Assessmen: Airline Strategy

Overview

Develop a business strategy and 8-10-page report for an airline's stakeholders that includes new mission and vision statements, a communications plan, and a future action plan.

Note: The assessments in this course build upon each other, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them in sequence. Business and consulting assignments often require in-depth reports, proposals, actions, and communication plans.

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

Competency 1: Analyze strategic issues to guide overall business decision making.

Analyze a company's strategic industry positioning to write mission and vision statements that are consistent with a recommended plan.

Competency 2: Integrate findings of strategic, environmental, and core business function analysis to provide input to decision making and planning.

Develop a communication plan that effectively informs stakeholders of company plans.

Competency 3: Formulate business decisions for immediate actions based on integrated analysis.

Describe how financial objectives will be met.

Competency 4: Integrate and apply core knowledge, skills, and attitudes to plan for resolution of key business challenges.

Create an action plan that addresses business objectives.

Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is professional and consistent with expectations for members of the business professions.
Communicate in a manner that is professional and consistent with expectations for members of the business profession.

Context

In recent years, a trend has emerged of airline takeovers and mergers, allowing the legacy carriers to consolidate and emerge from the Great Recession better positioned for profitability. Despite gains in profitability due to a number of factors, other factors continue to challenge the airline industry's success, even as demand for business and leisure travel continues to rise. An airline must uncover which aspects of business are causing problems or challenging performance. A strategic analysis can help identify future steps to take to improve the business.

Questions to Consider

To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of the business community.

Why has the airline industry seemed so volatile in recent years? How have fuel issues impacted the industry?
What social issues are impacting air travel and profitability?

Resources

Suggested Resources

The following optional resources are provided to support you in completing the assessment or to provide a helpful context. For additional resources, refer to the Research Resources and Supplemental Resources in the left navigation menu of your courseroom.

Library Resources

The following e-books or articles from the Capella University Library are linked directly in this course:

Lin, M. H. (2012). Airlines-within-airlines strategies and existence of low-cost carriers. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 48(3), 637-651.

Course Library Guide

A Capella University library guide has been created specifically for your use in this course. You are encouraged to refer to the resources in the MBA- FP6028 - Business Integration Skills Library Guide to help direct your research.

Internet Resources

Access the following resources by clicking the links provided. Please note that URLs change frequently. Permissions for the following links have been either granted or deemed appropriate for educational use at the time of course publication.

CAPA Centre for Aviation. (n.d.). Delta Air Lines.

CAPA Centre for Aviation. (2013). Delta Air Lines' 2014 network strategy entails bypassing Tokyo and leveraging partnerships.

Sharrieff, M. (n.d.). How to write a strategic analysis for business organizations.

For this assessment, assume the airline you chose in Assessment 1 has just made you president. As the new president, create an organized and well-written 8-10-page report for the airline's stakeholders that includes the following subheadings and content:

• Introduction: Briefly introduce the airline and the situation leading up to you being made president.

o Assume that you have been brought in to improve profitability and long-term success for the airline.

o Provide a paragraph or two overviewing the current situation with the airline (from your SWOT analysis) and introducing yourself as president.

• Mission and Vision: Describe the new purpose and mission for the airline.

o Review the airline's current mission and vision.

o Explain what you will change and why. Support your changes to the mission and vision statements with factual information from at least three business publications in the field.

o Write a new formal mission and vision statement.

• Communications Plan: Describe how you will communicate your new presidency and your future direction for the airline to the existing employees and the press.

• Financial Objectives: Any airline is concerned with safely getting people from one point to another and doing so in a way that is profitable. Detail how your airline plans to accomplish this by listing four of the airline's new financial goals.

o For example, you might want to increase profitability by a certain percentage. Explain how you plan to do that-for example, spending less on staff training or food service, or leasing planes rather than buying them.

o Identify at least four specific financial goals, all geared toward increasing profitability through bringing in revenue or reducing expenses. Describe the rationale behind your goals.

o Consider the market standing, productivity, facilities, stockholders (if applicable), worker performance, profitability, innovation, and social responsibility.

• Action Plan: Create an action plan for achieving the four goals that you set.

o Considering what you learned in the SWOT analysis you completed in Assessment 1, include items such as intended markets (staying where you are or moving and why), hiring and training, and technology.

o For each of the four goals you identified, explain which strategy you will use, the time it will take to assess the results, and your exit strategy if the plan does not work. For example, if you decide to increase revenue by generating more customers through a fare sale, explain how you will advertise the fare, how much of a reduction it will be, how you expect it to impact your profits, and so on.

o Include, when applicable, items such as communications, employee relations, route planning, public relations, advertising, et cetera.

• Methods of Control and Feedback: Describe how you will assess meeting your goals and how you will go about making changes as necessary.

o Remember that setting a goal is only valuable if you take steps to achieve it and then measure your success.

o Consider how you will measure success of each goal. For example, if you choose to add food service, consider how you will know whether this has been successful. Financials will not answer this question, but what will? Customer surveys? Staff feedback? How many tickets would you sell after the announcement is made?

Additional Requirements

• Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting.
• Number of resources: A minimum of three resources.
• Length: 8-10 typed, double-spaced pages.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12-point.