Introduction
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British airways (BA) is the organisation chosen for this individual report. BA has the biggest
Airport in London. BA traces its origins back to early days of civil aviation, pioneering days
following World War I. British Airway is the leading dealer in domestic and international
freights as well as other supplementary services. In this report I will give an extensive coverage
of the organisation’s brief history, evaluation of the marketing environment that affects business
operations of British Airways. Marketing strategies which includes Market Research,
Segmentation-Targeting-Positioning and Marketing Mix will be elaborated in details to establish
survival business tactics of British airways in the industry of aviation.
Overview of British Airways
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In September 1974, The British Airways Group(BA) was formed. This was later after a
collaboration of two large London based airlines British Airways Corp. and British European
Airways (British Airways Company Profile).
BA is the UK the leading airline since it is the best dealer in the largest international and
domestic freights as well as ancillary services and mails (Bathgate, 2003).
According to the annual report of 2009/2010, BA has already the earnings of 8 million pounds
revenue. In the same report it stated that it has over 300 destinations worldwide. (British Airways
2009/10 Annual Report and Accounts)
In the BA’s website, it can be established that in the year 1987, the organisation proved to be a
greater contender in the market especially after its privatization. The event of privatization led
the same organisation to be listed in the stock exchange of United Kingdom in the same year of
privatization. (British Airways Company Profile). In the same website it is clear that BA is the
first airline to introduce greenhouse-offsetting. All this activities has led to BA being the leader
in the domestic and international trips worldwide. As a result BA was branded the World’s
Favorite airliner.
Aims and objectives of British Airways
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For obvious reasons individuals to organisations all enter to business to make profits and to
dictate the behavior of the market. Considering that aviation industry is apparently one of the
most lucrative businesses, participants have no choice than to strategise prudently in order to
gain the realistic returns of this industry. It is out of this same understanding that led BA to have
the following aims and objectives which resulted to them dictating large share of the aviation
industry;
General objective of BA
According to the BA’s Annual Report of the year 2009/2010, the main strategic aim was to be
the main airline in the industry both domestic and international freights. This objective is divided
into three objectives;
1. Premium
2. Global
3. Airline
Premium objective part is for ensuring that customers pay more for the services they receive
from BA since the services are unique. This objective aims that all the passengers will receive
top level quality services whenever they travel with British Airways. This strategy has ensured
that customers continue using the airline and thus BA has successfully created a repeat-
customers situation in their business since customers have realized that the services they receive
from BA is worth paying slightly more than others. (British Airways 2009/10 Annual Report and
Accounts)
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Global objective of BA is solely to maintain the status of the airline as the main operator in the
aviation industry by appealing to all customers both business trips and for leisure (British
Airways 2009/10 Annual Report and Accounts)
Airline objective of BA is to remain in the business of the aviation industry. In the business BA
intends to incorporate this by ensuring that they continue carrying passengers and cargo with the
newest and modest equipment. (British Airways 2009/10 Annual Report and Accounts)
Specific strategic objectives of British Airways
According to the BA annual report, the organisation has five strategic objectives to enable them
stay relevant in the market;
1) To be the airline of choice. Premium customers are the main source in profitability of the
organisation. BA intends to use their deep understanding of what is it takes to be their airline of
choice in the industry of aviation (British Airways 2009/10 Annual Report and Accounts).
2) Deliver Top Quality services. BA’s staffs have been trained to offer the best services when
they face off customers on all their routes as well as all classes. This is to enhance the premium
and unique services to passengers.(British Airways 2009/10 Annual Report and Accounts).
3) Extend their presence to global cities. BA aims to enhance its global connectivity to all
customers in all the major cities around the world. Considering they offer unique services, they
then aspire to woo more customers in the cities where other airline operators serve. (British
Airways 2009/10 Annual Report and Accounts)
4) Maintain their position in London. Aware that London is the homeland of BA, it then means
that there is emotional and sentimental attachment of London customers to BA as opposed to
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other airlines operating in London as well. On the other hand, London is the financial heartbeat
of many businesses in the United Kingdom. This implies that BA is more likely to gain this
advantage whereby their business will boom financially bearing in mind that BA the national
carrier of Britain. (www.britishairways.com)
5) Meet customers’ needs. BA’s revue returns are by far realistic at least according to the
2009/2010 annual report of BA. This objective is meant to meeting with the needs of their
customers out of the revenues the airline generates. To ensure that revenues of BA are not
affected this objective, BA intends to boost and amplify their revenues by providing other
lucrative supplementary businesses to their customers. (British Airways 2009/10 Annual Report
and Accounts)
Marketing environment that are affecting British Airways
According to Kotler (2002), a wide-ranging, complete, and unprejudiced as well as time-to-time
evaluation is handy of a marketing environment of any organisation’s business if at all the
business needs to succeed. This has to be done in line with strategies and activities of the
business all aimed at determining the weaknesses and strength of the organisation (Kotler, 2002)
Since the environment of market is dynamic, it keeps on changing faces as conditions changes,
and then a systemized analysis of these conditions has to be done as follows:
Competition
Long-haul and short-haul flights are the main markets BA operates. This implies that BA is
being faced with competitions in all the markets it’s operating in. For instance, long-haul market
routes have other operators such Emirates which poses a strong competition since it also
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provides same services but at a cheaper prices. On the other hand, EasyJet is another example in
the short-haul market which is amongst other players in the same market who are competing
with BA to provide services to customers in domestic flights at relatively cheaper prices.
Therefore BA competes on global, European, national and regional scale (Rodgers, 2002)
Environmental factors
Former CEO of BA once said that the operators in the industry of aviation should be cognizant
of the fact global warming is a real dragon that must be fought. All energies should be spurred in
a spirited effort of reducing the emission of greenhouse gasses. One of the major reasons as to
why the former CEO said that was the fact that climate change which is a result of greenhouse
effect also affects business for the airline in UK since BA and other airlines experiences a small
number of travelers especially when it’s warm. The government of UK as well is imposes heavy
levies in form of pollution taxes on the airlines so as to commensurate on the amount of
greenhouse gasses emitted as they make their trips. (British Airways Company)
Political factor
Government and political instability affect the smooth any airline company. The case in point is
Arab spring witnessed in a number of North Africa’s countries like Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and
Middle East such as Syria. Such chaotic occasions affected BA. It translated to BA cancelling
trips to those countries (Syrett, 2007)
Economic factor
Recession is the global phenomenon. This implies that BA is obviously a victim in the sense that
since 2001 its share price has been steeply declining. A fluctuation in the prices of fuel has been
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cited as a factor that affects the costs of operation of BA. The insurance cost of BA has been
increasingly becoming since the element of terrorism globally is on the rise lately. As a result,
declining of the operations of the organisation and cutting travelling cost is eminent (Syrett,
2007)
Market Research, Segmentation-Targeting-Positioning and Marketing Mix of BA
Market research attempts to investigate the reasons behind the customers’ behavior, that is, why
he or she chose British Airways and also how they rank the airline compared to other
competitors. Customers’ perception about BA in comparison with other competitors (Doyle,
1994)
According to Kotler (2002) growth of the organisation is the essential business tool used to
evaluate methods of expanding business in the already established market.
Initialization of the market; Bethgate (2003) illustrates the best ways of introducing a new
product or services to the already existing or to a completely new market. The latter is
specifically concerned of the enlarging the customer base of the organisation. By increasing the
number routes and destinations of BAIt will ensure that revenues are realistic as well as
maintaining their competitive advantage (Bethgate, 2003).
Diversification; this is where the company ventures into new market to introduce products which
are the same as the ones in the existing market. BA have diversifications in the sense that they
have introduced new products in the same industry – beside dealing in long-haul and short-haul,
BA provides other supplementary services which are lucrative. BA introduced its holiday
package which falls in the hospitality and tourism industry (Bethgate, 2003).
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Product: Product is what is what the customer aims to get from the business. This is done by
introducing new stuff into the market or by renovating or even rebranding the already existing
products. BA introduced a new ways to satisfy customers’ needs. The internet innovation was to
have customers browsing online to check their status. Purchase of modernized and heavy flying
machines by BA was a better way of developing world-class services to their esteemed
customers. These entire made BA to enjoy sort of have a monopoly in the aviation industry
(Bethgate, 2003).
Marketing mix
In accordance to Kotler (2002), a product or a service is a proposition in a market intended to
meet the demands of a buyer. Thus this is significant element in the analyzing of the marketing
mix which entails; place, price and promotion (Kotler, 2002).
Marketing strategies are means by which company’s objectives can be achieved. Generally
marketing mix can be summed to be 4Ps as follows;
Price. It is the only part of the marketing mix that generates revenue. Price is the return of the
service rendered or a product. So as for BA maximize their profits, it has an effective pricing
strategy in their prices which is as follows; Premium to cater for higher prices, medium for the
medium prices and economy for the low-priced services. This gives the customer an open
leeway to decide the category that fits his/her status. (Bethgate, 2003).
Product: this is what the organisation has for trade in order to meet the demand of the customer
thus it’s the main component in the Marketing Mix. BA showcases its product by taking
customers feedback concerning the services rendered to them as well as products. As a result,
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BA has enhanced its public relations and they have been able to offer new innovated products
and services to their clients. (Kotler, 2002)
Promotion: every company promotes their products to get into the market. Every company
develops different marketing strategies to in order to command bigger market share. BA chose to
utilize their promotional strategy to woo more customers. Particularly BA introduced mobile
services. In addition to that, they introduced texting for their customers. These promotions
resulted into modernizing the organisation and growth of their (Kotler, 2002).
Place: every organisation needs a place as a location for their business. London is the city from
which BA operates; most of its undertakings are done here and other cities where the airlines
make routes. (Kotler, 2002).
Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
Segmentation
Doyle (1994) sums up segmentation as the praxis of splitting the customers into categories that
are comparable in some ways and are similar in particular ways. Marketer has to determine
which segment offer the best opportunity for achieving company objectives (Doyle, 1994). BA
has conducted this type of research to establish their potential demographic audience, and
consequently be able to design a product or service that suits their customers accordingly. Long-
haul market, BA is the most reputed for operating long distances. Segmentation of BA is
increasing the number of destinations to other major cities so as to target more customers
globally. Short-haul market, BA has an equal focus on the market that makes domestic flights as
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it has on the international flights. This is because many of the UK airline companies are
operating domestic flights (British Airways 2009/10 Annual Report and Accounts).
Targeting
An evaluation is done by an organisation in order to establish the appropriate market segment.
Target market signifies only those segments that it wants to adopt as its market. Chosen segment
must be relevant, accessible, sizable and profitable. BA achieves these targets by monitoring
customers’ views in relation to the services rendered to them. BA then uses this information to
compare with other operators in the market in order to see what they need to improve on their
brands and investments. (British Airways 2009/10 Annual Report and Accounts).
Positioning
Positioning involves implementing the target of a company. The main aim of this marketing mix
is to craft a distinctive and a profitable standing in the market. The best way to ensure that a
company has a profitable standing in the market is by proffering to customers products or
services that they don’t receive from other operators. In so doing customers’ heart shall have
been won. British Airways positions itself in the market through the following ways; being the
only company that is national carrier n UK, it then tends to attract customers from London
because of the love and pride of the nation. Competitors find it hard to thrive in the same
environment just because of the fact that they don’t originate from London as BA does. Also, BA
offer unique products and services that are of top quality at different categories of prices
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depending on the capability and the desirability of customers. The outstanding and unique
services are rendered by highly trained staff of BA.( (British Aairways Strategic Report, 2009).
Conclusion
From the foregoing discussion, it is clear that strategies in the marketing are crucially important
for any organisation to thrive well and dictate a larger market share. This is the same force of
reason that has led BA to be the leading airliner in the entire UK in the face of other operators in
the same aviation industry. In summary, BA chose to provide unique services to its customers.
Services they provided were unique as compared to what other competitors were providing.
Prices of their services were premium. This aspect in particular has made BA to face stiff
challenge in dictating a larger market share since other airlines for example EasyJet were
providing the same services at low prices. Over and above that, BA chose to promote their
business further by tacking the views and suggestions of their customers. As result of that,
products they offered were renovated and their level of investments increased; they increased the
number of terminus globally. Finally, for BA to experience “repeated-customers”, they undertake
to use part of their revenues to meet all of their customers’ needs and desires. In return they build
a foundation of loyal customers who were willing to pay a little more for the unique and
premium services in both long-haul and short-haul.
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Reference list
British Airways Strategic Report 2009
Bathgate I. (2003), Designing pricing and strategies and programs, Lecture notes, University of
East London.
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British Airways 2009/10 Annual Report and Accounts
Rodgers D. (2002) Cheap flights or decent service? – Low-cost airlines have had their
honeymoon and people are beginning to notice the service. How will budget carriers respond?,
marketing : Haymarket Publications Ltd.
Doyle P. (1994), Marketing Management and strategy (2nd edition), Building successful brands,
Prentice Hall Europe
Kotler P.(2002), marketing Management (3rd edition), Setting the product and branding
strategy, Prentice Hall International
Syrette Michael (2007) The Economist: Managing uncertainty strategies for surviving and
thriving in turbulent times: Haymarket Publications Ltd.
www.britishairways.com, accessed on 22/08/2014