British Airways Corporate Strategy: Analysis of Changes and Issues

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of British Airways' corporate strategy, examining the company's responses to mergers and restructuring efforts. It identifies key issues such as overstaffing, cultural differences, and declining customer loyalty that arose from these changes. The report applies the Kurt Lewin change management model to understand how British Airways could manage these challenges effectively, emphasizing the importance of unfreezing, changing, and refreezing stages. Additionally, it discusses strategies for addressing cultural differences among employees through training and informal meetings, and for improving customer loyalty through digital marketing. The study concludes with lessons learned, highlighting the critical need for thorough evaluation before undertaking major organizational changes.

CORPORATE STRATEGY
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Corporate strategy is considered as a hierarchically the highest strategic plan of entity, that
describes firm objectives as well as explain the ways of attainment into strategic management.
This encompasses an entity’s business actions with intent to attain their goals while
accomplishing the competitive advantage. Through this study, scholar wants to create awareness
with regards to corporate strategy and that is why, also determine the how the changes creates
positive or negative impact upon business. This report is based on British Airways which is a
flag carrier airline of UK. Its headquarters is in London, England as well as it is also known to be
the second largest airline within UK as per fleet size and passenger carried. The main aim of this
report is to analyses the issues related to changes which is performed by undertaken company.
The study will describe the changes and issue that affect the business in positive manner or not
and then to implement the same, there is a need to use the theories and model which in turn leads
to manage the entire work in better manner.
Changes and issues:
In organisation, the change is regarded as the process of growth, decline and transformation
within it. Moreover, this changes impact the firm. As the well known organisation British
Airways perform some changes into their operations due to which they has to face some issues
(Johansen and Plenborg, 2018). The British Airways is known as the leading and largest airline
within United Kingdom as performs merger with four different organisations that are BEA,
BOAC, Northeast Airlines and Cambrian Airlines. As it is analysed that accepting changes and
implement the same are a success factor for a business and that is why, British Airways is also
looking for a changes.
So, this was considered as the restructures of whole organisation. They developed a
business along with 205 Aircraft which is supported through 50,000 staff. The level of staffing
was even observed as precariously oversized as well as on the top of it, the crises of oil reduced
the airline’s consumer base that n tandem with their large employees, outcomes into massive
monetary losses. Also, the respective change lead them towards overstaffing as well as cultural
differences among staff, its image was develops as a worst customer service provider into sector,
losing money at alarming rate (Cardoni, Kiseleva and Lombardi, 2020). Therefore, the change is
necessary. But company do not know this changes may lead to affect the entire system into
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negative manner and that is why, there is a need to develop a strategy in order to deal with the
situation.
So, because of this massive merger, it had to faced some huge issues in respect of
managing themselves as well as bring a decent services into immediate after effects. Therefore,
respective organisation had to deal with various problems such as
Management of overstaff, as most of the people engaging within the company are not
able to accept the changes and that is why, it may lead to increase conflict (Rugman and
Verbeke, 2017). On the other hand, company have to manage overstaff which is not possible
manually, thus there is a need to overcome the problem so that it may not affect the results in
negative manner.
Difference in respect of culture, when a restructuring project is initiated, company face
another issue related to diverse workforce. Such that it recruit people without any discrimination
in order to comply with the define laws. But this in turn affect the result i.e. difference in respect
of culture which creates internal conflicts.
Decrease in customer loyalty, when the restricting project is not successfully launch
then it affect the customer base of a company in negative manner (Hernandez, E. and Menon,
2019). Such that increase in conflict, not managing staff also lead to affect the customer service
and that is why, there is a need to develop or implement theory in order to cope up with issues.
So, it is analysed that the nature of changes is not effective because this massive merger
affect the overall business in negative manner. Even company should have to pre-plan the
activities and prepare employees so that they may easily accept the changes in order to response
changes. Though Köhler and Zerfass (2019) stated that changes are refer to growth opportunities
and there is a need to keep changing the business because it allows the employees to learn new
skills and explore new opportunities which will ultimately benefit the organization by increasing
new ideas and commitment. So, it can be also stated that it encourage innovation, like British
Airways also restructuring the plan of 205 aircraft and that is why, it hire new employees who
offer new ideas to companies which further lead to increase innovation within a business. This in
turn also leads to increase the employee morale which help to keep increases the engagement
within a business. So, the nature of change within British Airways has pros and cons but to
overcome problem. Company have to develop strategy which in turn leads to manage the
business environment in better manner.
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Change management is considered as the term which is utilised for referring towards
transitioning individuals, team, firms and projects. This is essential for the organisational
development and profitability. So, in order to deal with all this, they may develop the changes
management plan as well as apply some model regarding change management for example
Lewin’s change model, Kotter’s change management theory and many more. For this change,
Lewin’s change management model is effective. As it is one of appropriate model which
develops it possible for understanding organisational as well as structural change. It is based
upon three stages Unfreeze, freeze and change.
Kurt Lewin change management model
The change management model is very essential to be applied by British Airways in
order to manage all the changes and the issues being faced by the company at time of merging
with other companies (Rugman and Verbeke, 2017). Thus, for this the major change
management model being used by the company is the Kurt Lewin change management model
which is a three level change management model. This includes the following three stages which
need to be managed by the company in the same manner as intended by the model-
Unfreezing- this is the stage wherein the people or the employees try to unfreeze which
was taking place earlier. This is necessary because of the reason that when the person will not try
to forget what they were traditionally using then the company will not be able to learn the new
things and the changes taking place in the market. In the similar manner when British Airways
try to merge with another company then also there were many issues like the other employees are
not having knowledge relating to the other company. So here the problem was solved by asking
those employees to forget the working of the earlier company and then try to learn the new
companies working pattern.
Changing- this is another major stage of the Kurt Lewin change management model
under which the company try to change all the working system and the pattern of the employees
of the other company with whom British Airways is merging. This is essential because of the
reason that when the other company will learn and change with the new things then the company
will be working in accordance with the latest working pattern and the changes in the global
business working environment. Under this stage of Kurt Lwein change management model all
the new and advance things are learnt by the company and the employees within the company.
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Refreezing- this is the stage wherein the company and the employees of the company
tries to refreeze all the new learning which they have learnt. This is essentially because of the the
reason that if the person will not refreeze what they have learnt then it might be possible that
they forget what they have learnt (Brewster, 2017). This is the stage wherein the person or the
employees reinforce and implement all the learning which the company has made and learnt
during the stage of changing. Thus, this is the most important stage under the Kurt Lewin change
management model as if the working of the company will not include the latest changes then the
company will not be able to face the competition and will not have the competitive advantage
over the other competitors.
In addition to this another major issue being faced by British Airways was the issue of the
difference in the culture and the backgrounds of the employees (Feldman, 2020). This is a major
issue as if the employees will not be from same culture or community then they will not be able
to manage proper coordination and communication within them and this will hamper the
working of the company to a great extent. Thus, for this the company can use the system of
training and development wherein the knowledge relating to the different types of cultures and
their working and language and other related things will be provided. Thus, for this the company
can use the model of lecture or group discussion for providing the training relating to the
different types of cultures and their regulation. This is essential because when the people will
know how to communicate with the employees belonging to other culture then they will come to
know that what are the requirements of the culture and how the other employee will
communicate. This will assist the company and the other employees in understanding the
requirements of the employees belonging to the other culture as well. Also, in addition to this the
method of organizing for the informal meeting and event for the employees of the company is
very essential. This is majorly because of the reason that when the employees will meet out of
the organizational hierarchy that is without the power and authority then this will increase the
communication and coordination among them. Thus, this increase in communication and
coordination will assist British Airways in managing the work and the behaviour of the
employees in more effective manner.
Also, with the help of the above discussion and evaluation it was clear that decrease in
the loyalty of the consumer was also a major issue for British Airways. This is majorly
pertaining to the fact that if the consumers are not coming to the company then the sales and
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income of the company will decrease. Thus, for the success of the company the most essential
thing is that the company must keep the consumers happy and satisfied. This is pertaining to the
reason that when the consumers will be happy then they will travel more with the company and
will also recommend to other people as well. Thus, this will increase the working of the company
to a great extent (Cardoni, Kiseleva and Lombardi, 2020). Hence, for this the most essential
thing for British Airways is to manage and work upon its marketing of the company. For this the
most essential thing is the use of digital marketing technology. This is necessary as this is the
latest method of marketing the product and services of the company. The marketing will improve
the knowledge of the consumer relating to the product and services of the company and this will
attract more and more new consumers (Hernandez and Menon, 2019). Thus, the use of intensive
marketing will assist the company in managing the consumer of the company and due to this the
consumer will be loyal to the company and will not shift over to the other competitors.
Lessons learnt from the study
With the experience of the completion of the study the major lesson learnt was that
before doing any of the restructuring whether be it merger, takeover, joint venture or any other
sort of restructuring the most essential element is to critically evaluate all the methods. This is
majorly because of the reason that with the help of the critical evaluation of the methods the
company will come to know about all the positive and negative things of that method. Thus, this
will assist the company in deciding for the optimal method which will be more cost effective and
advantageous for the company. Also, with the help of the study it was learnt that for the business
to be successful proper research is very essential. This is due to the reason that the business
operates in the dynamic and ever changing business environment and this will assist the
company in managing the work in more effective manner and according to latest changes taking
place. With the help of good researching skill the company will be able to analyse all the changes
taking place in the external environment and in the working of the competitors and then making
the strategies in accordance with those changes.
In addition to this the major learning from the study is that the proper management of the
consumer is very essential for the success of the company. This is due to the reason that when
the consumer will be happy and satisfied then only the company will be able to manage the work
in more effective and efficient manner. Thus, for the improvement in the sales of the company
and the facing of the intense competition the company will be successful only if the numbers of
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the consumers are high for the company. Hence the satisfaction of the needs and desire of the
consumer is very essential for the company to get successful. In addition to this another lesson
learnt is the time management. This is referred to as the completing the work on or before time
so that it can be ensured that the work in completed in the intended manner only. The time
management is very essential for British Airways as if they will not work in proper and on time
then the company will not be able to provide services on time to the consumers (Brooks, Chen
and Zeng, 2018). Also, in addition to this time management here also implies that if British
Airways will not adapt to the changes taking place in the environment on time then they will
become obsolete and this will affect the working condition and profitability of the company to a
great extent.
CONCLUSION
From the above, it is determined that changes create various issues into firm. Moreover,
this is essential to manage those changes for the development of organisation. In order to manage
it, the firm may apply Lewin’s change management model in effective and efficient manner.
With the help of the above discussion and evaluation it is clear that the managing of changing is
very necessary for the success of the company. Thus, from the analysis of all the issues it was
seen that with help of using the Kurt Lewin change management model the company can manage
the changes taking place in company like overstaffing of employees, differences in culture and
many others. Also, in the end the learning from the study was highlighted like researching skill,
importance of consumer and others.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Johansen, T.R. and Plenborg, T., 2018. Company responses to demands for annual report
changes. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal.
Rugman, A.M. and Verbeke, A., 2017. Global corporate strategy and trade policy (Vol. 12).
Routledge.
Köhler, K. and Zerfass, A., 2019. Communicating the corporate strategy. Journal of
Communication Management.
Cardoni, A., Kiseleva, E. and Lombardi, R., 2020. A sustainable governance model to prevent
corporate corruption: Integrating anticorruption practices, corporate strategy and business
processes. Business Strategy and the Environment. 29(3). pp.1173-1185.
Hernandez, E. and Menon, A., 2019. Corporate strategy and network change. Academy of
Management Review, (ja).
Rugman, A.M. and Verbeke, A., 2017. Global corporate strategy and trade policy (Vol. 12).
Routledge.
Brewster, C., 2017. The integration of human resource management and corporate
strategy. Policy and practice in European human resource management, pp.22-35.
Feldman, E.R., 2020. Corporate strategy: Past, present, and future. Strategic Management
Review, 1(1), pp.179-206.
Cardoni, A., Kiseleva, E. and Lombardi, R., 2020. A sustainable governance model to prevent
corporate corruption: Integrating anticorruption practices, corporate strategy and
business processes. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(3), pp.1173-1185.
Hernandez, E. and Menon, A., 2019. Corporate strategy and network change. Academy of
Management Review, (ja).
Brooks, C., Chen, Z. and Zeng, Y., 2018. Institutional cross-ownership and corporate strategy:
The case of mergers and acquisitions. Journal of Corporate Finance, 48, pp.187-216.
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