Detailed Marketing Plan Report: British Airways Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of the marketing plan for British Airways (BA). It begins with an introduction to marketing planning, emphasizing customer orientation and key marketing activities. Task 1 explores the theoretical foundations of marketing planning, including the marketing mix, product life cycle, and alignment strategies, along with changes in the perspectives of marketing planning. The evaluation of BA's ability to plan future marketing activities, its objectives, and its strategic development in short-term and long-term contexts are discussed. Task 2 focuses on external and internal environments, including political, economic, and stakeholder factors. Task 3 provides a SWOT analysis and business analysis of BA. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and recommendations for BA's marketing strategies. The report incorporates concepts such as SMART objectives, resource requirements, and the importance of understanding competitors and market potential. References are included to support the analysis.

MARKETING
PLANNING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................2
1.1 ..........................................................................................................................................2
1.2...........................................................................................................................................7
Task 2.............................................................................................................................................11
2.1.........................................................................................................................................11
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................15
3.1.........................................................................................................................................15
3.2.........................................................................................................................................17
3.3.........................................................................................................................................18
3.4.........................................................................................................................................20
3.5.........................................................................................................................................22
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................23
4.1.........................................................................................................................................23
4.2.........................................................................................................................................24
4.3.........................................................................................................................................24
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................25
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................26
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Index of Tables
Table 1: Swot of BA......................................................................................................................10
Table 2: Business analysis of BA..................................................................................................24
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INTRODUCTION
Business organizations have to do different types of business activities to achieve
different objectives such as financial activity to increase the profit and financial wealth of the
organization. Human resource activity is to use the employees of the organization as much as
possible to do the business activities efficiently. Technological resource management to use the
raw materials, machinery and the production process to increase the productivity, improve the
quality of the products and reduce the production cost of the organizations. In that way the
organizations have to do some marketing activities to provide information to the customers about
the products of the organizations, increase the demand of the products among the customers and
increase the market share of the products and services in the industry. The organisations have to
prepare some plan to implement the marketing activities in an efficient manner to get the
maximum outcome from the marketing activity. The following study will discuss about the
process followed by different business organizations to prepare the marketing plan and the
theories related to the marketing plan. The important ethics and influencing external factors of
marketing planning activity will be mentioned in the study.
Overview of the British Airways
British Airways Company is the largest airlines company based on the size of the fleet.
The Company was established in London on the 31 march 1974. The Company acquire two
major airlines company of London the first one is British Overseas Airways Corporation and the
second one is British European Airways. In 2015, the revenue of the company was £11421
billion.
Task 1
1.1
A) Theories used in the marketing planning activity
Marketing planning activity is totally a customer-oriented activity. The organisations
have to collect some information about the customers of the industry to prepare an effective
marketing plan. The major information about the customers should be collected by the
organisations are as follows: The test, preferences and demand of the customers, geography and
demography structure of the economy, purchasing power of the customers etc. based on such
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information the organisations have to use some theories to prepare a efficient and effective
marketing plan. The theories are as follows:
I) Marketing mix: The theory of marketing mix used in the marketing plan is totally based on
the test, preference and psychology of the customers. The marketing mix is basically a mix of
four P’s these are pricing, people, place and product. The organisations have to do well research
about the test, preferences and requirements of the customers. As opined by Toledo et al. (2014,
p.50), the product and services should be designed by the organisations according to the
requirements of the customers. The ability of meeting the requirements of the customers create a
value of the products and services in the market. The organisations have to collect some
information about the geographical features of the market to select a suitable market place for the
products. The products should have the ability to meet the geographical requirements of the
customers. The price of the products should be set by the organisations according to the
purchasing power of the customers. The organisations have to prepare the promotional strategies
to launch the product and services in the market according to the cultural preferences of the
customers.
II) Product life cycle: The organisations have to prepare the marketing plan according to the
phase of life cycle of a particular products and services. Basically there are four phases included
in the product life cycle. The first one is Introduction, in the introduction phase the organisations
try to build a market for the products by promoting the product and providing important
information about the product to the customers. In growth phase of the product organisations
tries to increase the supply of the products in the market and including some new features in the
product to improve the quality. In the maturity phase, the organisations try to create some
differentiation with the similar products in the industry to survive in the competitive market. The
organisations use different promotional strategies to build the differentiation. The price of the
products should be lower to make an opportunity to build new customers of the product. In the
decline phase of the product life cycle the organisations lose the demand for the products among
the customers. In this situation the organisations try to shut down the production of the products.
III) Alignment: The organisations must build an alignment among the benefits of the product
with the requirements of the product to customers. The organisations also try to build a
communication with the customers to provide important information to the customers and get the
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feedback from the customers about the products and services. The company also try to know
about the new requirements of the customers and request them to provide some idea and opinion
to improve the quality of the products (French, 2017, p.27).
B) Changes in the perspective of the marketing planning
According to the traditional marketing planning activities the organisations only pay their
attentions to product, price, place, people and promotions to prepare the marketing plan for the
new products. However, Due to the changes in the perspectives of the marketing planning the
organisations include some new factors in the preparation of the marketing planning activities.
The factors are as follows;
I) Features of the products: The organisations have to consider the features of the products to
prepare the marketing plan for the product. The features should be prepared according to the
requirements of the customers.
II) Innovativeness: The organisations have to include some creative features in the products to
increase the innovativeness of the product.
III) Build a brand: The organisations also try to build a brand for the products in the market by
using some unique promotional strategies.
IV) Global network: The organisations also try to build a global network to prepare a global
market for the products by promoting the products globally.
V) Strength and Weaknesses: The organizations also consider the strength and weakness of the
products to survive in the industry for a long time. The organisations try to use their strength as
much as possible and resolve the weakness the products by creating some effective solutions.
VI) High prices: The organisations have to collect important information about the purchasing
power of the targeting customers. The company can build some differentiation in the market to
justify the high prices of the products. The company also try to build some competitive
advantages to reduce the production cost for setting a low price for the products.
VII) Potentiality of the market: The organisations also try to know the potentiality of the
market and the customers. The organisation can build a broad segment of the products and
services according to the future potentiality of the market.
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VIII) Competitors: Organisations can try to know some important information about the
competitors. According to
Goretzki et al. (2013, p.50), organisation should be aware about the marketing and production
strategies used by the competitors to increase the market share.
IX) Availability of the products: Organisations also manage the distributors and the supply
channels of the products in an efficient manner to ensure the availability of the products in the
market.
X) Quality of the products: Organisations try to include new features in the products
continuously to increase the ability of meeting requirements of the customers and improve the
quality of the products. Organisations have to increase the quality of the products to build loyalty
among the customers towards the product.
C) Evaluation of the ability of British airways to plan the future marketing activity
As the British Airways is an old player in the airlines industry therefore, the organisation have a
greater knowledge about the demand and requirements of the customers. The Company also has
a strong base of loyal customers in the industry. For this reason, The airlines company know
about the expectations of the customers towards the services provided by the Company. The
Company also have some qualified employees in the marketing management department for
preparing the marketing plan. The marketing manager use the marketing mix, life cycle,
alignment theories in an efficient manner to produce an effective marketing plan (Shank and
Lyberger, 2014, p.36). The managers also use the different factors such as Features of the
products, Innovativeness, Build a brand, Global network, Strength and Weaknesses to design the
services provided by the British airways to the customers. The good quality of the services also
increases the loyalty among the customers towards the British Airways.
D)BA objectives
The objective should be SMART in the business analysis that is specific, measurable,
attainable, relevant and time based. The objective should be clear and prescribe, that shows the
clear meaning of the objective. The objective should be measurable that when we had made it
can be able to assess your progress. The objective should be attainable that means that the
objective should not be very hard target that an employee can able to attain it. The objective
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should be relevant that means that the objective should be related to the mission or aim.
Objective should be time base that there should be particular time at which the objective should
be achieved
Specific: To be Global Premium Airlines.
Measurable: They are having the second largest market share after the Delta airlines that is 4.85
million seat
Attainable: they already are able to attain this objective where in 2015 the revenue was £11333
billion and in 2016 it was £11443 billion
Relevant: This objective is relevant to their aim that is to be in premium segment.
E) Strategy development at the basis of short term and long term
Short term plans are the plans which are at ground level that is lower level of the
organization, theses are the tactical plans which are made for the quarter, half year or maximum
for the year based. Whereas the long term objective and strategy are made at the top level of the
organization. Theses are the strategies made for the five to ten years plan. According to the top
level strategies all the medium and short term strategies are made
Short term strategy: Is to compete on the cost base with Delta airlines
Long term strategy: long term business vision is to world leading global premium airlines
F) Resources required by the organization
Organization required all the type of the resources whether it is human recourse, material,
technology, database management system or fund. For initial stage when organization is starting
he requires fund that is capital for meeting day to day activities, require human recourse for the
implementation of the strategies, organization require the technology to keep the database of the
organization and analysis the data
People- Crew members, air crew, air marshal, air traffic controller, aviator, caption and copilot
Technology- Airbnb and tech week
Money- Promotes £400 million investment in lounges and food, British Airways Announces a
$495 Million Investment in Premium Experience
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G) External and internal environment
There are two types of environment that effect the organization strategies one is internal
that is the factors that are internal in the organization and another is external that is outside of the
organization.
Political factors- Internal factors include the people working in the organization that are finance
personnel, hr personnel, marketing personnel and research and development personnel. Recently
terrorist attacks at Brussels airport in March 2016, which caused the decline of IAG share price,
British Airways’ parent company by 1.5 per cent
Economic factors: The cost of fuel, inflation rate. In 2015, British Airways expenses on fuel
decreased by £484 million, or 13.8 per cent compared to the previous year
Stakeholders- Their thinking and culture effect the organization strategies whereas the external
environment include the suppliers, customer, competitor and government. The AIG are the
shareholder of British airlines
1.2
A) Techniques of the organisational auditing
Organisations use the organisational auditing process to know some information about
the activities done by the organisations. As stated by Shaw (2016, p.27), the auditing sources
provide different information about the activity such as strength and weakness of the activity, the
problem faced by the employees to complete the activities, new process can be applied by the
organisation to do the business activity. These information help the organizations to improve the
efficiency of the activities by creating the solutions of the problems faced by the employees to
complete the activities and use the strength of the activities to resolve the weaknesses. The
organisations use different techniques for the organisational auditing. The activities are as
follows:
i) SWOT analysis
ii) Market research
ii) PESTLE analysis
iii) Competitive analysis
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iv) Internal marketing environment analysis
v) External marketing environment analysis
vi) MCKinsey's model
vii) Porter’s Value chain model
viii) Porter's five forces
B) External factors that influence the marketing planning activity
There are different environmental factors that influence the marketing planning activities of the
organisations. The external factors are as follows;
i) Political: Organisations have to consider some legislations produce by the government while
preparing the marketing plan. This kinds of legislation provide some restrictions to the
organisations in the preparation of the marketing plan.
ii) Economical: The organisation has to consider the employment rate, purchasing power and
per capita income of the targeting customers while preparing the marketing plan for the products
(Kaynak and Kucukemiroglu, 2015, p.177).
iii) Social: The structure of the society and the culture of the customers also influence the
marketing plan of the organisation.
iv) Technological: The development of the new technologies also influences the marketing plan
of the organisations.
v) legal: It includes the policies and laws made by the government such as labor law,
employment law, working hours and cost of living.
vi) Environmental: This include the climatic condition like environment, rainfall, season.
British airline mostly affected by air, noise, water pollution, land take, and waste
management
C) Techniques use in the British Airways for organisational auditing
British Airways use the following techniques for the organisational auditing:
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I) Inquiry: British airways use some communication process to know the problems faced by the
employees to complete the operations and the organizations try to create some solution to solve
the problems.
II) Examination: The Company also take the exam of the employees to know the skills and
knowledge that require for completing the job in an efficient manner.
III) Observation: The Company also observe the process followed by the employees to
complete the job. The company also can prepare the organisational charts and flowcharts to
provide an appropriate process to the employees to complete the job (Mahzan and Lymer, 2014,
p.330).
SWOT analysis: The Company also acquire some knowledge about the strength and weakness
of the Company. The company try to increase the strength of them to reduce the weakness. The
company analyze the future potentiality of different regional market to improve to know about
opportunity of the Company in the market. The company analyze the future threats of the
organisations from the new competitors or the new decision of the government that change the
scenario of the market.
Table 1: Swot of BA
Strengths
A. Strong brand image
B. International operations
Weaknesses
A. Cost of management
B. Decline profitability
Opportunities
A. Developed more advanced airlines services
B. Having free trade agreement
Threat
A. Increase in fuel price
B. Competitors like delta airlines
V) Competitive analysis: British Airways always analysis the competitors in the market to get
different information such as market share achieved by the competitors, the competitive
advantages acquired by the competitors and the marketing strategies followed by them to
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increase the market share. This information help the company to create an effective marketing
plan.
VI) Market research: The market research technique help the company to acquire different
information about the customers such as test, preferences, habits, requirements, purchasing
power etc (Jayawardhena et al. 2016, p.779). These information help the company to design the
products and services with effective features.
VII) Internal and marketing environment analysis: Internal marketing environment analysi
help the company to acquire the information about the resources and budgets of the company to
prepare a marketing plan. The marketing managers of the British Airlines Company also forecast
the performance of the marketing plan by analysis the internal marketing environment. The
external marketing environment analysis help the company to acquire important information
about the economy such as such as employment rate, per capita income, requirement of the
customer, purchasing power, cultural structure of the customers etc.
D) External factors that influence the marketing planning activity of the BA
There are different external factors that influence the marketing plan of the British Airways. The
incident of BREXIT had a great impact on the marketing plan of the British Airways. Some
other external factors influence the marketing plan of the British Airways. The external factors
are as follows:
Political: There are different resolutions and legislations has to consider by the BA to prepare
the marketing plan such as Consumer protection from unfair trading regulations and the business
protection from the misleading marketing regulations 2008. These regulations and legislations
provide some restrictions the Company to prepare the marketing plan without any illegal,
misleading and untruthful content.
Economical: During the economic recession in 2009 and the incident of Brexit in the 2016 had a
great impact on the British Airlines Company. The Company had to prepare a new marketing
plan to increase the demand of the airlines services.
Social: The changes in the society are the only one consistent factor of the society. Therefore,
the dynamism of the society influences the company to change the marketing plan with the
changes in the society.
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