Michael Porter's five forces model is a strategic framework by which an attempt is made to predict how an industry, behaves, grows and responds within a competitive environment. In his own words the creator of the concept offers an insight; "The five forces determine the industries profitability because they influence the prices, costs, and required investments of firms in an industry the elements of return on investments ." It is the aim of this essay to apply Porter's model to Europe's rapidly growing budget airline industry. Finding it's liberalisation in 1997 Europe's domestic airline industry is relatively immature in comparison to its North American equivalent. A few years shy of maturity the industry currently resides in a business sphere of intense competition. As far as Europe is concerned the pioneering embrace of budget air travel is essentially an Anglo-Irish endeavor, however Europe now has around 50 low-budget carriers. Testament to the aggressively competitive state of the market is found in the truth this figure fluctuates on an almost weekly basis. Indeed it is precisely because the market is in a state of high growth and fierce competition that designates this industry most appropriate for the application of Porter's model. When consideration is given to the "threat of entry" observed can be the changing predicament most responsible for the continuing dilution of an oligopoly. Traditionally the substantial capital requirements of entry have served to suppress competition. However the departure of the aviation industry from its state-sponsored beginnings the free market has begun to deliver allocative efficiency. The availability of public and private venture capital has been instrumental in spreading risk. Thus the capital requirement of entry has been substantially decreased. Due to the absolute expense of an aircraft; thought of in terms of percentile discounts economies of scale constitute a significant barrier to entry. Experience, or rather lack of it has not proved the deterrent to entry that one might have previously expected it to be. Many a virgin company has been born and subsequently flourished at the expense of shell-shocked national flag carriers. It would seem the inefficiencies of state influenced bodies have had yet another spotlight cast upon them. Still growing but having entered a phase of stakeout expected retaliation now constitutes a very visible barrier to entry. Once of considerable consequence but now of little significance; accesses to distribution channels provide less of a barrier than they have done at any point in history.
It has stayed relevant to the market through its propelled philosophy of relationships to generate profits in the business. Since its establishment in Monroe, Louisiana the once tiny airline has stretched to greater heights serving in 6 continents. It has also established a distinguishable name among its competitors with a reputation of leading customer services. However, even as an established venture, the company needs to maximize its profits in order to stay in business and expand in to new territories beyond its conquered boundaries. A strategic analysis was carried out by our team to establish the company’s current situation. A SWOT analysis was performed to come up with three referenced, strategic alternatives. This alternatives are meant to act as a strategic guidance to the company in order to enhance growth. The strategic recommendation provided will improve and enable the business to cope with the competitors while the implementation of the strategy section will outline the way to go about achieving these alternatives in the business setting. Lastly, we put up a discussion on the evaluation procedures and necessary controls for the
Threat of New Entrants - Moderate – Deregulated industry. Threat of new entrants higher during downturns in industry (e.g. JetBlue’s entry point). Existing airlines may encroach on an opponent’s major or regional market-share. High cost of entry into industry
Many elements of Delta Airlines are described in detail, within this paper. There is a breakdown of the external and internal factors, using external and internal analysis. Porter’s Five forces are used to create the external analysis, and the key factors for Delta are power of buyers, and rivalry. Delta’s competitive advantages are identified as customer service, sustainability, brand image, strong strategic alliances, and corporate travel. Delta’s main issues are the low expansion in international markets, continuous changing of incentive program, and glitches within technology. Delta should expand more into the Chinese and African markets in order to gain market share within the airline industry.
1. Issues 2. American Airlines’ objectives 3. The airline industry 4. Market 5. Consumer needs 6. Brand image 7. Distribution system 8. Pricing 9. Marketing related strategies 10. Assumptions and risks
As aviation matured, airlines, aircraft manufacturers and airport operators merged into giant corporations. When cries of "monopoly" arose, the conglomerates dismantled.
Airline and travel industry profitability has been strapped by a series of events starting with a recession in business travel after the dotcom bust, followed by 9/11, the SARS epidemic, the Iraq wars, rising aviation turbine fuel prices, and the challenge from low-cost carriers. (Narayan Pandit, 2005) The fallout from rising fuel prices has been so extreme that any efficiency gains that airlines attempted to make could not make up for structural problems where labor costs remained high and low cost competition had continued to drive down yields or average fares at leading hub airports. In the last decade, US airlines alone had a yearly average of net losses of $9.1 billion (Coombs, 2011).
With only a few large companies across the globe (Boeing, MD, and Airbus), the commercial aircraft industry essentially exhibits the qualities of an oligopolistic competition with intense rivalry. Here is an analysis of competition in the commercial aircraft business using Porter’s Five Forces.
Before we discuss government intervention and its affect on an industry’s competition we must first seek to understand the five forces framework. The theory, discussed in 1979 by Micheal Porter seeks to evaluate the attractiveness of an industry. Throughout this essay I will explore the theory and then relate government action and its well-documented affects on the airline industry.
Lufthansa, one of the world’s biggest airliners, has divisions handing maintenance, catering and air cargo. Since the World War II the airline industry has never earned its cost of capital over the business cycle (Hitt, 2010). Most of the airline companies have either filed for bankruptcy or are being bailed out by their government. Lufthansa had also gone through these tough times, but had resurfaced to become one of the worlds most profitable airline company. The company adapted a transnational strategy, seeking to achieve both global efficiency and local responsiveness. Lufthansa’s monopoly in Germany came to a halt with the creating of the European Union. All the EU member countries become one regional and therefore the European competition became, an increasingly a local competition. Lufthansa created its regional Hubs, to cater for its domestic market. But the availability of substitutes such as bullet trains and the Euro tunnel, made is necessary for Lufthansa to create short traveling time, customizations and quality standards in the region to achieve a competitive advantage. But outside the EU there are no substitute to air travels as such all the flag carriers are competing in the market, the international airline industry is a highly competitive environment. A new force has also emerged in the world of air travel, in the form of three Gulf airlines with jumbo ambitions. Within a decade Dubai’s Emirates, Qatar Airways and Eithad from Abu Dhabi have between them carried the capacity of two hundred million passengers (Micheal, 2010). The company had to go global and therefore adopted the international corporate-level strategy, where Lufthansa will ope...
Tom, Y. (2009). The perennial crisis of the airline industry: Deregulation and innovation. (Order No. 3351230, The Claremont Graduate University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 662-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/304861508?accountid=8364. (304861508).
The airline industry is a costly business to partake in especially due to the cost of fuel and technology needed to operate the airplane. With EasyJet internationalizing into Africa, it had the notion of facing new competitors, however, with the finances (see appendix) it possesses and the famous identity of its brand, made the threat of being a new entry within the Nigerian market low. However, a big threat would be if local Nigerian airlines were to reduce its prices then EasyJet might be at risk because the local airlines have the necessary equipment and knowledge to operate in its region.
To buttress the implication of the model, Porter explained why the airline industry is the least profitable amongst industries owing to the high threat of the competitive forces. The airline industry players compete heavily on price. Most custom...
When an airline does not have a sustainable competitive advantage, it does not have any properties of differences from there competitor and turns to a dangerous price war. The sustainable ...
Porter’s five forces is a framework for analyzing an industry and business strategy development. It looks at forces that determine the competitive intensity of an industry and hence the overall attractiveness of that industry. The configuration of the five forces differs by industry. Understanding the competitive forces and their underlying causes reveals the roots of an industry’s current profitability while providing a framework for anticipating and influencing competition over time.
In a world of free trade, growing competition and accessibility to foreign markets, the need for methodical market analysis and assumptions is steadily rising in today’s business environment. It is just a normal way of thinking to primarily intent to eliminate the financial before entering a new and foreign market. This suggests that enterprises have to develop an overall strategy for their business in order to gain competitive advantage and consequently market share. With the words of Michael E. Porter, professor at Harvard University and leading authority on competitive strategy, this desirable market success is indirectly linked to the individual structure of a market. The unique structure of a single market influences the strategic behaviour and the development of a competitive strategy within a firm. The competitive strategy finally decides whether a company performs successfully on the market or not. Referring to this interpretation of business success, M. E. Porter established his five forces framework that enables directives to gather useful information about the business environment and the competitive forces in industries.