Business Analysis of Ryanair: Leadership, and Strategy

This report provides a comprehensive business analysis of Ryanair, a low-cost airline, examining its operations through PESTLE and SWOT analyses. It explores the impact of political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors on Ryanair's business, including the effects of Brexit and economic fluctuations. The report delves into Ryanair's strengths, such as its strong brand image and low-cost model, and weaknesses like customer service issues. It identifies opportunities for revenue growth and threats from competitors. Different leadership styles, including democratic and transactional approaches, are evaluated, with a recommendation for democratic leadership to foster employee engagement and meet business objectives. The analysis underscores the importance of adapting to changing market conditions and strategic decision-making to maintain a competitive edge. This analysis, contributed by a student, is available on Desklib, a platform offering study tools for students.

CONTEXT OF BUSINESS

Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Main body 3
External factors of ryanair 3
Changes in pestle factors affects the opportunities and threats 5
Different styles of leadership 6
Leadership style that can meet the business objective 8
Evaluation on corporate social responsibility 9
Conclusion 11
References 12

INTRODUCTION
Business is termed as the process of organization or the enterprise that are engaged in different
types of activities that are related to commercial and professional. It can be also said that it is
organized activities and efforts of the individual that are related to producing and selling goods
and services with the motive of profit (Hallett and Gougherty, 2018). The chosen company of the
study is Ryanair airlines that offers different types of low cost, no frills services for the people
who want to trail to European destinations. Along with this the company also deals with hotels,
phone cards and bus tickets (Ryanair, 2021).
Further, the report will discuss the SWOT and Pestel analysis of Ryanair airlines. Along with
changes that result in influencing the opportunity and threats in the business. The report will also
address this trend and weakness of airlines that are affecting their opportunities. It will also
evaluate different styles of leadership and which will be the best management and leadership
style for choosing an airline. Later on, it will also give recommendations on suitable leadership
style that will result in meeting all the business objectives. Lastly it will comment on corporate
social responsibility that is used by airlines.
MAIN BODY
PESTLE and SWOT analysis of Ryanair :
It is very important for the organisation as it helps them to know all the factors that can result in
affecting the operation of the business. It includes political, social, economic, technological, and
legal and environmental factors that can affect the performance and activities of the business.
Political factors
The company has to face a high amount of issues that are related to challenges they have to face
after the uncertainty over Brexit in their business environment (Pestle analysis, 2021). On the
other hand they have to face different types of issues that are related to the high amount of
terrorist attacks in Europe.
Economic factors
It has been identified that companies have to face different types of economic factors that have
affected their operations that are related to pandemics which have declined their sales. Instead of
this the company also had to face weaker GBP post regarding Brexit which have pressured them
on their fair prices.

Social factors
It is the most important factor that the airline company has to keep focused, which is related to
customer preference related to high speed rail at the time when they are booking airlines for their
short haul routes. However, the company always keeps their focus on consumer willingness. If
the cost of a ticket is low the consumer will spend more (Martynenko, 2019).
Technological factors
If the company has to be one step ahead from its competitor then they have to adopt new
technology that is coming up in the market. On the other hand they also have to improve their
digital platforms which can result in enhancement of customer experience.
Legal factors
The company had to face a high amount of government intervention as they have to follow
different rules and regulations data set by the European Commission whether it is related to
receiving state at certain European airports. The other thing is European Union regulations after
the challenges facing Brexit.
Environmental factors
It has been identified that the company has to keep it’s focus more on this factor because it not
only results in environmental initiatives but also make their customer attractive if they will
operate a young fleet in their time of lowest emission regarding Spears.
SWOT ANALYSIS
It is the framework that is used by the organisation to identify different types of things that are
related to the strength, weakness, opportunity and threats. It is useful for the company as it helps
them to know the facts in which the company is lacking, like minimize risk and take advantage
for a chance of success.

Strength
● They have strong balance sheet along
with the consistent returns for
shareholders
● One of the greenest and cleanest
airlines of European Union (Hallett and
Gougherty, 2018).
● The company has the key competitive
advantage that is low cost base
Opportunity
● They have the scope of increasing their
revenues
● Can keep their full focus on the
customer experience by using AGB
program
● Improve their charter flight segment
Weakness
● Aggressive fleet expansion is the
weakness of the Ryanair that will result
in overcapacity
● Labor relation
● Employee compensation will result in
impacting the business.
Threats
● The biggest threats of the company is
their competitors
● Business model and profitability will
result in affecting the fuel prices in
fluctuations
● Weaker GBP Brexit has result in
downward prices
From the above table it has been identified that the biggest strength of the company is that it has
very good brand image and reputation in European Union that is related to its low cost segments
along with this, they also have good position which have resulted in performing strongly at the
time of ensuring decision (Centre for aviation, 2021). The company takes special advantage
which is related to coming up with leveraging the Internet for its purpose. It has been identified

there the biggest weakness of the companies is its image issue that is relation with their customer
services along with they also have to face this data associated with launching new products like
new planes to abolish check-in desks.
The companies have different types of opportunities that are present in the airline market, that is
they have a scope of increasing their revenues by giving good services to the customers who
prefer their airlines. On the other hand they can also operate cheap coach services. The biggest
threat of companies is their competitors which are present in not only Europe but across the
world. However because of the increasing pandemic the company also has to face losses because
there were no flights between countries/states.
Changes in PESTLE factors affects the opportunities and threats
From the above task it has been seen that there are so many factors that affect the operations of
the company but on the other hand changes in this factor can also result in coming up with
different types of opportunity and threats in business. Therefore the business have to focus on
consumer preference along with willingness if they will use low cost strategy then the consumer
will be attractive which can result in opportunity for the company to increase on profit and
revenue but on the other hand if they will increase the price off their tickets then it can also result
in threat of the business as the customer will prefer to travel from their competitors (Onyshchuk,
Buryk, and Knysh, 2019). If the organization is facing all the challenges in the proper manner
then they will be also influenced with different types of opportunities better coming up in their
road like they can create strong relationships with their customers and employees. However if
the organization will not focus on all the rules and regulations that are set for the airline company
then they have to face legal regulations which will result in affecting the company's reputation
and profitability (Hallett and Gougherty, 2018).
The weaknesses of the organization are affecting their opportunity because if the company will
not fulfill the needs of their employees then they will not perform in good manner which can
result in not fulfilling tasks and objectives on time which will have direct impact on the
opportunities that have arisen for airlines. On the other hand the company is also addressing their
strength to negate threats that is they are having to keep competitive advantage by providing low
cost base which have resulted in beating their competitors along with this they are also making
their airline cleanest which cannot result in affecting their operations. The company is also trying
to make good relations with their customers by adopting different types of environmental factors

which can also result in beating their threats. Along with all this they are also adopting GBP
Brexit which will result in increasing their prices and will become the strength of the
organization.
Different styles of leadership:
Leadership is known as the one of the fluid practices that can result in changing and improving
the way in which an organization is growing. Mainly it is used in the organization to motivate
their employees to work hard so that they can achieve goals effectively and efficiently.
The different types of leadership styles are:
Democratic leadership
This type of leadership is known as the most effective style because it not only involves lower
level employees to come and contribute themselves at the time of decision-making but also allow
them by fulfilling their needs to use future positions they might hold (Martynenko, 2019). For
example at the time of board meetings the democratic leader can give the right to their
employees or team to give different options that are related to decision.
Autocratic leadership
It is opposite from democratic leadership. In this all the decisions are taken by the leaders
without taking any opinions and ideas from their employees (Smyczek, 2020). For example in
this leadership the leader asked its employees to change shifts from multiple employees without
knowing anyone which result in affecting employees work.
Transformational leadership
It is the most important leadership style that is used by so many companies because it results in
improving company conventions. By this the employees of the company can set their tasks and
goals they have to complete within the weak and months but on the other hand the leader of the
organization keeps pushing them outside their comfort zone. For example the leader assigned
tasks to its employees but keeps pushing them to complete it within one day which is not
possible for them.
Transactional leadership
It is very good leadership which is used by the companies as it is also known as fairly common
today. In this the manager and leader of the organization reward their employees on the basis of

their performance and hard work. For example if the employees working in sales he might get
the bonus by selling 50 products in one hour.
Thus by comparing all the leadership style it has been known that democratic and transactional
leadership is best leadership style that the organization can use because it not only make
employees to give their opinion and ideas at the time of decision-making but also award them
with rewards on the basis of their performance which have resulted in achieving all the goals and
objectives on time which have made profits and revenue for the organization.
As per the comparison of different leadership styles it is known that democratic leadership will
be best for Ryanair as their employees will feel very motivated because they have also
contributed their ideas and opinions at the time of decision-making process. By doing this the
different issues that are faced by the company can also be solved as if the employees will fulfill
all the needs by completing tasks then the company will have the profit and they can also
increase employee compensation (Onyshchuk, Buryk and Knysh, 2019).
Leadership style that can meet the business objectives :
The company can use democratic leadership style which will help them to meet their business
objectives. It is also known as participative leadership as it is mainly dependent upon the
employee participation. The aim of the leadership style is to foster employee investment in the
organization which will result in meeting all the objectives and goals that are set by the higher
authority (Hallett and Gougherty, 2018). Democratic leadership is known as the type of
leadership which not only increases the employment engagement but also gives them high level
job satisfaction and commitment. A democratic leader will help their employees by encouraging
them to come up with new ideas and opinions along with having creative solutions to problems.
The leadership style will help the company resolve all the issues they are facing not only towards
the employees but also to the customer which are the main sets of the company to earn revenue
and profits. By this the leader can also make good decisions by having group discussion and
decision-making with its team.
They can also share the plan with their employees so that they can come up with new and
innovative ideas which can also be added to the plan to achieve all the objectives that are set by
the company. If the leader of the organization keeps motivating its employees to work hard by
having a rewarding system then the employees will also take their interest to work in a better

manner which will result in meeting all the objectives along with goals that are made by Ryanair.
It is also suitable for the organization because it can not only result in improving the
communication between the employees and higher authorities but can also make the airline
properly structured by completing the task on time after implementing the plan they can also take
the suggestion so that they can improve (Martynenko, 2019). It is the European company that has
to follow different rules and regulations but they are also facing so many issues that are related to
canceling their flights and taking extra charge for their customers which have resulted in creating
bad reputation as compared to its competitors (Smyczek, 2020). By this they can improve their
relationship with their customer by targeting new and bringing back the existing customers by
having full focus on the problems they are facing and clearing it on the faster basis.
Therefore, airlines can use democratic leadership which is known as one of the most effective
leadership styles at the time when the leader of the organization is working with its full
experienced workers and highly skilled. Along with this it will also make employees feel that
they are contributing at the time when the company is using the decision-making process they
said they will also get the opportunity to participate by exchanging their ideas really.
Evaluation on corporate social responsibility
It is termed as the management concept that is used by the companies to know the concerns of
the business operations and interactions regarding social and environmental factors with their
stakeholders. It can also help the companies to improve their relations and public image among
its customers and targeted people. The main purpose of using this corporate social responsibility
in the organization is that it results in giving back to the community by taking part in different
types of philanthropic causes that can help the organization to provide positive social value. The
airline is using this type of responsibilities because it helps them to make differences from the
other companies and build positive brands among and around the company.
Along with this the company had made the new corporate strategies that are they will carry about
4% more passengers but at the time they will also reduce their fuel burn to around 16% by
cutting emissions up to 40%. In addition to this they will use CO2 from all 66 grams by lowering
the average by 23% related to Europe 4th big airlines. Corporate social responsibility can also
result in impacting the company's environment at the time of creating prosperous and healthy
society. The company uses this type of responsibility at the time of low fare customer friendly
growth that can be delivered in an environmentally sustainable way. Mainly they used this type

of approach at the time when they are investing their money in new engine technology and
aircraft or at the time of adopting efficient operations and commercial procedures which will also
result in helping companies to minimize their impact on environment (Onyshchuk, Buryk and
Knysh, 2019).
Figure 1: Europe cleanest and greenest airlines group
Source: (Ryanair, 2021)
However, it gives benefits to the company in the terms of profits along with them also providing
benefits to the airline in which society they exist. At the time when businesses use this type of
strategy they also make different types of plans which will result in helping them to take the
competitive advantage from their competitors in the form of having good corporate social
responsibility to the society along with the community in which they are situated. Instead of this
the company also has to face different types of issues regarding this responsibility as it has a very
bad reputation as compared to other airlines. It is known as one of the bottom 10 in the ranking
of 581 companies on the basis of conditions like corporate social responsibility, environmental
performance of the airline and information provided to the customer. On the other hand their line
also has to face different types of issues that are related to posting misleading information on
their website page for example they have posted in their website that they have contributed
around 2% half carbon dioxide emissions in the green claim.
The other issue that is faced by the company is that their policy along with view of customer care
always say that they will give lowest fare to their customer And providing safety at the time
when they are traveling to flight but instead of things they keep on canceling their so many plane
this is because they are keep on making the profit but are not keeping their focus on welfare

office customer which is resulted in showing that airline have lacks social responsibility. On the
other hand, by the research it has also found that the airline is also taking charge from their
customer regarding using a toilet at the time when they are on board related to making payment
for paying online along with boarding luggage on board (Hallett and Gougherty, 2018). These
are all the points better related to quality of the services along with social responsibility that are
served by the airline to their customers.
CONCLUSION:
By summing up the above report it has been concluded that Ryanair is the airline that is situated
in Europe one of the top and most choosed airline in traveling and crossing the oceans
throughout the world. With the assistance of the above report it has given the information about
best leadership style which can help the company to meet all their objectives along with it is also
commented on the corporate social responsibilities that is performed by the airline. With the
evolution of the above report it has also given the information about SWOT and PESTLE
analysis of the airline along with the factors that have resulted in influencing the opportunity and
threats in business by addressing the strength and weakness that have affected the opportunities.
Lastly it has also compared and contrasted the different types of leadership styles and along with
it has also given the information of which is the best leadership and management style that can
be used by the Ryanair airline.

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