Analysis of a company - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Such moves by Thomas Cook have been seen as part of its strategy to eliminate competition and expand in a horizontal way.
Thomas Cook has 19000 employees with 800 stores. It owns popular travelling brands such Airtours, Direct holidays, Cresta, Sunworld and Sunset. The company has also vertical integration strategy denoted by its ownership of 44 aircrafts to its fleet. The company has also other plans apart from the travel plan including financial services such as foreign exchange and Thomas Cook credit card. In 2012, the company was an official Olympic and Paralympics supporter by offering accommodation and transport. The success of Thomas Cook is denoted by number of sales, revenue and market share (Thomas Cook Para 4).
Thomas Cook is better placed in terms of commanding the travel and tourism industry. The company is considered very reliable in terms of customer service. Being an old player in the industry, Thomas Cook has been able to build trust to its customers. For instance, in 2009, the company was trusted by over 22 million passengers. A total of 9 billion pounds was added to the trust as a way of assuring its customers that the company cannot go into bankruptcy.
The other strength is the fact that the company has been at the top by its strategy of eliminating competition by horizontal integration. Additionally, the company has been able to comply with the laid down laws and regulations that govern operations of travel and tourism firms. The UK travel industry is controlled by strict rules and regulations. Any tour operator is required to sell a package approved by a DTI approved body. Several insurance requirements must be adhered to by any tour operator. With all these regulations, the company has overcome them and this places it at a better position to compete with its opponents effectively.
The command of the market denoted by its 30% market share is critical in that the company has an advantage of effectively controlling the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More