Virgin Airways - Assignment Example

Currently, the airline is using Embraer jets, Boeing and Airbus for its flight services and has a presence in 29 cities across Australia. The airline is also a member of the Sytax alliance and is given a 4-star rating. Virgin Airways has managed to be one of the leading airlines in Australia and around the globe. This paper aims at analyzing the nature of the business including the internal and external business environment. The paper will also focus on a discussion of the planning and strategy formulation, organizational change, and how the company implements corporate social responsibility and ethical behavior.

However, the paper will mainly concentrate on the strategy formulation of the company in order to understand the competitive advantage of the company. Planning and Strategy Formulation According to Virgin Airways, its major strategies are defined as being creative in addressing the challenges facing the company. The company heavily relies on the Virgin brand name in terms of providing quality services at affordable prices (Hooley 60). The company puts great emphasis on improving its human resources by having a strong focus on values, culture and pioneer leadership.

Business analysts contend that the virgin culture is phenomenon in the sense that the brand has a very strong culture that is recognized for quality and value for money. The virgin brand is also recognized for its fun work environment. Research studies indicate that the virgin brand was 94 percent recognized before the airline was finally established. The brand was being tanked among the best ten brands in the Asia-Pacific region and also among the top trusted brands in Australia (Hooley 66).

Virgin Airways has managed to establish a very unique culture through Richard Branson. Branson is among the high profile entrepreneurs that exist in the modern world and has managed to transform the world of business through his emphasis on a unique working culture. Most of the airline employees have previously worked for the Virgin Group. This is to ensure that there is the spread of the Virgin culture across the airline company. The company’s senior management has a good working relationship attributed to the fact that most of the members have worked together as a team in their previous job positions at Virgin Group.

They have respect for each other’s talent and ability. This is a strong working culture that has been established at the top and one that filters down the company. The main corporate synergy for the company is the ability to operate like a venture capital firm based on the Virgin brand name (Hooley 70). This involves non-related diversification at the individual level of business. This is achieved through the creation of hierarchical relationships and the interactions between the corporate head office and the airline business unit.

The airline company has managed to leverage on the virgin brand which has approximately 96 percent prominence in the minds of consumers. This ensured that the airline entered the industry with a bang. Virgin Australia was established in 2011 but has managed to shake up existing orders in the market and given competitors a run for their money. Virgin Australia is a business unit under the Virgin Group but the company is focused and develops as an autonomous business under the Virgin brand name.

This creates a decentralized organizational structure and independent decision making