Etihad Airways: Strategic Operations and Supply Chain Analysis

This presentation provides an overview of Etihad Airways' operations and supply chain management, highlighting the challenges faced by the company in areas such as global supply chain integration and technology adoption. It proposes solutions centered on effective supplier relationship management, a return to the super-hub model, and improved demand forecasting. The presentation also discusses the benefits of lean and quality philosophies, explores future challenges through a PESTEL analysis, and references academic sources to support its arguments. Desklib offers a wealth of similar student-contributed documents to aid in academic exploration and learning.

Task 1B: Presentation
ETIHAD AIRWAYS

A brief introduction to the firm
(Etihad Airways)
 Etihad Airways is one of the leading airlines company in the Middle East region and also recognised at
the global level
 Found and established in 2003 the company never looked back
 It has successfully managed its operations till the date
 Faced difficulties in effectively managing its global supply chain operation and integrating emerging
technologies with the organisational system
(Etihad.com 2019)

Operations Challenges
 On a broader aspect, Etihad Airways
faces challenges in regards to the
global supply chain management
and business operation model
 Product and Service Development
strategy affects the performance of
the supply chain
 For example, Boeing 787-9
Dreamliner Service met with battery
failure issue
 Reportedly, Etihad Airways uses third
party company to manufacture
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Service
(The National 2019)
 The business operations model is
affected by its performance in
regions like Asia, Europe, Africa and
the Americas (ArabianBusiness.com
2019)

Proposed Operations Strategy and
Solutions
 Solution 1: Effective supplier
relationship – Etihad Airways
will focus on strengthening its
bonding with Boeing to work
collaboratively with the
company. This will help to
identify ways to deal with
suppliers effectively and
encourage them for a perfection
in work (NJOKU and OU 2015).
 Solution 2: Getting back to the
super-hub model – this will to
enhance the level of focus on
regions such as Asia, Africa, the
Americas and Europe. Notably,
emerging regions like Asia and
Africa are good future prospects
for Etihad Airways (Bose 2018)

Supply Chain Challenges and
Strategies to Address them
 Ineffective management of suppliers:
There is a need to improve its
capability in demand forecast activity.
This will help Etihad Airways know the
real market scenario and will
accordingly help to communicate with
suppliers. An improved demand
forecast capability will help to balance
the supply and demand (Ft.com 2019)
 Information systems: Etihad Airways
must find ways to enhance its
capability in managing information
systems. This is possible only when
the set of data can effectively be
made actionable. In this regard,
predictive analytics will help to make
better prediction for the set of data.
This will bring more accuracy to data
management (Wamba et al. 2015)

Benefits of lean and quality
philosophy to the operations
strategy Creates a common resource centre for all to access the piece of information
 Access to data and people will become a lot easier with it (Rotter et al. 2018)
 It helps to remove the waste in seven different waste (Nikakhtar et al. 2015)
 It improves performance of each of the functional domains with the help of a range of TQM
techniques (Obeidat et al. 2016)

Future Challenges (PESTEL)
• Exposed to international politics
• Declining load factors from the Middle East to the USPolitical • The global economy has a positive impact
• Unpredicted business in emerging economies is a threat to
earnings
• Decline in crude oil price has surplus expenses in oil-rich
countries
Economic
• Boost in business in emerging countries
• An increasing generation ‘Y’ passengersSocial
• Technological advancement is needed
• Online booking and query system is increasing
• Fuel efficiency has emerged as a competitive factor
Technological
• Carbon footprint is a growing challenge
• The global climateEnvironmental
• Access to the US and European markets is denied temporarily
• Plan to reduce the subsidy benefits in Europe and the USLegal

References
 ArabianBusiness.com 2019. Etihad Airways to scale back on global plans. [online] ArabianBusiness.com. Available at:
https://www.arabianbusiness.com/transport/399947-etihad-airways-to-scale-back-on-global-plans [Accessed 15 Jan. 2019].
 Belobaba, P., Odoni, A. and Barnhart, C. eds., 2015. The global airline industry. John Wiley & Sons.
 Bose, I., 2018. The Strategic Environment of the Aviation Industry in UAE: A Case Study on Etihad Airways.
 Etihad.com 2019. [online] Etihad.com. Available at: https://www.etihad.com/en-in/ [Accessed 15 Jan. 2019].
 Ft.com 2019. Demand forecasting pays off for Kimberly-Clark | Financial Times. [online] Ft.com. Available at:
https://www.ft.com/content/76cffe96-db1b-11e0-bbf4-00144feabdc0 [Accessed 15 Jan. 2019].
 Nikakhtar, A., Hosseini, A.A., Wong, K.Y. and Zavichi, A., 2015. Application of lean construction principles to reduce construction
process waste using computer simulation: a case study. International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 20(4),
pp.461-480.
 NJOKU, D. and OU, K.A., 2015. EFFECTIVE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: A STRATEGIC TOOL FOR PROFITABILITY ENHANCEMENT IN
THE COMPETITIVE MARKETING ENVIRONMENT. European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, 3(12), pp.90-112.
 Obeidat, B.Y., Hashem, L., Alansari, I., Tarhini, A. and Al-Salti, Z., 2016. The effect of knowledge management uses on total quality
management practices: A theoretical perspective. Journal of Management and strategy, 7(4), p.18.
 Rotter, T., Plishka, C., Lawal, A., Harrison, L., Sari, N., Goodridge, D., Flynn, R., Chan, J., Fiander, M., Poksinska, B. and Willoughby, K.,
2018. What Is Lean Management in Health Care? Development of an Operational Definition for a Cochrane Systematic Review.
Evaluation & the health professions, p.0163278718756992.
 The National 2019. Etihad Airways to deploy Dreamliner on Hong Kong route. [online] The National. Available at:
https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/travel/etihad-airways-to-deploy-dreamliner-on-hong-kong-route-1.805907 [Accessed 15 Jan.
2019].
 Wamba, S.F., Akter, S., Edwards, A., Chopin, G. and Gnanzou, D., 2015. How ‘big data’can make big impact: Findings from a
systematic review and a longitudinal case study. International Journal of Production Economics, 165, pp.234-246.