BUSINESS TO BUSINESS MARKETING

Business To Business Marketing

Marketing Communication Tools

Few industries can match aircraft manufacturers and carriers for their volatility (Strategic Direction, 2004) - there are so many strategic factors that can affect the financial bottom line. The last three decade we have seen such imponderables make in the battle between Airbus and Boeing even more fascinating. For Taylor (2003), the fight for supremacy between these two manufacturers puts such titanic confrontations as Ford versus Chevy and Nokia versus Motorola in the shade.

This paper takes an empirical approach to examining international competition and marketing strategy adaptation in the wide-body aircraft market. The discussion topic will be organized into three sections, beginning with failure start of Airbus Industry GIC. Explaining in deep analysis of the reason behind the difficulties that Airbus faced when entering upon the civil aviation industry. While we continue on to the second part where Airbus have broken ground with a leading market share in the late 90s, what marketing strategy did Airbus initiate in order to achieve this enormous success when going against its sole competitor the mighty Boeing. Last but not least, the current market condition. The difference in strategy that each of the duopoly has apply, Airbus going for the large airliner in hub-and-spoke system and Boeing targeting at manageable size and fuel efficient in a point-to-point configuration.

Airbus has come far and long, with a sizable success in gaining market share from its monopolistic competitor. But our supposition is whether Airbus marketing strategy is sustainable in the turbulence future of global airliner manufacturer domination.Prior to the 90s Airbus was only determined as a niche in the market, apart from manufacturing a very reliable and efficient aircraft (Campos, 2001). According to Kotler (2003) the percentage that each position hypothetically assumes in the market structure is 40% for leader, 30% for Challenger, 20% for follower, and 10% for niche. Hence Airbus niche market begin at 10% back in 70s century and expand its market share up half of the commercial airliner manufacturing market landscape in the 20th century. From the beginning, the market consists of Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed, and Airbus. Even then Boeing refused to include Airbus in its future market forecasts, assuming that the 10% market share of the A300 was no more than a passing phenomenon, soon to be forgotten, just as the other earlier European jetliners (Campos, 2001). Whilst by the 2000s Boeing and Airbus remain as duopoly in the aviation market with Boeing and McDonnell Douglas acquisition, and Lockheed resignation from the civil jetliners into the military domain only. By now Boeing realized its technical complacency had allowed a challenger “Airbus” to come from nowhere to a permanent market position (Campos, 2001). And for the first time Boeing will deploy its full technical competence against Airbus.

The question remain that what differentiation strategy did Airbus employ in order to achieve a permanent position in the market. Airbus adopted strategy of a challenger being focused on the competitor and pushes the boundaries of the ...