The Malaysian Airline System as One of the Major Airlines in the World - Case Study Example

Business communication Executive summary According to Gaurav & Ng , The Malaysian Airline system is one of the majorairlines in the world. The airline company was established on October 1, 1972 in Malaysia. The system operates more than 50,000 flights on a daily basis from its headquarters in theKuala Lumpur International Airport and from its secondary hubs in Kuching and Kota Kinabalu. The company covers about 95 destinations across the six continents. The Malaysia Airlines have expanded from its humble beginning to a well-established company in the modern world since its incorporation. The nature of its core business that facilitates outstanding service provision has enabled it to make major achievements in the airline industry. Mission To provide excellent air travel services which incorporate punctuality, safety and comfort. To provide maximum value for the stakeholders and provide the optimum quality of customer care services. To formulate new innovative ideas that will help the company on how to do business and remain relevant to its core. To facilitate anappropriate workplace that recognizes the interests of the employees, their rights and ideas. Objectives The Malaysian airline company sets its primary objectives that were to provide the Malaysian people with a proficient and profit generating air transport system. Such an airline would enhance the economic growth of Malaysia and improve its global image. The Airline has fulfilled its objectives by enhancing economic integration as well social integration in Malaysia. In conclusion, the company has maximized on market penetration with its wide range of aircraft resources (Fickling, 2012). Situational analysis The Malaysian airline is an international airline company that serves as a transport system for the middle class, upper middle class as well as the business class .In general, the company serves all customers who have a strong preference for comfort and reliability. SWOT Analysis This is a form of planning that evaluates the strengths, threats, weaknesses and opportunities of a business venture ( Hill & Westbrook, 1997). Strengths The company enjoys a strong backing of the Malaysian government as well as its extensive services in the Middle East, Australia, South Asia and other destinations all over the world. Malaysian airlines system is one of the widely known airways across the world. In addition to its exemplary advertising and marketing that has ensured good brand visibility, the company boasts of a strong workforce with more than 20,000 employees. In conclusion, the company plies more than 85 routes with its enormous fleet size.  Weaknesses The Malaysian airline system relies heavily on the global Onward Moving Traffic. The company also has a limited domestic traffic with its market marred by limited share growth. Opportunities For the company to lead the global airlines, it has to increase its global presence and transport customers to internationally recognized destinations. Malaysian airlines system also has to provide more services to its customers at the airport facilities. Threats and competitors The existence of the Malaysian Airlines has been constantly affected by the escalating fuel costs, the unreliable government policies and the regulatory bodies’ regulations that are unnecessary. The rising competition has posed a great threat to the company in the global air transport. Malaysian Airline system faces stiff competition from Singapore airline, Jet airways, and Air India express that ply similar destinations (Ng, 2014). Communication strategy Identifying the Target Audiences When coming up with a communication strategy, identifying the target audience is one of the most important steps which follows the determination of the goals and objectives. The target audience is a group of people to whom the information relayed through the strategy is trying to reach. The most common audiences include policy-makers, community groups, and resource users. In the case of Malaysian Airlines, our information is primarily targeted to reach our dear customers who might have been in high anxiety following our frequent cases of airplane crashes in 2014. The second target audience includes airline users who may need our services in the future. According to Morleya (2006), audience research is helpful in the selection of an appropriate target audience. Audience research provides vital information on the state of population awareness towards the issue at hand as well as the most efficient media for communication. Audience research, therefore, can serve as a platform for evaluation of post-communication efforts. After identification of the primary target audience, their behavior as well as their preferred means of receiving information should be properly analyzed. Surveys, interviews, and online research are some of the research methods that are readily available for target group selection. Research done on the target audience helps the company to identify key messages to be passed on to the consumers. Determining the Communication Objectives (SMART) For a communication strategy to be considered successful in terms of relaying information to the target audience, it has to explain its objectives clearly. This is because lack of appropriate objectives makes the whole process pointless (Janssen & Loosschilder, 2012). In Malaysian Airlines system, the objectives for communicating to our customers is: - to maintain a base of loyal customers, to ensure that we maintain an excellent global image for the Malaysian airlines system, to ensure that a constant flow of profits is maintained by the company to sustain its operations during these ongoing challenging times and to collect feedback from the target audience regularly in order to ensure high standards of care as well as support. According to Brownell (2014), the objectives have to be specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic and time-constrained. In terms of being specific, the objectives should be clear and well outlined. Vague objectives should be avoided since they only give vague information to the target audience. The company should also develop objectives that are measurable in nature. The ability to quantify the objectives enables the management to assess whether the objectives have been met or not. The communication objectives formulated by the company have to be acceptable, therefore, ensuring that the objectives are correct and that the employees are ready to abide by them. The objectives also have to be realistic. The communication strategist has to be well aware of his limitations. Being aware of these enables him to recognize his strengths. Despite the need to be ambitious, a realistic objective should be formulated to avoid setting objectives which are difficult to achieve. In conclusion, the objectives should be time-constrained. A deadline is set in order to limit any discussions that might occur after the event. Designing Message(s) In the development of an appropriate message, the critical topics should be identified, the relevant information should be elaborated and the passing of certain contents should be improved. The passing of certain contents can occur in a one-way mode or a dialogue mode. When designing a message or a theme, the company should emphasize on the participatory element that ought to be present. According to Garrison & Kruithof (2014), the designed message should be identified easily and dealt with by the target audience. In this communication strategy, I have identified the customers who are the primary users of our airline services as our target audience. The customer will require to get information on what we offer, how to access the airline’s services and where to go in case they needed advice following the confusion brought about by the tragedies. We have developed the following message, which should be emphasized through the communication process: Malaysian airlines system is a flight company that provides the best airline services in terms of comfort and reliability. We are a trustworthy and efficient airline with an enormous fleet size, which enables us to ply majority of the major global destinations. Our flight services accommodate the various customer classes, and we put customers first as well as valuing their opinions. We deeply regret the tragedies that affected our service provision in 2014. May the souls of our departed customers rest in eternal peace. We console the families of the departed during this period of difficulty and endless pain. Choosing Media For the communication strategy, the most applicable channel for communication should be identified to reach the audience. The use of an e-bulletin, workshops, press releases and leaflets are some of the communication media examples. The benefits obtained from each communication medium should be analyzed in relation to the needs and resources of the Malaysian airline system. According to Janssen & Loosschilder(2012), a simple analysis should be carried out internally on the possible channels of communication to transmit information to the target audience. In reference to Frascara(2004), the communication channel should link the audience and the message. For Malaysian airline system, we have identified user e-bulletin and website marketing as the communication media. For the frequent customers who have access to the internet on a daily basis, online media presence, such as website marketing is the most effective medium. Press channels such as television advertisements and newspaper advertisements should reach the target audience that has no constant access to the internet. These measures will ensure that the Malaysian airlines system communicates effectively to the relevant stakeholders. In reference to Hamlin (2013), sending messages that are targeted to a selection of customers can raise the communication reach as well as building loyalty to the business. The e-bullets are cost efficient and do not require many financial resources in order to reach the audience. A good e-bulletin ensures added value as many customers will be engaged with the Malaysian airline system. E-bulletin also incorporates the ability of a lesser-known company to take advantage of the better company by purchasing an advertisement spot in their e-bulletins. Hiring will ensure that the Malaysian airlines system makes vital cost savings since the company will not have to manage its email list. Media Schedule (Gantt chart) Gantt charts in this communication strategy for Malaysian airline system give a visual expression of when the chosen means of communication is to be completed. In reference to Clark&Gantt(1922), Gantt charts outline all communication media tasks in an ordered format against a scale of time. E-bulletin Website marketing Television advertisements Newspapers From the Gantt chart above, customer e-bulletin will be the most utilized tool of communication media. This is because of its cheap and easy implementation. Malaysian Airlines will focus on rebuilding its image through e-bulletins from the first week to week 14 where the target audience will be constantly updated on the progress and issues pertaining the company’s operations. The company will embark on television advertisements from the third week until the end of week six. Advertisements will give Malaysian Airlines an ample platform to inform its customers about the availability of e-bulletins as a channel of communication. Newspaper advertisements will commence on the seventh week until the ninth week to reach out to the target group without access to an online source. The newspaper advertising will inform the customers about the availability of information pertaining the Malaysian Airlines on the company’s official website. Website marketing will commence on week nine until week twelve. Website marketing will be used in addition to the continuous application of customer e-bulletin. Website marketing and customer e-bulletins will benefit the company in terms of regaining its reputation due to the ability to track their target audience reach. Summary (Desirable outcomes for the company) The Malaysian airline system looks forward to achieving a proper communication strategy. The developed strategy should assist the company in ensuring that the customers updated with the current state of affairs regarding the company. The communication strategy should improve the global image of the company that has been marred by the frequent plane crashes in 2014 resulting in loss of lives. Proper information reach to the customers will ensure that the company achieves a competitive edge over its competitors who seem to be enjoying the current state of affairs in the company. During any future crisis, we intend to inform our customers as soon as possible through these channels to avoid conflicting information. Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 11/04/2015 Malaysian Airline System, Tel. +60 3-7843 3000 www.malaysiaairlines.com Malaysian airlines system implements new communication media Malaysia Airlines (MAS) wish to inform our esteemed customers and the general public at large on the availability of our reliable and comfortable flight services as well as the recentchanges made to our previous media of customer communication. The formulated changes will officially be put into practical shape with effect from 2nd September 2015. The Malaysian Airlines (MAS) are one of the major flight companies which ply South Asian, Middle East, and Australian destinations. The company boasts of handling 50,000 customers on a daily basis. The Malaysian airlines system is well recognized for its enormous fleet of modern planes which are well serviced, therefore, ranking at the top in terms of comfort and reliability. The company handles its customers with much humility by accommodating their opinions and providing excellent services. Malaysian airlines have received many awards from the aviation industry, which include a five-star Skytrax rating and a World Travel Awards recognition as the prime Asian airline. However, due to the unforeseen misfortunes in 2014, the business operations were affected, a situation that led to the company losing many of their dear customers. The two unfortunate crashes have led to the company experiencing heavy losses due to the unavailability of customers thus reduced destinations. The company has noted that below par communication strategies have played a key role in facilitating the development of phobia and negative attitude in the customers towards the airlines.Therefore, the Malaysian airlines system’sboard of directors hassent an official copy of this press release to the ministry of transport, then government of Malaysia. The newly formulated communication strategy aims at reaching out to more customers. Malaysian airlines system (MAS) has incorporated the use of customer e-bulletins that will ensure proper dissemination of information to the customer through targeted advertising. The e-bulletins are cheaper hence will be beneficial to the company in terms of financial resource exploitation. Through the newly formulated which include e-bulletins, website marketing, television advertisements and newspaper classifieds, the company hopes to preserve its excellent global image, maintain a good number of loyal customers and gain access to major global destinations. The company wishes to emphasize on the expansion of its services so as to gain competitive advantage in the airline sector. While addressing the change in the company’s communication strategy, Mr. Yahya, Malaysian Airlines CEO relayed his heartfelt pity to the families of the deceased souls as a result of the Malaysian plane accidents. “We deeply regret the tragedies in 2014 and may the souls of our departed customers rest in eternal peace. We stand by their families during these rough times of endless pain. To avoid future lack of reliable information, we have incorporated these changes that will enable proper customer communication,” he concluded. In addition to its reduction of flight costs, Malaysian airlines look forward to a greater expansion through the establishment of an efficient communication medium References Scott Garrison & Jet Kruithof, 2014. How to create high-potential global marketing messages. Quirks Marketing Research Review, 30 November, p. 32. T. Hill & R. Westbrook , 1997. SWOT Analysis: It’s Time for a Product Recall. Long Range Planning, 30(1), p. 46–52. Brownell, B., 2014. Tips on measuring crucial social factors in new product research. Quirks Marketing Research Review, 31 August, p. 72. Fickling, D., 2012. Malaysian Airline Fits A380s With Widest Seats in the Sky. Bloomberg, 25 May. Frascara, J., 2004. Communication design: principles, methods, and practice. s.l.:Allworth Communications, Inc. Hamlin, K., 2013. The Advantages of E-Newsletter Advertising. Demand Media, 20 April. Morleya, D., 2006. Unanswered Questions in Audience Research. The Communication Review, 9(2), pp. 101-121. Ng, J., 2014. Malaysia to Bail Out Airline. Wall Street Journal, 8 August. Paul Janssen & Gerard Loosschilder, 2012. Meta-analysis reveals best practices for more effective marketing claims. Quirks Marketing Research Review, 31 December, p. 55. Raghuvanshi Gaurav & Jason Ng, 2014. Malaysia Airlines Says Priority Is Families of the Missing, Though Ticket Sales Fall. Wall Street Journal, 6 April. Wallace Clark & Henry Gantt, 1922. The Gantt chart, a working tool of management. New York: Ronald Press Read More