STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Strategic and Operations Management for British Airways

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Strategic analysis of British Airways1

Financial Analysis2

Foreign markets4

The environmental considerations6

The Strategic Choice8

Market Penetration8

Internationalization9

The chosen strategy10

Implementation of the strategy10

Company issues10

Product11

Price12

Place12

Promotion12

Conclusion13

References14

Strategic and Operations Management for British Airways

Introduction

British Airways is the national flag carrier airline of UK. On the list of airlines in the world as per international destinations, number of destinations covered, and the fleet size, it ranks the first. The current structure of the airline is a merger of Northeast Airlines, Cambrian Airways, BEA and BOAC. The merger happened back in the year 1974. For thirteen years the airline remained a public company after which in an attempt to implement the privatization policy, the airline got sold. Boeing is the major supplier of British Airway carriers. More recently, the company is planning to merge with the Spanish flag carrier airline Iberia. In terms of revenue, this merger will result in an improvement with the airline's rating whereby it'll become the second largest in the region and third largest in the world. The national carrier offers services such as air mail, business of air freight, carriage of passengers, and other ancillary services. The marine network of the company is also fairly large. The airline flies to 9 destinations in UK, over 16 in Africa, 41 destinations in America and 67 in Europe (Zacks Research, 2011, , p. 25). The paper discusses the strategic analysis, the strategic choice and the strategy implementation of the airline in the UK.

Strategic analysis of British Airways

Much of the preparedness of a given company or otherwise to face the future is based on the resource allocation and financial strength of the company. The strategic analysis of British Airways calls for a review of its financial performance, foreign markets analysis where the airline operates or the environmental analysis, and the discussion of important environmental considerations.

Financial Analysis

The daunting challenges faced by British Airways in the year 2011 were carried forward from the preceding year. The global downturn that hit the international economies around the world in the year 2008 put a dent to the airline industry and most airlines including British Airways tried to overcome the challenges faced as a consequence. The most important objective for the company for the year was to maintain its profitable bottom line that the airline managed to book despite uncertainties. The overall airline industry in UK faced tight economic conditions and the situation for British Airways was no different. This also led to many structural changes in the industry (Passport, 2011, p. 15). Keeping in view the changes in consumer perceptions, the bottom line booked by the company for the year is pretty good. In this context, it is imperative to state that British Airways is a premium airline in UK and the decline in purchasing power had seriously plummeted the demand for the airline. The most significant impact was seen in short haul travels where the change in revenue was over £1 billion. The loss for the year was booked at £292 ...