MGT201: Flight Centre Limited Case Study Strategic Analysis

This case study analyzes Flight Centre Limited (FLT), a global travel agency, focusing on strategic management principles. The analysis examines the company's situation, the need for organizational change, and the impact on its culture. It evaluates the effectiveness of leadership styles employed by FLT, particularly in the context of its rapid growth and competitive environment. The study identifies the importance of adapting leadership to dynamic business strategies and implementing information and communication technologies (ICTs) for improved communication and coordination. The implications of the changes, including leadership development and better product-oriented strategies, are explored, highlighting the success of FLT in reaching niche markets. Recommendations are provided for further strategic improvement, including the adoption of transformational leadership and the development of a strong corporate culture. The study concludes by emphasizing the significance of strategic management, particularly leadership, in fostering organizational growth and sustained success. It stresses the importance of maintaining the current momentum and implementing the recommended functionalities for future development.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Case Study Situation Analysis.........................................................................................................2
Need for Change..............................................................................................................................3
Impact on Culture............................................................................................................................4
Effectiveness of Leadership Styles..................................................................................................5
Implications of the Change..............................................................................................................6
Recommendations for strategy implementation..............................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The study focuses on the effective evaluation of a case study that is considered. The
specific focus of the report is towards finding and evaluating the most significant aspects that are
connected with strategic management. The case study that is being considered for the research is
concerning the Flight Center Limited. It is a travel agency group that has more than 30 brands
and around 2500 leisure, wholesale and corporate businesses. It is located in around 11 countries.
The various factors that are related with the case and strategic management aspects that can be
identified within are analyzed through the study. The factors that guide case analysis are also
analyzed in regards to their significance in practicing strategic management. The needs for
change considering the given case have been evaluated. Moving forward the impact on the
organizational culture is evaluated effectively. Some of the most important leadership styles that
have been displayed in the case are analyzed. Strategy recommendations are provided
subsequently to enhance the value of the implications that are derived from the study. The
strategy implementation aspects that are most important for the effective functioning of the
organizations have been analyzed and effectively evaluated.
Case Study Situation Analysis
The case study that is considered for the study is concerning the Flight Center Limited
(FLT) group. It is a travel agency group that has more than 30 brands and around 2500 leisure,
wholesale and corporate businesses. It is located in around 11 countries. The company achieved
record revenue of 2.4 Billion AUD in 2015 (Flightcentre.ca 2019). The company employs
around 15 thousand people globally. The FLT enterprise witnessed rapid growth over the years.
The business is client focused and operates in business environments that are highly competitive.
The business is global and for the same reasons faces many significant challenges. The company

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had been established as a travel company that offered tours across the city of London over buses
that had open tops. Later the agency expanded the business to providing flight discounts to
people in Australia. Thus, the travel discount business of the organization was firmly established.
The leadership that is used by the organization is based on the theory of human management and
effective workforce understanding based leadership. The organization also engages in prize and
recognition to motivate the workforce effectively. The business model of FLT group is based on
building greater ownerships among the staffs. The factors that are focused on are motivation,
loyalty and identification. Another important aspect that is focused is minimizing the borrowings
of the organization in the market. Some of the major challenges that were faced by the company
were wars, natural disasters, collapse of the Ansett Airlines of Australia who were major
business partners of the organization. Moreover, the organization faces challenges pertaining to
legal issues and competition complexities.
Need for Change
Case studies are important towards understanding organizations more effectively. They
help to assess the various issues that may affect organizations in various corporate environments.
Change becomes much necessary to assess and approach the challenges that arise before
organization due to the dynamic, changing nature of the businesses. Leadership changes and
business model need to change in regards to the various issues that the business faces in the
current environments. As per the strategies that are taken according to the case study the
leadership development and the development of dynamic business models are important to tackle
the various challenges that the organization currently faces. There is a need in this case to
develop leadership that can be flexible in accordance of the dynamic business strategies that are
to be taken by the organization. There is a need for leadership development as the FLT as a

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company has for a long time been managed by the present leadership. However the changing
times for the business makes it necessary that changes are made that can be better for strategy
formation. The decision to use ICT is very important as it can create smoother communication
frameworks between all the hierarchical levels of the organization and the various departments.
There was a need to improve the communication levels to create optimal coordination in regards
to strategic management of the organization. It is important to remember that the company could
only perform well it the situations are taken into consideration. Better performance measurement
systems would be greatly beneficial towards understanding the most important areas for
improvement in the context of the present challenges that are faced by the organization.
Impact on Culture
The organizational culture is most important at this moment for FLT as a strong
performance framework would be need to be set for the company. It is important to consider that
the organization is focused towards essential growth. Corporate culture is the creation and
nurturing of shared values, beliefs, principles and traditions that can imbibe good operating
styles within any organization (Thompson et al. 2013). As per the case study, these are exactly
the aspects that FLT wants to create within the organization. The actions of the firms are
influenced by the creation of strong corporate cultures. Setting standards of quality becomes very
important for the creation of effective corporate cultures. More emphasis is required towards the
development of better products and services. The emphasis in FLT is towards tackling the
challenges that are related to earning greater productivity per employee of the company. In this
case the organization has to focus on some of the most important features that are required for
the growth of an effective corporate culture. These aspects include values, principles and
standards of ethics. The other areas are management, atmosphere and spirit, interactions, peer

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pressure strength, actions and behaviors for reward, stories and traditions and the stakeholders. In
essence m formation of effective strategies become very important to create better performance
standards for the organization externally. It is important to consider in this case, the causes of
cultural change. According to Thompson () the forces that cause evolution of firm culture are
revolution in technology, new challenges, internal shift, merger and acquisition, rapid firm
growth and new diversification.
Effectiveness of Leadership Styles
Leadership development becomes a very important factor in determining the value of
changes that take place within the organization. Leadership is one of the most important factors
that enhance strategic change. The functional areas of leadership are focused towards the
enhancement of the organizational performance levels. For this the diagnosing of the
organizational contexts are very much important. The forces that are blocking the changes need
to be identified and tackled subsequently. In terms of the FLT organization better leadership
development is one of the major strategic areas that are being considered. Training and
development of the leadership is one of the most important functional areas that are being
focused towards developing the leadership. In this case it can be understood that FLT is focusing
towards aligning the leadership with the most important market goals that the organization has
set for itself. In this case the implementation of the ICTs can contribute greatly towards the
development of effective leadership in the organizations. This is because they would form the
essential communication frameworks that can help to achieve greater levels of leadership
(Johnson et al. 2011). It is evident from the understanding of the case that the FLT wants to
implement transformational leadership to enhance the productivity prospects of the workforces.
It is important to remember in this case that strategic change is greatly dependent on effective

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leadership. The strategic leadership roles and styles make way for contexts of strategic change
and types of strategic change. This in turn makes way for the change levers. Strategic leadership
necessitates that the leaders take most important roles towards creation of the strategic focus of
the organization and its essential implementation. Three of the most important roles that can be
played are envisioning of the future strategy. Alignment of the organizational levels towards
achieving the strategy is the next important goal. It is also important that embodiment of change
is done by the leadership.
Implications of the Change
The changes that are implemented in the FLT have been significantly able to sustain the
value of growth for the organization. The FLT has successful implemented some of the more
necessary changes that were much required for business growth of the organization. This is
evident from the success that the top deck tours gaining momentum again in the Australian
context. In the year 2015 the net profit was up by 24% than that of the previous years
(Flightcentre.ca 2019). The leadership development and implementation of the better product
oriented strategies had actually helped the organization to achieve greater levels of success. The
fact that the company was able to successfully reach the niche markets of Australia points
towards the successful implementation of the organizational change factors that were being
focused by the organization. One of the most important implications that could be derived were
the implementation of better and more effective ICTs towards improving the strategic functions
of the organizations. It is important to consider the growth factors as being obvious that could be
derived from the whole scale implementation of the process of organizational strategic change
(Moutinho and Vargas-Sanchez 2018). The better training provided to the leadership means that
the leadership would now be able to better form strategies though the effective identification of

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the critical factors that can negatively affect the organization. Improved database, use of ICTs
and more realistic performance measurement systems had actually provided more strength to the
development of far better market value for the products. It can be said that the strategies were
very much holistic in nature and contributed towards the effective development of the
organization.
Recommendations for strategy implementation
Two important initiatives can be taken to further improve the strategy. The initiatives are
based on the enhancement of the functional aspects that would be most important in view of the
holistic development of the organization.
Firstly, transformational leadership should be the focus of the organization. This type of
leadership is based on constant improvement of the workforce. Additionally, the factors that can
improve the productivity of the workforces are also focused. With the stress on leadership
development, the organization can implement this type of leadership to enhance the prospects of
the company. It is important in this case that the leadership aspects are enhanced in accordance
of the requirements for business performance. Leadership styles do make differences in
situations in accordance of the exact problems that they are focusing on.
Secondly, an important factor in this case is to develop and deploy a strong culture.
Hence, this can complement the dynamic business model that is being focused by the company.
The close alignment of the corporate culture is important for the creation of strategies that are
proficient. This would require the further enhancement of the leadership strategies that are being
implemented by the organization. A strong culture is important to develop a better performance
framework. The strategy is to optimally enhance the performance value.

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Conclusion
The implications of the study point to the fact that strategic management is an important
aspect concerning organizational growth. This creates a better performance value for the entire
organization. It is important to remember that one of the most important aspect related to
strategic management is leadership. The organizational value that FLT has developed through
the effective change management can help in the formation of better growth paths in the future.
It is important in this case that the current momentum is kept intact by partaking in the
recommended functionalities.

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References
Flightcentre.ca. (2019). [online] Available at:
https://www.flightcentre.ca/pdf/FCstoryNov2012.pdf
Johnson, G., Whittington, R., Scholes, K., Angwin, D. and Regnér, P., 2011. Exploring strategy.
Financial Times Prentice Hall.
Lasserre, P., 2017. Global strategic management. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Moutinho, L. and Vargas-Sanchez, A. eds., 2018. Strategic Management in Tourism, CABI
Tourism Texts. Cabi.
Thompson, A., Peteraf, M., Gamble, J., Strickland III, A.J. and Jain, A.K., 2013. Crafting &
Executing Strategy 19/e: The Quest for Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases. McGraw-
Hill Education.