British Airways

British Airways

British Airways has a tangled history, dotted with mergers and acquisitions. It owes its roots to Aircraft Transport and Travel, which was formed in 1919, with this company merging with a number of smaller air transport companies to establish British Airways in 1935. In 1939, BA was nationalised and combined with Imperial to form British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). However, after years as a nationalised company, BA was privatised once again in 1987. Unlike many other leading global airlines, in 2004, British Airways is owned entirely by private investors, with more than a quarter of a million shareholders (Jasper, 24-25). The company covers 41 destinations in America, 9 destinations in UK, 67 in Europe and over 16 in Africa. The company is one of the leading airlines in the UK. The financial highlights of the company are given hereunder. British Airways encourages an innovative climate where creativity is rewarded; for example, a high-profile award ceremony is run to recognize the ideas put forward by line management level (John, 3). They cleverly link their meaning for existence into this sentence 'British Airways is all about bringing people together and taking them wherever they want to go. This applies as much to our workers as the 36 million persons who journey with us every year'.

External Factors

External factors are those factors that are not directly associated with the organization but they cause strong impact on organization. External factors are those factors that are present outside environment of the organization. Macro external factors include; political factors, economical factors, social factors, legal, ethical and technological factors. On the other hand, micro external components includes; customers competitors, suppliers and public (Jasper, 24-25).

Political Dimension

Political factors include policies, laws, rules and regulations that are framed by the government. Terrorist activities have affected the operation of organization by reducing the confidence of customers regarding security. Implementation of new security policy in 2006 slightly regained the number of passengers. Governments have controlled where airlines can fly, and aspects of their product planning and pricing policies. In recent years, substantial regulatory reform has taken place, giving carriers more opportunity and increasing the market competition. Deregulated companies like BA require systems that enable decisions to be made quickly Open skies are an agreement which changes the regulatory landscapes significantly (Prassl, 81-91).

Economical Dimension

The economic conditions of the country where an organization operates can affect the organization's activities and decisions. For British Airways its not only the economy of Britain that is matter but it also has to deal with the overall economic picture of the world as it deals with international flights. Overall the economy is not in the good condition in most part of the world recession is going on. When economy is not in good condition the business and trade is likely to get affected from this and when business and trade get affected from this it affects travelling in business class. Moreover due to recession and economic downfall spending power of customer falls and he chooses less expensive destination ...