INTRODUCTION TO STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT - Essay Example

It also controls two other smaller regional airlines Cambrian Airways based in Cardiff and Northeast Airlines operating from Newcastle (Hatch 2003). The four airlines merged to form one British Airways, it started as a state own corporation until 1987 where it was sold as part of the government privatization plan. Since its privatization the company has expanded its operations acquiring British Caledonian, Gatwick airline carrier and Dan-Air. The company has the latest airbuses, airlines and Dream liner’s after making a major long-haul fleet replacement of its fleet (Evans2012).

The bottom-line of its long-haul fleet is its purchases from its long-time customer Boeing with 52 examples in service. It is notable that it is only British Airways and operator which have this kind of flight and service worldwide. The company is also attributed to the founding of Oneworld airline alliance, Cathay Pacific, American airlines and Qantas. The parent company of British Airways Company, International Airlines Group is also listed on the London stock exchange and also in the FTSE 100 Index.

In 2009 British airways merged with Iberia and in 2010 it was approved by the European Commission under competition law. This allowed American Airlines cooperate with British Airways under International Airlines group on trans-Atlantic routes to various American destinations. With this merger International Airlines Group became the world third largest Airline and second largest in Europe in terms of annual revenue. In 2012 the company purchased British Midland International and it considers opening a new subsidiary to be based in London city airport operation Airbuses.

British Airways being among the largest airlines holds United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority license which allows the airline to carry passengers, cargo and mail with 20 or more seats. It is notable that its key major rival is easyJet airlines because it is a low cost carrier (Evans2012). The company has various subsidiaries and shareholdings where it has put much focus on the financial markets and leisure industry. In addition British Airways has a cargo branch which has worldwide global freight opportunities operating along its routes.

British Airways is considered the largest shareholder in the airline transport industry in the world. The world carrier serves over 100 destinations globally as well as domestic flights (Hatch 2003). The carrier has also joined the few carriers that have its operations in all the continents. Strategic management process is the process which guides members and stakeholders of an organization to envision its future. This process is also essential for developing the necessary operations and procedures to achieve sustainable future for the achievement of both long-term and short-term goals and objectives.

According to David Williamson (2012) the strategic management process can be viewed as a circular flow of action steps whereby the results from one step are used to initiate an action in the next step (Williamson 2012). Therefore it can be argued that issues arising in an organization in a particular step help the strategic management teams to plan for the future of the organization making adjustments or additional work adopting the required strategies. To achieve the desired results the underlying stages can alter the flow of the stages to suit the particular needs of the