Integrated Marketing Communication of British Airways - Essay Example

Integrated Marketing Communication Table of Contents Background of the Chosen Company 3 Nature of Crisis Problem Experienced 4 Context Analysis 5 External Environment 5 Internal Context 7 Business 10 Customers 10 Stakeholders 10 Marketing Objectives 11 Strategy and Tactics 12 Action to Achieve the Objective 13 Control and Evaluation Method 15 References 16 Bibliography 17 Background of the Chosen Company British Airways is considered as one of the world’s largest international airlines. Heathrow, the world’s leading airport with a wide geographical area, is the prime place of business for British Airways. It is the UK’s largest listed airline that flies to 148 destinations at suitable times. More than 32 millions passengers flew in British Airways in the year 2009-2010 (British Airways, “Annual Report 2008/2009”). It is headquartered at Waterside, Harmonsworth, UK. The company was privatized in the year 1987 (Roy & Singh, “Change Management in British Airways”). The company’s aim is to provide delighting experience of the service and accomplish the target both in-flight as well as on the ground. The major strength of the company is its brand name. In the recent past the brand was declared as ‘the world’s favorite airline’. The company provides wide range of services to its customers such as food services, entertainment options including movies, TV games and music. The flight service being a global airline, offers year round low fare flights along with full services on a worldwide network (Kotipalli, “Strategic Management Report on British Airways”). Nature of Crisis Problem Experienced British Airways affected employees’ strike that affected the successful operation of the company. The dispute involved the British Airways Management and the Unite Trade Union over various issues such as working conditions and pay. The effect of the crisis had been tremendous leading to long wait by the passengers at the airports. The airline had to retrain other airline employees in order to work as flight attendants and lease fleets from other airlines. During the strikes the analysts expected that those would cost the company about millions of pounds and it was further estimated that this would certainly hurt the airline brand as customers booked flights with the competitors. According to few economists, this strike would have a negative impact upon the world’s economy (Werdigier, “British Airways Strike Effect Disputed”). Being the marketing communication consultant the crisis management problem needs to be solved with the aim to repair the organizational reputation, sales performance and customs. Therefore, the appropriate strategy would be to use COSTAC framework in order to increase the efficiency and revamp the original position of the company. Context Analysis Before making an integrated marketing plan, it is essential to understand the context of the current situation. The context analysis helps to shape up certain things and explains the reason for such happenings. Here, five contexts namely internal, external, business, stakeholders and customers would be studied in detail in order to understand the current position of the British Airways. Environment refers to such thing present outside the organization that may affect the proper functioning of the organization. Internal and external environment affect the functioning of the firm. External Environment The external environment is analyzed with PESTLE study which consists of economic environment, political environment, socio-cultural environment, technological environment and legal environment. Political Factors The British political system is headed by the monarch. There are three arms of the state namely the legislature, the executive and the judiciary (RogerDarlington, “A Short Guide To The British Political System”). It is evident that there is heavy regulation from the government. Therefore, British Airways needs to comply with such regulations in order to continue its operation. Economic Factors In the third quarter of 2010, the rise in GDP in UK has been by 0.7%. Moreover, there has been rise in the consumer spending by 0.3% from the last quarter (Office for National Statistics, “Brief Analysis”). Therefore, there is great opportunity for the company with the rise in the consumer spending. Social Factors The UK has an ageing population, which implies that there is high potential for growth as the senior populace has more time to spend on the leisure activities such as travelling internationally. The changing population also has a direct impact upon the airways as it will affect the demand as well as supply of the product (SenoirWatch, “Socio-Economic Environment: United Kingdom”). Moreover, the employment rate for people from within the age group of 16 to 64 was 70.6% for three months till October 2010, while the unemployment rate was rated as 7.9% in the same period. The increasing unemployment rate may increase the bargaining power as an employer. Technological Factors The industry has been using online booking services and check-ins. Furthermore, according to the recent study conducted in the year 2009, it was evident that 34% of the online consumers planned to use the price comparison website more. Therefore, it can be suggested that British Airways should keep itself updated with the technological advances (Scribd, “British Airways”). Environmental Factors Since the climate is changing, it is an increasing concern for the organizations around the globe. British Airways needs to adhere to strict environmental conditions in terms of noise emission. In addition, the overall cost of operation increases with the enforcement of the new legislations. With the increase in the consumers’ awareness towards being green, it is important for the company to adopt integrated environmental strategy (Scribd, “British Airways”). Legal Factors Collusion and price fixing are certain legal actions that affect the proper functioning of the firm. Employee strikes and the over activism of the trade unions are also the factors that hamper the reputation of the company. It is crucial for the company to maintain good relation with its workforce in order to avoid such industrial actions and interrupted operations (Scribd, “British Airways”). Internal Context In order to understand the internal context, value chain analysis of the company can be conducted. It has the following variables: Firm Infrastructure The company has a structured hierarchy that helps the company to utilize the specialized knowledge with the aim that the competitive advantage can be gained over the downsized firm. Human Resource Management Despite lot of efforts made by the company to attract and recruit the best of the employees, the company has faced tremendous problems related to HRM. Employee strike has been one of the factors affecting the successful operation of the company. Technological Development Continuous investment in the R&D segment has helped the company to beat the competition and maintain the competitive advantage of the firm. It added value in the technological development by employing slack resources with the aim to innovate the services. Despite the company’s continuous investment in R&D to innovate, it has failed to gain recognition for the newer innovation. Procurement The company’s historical business relationship with its suppliers has been outstanding. Through economies of scale, efficiencies at work can be easily brought where the rivals may fail. Inbound logistics The inventories of the company have been well maintained by them. The company has maintained goods relation with its suppliers in order to get uninterrupted flow of goods. Operations The security system has been increased as this service is highly demanded by the passengers. The company has also implemented quick check-in services along with secured online bookings with an extra facility to pre-book any kind of additional services. Outbound Logistics The outbound logistics for the company has been the customer service. Moreover, the company has large database that enables the passengers to access majority of destination from the preferred airports. Marketing and Sales The company communicates its strategies to its stakeholders. Large amount of money is spend to develop the communication by the company Post Sales Service The company renders after sales service to its clients. Loyalty club cards are provided to the customers. Furthermore, it informs the customers regarding other kinds of services. Business The business of British Airways has been continuously affected by the prolonged strikes and industrial disputes. After the finalization of the company’s merger with the Spain’s Iberia, the Chief Executive of British Airways, Mr. Tony McCarthy, even after playing a key role in the negotiation with the United Trade Union decided to leave the organization as he was not comfortable with the scheme of things. (Milmo, “British Airways union negotiator quits airline”). British Airways has decided to buy new shares of Flybe since Flybe wants to raise enough funds for its fuel expansion (Wachman, “Flybe Wants to Raise £60m to fuel expansion in Europe”). Customers British Airways is well recognized in providing best customer services. It takes pride in paying extra attention towards the well being and health of its customers. It caters valuable advice to its customers regarding the health requirement before, after and during the journey. However, because of the continuous strikes that are becoming a common phenomenon for British Airways, the company is losing passengers’ faith. Stakeholders The company has always believed in active engagement with the stakeholders. It keeps on communicating regarding its position on environmental and social issues to its suppliers. According to the company, success doesn’t depend upon delivering the agreed functionality on time. However, it is essential to attend the needs and expectations of wide group of stakeholders. The crisis in the company in form of employee strikes has even ruined the relation with its stakeholders. Also, it is a sort of lose-lose situation for the government as it doesn’t know whom it needs to support. Marketing Objectives In order to regain the reputation, it is important for the company to set certain marketing communication objectives. The main objectives of British Airways must be to regain the customers’ trust and reputation. The employees trust should also be gained as they are the backbone of any organization. In order to attain the same, the company’s key objectives must be to implement change management within a year. The company implemented considerable changes with a view to improve the performance of the overall organization. However, it is important for the company to communicate the initiated changes to its employees. Further it is important for the company to implement performance appraisal system that would be held quarterly. Grievance handling must be implemented in the organization. However, the major objective of the organization will be to reduce the time required to handle the grievances to minimum. To implement interim policies regarding the benefits, pays & perks must be the other objective of the company. It also includes bolstering non-striking employee’s morale in an organization within a short period of time. In order to successfully negotiate entertaining trade union requests must be one of the prime objectives. The main objective will be to achieve the aforementioned goals within a year with the aim to improve sales performance, reputation and customs. Strategy and Tactics In order to attain the above mentioned objectives, it is important to develop certain strategies and tactics with the aim to repair the reputation of the company. The best way to deal with such type of issues would be to develop sound promotional strategy. Both internal and external communications have a role to play in order to boost the sales performance and regain the lost reputation of the organization. Close contact will be maintained with the media and all the media coverage will be monitored. Via the media, the mass can be informed regarding the objectives that have been set in order to recover the lost position of the company. Through such measures, wide groups of people will be informed that the company is taking active steps to handle the crisis that is expected to be effective within a year. Arrangement of the flights during the strike can be rescheduled with the intention so that the passengers don’t suffer. An advertisement that is aimed to broadcast those active steps is being taken by the company to lessen the impact of strike. This in turn will be extremely beneficial. Use of social media communication would also be useful during the crisis so as to deliver the companies message not only to the customers but also to the media. At the company’s website, a portal can be made that will help to inform the customers regarding the mishaps and keep the customers informed regarding the flight cancellations, changes, reinstatements and other developments. Free speech campaigns can be held where the workers can communicate regarding their wants to the management before calling such strikes. This will help to unite and inspire the workers. Various tactics can be applied to manage the crisis. Firstly, the employees can be trained in such a way that demonstrates the organizational policies and procedures. Engagement with the employee in communication is most important in order to understand the employees’ needs. Therefore, employees can be engaged in the communication process as well as in the decision making process. This will help the management to prevent such kinds of mishaps from occurring in the near future again. Action to Achieve the Objective Various actions need to be taken in order to achieve the objectives. The actions taken need to have immediate effect with the intention that the set objectives can be achieved as soon as possible and the efficiency can be increased. Therefore, in this regard the management of the British Airways has to implement the grievance handling procedure of the organization. This will help the company’s employees to address their problem to the management on time. It will also benefit the organization as they can prevent the situation from deteriorating. The trade unions will be engaged in the negotiation process in order to reduce any kind of ambiguity. To implement the changes, it is important to communicate to the employees regarding the newly initiated measures. After this performance appraisal will be implemented in order to check the performance of the employee in response to the changes that is being brought in the organization. Additional perks and benefits can be included to keep the employees happy. With the purpose of providing training to the staffs, a new trainer will be recruited who will help to boost positive feelings and attitudes in the minds of the staffs in relation to the organization with the aim that they don’t attempt to take any such steps in the near future. In order to implement them, proper planning, organizing, directing and control are required by the management with the aim to achieve each of these objectives in an efficient way. Control and Evaluation Method Along with the action taken to implement and execute the overall strategies and tactics, it is important to control and evaluate them on a regular basis with the intention that management can gain insights into the progress of the plans set. British Airways also needs to check continuously if the strategies implemented are fruitful. At this stage, the deviation or gap can be analyzed. Gap analysis here signifies the difference between the actual outcome and the desired outcome. This will help the company to identify if the organization needs to make certain other strategies aiming to refurbish the reputation, the sales performance and the custom. In light of the gap identified, the company can prepare alternate marketing communication strategies and can even modify the existing ones. If the above mentioned strategies and tactics are applied by the organization then the operational efficiency of the organization would surely increase. References British Airways, “Annual Report 2008/2009”. January 04, 2011. Who are We, 2009. Kotipalli, Priyateja. “Strategic Management Report on British Airways”. January 04, 2011. Strategic Management, 2009. < http://www.scribd.com/doc/19024767/british-airways-report> Milmo, Dan. “British Airways Union Negotiator Quits Airline”. January 04, 2011. Business, 2010. < http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/01/british-airways-negotiator-steps-down> Office for National Statistics, “Brief Analysis”. January 04, 2011. Consumer Spending, 2010. Roy, Aurnob and Singh, Brijendra, “Change Management in British Airways”. January 04, 2011. British Airways-A Snap Shot, 2008. RogerDarlington, “A Short Guide To The British Political System”. January 04, 2011. Three Arms Of The State, 2010. < http://www.rogerdarlington.co.uk/Britishpoliticalsystem.html> SenoirWatch, “Socio-Economic Environment: United Kingdom”. January 04, 2011. United Kingdom, No Date. Scribd, “British Airways”. January 04, 2011. Strategic Report, 2009. < http://www.scribd.com/doc/23329171/British-Airways-Strategic-Plan> Werdigier, Julia. “British Airways Strike Effect Disputed”. January 04, 2011. The New York Times, 2010. < http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/business/global/22air.html> Bibliography Bernstein, Jonathan. “The 10 Steps of Crisis Communication”. January 04, 2011. Definition of Crisis, 1996. < http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/docs/the_10_steps_of_crisis_communications.html> Read More