Integrated Marketing Planning: Oman Air's Pricing Strategy Analysis

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Oman Air's integrated marketing planning, with a specific focus on the impact of its pricing strategy. The study explores the crucial role of integrated marketing planning in business, emphasizing the importance of customer interaction and transparent communication channels. It identifies the independent and dependent variables, analyzing factors affecting them and applying relevant theories and models. The research examines the challenges Oman Air faces due to high ticket prices, luxurious positioning, and increasing fuel costs. The report evaluates pricing strategies, including premium, penetration, economy, and price skimming, and discusses models like the Freemium and cost-based models. It also highlights opportunities and challenges related to high prices, offering recommendations for strengthening Oman Air's customer base and improving business performance in a competitive market. The report concludes with a reflection on the research findings and offers suggestions for future studies.

Running head: INTEGRATED MARKETING PLANNING
Impact of high prices of air tickets on integrated business process of Oman Airline
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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INTEGRATED MARKETING PLANNING
Executive Summary
The study describes the Integrated Marketing planning, which is considered as a very crucial part
of any business company. Each of the business companies requires maintaining the easier
process of interacting with the customers by developing a transparent communication. Moreover,
this strategy involves the connecting channels, which provide the greater value added services to
the targeted customers. After the independent and dependent variables are identified, the
researcher states the concept of the two distinctive variables along with the factors that affects
the variables. In addition to, the researcher states the application of the relevant theories and
models in respect to the variables that helps in developing better understanding on the research.
Literature study develops the conceptual and theoretical analysis of the subject matter by
evaluating the existing literature. It creates the clear linking between the distinctive variable
which suggest the core research elements more precisely. The study identifies the emerging
issues faced by Oman Airline in terms of managing the customer base due to the high price of
the tickets. The luxurious focus of this airline company and the increasing fuel rate persuade the
company to keep the ticket prices higher. However, it is important to identify the alternative
solution, which can help in strengthening the customer base in a significant way.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Background of the study..................................................................................................................4
Aim and Objectives.........................................................................................................................5
Research hypothesis.........................................................................................................................6
Significance of the research.............................................................................................................6
Literature review..............................................................................................................................8
Introduction......................................................................................................................................8
Concept of pricing...........................................................................................................................8
Factors affecting pricing strategy....................................................................................................9
Offering cost....................................................................................................................................9
Demand for the product or service..................................................................................................9
Market competition........................................................................................................................10
Purchasing power of the customers...............................................................................................10
Government regulations.................................................................................................................11
Marketing method..........................................................................................................................11
Pricing strategies............................................................................................................................11
Premium pricing............................................................................................................................12
Penetration pricing.........................................................................................................................12
Economy pricing............................................................................................................................12
Price skimming..............................................................................................................................13
Theory of pricing...........................................................................................................................13
Bain’s Models for Limit-Pricing Theory of Markets....................................................................14
Models of pricing...........................................................................................................................15

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Freemium model............................................................................................................................16
Cost-based model...........................................................................................................................16
Opportunities of having high prices..............................................................................................17
Challenges due to high price on the business................................................................................18
Summary........................................................................................................................................18
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................19
Recommendation...........................................................................................................................20
Reflection.......................................................................................................................................24
References......................................................................................................................................30

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Introduction
Integrated market planning (IMP) is a very crucial part of any business. To make an
economy run seamlessly, the interaction between the customers and the businesses must be easy
and through the integrated market planning, the businesses club all types of marketing activities
and communication to present a good experience to the customers. Integrated market planning
involves the strategies to connect the channels of integrated marketing to deliver the best value
added services to the customers (Armstrong et al. 2015). Almost all the organizations producing
and supplying goods and services in the market follow the IMP to build a relationship with the
customers by delivering highest quality services. The airlines industry is no exception. The
pricing strategy of airlines is part of the integrated market planning. People fly to places for
various reasons and the number of travelers is increasing very rapidly. The airlines have
introduced two different travel classes with different fares due to increase their profitability.
There are budget airlines also, which are becoming quite popular these days. Thus, pricing of an
airline is one of the most crucial factors to sustain in the competitive market in the air travel (Wit
and Zuidberg 2012). The research paper aims to explore the role of budget in the integrated
market planning and how that affects the performance of an airline company. To conduct this
study, Oman Air has been chosen as the case study company. The researcher will explore the
price issues of Oman Air and its impact on the consumers, which in turn affects the business
performance of Oman Air.
Background of the study
Oman Air is the national airline of the Sultanate of Oman. It is headquartered in the
Muscat International Airport. It has domestic and international flights along with air taxi and

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charter flights. Although it is the national airline of Oman, it has limited connectivity in Europe
(PAUCEANU 2014). It faces tough competition from the domestic as well as from the
international competitors. To increase the market share, Oman Air has introduced many new
things, such as, improved seats on the aircraft, in-flight entertainment systems, increased number
of flights in the established routes, door to door limousine services, lounge to aircraft limousine
services to first class passengers at Muscat and promotes to offer the unique experience of
Omani identity, culture and hospitality to improve the passenger experiences (Supian 2013). It
has also started the code share agreements with other competitor airlines to retain its market
share. However, the airline has some weaknesses due to excessive government intervention for
recruiting the locals, very few connection points in Europe, and it is also facing some issues due
to its higher price (Desai, Siddique and Yaseen 2014). The airline is more expensive in
comparison to other competitor airlines in Oman and in the Gulf and hence, faces competition in
terms of prices. It is seen that Oman Air does not reduce its ticket prices even during the peak
season, neither offer any promotional offers, similar to its competitors. Thus, as the demand for
the economy and budget airline is increasing, it is found that, Oman Air has not revised its
pricing policy in the face of rising competition (De Bel-Air 2015). Budget and pricing strategy
play an important role in the integrated marketing planning of any company. Hence, through this
research study, the researcher will explore how the budget or pricing strategy of the airline
affects the integrated marketing planning and business performance of Oman Air.
Aim and Objectives
The aim of the research is to evaluate the role of pricing strategy in the integrated
marketing planning of Oman air.

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The objectives of the study are:
 To evaluate the factors if integrated market planning
 To examine the role of pricing strategy or budget in the integrated market planning of
Oman Air
 To assess the impact of integrated market planning on the business performance of Oman
Air
Research hypothesis
H0 (null hypothesis): Pricing strategy of Oman Air does not have any impact on the integrated
market planning of the company.
H1 (alternative hypothesis): Pricing strategy of Oman Air has significant impact on the
integrated market planning of the company.
Significance of the research
Integrated marketing plan refers to the combination of strategies to implement all types of
marketing process to achieve the organizational goals. The plan is made of market analysis,
objectives and strategies, marketing channels, success factors, team plans, marketing calendar,
marketing budget, messaging, repositioning, target market restructuring and reporting (Hill,
Jones and Schilling 2012). Hence, it can be said that, marketing budget as well as budget of a
company is a major element in the integrated marketing plan of the company. A company must
utilize its budget in such a manner that it would help in increasing the market share and
profitability of the company. The airlines industry also applies this strategy to increase their sales
and market position. The integrated marketing plan helps the airlines companies to explore the

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market opportunities and analyze those to find out the areas where they should invest to increase
their market share. Oman Air believes in providing the most luxurious experience of air travel to
the passengers and thereby they have kept the price high. On one hand, it is popular among the
class who prefers luxury than economy, on the other hand, due to the high price, many
passengers are choosing the low price rival airlines (Roy 2012). Hence, the pricing strategy of
Oman Air is not helping them to capture a bigger market or retain the existing customers.
Through this research, the researcher wants to explore the potential opportunities for Oman Air
to maintain their original business agenda to provide the highest quality of services, and at the
same time, restructuring the pricing strategy in manner that can help them to increase popularity
as well as profitability in the airline industry.

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Literature review
Introduction
This chapter introduces the independent and the dependent variable based on which the
entire literature review is conducted. After the independent and dependent variables are
identified, the researcher states the concept of the two distinctive variables along with the factors
that affects the variables. In addition to, the researcher states the application of the relevant
theories and models in respect to the variables that helps in developing better understanding on
the research. The researcher analyzes the various factors affecting the distinctive variables
critically. Moreover, this chapter also helps in identifying the potential gap encountered based on
which the coming chapters of the research are developed.
Concept of pricing
Pricing is one of the most important factors that determine the profit and loss for the
business organizations. As commented by Barquet et al. (2013), price is defined as the value that
is allocated or associated with a particular product or service. The price is set for the particular
product or service by the business organizations is the result of complex calculations, market
research and the risk taking ability of the business organizations. However, as argued by
Monroe, Rikala and Somervuori (2015), the concept of price highlights considering the target
market segments, the ability of the customers to pay, the past, present and future condition of the
market. In addition to, the price of the products is decided after considering the actions of the
potential competitors, input costs and trade margins. The business organizations sell the
particular product or service to the target customers by using the price set by them. Thus, pricing

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is regarded as the fundamental aspect of financial modeling that determines the profit and loss
for the business organizations.
Factors affecting pricing strategy
It is important for the business organizations to consider the various factors that affect the
pricing strategy of the product or the service. The different factors that affect the pricing are the
offering cost, the demand of the product or service, existing market competition, purchasing
power of the customers, government regulations and the marketing method that is used.
Offering cost
While deciding the final cost of the product or service that the company offering, it is
important for them to consider the cost that is involved in making the service for the target
customers. This includes both fixed and variable costs, as the company has to recover both the
costs. The overall cost for making the product or service ready is one of the most components for
deciding price for it. This is because the company spends financial resources in developing the
product or the service (Akamavi et al. 2015). The business organizations cannot sell the product
or the service at less than the cost of production. Thus, before deciding the offering cost is
essential for the business organization.
Demand for the product or service
While fixing the cost for the service, it is important to analyze the demand of the product.
This provides an opportunity for the business organizations to determine whether the demand of
the service is more than the supply. Analyzing the ratio of demand and supply is essential for
deciding the price for the particular product or service (Lin, Tan and Geng 2013). For instance,

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the business organizations can set higher price if the product or service is highly demanded
among the customers. This is because the customers are ready and willing to pay any amount or
price fixed by the business organizations, as it is not readily available in the market.
Market competition
While deciding the price, the firms have to analyze the present competition in the market.
This allows the firms to decide whether the competition is higher or lower. Business
organizations offering similar products and service are available in the market that gives rise to
tough and fierce market competition (Bennett et al. 2013). As a result, the customers tend to get
various alternatives for fulfilling their need. For instance, if the customers feel that a company is
charging more for a product, they tend to look for the same product or service of another
company. For instance, business organizations tend to keep the price lower if the market
competition is higher. This allows them to fight and face the competition effectively.
Purchasing power of the customers
It is important for the business organizations to analyze the purchasing power of the
target customers, as this helps in deciding the price and developing the product or service
accordingly. This is because spending huge financial resources on the production or
manufacturing of a product for the customers with less purchasing power results in huge business
loss. The business organizations ultimately fail in selling the product or service to the target
market thereby, incurring huge loss and debts. Determining the purchasing power of the
customers is essential for the business organizations, as this provides an opportunity for the firms
to plan the financial resources they have used for manufacturing or developing the product

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(Andreti et al. 2013). This is because the company aims towards refill the investment they have
made by selling the product to the customers.
Government regulations
The business organizations have to consider the rules and regulations of the government
of the particular country while fixing the price of the service or the product. This is because the
company has to pay tax on the income or profit they get after selling the product or service.
Thus, the firms have to decide the price by considering the government rules. It is important for
the business organizations to pay tax to the government, as it is used for the overall development
of the country. Considering the government regulation allows the firms to fix the price by
maintaining their profit margin appropriately (Doppelt 2017).
Marketing method
The marketing methods have evolved distinctively over the years thereby, resulting in
change of the financial resources required (Yoo and Bai 2013). Thus, the marketing methods
used for communicating the product or service to the target customers is also considered by the
firms while fixing the price, as they plan to return the investment to the company.
Pricing strategies
Different types of pricing strategies have the significant contribution towards developing
a strong customer base. Organisations use the appropriate pricing strategy to attract a large
number of customers towards availing the product or services (Porto 2016). The airline industry
is not an exception in such cases. This industry is also using the diverse types of the pricing
strategy that are suitable enough to attract a larger number of passengers. These pricing strategies

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are categorized into diverse segments. The following section of the study will discuss the
different types of pricing strategies adopted by the businesses to win over their competitors.
Premium pricing
The premium pricing strategy indicates the method of setting the cost higher than the
competitors in the market. At the initial days of the product’s life cycle, this strategy works with
much effectiveness. The small-sized businesses that are selling unique goods often use such
premium pricing strategy which is quite ideal for their startup businesses. According to Cui and
Chou (2016), the customers often perceive products for service highly body if the price is
considerably higher. It is important for a business to put more efforts for creating a value
perception. The establishment of the high quality product required investing more marketing
efforts and attractive service offering. The premium pricing strategy supports such initiatives to
gain the attention of more stakeholders.
Penetration pricing
Another most effective pricing strategy is developed for market penetration. The strategy
attempts to attract more purchases by offering comparatively lower prices of the services orr
products. It has been observed that many new companies try to draw attention of the customers
by utilizing innovative techniques and some advanced methods (Camilleri 2018). Pricing
penetration main signify the initial loss of income, but ensure future profitability.
Economy pricing
Another form of pricing strategy is economic pricing, which refers to a wide range of
businesses that includes discount strategy for the customers who are much price conscious. It

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helps businesses to minimize the cost that are associated with production and marketing
procedures. The result indicates that the purchasers can buy the products as per their
requirements without any frill (Fageda et al. 2017). Some of the large companies use such
economic pricing strategy, which can turn out to be too dangerous for the smaller businesses.
This is due to the reason that the smaller businesses lack the sufficient sales volume that the
larger companies can generate easily. These smaller companies strive to generate sufficient profit
if the prices are structured lower. However, some of the tailored discounts ten developed a loyal
customer base which ensures profits for the upcoming years.
Price skimming
Price skimming is a method of pricing strategy which is designed to benefit the business
in maximizing sales on developing new product or any service. It generally involves high rate
product at the initial stage (Greig 2018). When the competitors gradually start appearing their
goods on the market, the companies minimizes the prices to gain the competitive advantage. This
provides considerable benefits to the company by allowing maximizing estimated profits on
early adopters prior to drop the prices for attracting more consumers who are much price
sensitive. Apart from developing the cost, this price skimming process helps in creating an
illusion of expected quality when the product or service is first introduced to the customers or to
the marketplace.
Theory of pricing
The theory of pricing, often termed as price theory, is basically the microeconomic
principle, which utilizes the concepts of demand and supply. It helps in determining the
appropriate pricing point for a product or say, service. The main aim is to achieve the

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equilibrium through which the goods’ and services’ quantities can match the overall market’s
ability or desire to acquire the services and goods. The strategy of pricing generally revolves
around three major points that are consumer demand, competition and cost or profit objectives.
In order to set the price, companies need to first add all their expenses together as well as
subtract the sources of the revenue (Bös 2015). This is considered to be the minimum profit the
companies can make and so this defines their minimum pricing.
According to Friedman (2017), it is important to consider the demands of the customers
and the company’s products in order to determine maximum selling price. Moreover, once the
company sets its pricing range for its target customers, it is important to use the objectives of
profit as well as information regarding their competition. This would enable the company to
choose the best of pricing theory. In the words of Haynes (2015), pricing can be demand based,
competition based or costs based.
Bain’s Models for Limit-Pricing Theory of Markets
Bain formulated a limit-pricing theory of markets, which explains the reason why
companies over a long span of time kept their pricing strategies at the demand level, where
elasticity was below the unity. In simpler terms, it meant that the companies did not charge the
prices that would maximize their revenues. In conclusion, he mentioned that the traditional
theories were unable to explain this fact because an important factor was omitted from the
pricing decision, which is the threat of potential entry. The traditional theories were more
concerned about the actual entry procedures, which in turn, resulted in long run equilibrium of
the industries and firms (Toxvaerd 2017).

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From the model, it can be assumed that there is a determinant factor in the long run
demand curve for the industrial output. This remains unaffected by the adjustments of the prices
by other sellers or competitors. Thus, the marginal revenue curve of the markets is determinant
over here. Moreover, the long run industrial demand curve shows the sales that are expected at
various pricing, maintained over a long period of time. The levels at which the limit-pricing
theory can be set for the companies are costs estimation of potential entrants, demand market
elasticity, level and shape of LAC, market size and lastly, total number of companies in the
industry (Feng, Li and Shuai 2017).
Models of pricing
There are basically five models of pricing, those are the cost-plus pricing, value-based
pricing, hourly pricing, fixed pricing and performance-based pricing. The cost-plus pricing is
being used frequently by the companies in order to maximize their profits, within their
businesses. The value-based pricing model assists the companies in setting up the prices for the
products or services on the basis of perceived consumer values. However, the prices may differ
from one customer to another (Wu et al. 2017).
In addition to this, for companies that offer mainly services can choose to provide its
customers with hourly pricing strategies, that is, time and expense. In such situations, the
companies need to set hourly pricing strategies on the basis of the service that are being offered.
Moreover, the fixed pricing model charges the consumers with a set price for all the products or
services being offered. Lastly, the performance-based pricing model mainly depends upon the
performance of the products and setting the charges in accordance with that. The companies need
to fix their charges in accordance with the pricing models (Barillas and Shanken 2018).

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Freemium model
The freemium business model allows the users to use the basic features of any product or
service, like any game services or software and then charges them for upgrades in the basic
service. Skype can be an example of the Freemium business model, as the service allows its
users to communicate, without any charges. However, upgrading to the premium services can
cost certain charges for the users. Companies often use this model in order to attract the users to
their services as everyone likes free stuffs (Chen et al. 2018). Moreover, when the users get an
idea that they do not have to pay anything just to sign up, they give the services a try. The main
objective is just to give enough access to the users, so that they can gain certain benefits.
Moreover, when the users start loving those features, they end up upgrading to the premium
services. Therefore, it is important for the companies to start these paid plans at the initial stage,
so that the consumers get involved with the services (Barillas and Shanken 2018).
Cost-based model
The cost-based pricing model is basically a pricing method, which helps in fixing the sum
or percentage of the total expenses to that of the product cost, in order to arrive at the selling
price. This method generally gives an idea of the company’s income or profit from their products
or services. This pricing method assists in determining the selling price of the products or
services for the companies. In this model, a percentage or fixed amount of the manufacturing
cost gets added as overall profit of the product cost, for arriving at the selling price (Toxvaerd
2017).
In terms of Friedman (2017), there are certain advantages and disadvantages of the cost-
based model. The pricing model is a simple and straight forward strategy, which ensures that all

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the overhead or production costs are being covered before the profits get calculated. Moreover, it
ensures a consistent or steady rate of the profit generation. However, there are certain
disadvantages as well. The cost-pricing model can lead to under-pricing of the products and
companies may sometimes, ignore the role of customers in the market. In addition to this, it may
also ignore opportunity costs of investment in the market.
Opportunities of having high prices
Structuring the high prices of the product or service can sometimes be advantageous in
gathering more customer support. It has been observed that in airline industries, the ticket costs
are sometimes optimized. However, it is important for the customers who are spending more on
the airline facilities to think about managing their revenues. In the airline industry, it has been
observed that the early adopters cut down the cost by developing the revenue management
technologies (RM) since the year of 1970 (Treanor et al. 2014). Some sequential upgrades for
forecasting and optimizing engines are extensively used for fair restriction. The use of such RM
tactics help in successfully clustering customers as per their key attributes. When the ticket
prices are set higher, the customers perceive the worthiness of the services. People who are quite
inclined towards luxurious travels would prefer the sophisticated approaches by spending even
more for the airline services (Boukherroub et al. 2015). Accordingly, the aviation industry can
ensure good opportunity with the high prices of the tickets. Such companies are generally
targeting the customers prefer the luxurious travel. The company even can derive more profits by
setting the price higher and attract passengers towards sophisticated decorations and facilities.

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Challenges due to high price on the business
The high prices of the products or services can sometimes create most disadvantages for
the customers. Especially, in the airline industry, the high cost of the air tickets can minimize the
customer base. In most of the cases, it has been observed that the people belong to middle class
group cannot even afford the high pricing strategy set by any particular airline company. In usual
cases, it is noticed that customer sick for the better quality product or service with a lower price.
However, in airline industry, the company's face considerable challenges due to increasing rate
of the fuel prices (Han and Hyun 2015). Therefore, they need to keep the ticket prices high to
maintain the balance in their economic structure. Nonetheless, if the competitors set the price
lower to attract more amounts of passengers, it could turn out to be many disadvantages for
Airline Company. Moreover the company can even face the considerable challenges from the
dominant market competitors.
Summary
Literature study develops the conceptual and theoretical analysis of the subject matter by
evaluating the existing literature. It creates the clear linking between the distinctive variable
which suggest the core research elements more precisely. The information obtained from this
literature study indicates that product pricing strategy is one of the most significant aspects that
the business companies need to concentrate on. In majority of the companies, customer base is
developed by organizing the appropriate pricing strategy. The idea derived from this literature
study will be linked further with the research objectives to identify whether these are achieved or
not.

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Conclusion
The study describes the Integrated Marketing planning, which is considered as a very
crucial part of any business company. Each of the business companies requires maintaining the
easier process of interacting with the customers by developing a transparent communication.
Moreover, this strategy involves the connecting channels, which provide the greater value added
services to the targeted customers. The study mainly concentrates on the Oman airline, which
delivers the high quality airline services to the passengers. The study has observed that the
sophisticated and luxurious approach of Oman airline is quite attractive to the passengers. In fact,
it improves the passenger experiences as well. However, it is also recognised that the high ticket
prices become much expensive to the passengers who belong to middle income rate. Only the
upper class passengers can afford such expensive ticket prices of Oman airline. Therefore, the
study aims to identify the effectiveness of the developed pricing strategy on Integrated
Marketing planning of Oman Air. The objectives of the study are widely concentrating on
evaluating the underlying factors necessary for preparing an Integrated Marketing planning.
Furthermore, the study attempts to examine the role of the adopted pricing strategy or the budget
structure in terms of influencing the integrated market planning initiated by the company. Along
with this evaluation, the study also focuses on judging the impact of integrated market planning
on improving the business performance and profitability parameter. The research hypothesis
created in this particular study is mainly focusing on the effectiveness of pricing strategy on the
integrated market planning.
The literature study identifies the distinctive variables associated with the subject area. It
is generally elaborating the enriched knowledge based on the conceptual analysis of pricing,
which is one of the most researchable areas in this study. It is noticeable that price is

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conceptualized as the value based approach, which creates the image of a product or service and
ensures profitability parameter of the company. The literature study also discusses some of the
basic factors that are affecting the pricing strategies adopted by the business company. It is
noticeable that the final cost decided for any service or product and the demand best value of
such product or service determine the pricing factors of a specific brand. Apart from these
aspects, the recognition of the competitors in the market and purchasing power of the customers
are also signified as the major factors that are affecting the budget allocation procedure of any
company. The government has imposed the regulations and norms for fixing the pricing strategy
that have the clear impact on organisational functions. The literature review study also defines
the different pricing strategies that are adopted by the business companies. Going forward, the
theoretical and framework based literature provide the enriched knowledge about the
appropriateness of using the right prices for any product or service. The literature study also
observed the opportunities and challenges faced due to the high cost products or services. The
obtained idea from the study provides the clear insight about the subject area and fulfilled the
research objectives in a detailed way.
Recommendation
The study identifies the emerging issues faced by Oman Airline in terms of managing the
customer base due to the high price of the tickets. The luxurious focus of this airline company
and the increasing fuel rate persuade the company to keep the ticket prices higher. However, it is
important to identify the alternative solution, which can help in strengthening the customer base
in a significant way. The company can implement the following strategy, which would be
effective enough in gathering the responses from the customers. Moreover, these strategies

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would help in winning over the market competitors as well. The following recommendations can
be suggested for Oman Airline.
 Oman Airline requires developing their PR strategies for attracting more number of
customers towards the airline services offered by the company. The company requires
developing web-based solutions to demonstrate the luxurious services and facilities for
the passengers. The creative presentation of the services would attract a number of airline
travelers towards availing the services.
 It would be beneficial for the company to develop the price skimming strategy when the
market competition is higher. If the company can adjust the costs associated with the
service manufacturing and decorations of the flights, it would be much helpful in
adjusting the ticket prices as well.
 The employees associated with the company require more training to gather the
knowledge about the aviation management. It would help in developing the high level of
communication in a transparent way. It would be helpful enough in gathering more
customer supports. In fact, the development of the communicational transparency would
generate more reliability among the customers. Eventually, the company would be able to
develop the higher level of customer loyalty.
Action Plan
Actions Cost Time Scale Resources Responsible
people
Benefits
Priority 1:
Development of
the PR
US$5000 1-2 week Official
websites,
software, anti-
IT technicians,
Management,
website
The creative
websites would
generate the

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Strategies virus to protect
from hackers
designers feedback from
the passengers.
The
information
and creative
demonstration
of the services
will be
provided.
Priority 2:
Development of
the price
skimming
strategy
US$5,000 1 month Internal
decorations,
operational
elements, human
resource
management
Operational
team,
management
When the cost
will be cut
down from the
operational
process, the
ticket prices
will be
decreased. It
will attract
more
passengers.
Priority 3:
Development of
communication
through
employee
training
US$10,000 2 months The training
room,
communication
tools, human
resources
Human
resource
management,
operational
manager,
employees
The
development
of
communication
would generate
the sense of

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reliability
among the
passengers.
Moreover,
their feedback
would help in
generating
ideas about the
future areas of
improvements.
Table 1: Action Plan
(Source: Created by the Author)

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Reflection
Prior to begin this project, I prepared a systematic plan to gather ideas about the
associated variables in this research subject area. However, at the initial stage, the research
project was not that much easy as I expected it to be. I understood that I needed to conduct a
quality research based on the subject area that can help me in generating significant knowledge
to prepare my research paper. I was assigned to the topic, which reflects on the effectiveness of
Integrated Marketing planning and the pricing strategy developed by Oman airline. At the
beginning of this project, I collected some of the secondary sources to develop my knowledge
about conceptual and theory based information related to the subject matter. I received help from
my professors, my fellow teammates, and supervisors. However, the entire journey has been
much promising for me. I took this opportunity to strengthen my skill in both professional and
personal ground. The study follows the idea that the airline has some weaknesses due to
excessive government intervention, very few connection points in Europe, is also facing some
issues due to its higher price. I observed that the airline is more expensive in comparison to other
competitor airlines in Oman and in the Gulf and hence, faces competition in terms of prices. I
eve recognised that Oman Air does not reduce its ticket prices even during the peak season,
neither offer any promotional offers, similar to its competitors.
The first challenge that I faced during this research project was the lack of time. The
continuous time constraint prevented me to create an insightful knowledge base collected from
the diverse areas associated with the subject matter. It is true that I received remarkable help
from my supervisor who asks me to take supports from the library books and some of the
published journals. I went to the annual report of Oman airline to understand the shrinkage that

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the company faced due to the high pricing strategies. I tried to analyse the issue with more depth.
However, the time limitations did not permit me to go deeper into the research subject, which
good enhance the quality of the entire study.
The second challenge that I faced during this project was the lack of adequate capital
resources. Due to the shortage of the capital resources, I could only conductor secondary
information from various sources. Based on this data, I developed the complete literature study
by adding up some of my intellectual interpretations. I have observed that the current business
world has been growing drastically and keeping pace with search changing scenario, the
customer demands are also altering in a recognizable way. The business companies thus strive to
meet the expectation level of the potential customers. I had the Limited budget for conducting
this research, which reflected on my entire work. It is quite disappointing for me to some extent.
I could have gathered more resources if my budget allowed me to do so.
Another most recognizable challenge that I faced during this journey was in deriving
relevant and real life data by considering the functionalities of the company. I have observed that
the current scenario is continuously advancing due to which the business function duties are also
changing much significantly. On the contrary the information I have gathered from secondary
sources like books journals and website articles lack the updated information. It has made the
study quite Limited. I gathered the adequate knowledge about the conceptual ideas about
premium pricing strategy, which is followed by Oman Airline. It provided me the idea that the
customers often perceive products for service highly body if the price is considerably higher. It
is important for a business to put more efforts for creating a value perception. In spite of such
perceptive values, there is the possibility that the customers would opt for the luxurious
experiences while travelling through airlines. In such cases, it is quite difficult to understand

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whether the customers would pay the high prices or become reluctant to spend this much amount
for the airline travels. The alternative strategic development would be helpful in such regards to
develop a strengthened customer base. It is noticeable that the literature study does not provide
the alternative solutions for the company, which could have generated the profitable insights for
the future prospects. However, the recommendations developed in this study describe the
probable solutions to develop the customer base. However, there is no appropriate tool to
validate the relevancy of such strategy due to which the study is quite limited. The establishment
of the price skimming strategy can turn out to be beneficial for the company to participate in a
competitive scenario. Price skimming is a method of pricing strategy which is designed to
benefit the business in maximizing sales on developing new product or any service. It generally
involves high rate product at the initial stage. When the company has been facing the high
competition level, it requires cutting down the price of the airline service by adjusting the costs
in the internal functionalities. Following such method would this can be quite beneficial for the
longer sustainability.
However, shedding light on my personal experience, I can interpret that the entire
learning journey of this project was promising challenging yet interesting for me. It helped me in
strengthening my professional and personal knowledge related to the business functionalities
especially in the airline industry. It developed insightful ideas about that I was pricing factors
which have to clear impact on the organisational functionalities. I obtained knowledge about the
basic concepts associated with the pricing factors. I developed the idea about the concept of
price, which was highlighted considering the target market segments, the ability of the customers
to pay, the past, present and future condition of the market. In addition to such assumptions, the
price of the products is decided after considering the actions of the potential competitors, input

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costs and trade margins. I have learnt that the airline industry sometimes keep the prices of the
tickets higher to develop the high quality service experiences for the potential passengers.
Especially, Oman Airlines try to maintain the high standardization by introducing more
luxurious and sophisticated airline services to the passengers. Therefore, it has been observed
that the passengers from the upper class level are much font of such luxurious approaches while
they are travelling from one place to another. Apparently, these high prices would generate the
high level of profitability parameter for the airline company. On the other hand, the increasing
competition in the business market place is imposing considerable threats to the companies. It
was noticed that the low cost carriers could gather more number of customers in compared to the
high cost carriers. Especially, price sensitive passengers are more likely reluctant to pay high
prices for the airline tickets. It creates the considerable loss for the company due to which it
became necessary to develop the most sweet girl strategic decisions for sustaining the
competitive position. It was observed that the continuous flow of the fuel prices is one of the
significant reasons behind search expensive carriages of Oman Airlines. I believe that the
company needs to make some considerable changes today strategic functionalities. it would be
easier for the company together maximum number of passengers support along with the highly
Advanced Technological approaches. I observed that the study mainly concentrates on the Oman
airline, which delivers the high quality airline services to the passengers. In fact, it has observed
that the sophisticated and luxurious approach of Oman airline, which is quite attractive to the
passengers. It even improves the passenger experiences as well. However, I recognised that the
high ticket prices become much expensive to the passengers who belong to middle income rate.
Only the upper class passengers can afford such expensive ticket prices of Oman airline. Based

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on such scenario, I think. It is important for Oman airline to adopt some of the fruitful strategic
evaluation that can help in creating more profitable atmosphere for Oman Airline.
While conducting this research study by gathering some secondary information, I
observed that I could develop my knowledge regarding the airline functionalities adopted by the
aviation industry. In fact, I generated the idea regarding the regulation imposed by the
government on the aviation industry. In order to retain the competitive position, the company
like Oman airline needs to undertake the hands on approach for strengthening their customer
base. The fruitful idea derived from the subject matter helped me to notice the best practices in
the airline industry. Utilizing this information, I can take many more opportunities in future
concerned with the similar case scenario. Moreover, it helped me to develop my knowledge
regarding the Integrated Marketing planning which I can use for the similar studies in future as
well. I am quite thankful to my supervisor and everyone who supported me throughout this
journey. This journey helped me to identify my strength of accommodating more complex
information and simplifying them to develop a complete understanding related to the research
subject. I have even identified that I am a good communicator. I could communicate my issues
with my professors and supervisors and they provided me with the possible help to some extent.
One of my biggest weaknesses was the lack of patience. I identified that I easily become
vulnerable if I fail to gather any information related to the subject. I was scared when my
professor and my supervisors refused to help me at some point. I took longer time to meditate
and taking myself into a stable position. At this point I realised the self worth and importance of
being self reliant. it was a good lesson for me that I can carry out for the future prospects.
During the journey, there was a time when I did not receive any support or help from my
supervisor or professor. It took me more time to understand that I needed to be more self-reliant

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INTEGRATED MARKETING PLANNING
an independent enough to use my skills and develop the better solution without any help from
external sources. It actually worked for me even though I was a bit scared at the initial stage. I
was actually worried about the entire research project, which was quite new to me and I did not
have much knowledge about this subject area. However, I have been taking interest on the
aviation management and exploring their strategic functionalities from quite a long time. When
this project was assigned to me, I became quite excited knowing that I shall be able to develop
the knowledge regarding my concerned areas that I take most interest on. However, going
forward, I realised the difficulty level eventually. It was quite challenging for me to understand
the entire aviation management system that is structured to provide better customer experiences
to the billions of passengers all across the world. At some point, when I did not receive much
help from my supervisor, it affected my mental value. However I did not give up and tried to
develop more efficiency level for conducting the entire research. I went to library to identify the
relevant materials that can provide me the adequate knowledge based on the aviation
management. I took help from the internet together ideas about the structured marketing plan
which generally ensures profits for the company. This entire journey therefore created a learning
scenario for my future development. If in future I am again assigned with a similar topic or any
research project, I would not hesitate to take this up and deal with the difficulty level. The self
Reliance taught me to deal with the uncertainty which strengthen my analytical skills in a
significant way. I can also imply that after this entire journey, I am quite prepared to take up
many more challenges in search context. It would help me in building my personality, improve
my intellect, and strengthening the value based knowledge in the business field.

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