Continental Airlines - Research Paper Example

Part of this success is attributed to the huge investment in employee management and training. This, in turn, leads to better customer care management realized from the employees of the organization. Introduction The story behind Continental Airlines is inundated with many successes and challenges that have characterized the company since its formation. Like any other operator in the turbulent airline industry, these challenges have, over the years, affected the operations of the company and often became the basis for the strategies that have enabled the company to sail through.

In any case, Continental Airlines is today regarded as one of the best performing airlines not only in the United States but across the world. Founded in 1934 with a single aircraft in Texas, Continental has grown to become the fifth largest airline in the United States and the seventh largest in the world. This is realized through an annual passenger figure of 50 million across five continents. Presently, the airline operates over 2,300 daily departures to over 200 destinations across these continents (Burlingham, 2005).

Indeed, Continental operates in an industry dominated by several market players which are always on the watch for any strategy to outdo their competitors. The company has faced several financial quagmires over the past few years but has always managed to sail through these challenges. Through continual fleet modernization and an effective employee management program, the company has always been at the forefront in the provision of quality services that transcend the very borders of culture and distance.

Although the company has faced bankruptcy twice in its turbulent history, these downfalls have acted as an impetus for success and triggered a new wave of novel strategies that define the company’s overall success. Continental’s Business Strategy At the dawn of this century, Continental was normally ranked in the tenth position among the major airlines in the United States. The major focus of the management was, therefore, to create a new business strategy that would shift the fortunes of the organization.

This led to the adoption of a new series of business strategies that were focused on improving industry performance through improved customer service. The first strategy was labeled Fly to Win and was meant to ensure that all the employees in the organization clearly understood what the customers actually wanted in terms of service. This would facilitate an effective response mechanism in order to avail the right products to the right clients. Secondly, Fund the Future strategy was intended to relook into the cash flow and costs incurred by the organization, in order to bail it out of its financial quagmire.

The focus in this case was cost management as a way of eliminating some of the unnecessary cost centers previously realized by the organization. The third strategy, Make Reliability a Strategy, was geared towards ensuring that customers were delivered to their destinations safely and without any delays (Ray, 1999). This was also to limit any loss of luggage that was often realized in the company. In a way, reliability was seen as the best way to create customer confidence which would ultimately enable the airline to widen the customer base.

The fourth strategy, Working Together, was mainly focused on employee managemen