Ryanair Case Study: Business Analysis and Strategic Overview

This report provides a comprehensive case study of Ryanair, a major airline, analyzing its external and internal environments. It begins with a PESTLE analysis, examining the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors impacting Ryanair, with a particular focus on the effects of Brexit and fluctuating fuel prices. Following this, a SWOT analysis is presented, evaluating Ryanair's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report further delves into the challenges and problems faced by Ryanair, including workforce issues, low customer service quality, and the impact of economic downturns. Management concepts and theories are discussed in relation to Ryanair's operations, emphasizing the importance of a strong workforce and strategic direction. The report concludes with a discussion of the author's experience in writing the report and provides references to support the analysis.

RYANAIR CASE
STUDY

TABLE OF CONTENT
PESTLE Analysis of Ryanair......................................................................................................1
SWOT Analysis of Ryanair.........................................................................................................2
Challenges and Problems of Ryanair...........................................................................................4
Management concepts and theories.............................................................................................5
Experience while writing this report............................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

PESTLE Analysis of Ryanair
This report has a brief information about Ryanair airlines which provides it services in
UK and other market (Michl, 2016). Pestle is the analytical tool which helps the business to
determine external market factors which can impact business and reduce efficiency to grow in
market effectively. Ryanair need to adopt this tool as the company is operating in different
markets and every market has different degree of threats and opportunities which can help the
company to grow in market effectively.
Political Factors
Due to Brexit it has impacted Ryanair negatively and also reduced profit margins as well.
After Brexit there are new rules and regulations which are impacting on the quality of activities
in the company. It is because of reason Ryanair will have to follow both European and United
Kingdom’s regulations so that they can function effectively in the market and do not have to lose
their customers loyalty. This factor helps the business to determine the state of involvement of
government activities in the business which can impact business growth negatively. This factor
includes government policies, political condition of government of the market to formulate
effective strategies and increase the efficiency of the business effectively (Kholod and et.al.,
2019). This going to be costly for the organization but they will have to invest so that they can
get the stability in the organization better. The rules which are being used in European will no
longer be applicable in United Kingdom and vice versa which has to be taken care of by the
company.
Economic Factors
This factor helps the business to understand economic activities of the market which
helps the business to contribute I the economic growth effectively. The prices of the aviation fuel
have increased which needs a lot of investment in the company and the prices of the tickets will
get higher as well. Brexit created the situation of recession in the UK market and also impacted
the sales of Ryanair as it is very essential for the company to understand all the factors to survive
in the market. Company has to reduce its prices and compromise in quality to reduce cost to
survive in market effectively (Ivanova, 2017). Low economic growth of UK has resulted in high
unemployment this helps the company to find low cost employees and reduce the cost of
operation effectively. There are a lot of changes which are taking place at the airport which can
be a great threat or challenge for the company because there are going to be a lot of changes
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which are required in the company because of that factor so that the customers can feel
comfortable with the services of the company.
Social Factors
Social factor helps the business to determine the variation in the behaviour of customers
due to certain factors that are related to beliefs, cultures, values, tradition of the population.
Ryanair analyses that due to recession company has reduced their expenditure and standard of
living has declined and the prices of the company is increasing but since the majority of the
customers of company is from middle social class it is very difficult for the company to survive
in the competition. The middle class customers will not be able to afford the changes which are
taking place in the company. The expectations of the customers has also changed to get more
quality of services in fewer prices this impacted the profit margins. Extra services which the
company is providing to the old people of the society can make the company get customers in
Ryanair which can be a great opportunity to compete in market.
Technological Factors
Technology also helped company to increase its digital presence in the market and
increasing its customer base effectively. There is an addition of artificial intelligence in the
technological aspect of the company which can make the company have a better productivity for
them which is going to be very helpful for a long run. The investment which will be required by
the company is going to be huge if the company wants the customers to have a better experience
with Ryanair. There are a lot of technological changes which are taking place in the company
and the employees will take time adapting to the changes so that they can have an effective
functioning for themselves. Customers want online services which Ryanair has got in the
company so that they can get a large customer base for themselves which is going to be very
helpful for the company to grow.
Environmental Factors
Due to increase in environmental concerns there are many policies and governmental
regulation imposed in airline industry (Gonçalves, 2018). Ryanair has used these policies and
regulation in favour of the company and switched to eco-friendly fuel and raw materials of the
flights to reduce carbon emission. Ryanair is also actively contributing in CSR to increase its
goodwill in the market effectively.
Legal Factors
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Legal Factors are the part of political factors but are analysed in detail to ensure the
safety of businesses operations. Brexit also impacted Ryanair due to changes in aviation
regulations. This has impacted the flight route of EU and UK and also reduced the profit margins
of the company negatively.
SWOT Analysis of Ryanair
SWOT is an analytical framework which helps the business organization to understand
all the factor of the company in making effective strategic decision by determining all the
internal factors of the company. This tool helps the business to analyse opportunities and threats
of the market and integrate them with strengths and weaknesses of the business. This analysis
helps the Ryanair to achieve its objectives by converting its weaknesses into strengths and
attaining opportunities effectively. There are many changes in UK market which provide
opportunity for Ryanair to increase its market share to compete and gain higher profit margins.
Focus of company is to provide customer satisfaction and increase customer base effectively.
Strengths
Ryanair is having very large and strong travelling routes which covers major destination
of the world. This also increase the profit margins of the company to provide them with effective
opportunities to expand in new market (Madar, 2018). Company has effective information
system which allows producing true and fair financial statement of the company to increase
satisfaction of stakeholders and increases the brand value of the company to attract more
customers. Ryanair also has large network customer's base which allow them to increase
economies of scale to reduce appropriately. This helps company to achieve core competency in
the market effectively. As the company also provide short distance flights at very low cost to
attract middle class customers. High quality of services with low pricing strategies helps Ryanair
to increase its profitability to compete in the market.
Weaknesses
Brand value perception of customers for Ryanair is very poor in terms of quality of
service with its customer base. Company is not effective in positioning its brand in the market
due to lack of effective workforce and market research to formulate effective strategies in the
UK market. Another shortfall of Ryanair is that it has the majority of customers which are not
frequent traveller and only travel for holidays which reduces the size of regular customer base.
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As it is analysed by company that their sales goes up in the summers that is around July to
September and reduces from October to march. Company also lack to provide convenient time
slots to its customers which reduces its efficiency to increase customers as many customers are
not comfortable to opt for timings.
Opportunities
Ryanair has the opportunities to increase the size and capacity of its flights to increase the
revenue per travel. With the implementation of eco-friendly fuel company can gain funding from
government to support in their business and protect the environment(Caputo and Borbely, 2016).
Ryanair has the opportunity to adopt CSR which increases the perceived values of customers and
increasing brand value of the company effectively. Company also has the opportunities to
include more routes in their travel listing to attract more customers. Ryanair can adopt new
informative digital technology which helps to increase the customer services effectively and also
help companies to understand issues and problems to solve them properly and increase their
satisfaction level. Company also has the opportunity to increase the business travellers by
providing them extra benefits and targeting them with digital marketing effectively.
Threats
There are many threats in the airline industry and for Ryanair is that there are high threats
of accidents which can impact the brand value of the company (Palmieri and Mazzali-Lurati,
2017). The company is connecting a lot of countries so that the customers can get a better
experience in this airlines but each country have their own regulations which can be a great
threat for the company. The company will have to follow all the regulations and the currency
value and pricing of the tickets will also have to be managed accordingly so that the company
does not have to face a loss but a higher profit margins in the market. As the company is more
focussed on low cost equipments which can reduce the quality of aircraft and can increase the
threat of accidents and malfunction during travels. In the attempt of expanding in new market
and collaboration can reduce the main aim of the company and increases the threat of
competition in the existing market. Changes in foreign currencies due to Brexit can decrease the
profit margins of the company.
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Challenges and Problems of Ryanair
There are many issues and problems which are faced by Ryanair in its operation and also
decrease its efficiency to achieve market share. Due to lack of experience in the workforce,
company is reducing the customer’s service engagement and losing their customers. From the
analysis company also analysed that due to low quality of products and services customer and
discouraged to be loyal and switch to another company. It is very important that the company
gets leaders who can manage the workforce of the company so that the services of the company
can improve and the customers can have a better experience with Ryanair. Oil prices have
impacted the profit margins of the company as it increased the cost to of travelling in all the
routes. Brexit is the biggest challenge for the company as the company has to survive from the
recession situation and also compete with global competition to become efficient with low price
strategy and high skilled employees (Grant, 2017). There are lacks of experience which the
employees are having in the company which have to be worked so that they can have a better
workforce in the organization. There are low wages which are being paid to the employees which
is making the motivation level of the employees fail in the company and meeting the objectives
and aims is getting a trouble for Ryanair. Culture of the company will also have to be maintained
by the company so that they can have a better internal working in the company so that the
customers can get the best from the company on the external factor. This is making the quality of
the products also reduce and that can make the company have a loss of customers and revenue
for a long run in market. Skilled employees of the company are not willing to work with the
organization and that can make the productivity of the company reduce.
Management concepts and theories
Management is the people who are having a planning, organizing, controlling and
actuating the operations in order to achieve their objectives and goals. It is very important for
organization to have a strong workforce so that they can have competitive advantage. An
organization must have a sense of direction so that they can have a better functioning for
themselves which will make the company achieve their aims faster (Alderighi, Nicolini and Piga,
2019).
Culture Model- Handy's Culture
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This model can be used by the management of organization so that they can understand
the culture of the business and improve as and when required. Ryanair is not having a strong
organizational culture as much as expected in the company so it is difficult to match the
customers needs and demands from time to time with a culture of excellent service. Ryanair may
use this model so that they can have a better culture & structure to function effectively for
themselves which is going to be very helpful for the organization (Ivanova, 2017). Customers
loyalty and employees long run engagement will be there which is a very good factor for them.
 Task
Ryanair has a limited skilled employee in the organization which is why the distribution
of work is not equal and fair which has to be managed by the management. It is very important
that all the employees are adequately trained in customer service so that they can have a better
functioning and Ryanair will be able to maintain their portfolio in market for a long and
successful run. The leaders can then manage the employees effectively and satisfy them with the
job they are doing creating job satisfaction (Christoffer, 2019). It is very important that the
motivation level in the employees is maintained so that they can have a better functioning.
Innovation can come in the organization from within the company as well but for that the tasks
have to be distributed properly so that the company can have a better functioning.
 Role
There has to be clarity of roles and responsibilities which have to be given to people so
that the company can function better and the organization will be able to have a better
functioning for themselves. Clarity of roles will make the organization function better and
smoothly which is a very good factor for them (Wintersberger, 2017). There are a lot of people
who are experienced therefore it is very important for them to share their experience so that the
other employees can benefit from that factor. All the employees of the company are assigned
something or another but there is no fair treatment in Ryanair because the work distribution is
not done properly. There is a lot of corruption which is happening in the organization which is
making the working of the company get affected which is not a good sign for the organization
for a long run.
 Power
Roles in the Ryanair will have to be given to the experience employees in the company so
that there is a better functioning of the organization (Welc and Esquerdo, 2018). Other staff
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which is not experienced or skilled can learn a lot from the experienced staff which can create a
great functioning of the organization which is going to be very helpful. There is a lot of misuse
of power which has taken place in the organization which can be very harmful for the company
to function in market. Decisions have to be made in the company therefore power delegation has
to done well and to those who are experienced so that the company can function effectively and
smoothly in market.
 Person
Employees which are not motivated will not be able to give their best in the company and
that will impact the performance of the company. Products and services which the airlines are
providing is because of the employees and if the employees are not motivated then the company
will not be able to give the customers the right service (Rothaermel, 2016). There are few people
of the organization who think that it is because of them the organization is working but in an
organization everyone has a major role only then the company can achieve their objectives and
goals.
Leadership Theories- Situational
Leadership is has to be very good in organizations and an organization like Ryanair has
to have a more experienced and skilled leadership so that they can control the functioning. This
will get the organization to have a strong workforce and a smooth functioning which will impact
on the services and products of the company. There are a lot of theories which can be adapted by
Ryanair so that they can maintain their standards and the portfolio they have for themselves in
the market.
 Situational Leadership
Management and leaders of Ryanair have to be experienced and have to have the skills to
act in situations so that the company can remain to function effectively and efficiently. There are
four situational leadership approaches which are telling, Selling, Participating and delegating.
Leaders have to make decisions and make sure that they tell all the members of the company so
that they know what work is expected out of them. Selling is giving work to the people who have
the right skill to finish the work on time and effectively. Participating is a very important factor
which the leader must have which is make decisions with the help of the employees so that the
right decision can be taken for the company (Caputo, Borbély and Dabic, 2019). Delegating the
work equally and fairly is a very important aspect which the organization must have so that they
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can have a better functioning for themselves. Making the internal environment of Ryanair better
leaders of the organization put in their personal best in the organization so that the services
which are reaching the customers are matching the standards of the company. The leaders have
to focus on the employees as well and include them in the decision-making process so that they
can have a better functioning. There are a lot of situations which can come in front of the leaders
which have to be solved from time to time so that the smooth functioning of the company can be
maintained.
Recommendation
The organization must focus on the employee's satisfaction as well and make the internal
environment of the company better so that the organization can function better. There are a lot of
internal factors which are being visible on the services and products of the company and making
the right decision for improving this will be very beneficial for Ryanair. Getting experienced and
skilled employees which will make the functioning better and that will make the company have a
better functioning for themselves (Piludis, Jones and Hansen, 2018). Leaders have to solve the
issues whenever they rise so that the company can have a better functioning for themselves and
not become a major issue in the future which can make the company lose their loyal customers.
Experience while writing this report
In my opinion, I had a lot of trouble with the time limit because I want this report to
reflect my knowledge about the company and collect the necessary data required for it. I
collected the data and coming to a solution for the organization was tough because having a lack
of experience of the internal functioning of the organization I could not recommand much. Data
was vast which I had collected and putting in down in these limitations was another challenge
which I faced during this report. Communication while doing this project increased because I
had to approach different people and sources so that I could find data about the company and the
knowledge increased because I just found the external factors of the company. When I searched
more about Ryanair there were a lot of facts which can in front of me.
I wanted to show the best of me through this report but I could not do so because of the
data which I had collected and the time span. If I had got more time than the result of this report
would have been better since I do not have my satisfaction with this report I have done. There
are a lot of distractions which I had while focusing on just one company because there were
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more facts which I found out about other companies in market which attracted me and I lost
track of time (Alderighi, Nicolini and Piga, 2016). I gained a lot of confidence while doing this
file which is a great factor and will help me in the future growth in life. I learnt more about being
more professional and formatting the assignments which would help me in the corporative field.
I had a clear goal in front of me which is why I was able to finish this work and make a better
functioning for themselves which is a very important factor for me.
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