Assignment Outcomes:
- Demonstrate a critical application of different models of, and approaches to, strategic management, and interpret these as bases of strategic choice.
- Analyze an aviation organization’s competitive environment including competitive positions and core competences.
Assignment Background
WITH their geographical advantage for connecting flights between far-flung places, there is plenty to keep the airlines of the Gulf countries busy. Yet Bahrain’s skies are nearly empty compared with its neighbours. About 9m passengers used its airport last year, far fewer than the 88m for Dubai, 37m for Qatar and 26m for Abu Dhabi. The difference is striking given that Gulf Air, Bahrain’s flag carrier, was for decades the most prestigious airline in the Middle East.
https://www.economist.com/gulliver/2018/04/10/gulf-air-tries-to-reclaim-its-crown
Assignment Task 1 – Academic Report
Task A: Undertake a strategic audit to establish the key SWOT of Gulf Air using the attached template. (70%)
Task B: Based on the outcomes on your strategic audit above (task A), comment on the current strategic position of Gulf Air in the aviation market. (30%)
TASK GUIDANCE
Your analysis should focus on both the internal and external environment of Gulf Air and can include elements of the airlines present competitive position, available resources, core competencies and the external market-place.
Follow below diagram for the structure of the assignment.
This document provides detailed guidance for this assignment.
This assessment requires you to write a report undertaking a strategic audit to establish the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Gulf Air using the provided template above.
Making use of relevant strategic business management models, you should undertake a strategic audit of the internal and external environment of Gulf Air. Based on your analysis, you are then required to identify and analyze the current strategic positions of Gulf Air in the aviation market.
Now let’s see how you can do this.
Start your report with a clear introduction. The introduction of any report should not be a mere list of what you plan on covering. Instead, as the opening paragraph, the introduction should engage the reader’s interest and moreover focus the reader’s attention on the exact subject of the report. Your introduction could also contain background information on the topic of the report and perhaps definitions if required but the latter is not usually done if it is a short piece of writing. You may want to summarize your main argument here and familiarize the reader with the structure and purpose of what they are about to read. The introduction could begin with general points and move to more specific points – you may want to introduce the rise of middle eastern carriers and how other airlines are affected and then introduce Gulf Air. One way to think of the introduction is as a film which starts with a satellite view of the earth and gradually narrows down to a country, an area, a city and then the house that the film will be about. You could also think of the introduction as a funnel, with more general phrases or sentences at the beginning and more specific ones later. There is an art to writing the introductory sentences – they should not be too general, too specific or too meaningless.
Once you have completed your introduction, you are then required to identify Gulf Air’s current strategic objectives. Provide a brief overview of the key headline points, identifying the airline’s objectives. Remember that this needs to be brief and specific with key headline points rather than a lengthy description of the airline, it’s background and history.
In order to complete the strategic audit, you are required to explore both the internal and external environments of the airlines. You are required to audit the internal environment using the Value Chain model. Value chain analysis involves the adoption of a systematic approach in the analysis of competitive advantage. The framework makes a distinction between primary and support business activities and identifies the sources of competitive advantage for each activity. Please make sure you include both the primary activities (inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing, sales and service) along with support activities (firm infrastructure, human resources, technology development, procurement) within your discussion here.
Inbound logistics may include items such as the timely delivery of a fleet of aircraft, catering products and a wide range of other on-board products. The Operations stage of the business involves preparing goods and services to be sold to customers. Outbound logistics may include the efficient handling of baggage at the point of destination and utilizing an advanced information and communication system for the airlines. Marketing and sales may include items such as print and media advertising, sales promotions, events and experiences, public relations and direct marketing of the airline. Generally, post-sale services involve installation of the product, handling complaints regarding the products and services etc. Conclude this section with the airline’s strengths and weaknesses.
Audit the airline’s external environment. The external environment divides into operating environment and macro environment.
The Competitive analysis should be completed using Porter’s five forces. Use the 2 forces (threat of new entrants and bargaining power of customers) out of five. Under threat of new entrants, you may want to consider items such as rise of low cost carriers and alternative options that will absorb the market share of these airlines. Under bargaining power of customers, you may want to consider how each airline configures their seats based on passenger demand / expectations and moreover passenger types such as first, business, premium economy and economy.
To complete your industry analysis, consider airline alliances, partnerships and mergers which change or shape the selected airlines.
Under market analysis, investigate market trends these could contain current market trends and market opportunities such as Muslim Millennials.
Once you have completed all three sections of competitive, industry and market analysis of the operating environment, conclude this section by identifying micro opportunities and threats of the given airlines.
The next part of the external audit is the macro environment. This should be audited using the PESTEL model (2 forces only). Under political forces you may want to consider Middle Eastern and global political forces. Economic forces could be items such as oil prices and fluctuating currency.
Conclude this section with macro opportunities and threats for these airlines.
Now that you have completed the full internal and external audit of the airline and identified the given airlines strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, you are in a position to comment on Gulf Air’s current strategic position. You can do this by identifying the current position of the airline within the regional and global aviation market. You can also explain what key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats influence the airline’s present position. You could conclude this section by highlighting where the gaps are in their current direction in relation to the current strategic objectives you identified at the beginning.
Finally provide a conclusion to your report. Your conclusion is your chance to have the last word on the subject. The conclusion allows you to have the final say on the issues you have raised in your paper, in short, the conclusion is the capstone on your report, closing statement; the objective here is to hammer your argument home. This translates to bringing all the relevant points of disputation into alignment, crystallizing the logic of your approach, to synthesize your thoughts making your point of view utterly transparent, demonstrate the importance of your ideas and to propel your reader to a new view on the subject. The conclusion affords you a final opportunity to clarify your position; this should be done in a compelling manner. A solid conclusion, after all, can mean the difference between
You should avoid unsubstantiated comments. Always make sure your comments and discussions are supported by valid references. References should be provided within (in-text) the body of your report as well as an alphabetically ordered (A-Z) reference list at the end of the report.
To ensure that the structure of the text is solid, the paragraphs also have to be well structured. A paragraph typically consists of three elements: a topic sentence, supporting sentences and a concluding sentence. PEEL (point, evidence, explanation, link) structure maybe useful if you need help with this.
