1. What was Airborne’s long term strategy to address low willingness to pay among its target customers?
Firstly, Airborne Express chose its customer very selectively and pursued a emphasis on low price strategy. The main target customer for airborne was the high volume, frequent, service; consistent with flexible environment and price is the main competitive weapon. Airborne was essentially the custom solution logistics providing for larger companies and therefore, they did not target the masses. By focusing on large accounts, Airborne could use its ground capacity more effectively. Airborne delivery drivers dropped off and picked up far more packages per stop than do the drivers of companies that focus on serving smaller customer and individual customers. This helped boost productivity and lowers costs and make a profit at a price. Secondly, the strategy of concentrating on corporate account was strong point, since it leads to better capacity of operation and lowers the cost. The company’s incentive systems were designed to rewards employees for meeting the dual goals of high productivity and reliability. Airborne’s national and international tracking systems were the best in the industry. These assisted Airborne to tell customers at a moment’s notice where in the system there packages are. This helped improve reliability and build brand loyalty. The same information systems helped Airborne to efficiently manage its billing system, thereby lowering costs.
Thirdly,
One of the key decisions of Airborne Express was to target regularly shipping business customers and purposely passing over residential deliveries and infrequent shippers. Ray Berry, vice president of Field Services Administration, commented this selection of customers: “ Since we can’t be all things to all people, we pick our kind of customer deliberately.” And it
Flight Centre offers a very competitive price. The prices are usually are lower than its competitors when it comes to domestic and international flights. It provides the option of different prices ranges. These price ranges depend on the services that a customer requests. It provides economy class, business class, premium class, and first class price ranges. Due to its affordable prices and good services, it has grown to become a 13.5$ billion business comprising of more than 30 brands. It works had to keep up with the competition by providing best possible prices while ensuring customer loyalty (Flight Centre the Airfare Expert).
At the onset of the airline industry in the United States, major network airlines were the sole providers of air travel. This multifaceted industry was a difficult industry to break into as a consequence of “sophisticated customer segmentation, hub-and spoke models and costly information systems for reservations, fare wars and intense competition” (Thompson 2008). Shrinkage in airline ticket prices augmented the demand for airline travel. Many markets were simply deserted or over-looked by major network airlines; this is a region a fresh “second tier of service providers” could enter into. This endeavor proved to provide a consumer savings of billions per year. Thus in June of 1971, after a tumultuous battle with other Texas-based
One of the biggest competitive advantages was that Airborne Express (AE) had was that it owned its own airport that served as its primary hub before final shipping to end destination. The company had huge savings since it did not have to pay for landing fees. As an owner it did not have to worry about landlords. AE could modify the facility in order to accommodate its current and future needs. AE also was able to maximize their eligibility for property tax reductions based on the Community Reinvestment Act zoning status. Further, AE took advantage of its available large footprint and leased out its warehouse to other companies.
“Airborne did not advertise in the mass media. Rather, it targeted logistics managers of major
Rivalry among competitors has also had a violent role in the industry of mailing services. The competitors try to cut the prices in order to maintain their competitive advantages and securing market shares. Furthermore, big giants like Federal Express and United Parcel Service (UPS) have progressed in the market with the efforts of cutting their costs and maintaining their position in the market by giving values to their customers. Innovations have also given the competition in the industry a significant boost. However, Airborne has established its position in the market by offering lowest price for the morning, afternoon, overnight, and next day delivery. The low cost strategy of the company has made it possible for Airborne to compete with
By October 2002, Southwest Airlines had apparently weathered the initial crisis to the airline industry that resulted from the September 11, 2001 ("9/11") terrorist attacks. Most of the large national carriers had experienced huge losses in demand, profitability and market share, while in contrast Southwest's low-fare operations had thrived, even in the face of declining earnings. Yet, only a year after the attacks, Southwest and the industry in general faced still unknown future changes to its operating environment. There was already a new dynamic of security becoming a priority consideration, and new governmental directives and taxes meant to ensure and maintain that security. This new security dynamic had already
Initiated in 1971, the Federal Express company has been transforming and/or evolving and thus at the moment, it is not just an express delivery company but it has widened its scope from that to being a globally recognized logistics and supply chain management company. (Hill & Jones, 2013), noted that the company, since the launching of the internet in 1994 has largely invested in information technology systems, thus integrating their systems in order to provide services throughout its customers’ supply chains. Federal Express has also built a powerful technical architecture, pioneering it into e-commerce with the investment in the system’s infrastructure throughout the years and
In this high mobility era, plane became indispensable part of people life especially for those who like or need to travel. Plane is the most efficient transportation particularly for traveling across islands, province and country. There are two kinds of plane services, which is low-cost carrier and full services. Commonly, low-cost carrier is chosen because of the fare is cheaper, but some people priority services rather than price. In Indonesia, there are two airlines providing full services, Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air (JPPN, 2015). There is argue in which one is the best full services airlines between Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air. Moreover, both airlines have some similarities as well as contraries. Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air is totally opposite in several keys. Obvious differences are
The four cost components of the airline industry – fuel, landing fees, aircraft leasing and taxes - has made operating Lucky Air in a productive manner a constant challenge. Even though the company has a high competitive advantage being linked to Hainan Airlines, it still needed to upgrade its business strategy on a regular basis to ensure maintaining the lead they had over the other airlines. The company like all its counterparts face a myriad of restraints including heavily regulated governmental laws, limitation to price reduction, a low potential for rapid expansion due to government restrictions and heavy taxes.
Executive Summary Airborne Express faces a critical time for their company, as the two “900-pound gorillas” are aiming to secure their position atop the delivery industry. As the competitive landscape of the industry begins to shift, Airborne Express has the opportunity to capitalize on making some changes in the way the company positions itself amongst its competitors. As United Parcel Service (UPS) nears the end of their strike and with the Postal Service getting closer to gaining the right to grant volume discounts, this is an opportune time for Airborne to recalibrate
When the airline industry getting mentioned negative thoughts and emotions rush to peoples’ mind. 9/11 was not too long ago causing a huge drop in revenues and putting many large companies to the brink of bankruptcy. High ticket prices as well as a plethora of additional fees continue to plague frequent air travelers. However amongst all the chaos and disarray, one company continued to show profits and wow its customers. Every year since 1973 Southwest Airlines has continued to be profitable where others have lost millions on dollars. This is due to the genius operating methods put into place that have stressed Southwest’s goals of having low operating costs, low fares, and customer-pleasing service.
This does not mean that the business of providing air transport for passengers cannot be profitable, however, and in fact several carriers have managed to make handsome returns for shareholders and maintain significant profit margins. These companies, interestingly, do not tend to be the largest or even the strongest companies in a certain sense, operating in the industry, but rather are middle-ground players with semi-niche markets and very unique ways of doing business. The following pages will examine one such company and the internal as well as external factors that might have contributed and are contributing to its past and current success.
The company has received a lot of complaints from customers regarding their services. For instance, the company has received a lot of complaints about the flight delays due to mechanical problem or other reasons. Next, customers could not get partial refund if they cancel their flights. Moreover, there are many hidden charges as well. Other than complaints, there is another issue that highlights the poor quality of services of AirAsia Berhad. That is, customer feedbacks are being ignored usually. The poor quality of service might cause the customers to lose loyalty and hence fleeing to other competitors such as Firefly, Malaysia Airline (MAS) and Malindo. It is important for Air Asia to have a good customer service especially when competition is getting intense in aviation industry. Air Asia should maintain a better relationship with customers and provide value to customers or even rectify these
Bharti Airte1, incorporated on Ju1y 7, 1995 is the f1agship company of Bharti Enterprises. The Bharti group has a diverse business portfo1io and has created g1oba1 brands in the te1ecommunication sector. Bharti Airte1, is Asia’s 1eading integrated te1ecom services provider with operations in India and Sri Lanka. Bharti Airte1 has been the forefront of the te1ecom revo1ution and has transformed the sector with its wor1d-c1ass services bui1t on 1eading edge techno1ogies.