Emirates Airline SWOT Analysis - Case Study Example

Emirates airline Mission The mission statement of Emirates states, "Emirates’ aim is to develop Dubai into a comprehensive aviation hub that will ultimately serve as an important global long-haul hub" (Emirates, 2011). This implies that Emirates Airline is looking for a wider scope for attainments that will enable Dubai to be a strategic global center (Books Lic. 2010). The Emirates Airlines is based on delivering the highest stand of products and services to ensure that business logistics are supported through refinement and innovation (Oxford Business Group, 2008). Strengths The company provides high quality service Innovation is emphasized at the company The firm provides its services to global market The staff of the firm is kept professional, young and attractive to portray youthful image (Emirates, 2011) The firm also emphasizes diversity among its employees by employing its crew from over 100 countries around the world It has a top global brand The firm provides additional services such as hotel room booking, car rentals and destination activities booking (Oxford Business Group, 2008). Has segmented its inventory based on traveler type and geographic region. Weaknesses The diversification is in place, and the approach take has not been that much successful Does not incorporate numerous regions in US Does not cater to middle class & budget traveler focusing too much on their high-end acquisitions and diversification (Books Lic. 2010) Opportunities to innovate new technologies that champions aviation and airline services tap into more markets as a result of the innovations being introduced in the aviation (Emirates, 2011) penetrate new growth markets through maximization of Internet service Leveraging Emirates Airline’s infrastructure business to get first choice (Oxford Business Group, 2008) Innovations Personalized service Tie ups Budget travellers Threats The main competitors Emirates airline are Ryan air, British airways, Qantas, Cathay pacific, Singapore airlines, Qatar airways, Etihad airways, Malaysia airlines Jet Blue and Thai airways (Books Lic. 2010). The firm’s inability to keep up with innovations, or recognize its demand Their apparent complacence could be used by their rival companies to their advantage (Emirates, 2011) Rising fuel costs. Application of operations management decisions at Emirates airline a. Inventory management The firm has segmented its inventory based on traveler type and geographic region. The firm has its IT solutions been supplied by Mercator (Books Lic. 2010). This helps the airline to meet and satisfy its IT needs. Some of innovative IT products that the airline uses to manage its inventory include passenger and airport solutions, logistic and air cargo solutions, financial solutions, airline business consultancy work, and airline process ousourcing (Taneja, 2008). The IT based inventory management enables Emirates to schedule changes, manage inventory control, passenger re-accommodation, yield management, and special service requests (Emirates, 2011). The decision making capabilities of the organisation has increased revenue generation while reducing on operational costs. b. Logistics management The firm has a subsidiary firm called Dnata-PWC Airport logistics LLC that provides cargo transport services for both local and international customers (Books Lic. 2010). The logistic firm specializes in road haulage, with both heavy and light trucks that are designed for air cargo. It also helps Emirates airline to transports goods in bonded vehicles between airports, ports and free zones throughout the UAE (Oxford Business Group, 2008). In addition, it operates an import and export service for emirates airline between the UAE and GCC countries - Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman - as well as Lebanon and Jordan. The logistic firm has a sophisticated tracking system, which helps emirates airline to monitor vehicles and their contents en route to their destinations. The other services offered by the logistic firms on behalf of emirates airline include cargo loading, unloading and packaging, and general warehousing management (Emirates, 2011). Emirates also has a warehousing and logistics department which is involved in strategizing and managing all the materials services activities of the emirates engineering department of warehousing, logistics and aircraft on ground spare support (Oxford Business Group, 2008; Emirates Group, 2011). The department also ensures effective material supply for maintenance and overhaul of emirates aircraft fleet in order to attain the desired maintenance standards and the dispatch reliability targets set by the management as well as those required by the Airworthiness Control Authorities (Taneja, 2008). c. Design of services “Emirates” Brand Equity power is that it signals a certain expected level of quality by customers from what they have seen, read, heard, learned, thought and felt about the brand over time (Emirates, 2011). Thus the services of the firm are designed to portray in customers mind the words, global, innovation, customer-orientation, provider of high-quality service which makes the brand very powerful (Books Lic. 2010). The firm employs premium pricing since it considerably holds a competitive advantage over other airlines due to the high level of services it provides. It also implements Product Line Pricing where price varies according to class with First Class being the most expensive and Economy the least (Plunket, 2009). d. Human resource and job design Emirates aims at keeping its cabin staff professional, young, and attractive as part of its youthful image (Emirates Group, 2011). The firm recruits their award-winning cabin crew from over 100 countries around the world and trains them to be the highest standards. The diversity at the firm ensures the crew is aware of the culture of the customers they serve (Oxford Business Group, 2008). The firm also hires gourmet chefs to design and plan their in-flight catering menus. The jobs at the airline are designed to meet the needs of the airline. How operations quality improvement can reduce costs at emirates The philosophy behind the development of IT solutions ensures that each product adds significant value by reducing costs, improving processes, and increasing productivity (Plunket, 2009; Emirates Group, 2011). The logistics model adopted by the emirates airlines has enabled it to efficiently and effectively handle baggage (Books Lic. 2010). The improved operations quality has reduced costs as well as increasing operating revenue through improved asset visibility, consumable inventory management, food and delivery management, retail item inventory, sales management and baggage handling (Oxford Business Group, 2008; Emirates Group, 2011). Structural effect in supply chain management and technological innovation world Structural effect in supply chain management and technological innovation world is the shift of consumption of a product due to changes in the supply chain management and technological innovation (Emirates, 2011). Supply chain management integrates key business processes among a network of interdependent suppliers, manufacturers, distribution centers, and retailers in order to improve the flow of goods, services, and information from original suppliers to final customers, with the objectives of reducing system-wide costs while maintaining required service levels (Emirates Group, 2011). The relationship between supplier and customer activities has thus played an important role in the development of effective supply chain management (SCM) strategies (Taneja, 2008). Tighter management of supply and demand can help to lift the yields of an airline (Books Lic. 2010). There changes in supply chain management and technological innovation can result in how products are consumed by customers. For instance, in the aviation industry tighter management of supply and demand can help in cutting overhead costs, which can be transmitted, to consumers to reduce the prices of different classes (Emirates, 2011). This can result in say many users of economy class shifting to more luxurious classes like first class and business class (Plunket, 2009). On the other hand, increased expenses in supply chain management and technological innovation can result in increased pricing of this products and hence resulting in more customers preferring to travel on economy class (Emirates Group, 2011). Innovations at emirates, their departments, and location The airline provides its cabin crew with real time customer information (Emirates, 2011). The crew can also access the airlines CRIS CRM system via digital device called knowledge based in-flight service that helps the crew to learn about passengers preferences, register possible complaints and let passengers pay for a last-minute in-flight upgrade with miles (Plunket, 2009). To encourage innovation Emirates in August 2010 launched its ‘Our Future Artists’ competition, asking artist around the world to submit their artwork for a chance to be featured on the more than 5 million 2011 membership cards of the airline’s frequent flyer program (Emirates Group, 2011). Main departments of the airline are located in United Arab Emirates. However, the firm has many offices all over the world’s major airports. References Books Lic. 2010. Emirates Airline: Emirates, Emirates Fleet, Emirates Business Model, Emirates Skycargo, Emirates Destinations, Emirates Skycargo Destinations. London: General Books LLC. Emirates. 2011. Welcome to Emirates. Available at http://www.emirates.com/ Oxford Business Group. 2008. The Report: Dubai 2008. Oxford: Oxford Business Group. Plunket, J. 2009. Plunkett's Transportation, Supply Chain and Logistics Industry Almanac 2009 (E-Book): Transportation, Supply Chain and Logistics Industry Market Research, Statistics, Trends and Leading Companies. New York: Plunkett Research, Ltd. Taneja, N. 2008. Flying ahead of the airplane. London: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Emirates Group. 2011. Dnata-PWC Aiport Logistics LLC. Available at http://theemiratesgroup.com/english/our-brands/air_cargo_support_services/Dpal.aspx Read More