Case Study: Qantas Crisis

The Qantas group aviation industry was established in 1920 in Queensland outback of Australia. It also known in another name is Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited. Red Kangaroo is the logo of the firm, Qantas group are well known its own two brand airlines such as Qantas brand and Jetstar Brand. The headquarters of the company are located in Mascot, Sydney, Australia with a vision of “World Best Premium and Low Fare Airlines.” By the end of June 2011, Qantas was flying to 208 destinations in 46 countries, operating more than 5,700 flights a week across all its brands domestically and more than 970 international flights. It moved 44.5 million passengers. The crisis which faced Qantas during 2011, is said have commenced in 1990 when the airline industry started going through a deregulation by the Australian government. During 1993 Qantas and Australian Airlines were merged and Qantas partly Continue reading

Strategic Lenses

Organisations strategic issues are commonly analysed from different strategy lenses. Strategic lenses are a concept of strategic management. The lenses are different ways of viewing strategy development. It examines the flow of tasks and information, or how you get things done. Each lens reveals many different traits and qualities. Using the strategic lens, one looks to optimize workflow to meet the goals and objectives of the company. This article  a  will cover four angles from which strategy can be viewed and implemented on a corporate level; they are strategy as design, strategy as experience, strategy as ideas and strategy as discourse. 1. Strategy as a Design This takes the view that strategy development  can be a local process in which the forces and constraints on the organisation are weighted carefully through analytic and evaluative techniques to establish clear strategy direction. This creates conditions in which carefully planned strategy implementation should Continue reading

Organizational Downsizing – Definition and Reasons

Organizational downsizing is the conscious use of permanent personnel reductions in an attempt to improve efficiency and/or effectiveness. Downsizing is being regarded by management as one of the preferred routes to turning around declining organizations, cutting cost and improving organizational performance most often as a cost-cutting measure. Main Reasons for Organizational Downsizing Corporate downsizing has been the biggest fallout of the troubled times, the world is witnessing. As we continue our efforts to fight the global downturn, downsizing has become a stark reality. There are a number of reasons why a company downsizes its employee base. Merging of two or more firms: When a certain firm combines its operations with another firm and operates as a single entity, in order to stay in profit or expand the market reach, it is called a merger. In case of a merger, certain positions become redundant. The same work is done by two Continue reading

Case Study: Kraft’s Takeover of Cadbury

Cadbury’s origins date back to almost two centuries when it was founded by John Cadbury who started the business by selling cocoa and tea in Birmingham, UK. Later he expanded by starting a line of beverages after a merger with Indian Schweppes changing the company name to Cadbury Schweppes. Successful product developments and launches have enabled Cadbury to boast of an extensive confectionery line consisting of Cocoa Essence, Easter Eggs, Milk Chocolate, Cadbury Fingers, Dairy Milk, Bourneville Chocolate, Milk Tray, Flake Creme Egg, Crunchie, Picnic, Curly windy, Wispa boost, Twirl and Time Out. Kraft, on the other hand, is a US company about a century old, which started off as a door to door cheese business but expanded into other confectionery items through many takeovers previously such as Ritz Crackers, Nabisco (Oreos) and Phenix Cheese Corporation (Philadelphia Cheese) to achieve success. It is second in terms of sales and popularity Continue reading

Moving to Blue Ocean Strategy – Shift from Red Ocean to Blue Ocean

In global market today, it can be supposed that there are two typical kinds of oceans: read oceans and blue oceans. Of two sorts of market, red oceans are defined as a known space for all existent industries nowadays. On the contrary, blue oceans are regarded as an unknown area for industries which do not exist. As a result, red oceans present all existing rules related to business competition and industrial regulations. This market defines and determines the boundaries for all games and rules. In this market, companies strive to compete with their competitors and rivals in order to gain better benefit and dominate more market share of current demand. Therefore, red oceans provide for space for enterprises to focus on their competition for decades. However, the space is limited while competitive battles are becoming increasingly fierce. There are more and more participants wanting to invest in the same products. Continue reading

Building a Successful Corporate Culture

Building a strategy-supportive corporate culture is important to successful strategy execution because it produces a work climate and organizational esprit de corps that thrive on meeting performance targets and being part of a winning effort. An organization’s culture emerges from why and how it does things the way it does, the values and beliefs that senior managers espouse, the ethical standards expected of organization members, the tone and philosophy underlying key policies, and the traditions the organization maintains. Culture thus concerns the atmosphere and feeling a company has and the style in which it gets things done. Very often, the elements of company culture originate with a founder or other early influential leaders who articulate the values, beliefs, and principles to which the company should adhere, and that then get incorporated into company policies, a creed of values statement, strategies, and operating practices. Over time, these values and practices become Continue reading