Understanding Africa’s business environment: the case of the airline industry

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is the Malaysian national air carrier. It was incorporated during the early days of air travel in 1937. From a humble beginning, MAS has developed into a renowned international airline with award-winning products and services. It managed to achieve cost efficiency and operates slightly below industry average. MAS has gone through several changes in its management over the years and still survives. However, being a national air carrier and government owned, MAS has several constraints in its operation where it has to balance between political and social obligations, and at the same time consider its commercial interest. Thus, some of the decisions on air service destinations, pricing structure and other business factors cannot be made purely based on commercial ground. This had affected the profitability of the airline. Furthermore, the global airline industry was facing turmoil since 11 September 2001 as a result of significant decline in air travel demand as well as the increase in fuel cost. Without exception, MAS was also badly hit and had recorded a substantial RM 1.3 billion loss in 2005. The bad market environment at that time continues to hit MAS hard. Hence, it was inevitable for the airline to make drastic changes in order to respond to the volatile business environment. Therefore, a real and radical business turnaround plan was imperative for MAS. Introduced in 2006, the Business Turnaround Plan (BTP) managed to bring MAS out of its financial crisis within two years of its implementation. This case highlights the winning strategies and action plans implemented by MAS in the BTP that had successfully turnaround this national air carrier from a deep financial crisis. As a result, from a substantial loss of RM 1.3 billion in 2005, MAS achieved a record-breaking profit of RM 610 million in 2007.

Download Full-text

Getting Customers Online

Electronic Commerce ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-943-4.ch008 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 66-83

Author(s):

Reima Suomi

Keyword(s):

Airline Industry ◽

Real Life ◽

Business Environment ◽

Original Research ◽

Web Based ◽

Shipping Company ◽

Reservation System ◽

Online Reservation ◽

Language Areas ◽

Start Ups

This article discusses the introduction of a Web-based electronic reservation system to an established Finnish shipping company. It is based on a real-life example and original research. In the literature, we see that online reservation systems in the airline industry are well studied, but less so in the maritime industries. We describe major changes in the business environment of the company. Our case company, Luxury Ferries Inc., introduced a new electronic reservation system in August 2000. Some of the findings include: established companies have very different needs and priorities in e-commerce than start-ups. E-commerce puts companies operating in several countries and several language areas under high pressure: through Web services the customers now find it easier to compare offerings in different countries and to display opportunistic behavior.

Download Full-text

Human Resource Development in Airline Industry: A Study on HRD Initiatives of Indian

Atna Journal of Tourism Studies ◽

10.12727/ajts.2.10 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 106-115

Author(s):

Joby Thomas ◽

P Pakkeerappa

Keyword(s):

Human Resource Development ◽

Human Resource ◽

Airline Industry ◽

Resource Development ◽

Business Environment ◽

Business Strategies ◽

Training Centre ◽

Knowledge Based ◽

Knowledge Based Economy ◽

Tourism Enterprises

Human Resource Development is a continuous process to ensure the development of employee competencies, dynamism, motivation and effectiveness in a systematic and planned way Globalization intensified the competition among tourism enterprises and resulted in the emergence of a knowledge-based economy. The knowledge -based economy utilizes the skills of the workforce to the full and prompts new ways of thinking about Human Resource Development (HRD) by organizations. Without the positive HRD activities, it would be difficult for tourism enterprises to stay alive in the fast changing world. Liberalization of the economy and its improvement towards globalization has brought in new challenges for Indian business in terms of business strategies, technology, quality concerns; cost effectiveness, management systems etc. By developing individuals and deprived groups through various learning experiences in a definite time period, the job performance in an organization could be improved. HRD is expected to play a crucial role in airline industry to cope with the challenges of advancement in technology, changing markets, industry restructuring and more competitive domestic and international business environment. Effective management of delivery process helps to differentiate an ordinary and excellent airline. To achieve the status of an excellent airline, Indian has training facilities committed to seriously perfecting skills of their valued employees. In order to achieve its human resource development objectives, Indian Airlines (as Indian previously known to the world) established its own Management Training Centre (MTC) for executive development This paper is an attempt by the authors to analyse the HRD initiatives of our national domestic carrier, Indian to enhance the competencies of its employees. The paper also points to the need of the airline to incorporate the spirit of HRD in its day today functioning by embracing the all possible human resource systems and mechanisms to the organization.

Download Full-text

An Integrated Optimal Approach to Fare Pricing, Seat Inventory Control, and Fare Class Segmentation in Airline Industry with Demand Leakage

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e551182013-017 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Syed Asif Raza

Keyword(s):

Inventory Control ◽

Airline Industry ◽

Optimal Approach ◽

Seat Inventory Control ◽

Class Segmentation

Download Full-text

From Craft to Institution: Accounting in Italy from the Middle ages to the Early Modern Period

Voprosy Ekonomiki ◽

10.32609/0042-8736-2012-11-135-152 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 135-152 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

O. Volkova

Keyword(s):

Early Modern ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Social Economic ◽

Early Modern Period ◽

Social Institution ◽

Business Environment ◽

Technical Standards ◽

Medieval Italy ◽

Modern Period ◽

Professional Field

The article describes the evolution of accounting from the simple registration technique to economic and social institution in medieval Italy. We used methods of institutional analysis and historical research. It is shown that the institutionalization of accounting had been completed by the XIV century, when it became a system of codified technical standards, scholar discipline and a professional field. We examine the interrelations of this process with business environment, political, social, economic and cultural factors of Italy by the XII—XVI centuries. Stages of institutionalization are outlined.

Download Full-text

Corruption as “one‑stop‑shop”: theory and empirical analysis

Voprosy Ekonomiki ◽

10.32609/0042-8736-2018-9-32-51 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 32-51

Author(s):

R. Yu. Kochnev ◽

L. I. Polishchuk ◽

A. Yu. Rubin

Keyword(s):

Comparative Analysis ◽

Business Environment ◽

Enterprise Performance ◽

Double Jeopardy ◽

One Stop ◽

The Commons ◽

Public Production ◽

Performance Project ◽

The Impact ◽

Sector Theory

We present the comparative analysis of the impact of centralized and decentralized corruption for private sector. Theory and empirical evidence point out to a “double jeopardy” of decentralized corruption which increases the burden of corruption upon private firms and weakens the incentives of bureaucracy to provide public production inputs, such as infrastructure. These outcomes are produced by simultaneous free-riding and the tragedy of the commons effects. The empirical part of the paper utilizes data of the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance project.

Download Full-text

Working Together

Conference Proceedings of the Academy for Design Innovation Management ◽

10.33114/adim.2019.05.259 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Randi Veiteberg KVELLESTAD ◽

Ingeborg STANA ◽

VATN Gunhild

Keyword(s):

Design Education ◽

Critical Evaluation ◽

Business Environment ◽

Arts And Crafts ◽

Action Research Project ◽

Student Groups ◽

Different Types ◽

Working Together ◽

Personal Qualities ◽

Manual Skills

Teamwork involves different types of interactions—specifically cooperation andcollaboration—that are necessary in education and many other professions. The differencesbetween cooperation and collaboration underline the teacher’s role in influencing groupdynamics, which represent both a foundation for professional design education and aprequalification for students’ competences as teachers and for critical evaluation. As a testcase, we focused on the Working Together action-research project in design education forspecialised teacher training in design, arts, and crafts at the Oslo Metropolitan University,which included three student groups in the material areas of drawing, ceramics, and textiles.The project developed the participants’ patience, manual skills, creativity, and abilities,which are important personal qualities for design education and innovation and representcornerstones in almost every design literacy and business environment. The hope is thatstudents will transform these competences to teaching pupils of all ages in their futurecareers.

Download Full-text