Qatar Airways Market Research - Essay Example

? Qatar Airways Market Research Table of Contents Introduction 3 Domain Analysis 4 Market Analysis 4 Competitor Analysis 5 Service Delivery Map & Service Blueprint 7 GAP Analysis 9 Physical Evidence: Its Role and Importance in Achieving Competitive Advantage 11 Research Methodology 12 Conclusion 13 References 15 Questionnaire 16 Introduction Qatar Airways is the countrywide air carrier for the State of Qatar. It was commenced in the year 1994, with 50% ownership of the government and 50% of the private sector. The airline company is presently undertaking fast expansion and has been considered as one of the fastest expanding airline companies in addition to being one that operates one of the youngest fleet across the globe. The average age of Qatar Airway’s aircraft is less than four years. In the year 1997, the company had only four aircrafts. Nevertheless as of February, 2012 the airline has more than 100 aircrafts and expects to have more than 120 aircrafts by the next year (Qatar Airways, 2012). Qatar Airways is a reasonably recent provincial airline company that is heading toward becoming an international brand. It has insistently moved in the direction of accomplishing its growth strategy objectives. This has been possible to a certain extent due to growing brand acknowledgment as well as awareness. Qatar Airways had generated brand awareness by means of many conduits, for instance advertising via print media, radio, television, and the internet. This had helped the airline company in presenting its image in a range of formats. The image of Qatar Airline that has been built by its initiatives is that of a progressive and premium airline that provides exclusive and outstanding customer service. The company endorses customary Arabic hospitality at the same time as embracing the attributes of other cultures. This can be understood from the mix of employees that are on board of the airline, who come from a diverse range of backgrounds (Qatar Airways, 2012). In the year 2011, Qatar Airways attained a landmark by covering 100 destinations in its international route map. The Qatar Airways was also named the Airline of the Year 2011 at the yearly Skytrax World Airline Awards. It was observed that more than 18 million travelers across the world casted their votes for the Airline (Qatar Airways, 2012). Domain Analysis In the present times, the airline industry is distinguished by an unstable, aggressively competitive and deregulated atmosphere. The existence of such a competitive atmosphere had transformed the business strategies and management practices in the domestic as well as the global airline business. Owing to rising customer awareness and customer expectations in addition intense rivalry amongst the various players in the airline business, the major challenge of the airline companies is to discover new approaches to accomplish sustained profitability by means of more efficient management tools and enhanced customer service. The airline companies across the world face significant amount of challenges to maintain and live up to their passenger’s expectations, opposition from new airways, rising passenger traffic, latest types of coalitions and associations across organizations as well as across borders, in addition to the necessity to provide exceptional safety and security to their passengers (Stanford University, n.d.). Market Analysis One of the most significant developments in the airlines industry during the eighties was the privatization of the government owned airways. However, as of early 2000, a large number of global airlines companies were still majority government owned (Stanford University, n.d.). Owing to the deregulation in the United States, the airline business became more and more concentrated. More concentration in the airline industry has been observed in the European region as well. In the last decade, the innovative low-cost value-based airways have emerged strongly. Simultaneously, during the same period, one had observed consolidation in the full-service airways as well. Some of the other developments in the airline industry are: the growth of hub as well as spoke networks, advancements in technology, the development of frequent flyer plans, the function of computer reservation arrangements and the creation of large number of alliances. The airline firms have built various coalitions amongst each other owing to the incentives they could gain on account of the alliances. As a result of the alliances, the airline companies could accomplish economies of scale as they could reach out to a more wide-ranging network, and they also achieved other benefits in context of rising traffic density. Moreover, the alliances helped the airlines to gain incentives by rising above the restrictions on ownership that have an effect on market entree. Nevertheless, the alliances between the airlines have also resulted in reduced competition, particularly on definite routes the third party carriers did not exist. Competitor Analysis As already discussed, the airline industry is a very competitive industry. Hence, Qatar Airways has many direct and indirect competitors in the market. In the North African as well as the Middle East area, Qatar Airways has to compete with Airline companies like Gulf Air, Oman Air and other U.A.E. based airline companies, such as Emirates Airlines, Air Arabia, Fly Dubai, Etihad Airways and so on. In a global context, the competitors of Qatar Airways comprise of international airline companies like Singapore Airline and many others. The indirect rivals of Qatar Airlines comprises of the telecom business and the holiday cruise line business. Owing to advanced technologies such as video conferences and so on, the telecom industry has become an intimidation for the airline business across the world. These enhanced technological services allow the people to carry out their meetings from their offices without having to take a trip to different countries and hence the numbers of business travels have reduced considerably over the years. Additionally, another crucial threat to the airline business is the Cruise Lines that not only carry the passengers from one destination to another, but also make their hotel arrangements and have a number of activities on board. Therefore, the cruise lines enable the passengers to enjoy a trip onboard, while travelling from one place to another. Qatar Airways can benchmark its service quality to the services offered by the hospitality sector as well as the cruise lines in order to improve the satisfaction level of its passengers. There are many service features that different Qatar Airways from its rival companies. The Airways has interactive audio, video on demand entertainment system, electronic seat controls and in-seat back massager among others. It is the foremost airline operating from the Middle East region which has first class travel facility with flat beds. Qatar Airways has the largest TV screens in addition to having the biggest and the best business class in the Middle East (Qatar Airways, 2012). Service Delivery Map & Service Blueprint There are various aspects that contribute to improving the service quality provided by an airline company. The crucial factor in accomplishing enhanced customer perceived service quality is that the airline company should consider its passengers central to improving chief processes (Boland et al, 2002). In order to accomplish long term viability, Qatar Airways should ensure that all its operational developments endorse reinforced client relationships. This can be attained by following a customer focussed approach of operations, as shown in the figure below: Figure 1: Operational improvements should maintain fortified client relationships for Qatar Airways. (Source: Boland et al, 2002). The framing of a service blueprint for Qatar Airways requires the identifications of its client segment and then mapping the service route from the point of view of the passenger. The subsequent action would be to chart the onstage as well as the offstage activities of the employees of Qatar Air ways. It should be followed by connecting the actions of the passenger and the contact employee to suitable support roles in addition to adjoining physical evidence of service at each activity. The following diagram represents a service blue print for Qatar Airways: Figure 2: Service Blue Print of Qatar Airways GAP Analysis Airlines play a very crucial role in the entire service industry. Despite the fact that all the airline companies in the market manifest their assurance to offer clients with a service further than their expectations, only the airlines that efficiently evaluate the expectations of their passengers in addition to their own performance can achieve competitive advantage. It is importance that the Airline companies concentrate on the expectations as well as the perceptions of their passengers and analyse them by means of correspondence examination. This segment of the study would measure and deal with service dimensions in the airline sector from the viewpoint of an air passenger. The identification of the service gaps in addition to the comparative variation in the customer’s expectations and the perception for certain service characteristics would assist the airline company to adapt its services for superior passenger satisfaction. The services offered by the airline companies are not as physically intricate as that of technologically advanced products. Nevertheless, the service offerings of Airline industry comprise of a very multifaceted amalgamation of intangibles (Gursoy et al., 2005). The level of customer satisfaction in the airline industry depends on several intangible aspects, for instance ambiance of the airplane and behaviour of the staffs among others. Thus, it is very difficult to determine the expectations and the perceptions of the customers in the airline industry (Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons, 1994). The vital dimensions of quality in the airline industry are flight activities, cabin, internet services, convenience, employees of the airways, country of origin, and so on (Atilgan et al., 2008). Over the period, there has been substantial number of researches in context of service quality. However, there have been very few that had analysed the passengers’ expectations and their perceptions of quality of service in the airways sector. Among these, the SERVQUAL model is the commonly recognised model that has been utilised widely in the airways sector, to evaluate the gaps between passenger’s service quality expectations and their perceptions of its delivery by the airline company. Figure 3: Gaps Model of Service Quality (Source: Atilgan et al., 2008) The gaps model places the vital theories, strategies and assessments in the marketing of services in an approach that begins with the client and builds the company’s responsibilities around what is required to close the gaps between the expectations and the perceptions of the clients (Atilgan et al., 2008). The chief objective of the gaps model is to evaluate the disparity between the customers’ expectations and their perceptions. For airlines, the evaluation of service quality is made while booking the tickets, at the terminal, and during the travel, which is the actually the service delivery process for the airlines. The satisfaction level of the passengers with the airline’s service can be determined by weighing the perceptions of services against the expectations of service. In general, after experiencing a service, the passengers evaluate the performance of the airlines company against their expectations, which are majority of the times impacted by past experience, word of mouth, and personal needs (Atilgan et al., 2008) Figure 4: Perceived Service Quality (Source: Atilgan et al., 2008) Physical Evidence: Its Role and Importance in Achieving Competitive Advantage The typical attribute of a service is that it cannot be experienced prior to its delivery. This implies that customers generally perceive the act of choosing to utilise a particular service to be hazardous or uncertain, owing to the intangible nature of services. Nevertheless, this uncertainty can be abridged to an extent by assisting the prospective clients to observe or witness what they are purchasing. Amenities such as clean and tidy airplanes, reception area and parking lots in addition to efficient computer reservation system and other technological support facilities at the terminal can assist to reassure the passengers. This is because if the premises of the company are not up to the mark, it is likely that the customers would not have a positive feeling about the services offered by the company. The physical evidence established by an airline should substantiate the suppositions of its passengers. This is vital because, though passengers cannot experience the airline’s services prior to the travel; he or she can consult other people who had prior experiences of the airline’s services. The testimonies of such people are reliable as their views do not come from the airline. Several organizations ask for feedbacks from these clients and develop reference materials, which can be helpful in building the trust of new prospective clients (The Chartered Institute of Marketing, 2009). Research Methodology This section of the paper would discuss the research methodology to be used to analyse the gaps between the service quality provided by Qatar Airlines and the expected as well as the perceived service quality by its passengers. As a sampling method, the convenience process of non-probability sampling would be exercised. Airplanes would be chosen arbitrarily from the flight timetable. All the destinations that the flights of Qatar Airways cover from its hub Doha would be considered. The passengers would be chosen arbitrarily on the basis of preset seat numbers in each airplane. The process of data accumulation should be carried out in close assistance with Qatar Airway’s marketing department. The remarks of the senior executives of Qatar Airways should be registered to find out the service offering details that are provided by Qatar Airways to its customers. This is because the senior executives function more closely and have direct associations with the passengers and hence their assessment would ensure the face validity. To analysis the passengers’ perceptions concerning the services of the Airline, the cabin crews should be asked to give the questionnaires towards the end of the flight journey. In the first segment of the questionnaire, the passengers should be asked to specify their expectations about the services of Qatar Airways on a five point Likert scale. The second segment of the questionnaire would comprise of the same set of questions to evaluate the passengers’ perceptions regarding the service quality of Qatar Airways. Conclusion This study was focussed at evaluating the service quality of Qatar Airways. For the systematic conduction of the study, it was imperative to summarise the expected as well as the perceived service quality of its passengers. Now a day, almost all the airlines have comprehended the significance of service quality in the sustenance of their business in the long run. It has become an integral requirement of the airline companies to provide superior quality service. The incessant delivery of the perceived superior quality services would aid the airways to get hold of and preserve the loyalty of their passengers. In assessing and appraising the service quality of an airline, it is crucial to consider its passengers’ expectations and perceptions of quality. In the airline industry, the quality of service should be assessed considering all the attributes of the services offered by the airline. Apparently, in context to the airline industry, the passengers who have travelled in the airline not less than once can make the most satisfactory assessments. The opinions of the passengers can be acquired with the help of questionnaires. SERVQUAL is extensively exercised for accumulating data and also comprehending the opinions of the passengers. SERVQUAL is a questionnaire which is designed in the form of a Likert scale. The use of such types of questionnaire, one would be able to accumulate more expressive results. This approach ascertains that misleading outcomes and their analyses are evaded. References Atilgan, E., et al., 2008. Measuring and Mapping Customers’ Expectations and perceptions for Airlines: The Sunexpress Case with the GAP Model. Journal of Global Strategic Management, Vol. 3. Boland, D., et al, 2002. The future of airline CRM. IBM Institute for Business Value. Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons, 1994. Service Management for Competitive Advantage, New York: McGraw Hill Inc. Gursoy, D., et al., 2005. The US Airlines Relative Positioning Based on Attributes of Service Quality, Tourism Management, 26(1), pp. 57-67. Qatar Airways, 2012. The Qatar Airways Story. [pdf] Available at: http://www.qatarairways.com/iwov-resources/temp-docs/press-kit/The%20Story%20of%20Qatar%20Airways.pdf [Accessed on April 3, 2012]. Stanford University, No Date. Airline Industry . [Online] Available at: http://adg.stanford.edu/aa241/intro/airlineindustry.html [Accessed on April 3, 2012]. The Chartered Institute of Marketing, 2009. Marketing and the 7 Ps. [pdf] Available at: http://www.cim.co.uk/filestore/resources/10minguides/7ps.pdf [Accessed on April 3, 2012]. Questionnaire (The responses to each statement would be in the form of 5 point Likert scale, where 1= strongly disagree and 5= strongly agree) Part 1: Customer Expectation 1. I expect that the airplanes of Qatar Airways are visually appealing 2. I expect that the employees of Qatar Airways have a warm behaviour 3. I expect that the materials related to Qatar Airway’s services are visually appealing 4. I expect that Qatar Airways provides the service at the instant it promises to do so 5. I expect that I feel secure in my dealings with Qatar Airways 6. I expect that the employees of Qatar Airways are always courteous with me 7. I expect that the employees of Qatar Airways give me prompt service 8. I expect that the employees of Qatar Airways are willing to assist me 9. I expect that the employees of Qatar Airways are never too busy to respond to my queries 10. I expect that Qatar Airways has crew members who give me individual attention Part 2: Perceived Service Quality 11. The airplanes of Qatar Airways are visually appealing 12. The employees of Qatar Airways have a warm behaviour 13. The materials related to Qatar Airway’s services are visually appealing 14. Qatar Airways provides the service at the instant it promises to do so 15. I feel secure in my dealings with Qatar Airways 16. The employees of Qatar Airways are always courteous with me 17. The employees of Qatar Airways give me prompt service 18. The employees of Qatar Airways are willing to assist me 19. The employees of Qatar Airways are never too busy to respond to my queries 20. Qatar Airways has crew members who give me individual attention Read More