Qantas Airlines: Evaluating Corporate Strategies & Alternatives

This report evaluates the strategic management process of Qantas Airlines, focusing on its corporate-level strategies like diversification, global expansion, and outsourcing. It analyzes the suitability of these strategies in achieving competitive advantage and maintaining profitability. The report assesses the impact of diversification through mergers and acquisitions, particularly the Jetstar merger, and the effectiveness of global strategies in expanding into the Asian market and forming alliances like the Emirates partnership. Furthermore, it examines the outsourcing strategy's role in enhancing profit margins and accessing cost-effective labor. The evaluation highlights the benefits of diversification and the company's overall success. Recommendations include refining the Red Planet diversification, focusing on product and service differentiation within Jetstar, and enhancing customer satisfaction through competitive pricing and responsive customer service. The report concludes that Qantas should continue to differentiate its strategies, reduce service prices, and maintain a robust diversification strategy for global expansion and competitive advantage.

Strategic Management

Strategic Management
Executive Summary
The objective of this report is to evaluate the process of strategic management of Qantas
Airlines. The focus is given on the corporate level strategies considered by the company. It
focuses on the strategic analysis so that proper formulation of the strategies can be done. The
purpose of the report is to analyze the overall corporate level strategy that can help to attain the
competitive advantage in the market. So, in this report the emphasis will be given on the
strategies that can help the company to maintain profits in a proper manner.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Corporate level strategy of Qantas Airlines.....................................................................................1
Diversification..............................................................................................................................1
Global level strategy....................................................................................................................2
Outsourcing strategy....................................................................................................................2
Evaluation........................................................................................................................................3
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................3
Differentiation of the services......................................................................................................3
Enhancing customer satisfaction..................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5
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Introduction
Qantas Airlines is considered as one of the biggest largest domestic and international airline. The
activities of the company were started in 1920. It has been analyzed that there are two brands
names like Qantas and Jetstar.
So, in this report, the strategic analysis will be done on Qantas Airlines. In the first phase of the
report, the discussion will be made on the corporate level strategies of the company. In the last
phase proper evaluation will be done and recommendations will be given on the basis of the
overall analysis.
Corporate level strategy of Qantas Airlines
Diversification
There are various strategies that are considered by the company but corporate strategies of
Qantas are related to diversification. It has been seen that this is considered as the powerful
corporate strategy of the company that assist in achieving high returns and also helps to achieve
competitive advantage by focusing on the competitors prevailing in the market.
The company considered this strategy as it can help to enhance the value of the stakeholders. It
has been analyzed that company offers effective services to its customers so that it can be easy to
attract more customers towards the services given by the company. It has been analyzed that
company also focuses on merger and acquisition which has given assistance to accomplish
overall goals and objectives (He & Balmer, 2017).
Through merger and acquisition company emphasized on achieving various advantages related
to operational cost reduction and also with minimizing the overall risk of the competitors. In
2008 the company focused on the strategy by having merger with the Jet star and through this
merger the company has accomplished and achieved the vertical expansion (Redpath, O'Connell
& Warnock-Smith, 2017).
The company achieved profits and growth in the competitive market. It has been analyzed that
marketing function of the company focuses on analyzing the demand of the company so that it
can be simple to accomplish goals and objectives in an effective manner (Iatrou & Oretti, 2016).
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Global level strategy
The company also considered global level strategy so that business can be developed in a proper
manner. The company focused on enhancing the market share by entering into the Asian market.
In the Asian market it has been analyzed that there were few entry barriers and also the
competitive advantage can be attained easily. It has been evaluated that Asian market offers a
platform for the business to conduct its activities on the oversea platform. Also the transportation
facilities are less competitive and high population was focusing towards the services of airlines.
So, it has been investigated that through this corporate strategy the company is enhancing in the
market and achieving large market share (Dobni, Klassen & Sands, 2016).
Also through this the company focuses on attaining the entire competitive advantage to be
successful. It has also been analyzed that the international business of the company created an
essential alliance with the Emirate alliance to offer a major destinations in the Europe (Whyte &
Lohmann, 2015).
The alliance will offer various services to different destinations which will create an advantage
sharing model. Also this strategy helps the company to enter into the different markets with
particular invested capital of the market (O'Connell & Williams, 2016).
Outsourcing strategy
It has been seen that company focuses on outsourcing strategy as it helps to enhance the profit
margin and also with this it can be easy to maintain goodwill in the market. This strategy also
helps the company to consider the labor at cheap rates in the overseas market and also enhanced
the overall skill and knowledge. The company is emphasizing on implementing this strategy in
an effective strategy as it can help to minimize the prices and can help to achieve the competitive
benefits. Outsourcing is considered as a successful strategy that can help the company to enhance
its market share and also labor can be attracted towards the activities of the company (Taneja,
N.2016).
This offers fewer cots to the organizations to conduct the activities of the company in an
effective manner. Red planet was also created as a subsidiary company to Qantas loyalty
analytical consulting services. The main focus of the company is to leverage the Qantas
transaction information and also to focus on customer insight so that it can become one of the
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leading digital media and research business service business (Ford, Paparoidamis & Chumpitaz,
2015).
Evaluation
It has been evaluated that the diversification strategy of the company has brought change in the
entire operations of the company. The growth has also been achieved with this strategy. The
growth in the region can help the company to accomplish goals and objectives and can also help
to achieve competitive advantage in an effective manner. The company has also attained
goodwill in the market. Qantas is considered as the popular company and the success can be
achieved with the help of the strategies considered by the company.
Recommendation
Differentiation of the services
It has been recommended that the red planet diversification should have proper review. There are
many questions related to diversification which overlap the overall capabilities. Also the
professional consulting company has different structure and capabilities and it is a serious
problem to generate the value creation.
It is also necessary for the Jet star group to focus on acquisition and merger so that international
strategy can be supported and also it will help to expand in the Asian regional airline markets.
The problems which are faced at the time of entry should be considered with proper M&A
strategy. It has been analyzed that expansion in the Asian market can fluctuate in context to
dominant income stream. So, it should also be considered in a proper manner.
The diversification strategy of the company related to Jet star should focus on proper
differentiation of the product and services. Differentiation can be made with the help of
technology, marketing and also with proper management.
Enhancing customer satisfaction
The company should also focus on maximizing the level of customer’s satisfaction so that it can
be simple to accomplish goals and objectives. It is important for the company to focus on
enhancing the satisfaction level of the customers by offering services less than the competitors in
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the market. The services which are offered by the company should be low in price so that
customer can be easily attracted towards the company (Sorescu & Sorescu, 2016). To bring
improvisation in the services, it is important for the company to respond to the queries and issues
of the customers so that level of satisfaction can be enhanced of the customers. If complaints are
resolved on time then it can help to accomplish the overall goals and objectives of the company.
Customer satisfaction is necessary for the company to expand the market share (Blut, Frennea,
Mittal & Mothersbaugh, 2015).
Conclusion
By analyzing the report, it has been concluded that the company should offer different strategies
from its competitors so that customers can be attracted towards the company. It is also important
to reduce the prices of the services so that it can be easy to maintain the relation with the
customers and also to enhance their satisfaction level. The company should use its brand image
to induce the customers towards the services offered in the market. The company should try to
maintain proper diversification strategy which is necessary to be considered so that operations of
the company can be expanded on the global platform. It is important for the company to focus on
merger and acquisition so that competitive advantage can be attained easily in the competitive
market.
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References
Blut, M., Frennea, C. M., Mittal, V., & Mothersbaugh, D. L. (2015). How procedural, financial
and relational switching costs affect customer satisfaction, repurchase intentions, and
repurchase behavior: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Research in
Marketing, 32(2), 226-229.
Dobni, C. B., Klassen, M., & Sands, D. (2016). Getting to clarity: new ways to think about
strategy. Journal of Business Strategy, 37(5), 12-21.
Ford, J. B., Paparoidamis, N., & Chumpitaz, R. (2015). Service quality, customer satisfaction,
value and loyalty: An empirical investigation of the airline services industry. In The
Sustainable Global Marketplace (pp. 187-187). Springer, Cham.
He, H. W., & Balmer, J. M. (2017). Alliance Brands: Building Corporate Brands through
Strategic Alliances?. In Advances in Corporate Branding (pp. 72-90). Palgrave Macmillan,
London.
Iatrou, K., & Oretti, M. (2016). Airline choices for the future: from alliances to mergers.
Routledge.
O'Connell, J. F., & Williams, G. (2016). Airline Strategy: Keeping the Legacy Carrier
Competitive. How Can Mature Airlines Stay Ahead in the Low-fare Airline Era?. In Air
Transport in the 21st Century (pp. 179-194). Routledge.
Redpath, N., O'Connell, J. F., & Warnock-Smith, D. (2017). The strategic impact of airline
group diversification: The cases of Emirates and Lufthansa. Journal of Air Transport
Management, 64, 121-138.
Sorescu, A., & Sorescu, S. M. (2016). Customer satisfaction and long-term stock
returns. Journal of Marketing, 80(5), 110-115.
Taneja, N. K. (2016). Adaptation Strategies by Airlines. In Airline Industry (pp. 101-125).
Routledge.
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Whyte, R., & Lohmann, G. (2015). The carrier-within-a-carrier strategy: An analysis of
Jetstar. Journal of Air Transport Management, 42, 141-148.
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