Assignment # 1
Strategic Practice Exercise: (page #81)
1. Score each competitive force in the airline industry and provide a brief rationale for your assessment.
· Rivalry Among Existing Firms: (High)
When one major company in an industry makes a change in costs or services that could potentially increase their clientele, a major competitor almost always follows suit. Price matching is a prime example of that, therefore the threat is high. West Jet is one company that offers flights at a discount and forced Air Canada to create new banners to compete with the discounted prices. All major companies and firms in an industry watch each other’s every move very carefully, and match any move with a countermove. During slow season in the airline
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Therefore, the threat of substitution is a significant factor in the airline industry. However, if a customer has to travel very quickly or a significant distance, that person would most likely choose the flight option instead of a cheaper alternative.
· Bargaining Power of Buyers/Distributors: (Medium)
Bargaining power is a tricky one because it can work both ways. Buyers have a certain level of power in any industry. A buyer may switch suppliers very easily if there are no penalties and it is cost effective for them. If a large firm makes a large purchase of goods from another firm, it may be mutually beneficial and if serviced well, have the potential for repeat business. However, the buyer then has the power to use a substitute or competitor which would negatively affect the seller. Buyers are always the more powerful of the two because some buyers have the ability to put pressure on lower costs from suppliers, while demanding an increase of the quality of products or services provided to them. Also, the bargaining power in industries with high fixed costs like the airline industry can play a big factor. On the other hand, things like jet engines, tires and other key safety devices on aircrafts can cause severe consequences if this equipment malfunctions. For that reason, the buyer has a reduced amount of bargaining power with suppliers in this industry. The bargaining power of buyers is both high and low, so I ranked it medium.
· Bargaining
The power of buyers in the industry varies at different levels depending on the field. For pharmaceutical drug companies, which have thousands of patients, customers have lower price sensitivity as they are rarely able to refuse the treatments they need and they have low bargaining leverage due to commonly lack of information as well as knowledge on the drugs. For biotech firms that distribute specialized products to the government and hospitals, their customers actually have more of a bargaining power due to being the sole consumer sources
The threat of new entry is high because there are no significant barriers of entry in the airline industry. For example, airplanes can be easily leased, defraying the large initial capital investment. Additionally, exit cost in the business is
In order to determine whether the Five Forces are still applicable, this part will analyse Industry in general concerning structural changes due to Digitalization. Because of Digitalization, another two forces significantly affect the competition which are Globalization and Deregulation. The impact of Globalization on the Industry structure is the customers gain benefit as comparing global prices become much easier and faster in from the Globalization process (Dalken, 2014).
This section will examine each of the five competitive forces that are active in the European Airline Industry. In this instance the buyers in the industry will be taken as passengers. Fuel companies, aircraft manufacturers and employees are the suppliers. Substitutes stem from modes of transport that fall under land and sea transit. Potential entrants are any airlines based outside of Europe or newly founded airlines based in Europe.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers in the industry is low. There are numerous suppliers in this industry, and the large department stores have the ability to negotiate for the lowest prices. In addition, the switching costs are low, as the products are not highly differentiated. There are a large volume of purchases in the industry, allowing the department stores to exert even more power over the suppliers.
A. Describe the environment, as viewed by Michael Porter’s model of competitive forces, that Valuejet was trying to compete in. consider competition, suppliers, customers, new entrants, substitute products? The five competitive forces that shape strategy are competition, suppliers, customers, new entrants, substitute products. Michael E. Porter demonstrates how the five competitive forces can be used in any industry. The results from all five forces not only look at the narrow aspect of competition rivals but as well as broader aspect of competitive interaction within an industry. These five competitive forces can also be used in the case of Valuejet. Competition within the airline industry is highly
A lucrative industry is always a target for investors looking at investment. One of the foremost factors in consideration while looking at the attractiveness of an industry is the threat of new entrants. In the airlines industry, this was a major threat a few years ago. The airlines operating in the industry were limited and the industry had few players like Indian Airlines and Jet Airways. However, as the industry had scope for accommodating more players, many players joined the fray. The airlines industry however comes with its fair share of barriers. The investment in the airlines is very huge and acts as a major barrier to entry. Bundled with it were different permits for running an airline company from the civil aviation company and FDI
Bargaining power of customers: In airline industry the bargaining power of the customers is low to medium, because the buyers are not concentrated; there is no threat of backward integration.
1. There are a few trends in the US airline industry. One is consolidation, wherein existing players merge in an attempt to lower their costs and generate operating synergies. The most recent major merger was the United Continental merger, which is still an ongoing affair, but has created the largest airline in the United States by market share (Martin, 2012). Another trend is towards low-cost carriers. In the US, Southwest has been a long-running success and JetBlue a strong new competitor, but in other countries this business model has proven exceptionally successful. The third major trend is the upward trend in jet fuel prices, and the increasing importance that this puts on hedging fuel prices and capacity management (Hinton, 2011).
The domestic US airline industry has been intensely competitive since it was deregulated in 1978. In a regulated environment, most of the cost increases were passed along to consumers under a fixed rate-of-return based pricing scheme. This allowed labor unions to acquire a lot of power and workers at the major incumbent carriers were overpaid. After deregulation, the incumbent carriers felt the most pain, and the floodgates had opened for newer more nimble carriers with lower cost structures to compete head-on with the established airlines. There were several bankruptcies followed by a wave of consolidation with the fittest carriers surviving and the rest being
Understanding the adversarial nature of the airline industry is very important in helping us understand and evaluate British Airways' current position in the industry and how Porter's Five Forces Model can assist the company in increasing its profitability by making better strategic decisions.
In April 1992, American Airlines launched "Value Pricing" -- a radical simplification of the complex pricing structure that had evolved over more than a decade following deregulation of the U.S. domestic airline industry. American expected that the new pricing structure would benefit consumers and restore profitability to both American and the industry as a whole. The critical issue raised is: Would American's bold initiative work?
The Airline Industry is in an interesting situation. Simply adding a low cost alternative is not enough in the industry. The Internet has made the power of buyers grow with the transparency of ticket prices. This is not something that will change any time soon. Because of this profitability is predominately reserved for low-cost yet distinctive carriers. No consumer wants to ride what they consider a “lesser” airline. Airlines need a way to distinguish themselves from one another while also acknowledging the increased power of buyers.
Having conducted research on Porter’s Five Forces Model and the current business climate of the airline industry, I will be analyzing the industry using the Five Forces Model. Porter’s Five Forces model is a highly recognized framework for the analysis of business strategy. Five forces are derived from the model that attempts to determine the competitive intensity, competitive environment and overall attractiveness of an industry. The framework is based on five forces that describes the attributes of an attractive industry and suggests when opportunities will be the greatest and threats the least within an industry. The five forces include
The bargaining power of buyers is affected by the concentration and number of consumers, when buyer power is strong, they gain the power to choose between producers and ultimately equip themselves with bargaining power which then the producers will have to conform to in order to produce profit, under these conditions the buyer has the most influence in determining the price of products. Also when buyers have strong bargaining power in the exchange relationship, competition can be affected in several ways. Powerful buyers can bargain for lower prices, better