows differentiation strategy for attracting large number of people such as large & more
spacious plans, Hot food and buffer services, luxurious travelling experience, Fat flight
turnaround etc. It more focuses on activities like staying world's favourite airline service provider
with larger number of passenger which flies to all the major airports generally in $20 per
passenger (Babalac and Uda, 2014). It also differentiate itself in providing a wider range of
travel classes, first class, economy, business class and club class.
Ryanair, Malaysian Airlines, Cathay Pacific etc. are the top most competitors of British
Airways. As Ryanair provide low cost flight and is more concentrate over niche market in order
to grab larger market share. For gaining competitive advantage Ryanair uses cost leadership
strategy to provide cheap and no-frill airline services. On the other hand British airways offer a
more wider and Luxurious class of travel hence it charges premium prices overs flight which
sometimes limit the Passengers. Ryanair uses cost saving approach by employing less workforce
and using secondary airport for generating higher benefit. While BA More focuses on hieing
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large number of employees and provide regular training to achieve competitive advantage over
others.
British Airways formulate number of strategies in order to positioning itself in market
place and to remain competitive which in turn will help in achieving highest growth in term of
revenue, passengers and goodwill of the company (Cleverley, 2017). Following are the factors
which has been helpful in establishing British Airways as technology oriented premium airline
service provider.
 Connectivity:- It is the most trending and popular airline technology which is prioritise
by British Airways in their working environment along with the involvement of digital
technologies in their operations. Company offer hyper connectivity in their services for
providing travellers a versatile features so enhance their offers and to provide a great
experience to their passengers.
 Tracking, sensors and biometric technology:- Another feature used by BA is the use of
biometric check-in framework as well as solution baggage in order to provide a better
security system. These addition features are the main attraction point for clients which
provide them a sense of confidentiality over company. On the other hand these features
help BA in achieving better maintenance options and in building a stronger market
position.
 Virtual reality:- This is one of the most prevailing trending feature of digital technology
used in airlines industry which perform major role in functioning of system in a more
effective manner. This innovative technique provided better opportunities to British
Airways for achieving their objectives and to deliver services in an more appropriate
manner by providing various intrinsic advancement for improving companies working
environment.
 Cloud solution:- BA uses cloud solution technique as a part of its business operation
which which assist them in achieving business objectives and bringing most favourable
outcomes (Engemann and Henderson, 2014). It aid company's services by helping them
in performing operations more quickly and in paced form.
These all are the features which is used by BA in order to position itself in marketplace
and for achieving competitive advantage. Company uses technology driven services which help
them in garbing higher marketing share which provide more convenient and faster access to their
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services as compare to competitors. Use of these features help company in delivering their
services in an more appropriate manner and also help in attracting larger number of customers.
These all are the part of digital technologies which assist in providing better connectivity to
customers. Further it also offer service through E- commerce so that passengers can connect to
BA service online from anywhere for booking their ticket and can get information about
available flights (Grant and Taylor, 2014). Further it also support in providing more convenient
ways for performing operations and better security options.
British Airways provide a luxurious and highly comfortable travelling experience to their
passengers along with support services. In addition to this company also analyse market trend
and experiment with high-tech instruments in provide valuable services and for responding to
most changing market demand, these are the features that makes company different from others.
Apart from this British airways also put effort over coordinating operations of various
departments which help in smooth running of the organisation and also support in achieving its
goal more efficiently. Following are the various functional unit of BA which help in achieving
competitive advantage: Human resource:- Human resources department performs various operations related to
the management of people who are connected with the organisation. It includes various
functions such as recruitment, selection, employee relation, compensation & benefit,
training and development etc. HRM department of BA put more emphases over resource
planning in order to control cost as well as improving operational efficiency and to
achieve company's objective. British airways conduct two training programmes for
training the staff and manager in which first training program 'put the people first ' guide
the staff members that how the helpfulness image provide maximum customer
satisfaction. Under this course company guides their workforce to serve the passenger in
best possible manner and help them by solving their issue (Hair and et. al., 2015).
Another training program is 'Managing people first' assist managers in simplifying the
regimented approach and strict behavioural boundaries. Further organisation also
undergone various development program such as individual learning, employees
development in order to bring competence in services. Finance and accounting:- This department is very essential for a company as it help in
managing the fund in an most efficient manner. It help BA in preparing future budget
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plans that will display the amount required by each activities. Further financial unit also
make fund available to other departments in order to support them for performing their
operations most effectively and efficiently (Major, 2015). It includes functions like
planning, organising, accounting, auditing and controlling of firm's fund. BA performs
detail research over the various activities in order to estimate amount required in
upcoming year for financing their operations as company invest more in providing
luxurious experience to their travellers and also in offering support services. Apart from
this BA also invest in conducting training programmes in order to develop a competent
workforce which help organisation in growing faster and to achieve competitive
advantage. Marketing:- This department performs several operations related to the delivering of
services to the customer in an most appropriate so that they can achieve higher passenger
satisfaction. For keeping communicative lines open with all its customers BA formulate
different strategies as a mobile application has been launched where passengers can make
reservation much easier. Company also provide special offers on special occasion to their
passengers like tickets at reasonable price or free meal for top 50 travellers. Though
company has a global approach, have grate infrastructure still their major weakness is
ineffective marketing strategy and they fails to win customer loyalty. BA requires huge
investment for strategic management which help them in grow faster.
 Operations/logistics/supply chain management:- Main function of operational
management is to ensure that firm can operates smoothly and can eventually achieve its
intended objectives. British Airways is undergone strategic changes within the operations'
management department for enhancing its activities and to promote higher client
satisfaction (Scarborough, 2016). As, BA faced several issues within corporate sector
which affects the majority of operations such as reliability, dependability, cost and
maintenance so company started using technological tools for improving its performance.
All these are the functional unit which helps British Airways in achieving the operational
efficiency as well as competitive advantage over other rivalry. Among all the above functional
units Human Resource Department of BA performs several operations in order to achieve
competitive advantage. It conducts periodical training programs for their staff member in order
to enhance overall performance which in turn will help in delivering better services to achieve
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higher revenue. British Airways has a team of high skilled personnels and put more emphases on
develop new employees by providing appropriate guidances and training & development
programs. Company also motivate their employees to perform better by providing them
additional benefits such as fair salary, bonuses, free trip to other countries, promotion etc. in
order to provide them job satisfaction. HR manager involve their employees in decision making
process which assists company in performing more efficiently.
British Airways has improved its market position in recent year as company has suffered
from a major shock in 2001 due to global slowdown and terrorist attack which affect the airlines
industry to a large extent (Wang, 2014). Passenger demand related to air travel reduced which
largely affect the company's financial position. In order to recover from this situation company
started providing low priced tickets with additional services and started investing over their
human resource to build a highly skilled workforces that satisfy customers with their services
and can retain them. In addition to this company also invested over digitalisation of their process
for providing more convenience and time saving services to their customers in order to attract
them. With all these efforts company has recovered its position in recent years.
British Airways is now known for high quality services which provides a luxurious
travelling experience. Some years before company provides air tickets at reasonable price with
average services and now it is best known for providing a lavish feel while travelling. It is best
known for its skilled and competent workforce which puts more effort in serving customers in
order to achieve higher customer satisfaction. Apart from this in recent years company has also
marked global presence and stands among top 5 airlines brand in world by serving more than 44
million passengers.
BA has performed well in recent year where its operating cost of year 2017 is € 3015m
which is 18.9% higher. In order to maintain its competitive position and to achieve positive
financial position in upcoming years company has to make changes in its operations for the
higher growth prospectives (Wilson, 2014). Following are the actions that British Airways can
perform in order to get succeed in next 2-5 years:
 First of all organisation has to improve its marketing operations in order to generate
higher customer loyalty as it is the major weakness of BA. Company must conduct
research for collecting information related to the marketing trend and strategies used by
other competitors for achieving higher market share. They must also put efforts in
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producing advertisement in order to attract customers and communicating various benefit
that a company provide.
 BA must also offer their passengers discount over tickets on some occasions like
Christmas, New year and during the time of vacations in order to attract more customers
to avail their services.
 Company can also invite customers to discuss about their experience and suggestion
which they want BA to add in their services. This will help company in identifying the
need and preferences of their passengers so that they can offer better services as per the
requirement of the customers (Major, 2015). Further suggestion provided by travellers
will help company in determining what faults and issues faced by customer which are
affecting the image of organisation and hindering the growth of the company.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that British Airways is one the most popular
brand in airlines industry which is known for its high quality services, skilled staff and luxurious
travelling experience which it provides to their passengers. Company offer its services world
wide but still it is poor in formulating marketing strategy which leads to decrease in customer
loyalty.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journal
Ajagbe, M. A., Long, C. S. and Solomon, O., 2014. The impact of sales promotion and product
branding on company performance: A case study of AIICO insurance Nigerian PLC.
Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 129. pp.164-171.
Babalac, C. C. and Uda, M., 2014. Change management essentials to manage business flexibility.
Management Research and Practice. 6(2). p.85.
Cleverley, W. O., 2017. Essentials of health care finance. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Engemann, K. J. and Henderson, D. M., 2014. Business Continuity and Risk Management:
Essentials of Organizational Resilience. Rothstein Publishing.
Grant, A. D. and Taylor, A., 2014. Communication essentials for female executives to develop
leadership presence: Getting beyond the barriers of understating accomplishment.
Business Horizons. 57(1). pp.73-83.
Hair Jr, J. F., and et. al., 2015. Essentials of business research methods. Routledge.
Major, A. M., 2015. Book Review: Business Essentials for Strategic Communicators: Creating
Shared Value for the Organization and Its Stakeholders, by Matthew W. Ragas and Ron
Culp.
Scarborough, N. M., 2016. Essentials of entrepreneurship and small business management.
Pearson.
Wang, H. C., 2014. Distinguishing the adoption of business intelligence systems from their
implementation: the role of managers’ personality profiles. Behaviour & Information
Technology. 33(10). pp.1082-1092.
Wilson, J., 2014. Essentials of business research: A guide to doing your research project. Sage.
Online
About British Airways. 2018. [Online] Available through <https://www.britishairways.com/en-
gb/information/about-ba>./
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