Please anyone help me do this assignment. Please read the Swissair stuck in the
ID: 363709 • Letter: P
Question
Please anyone help me do this assignment.
Please read the Swissair stuck in the middle case study and answer the following questions
1) Summarize the case and your understanding of it
2) What are the factors in a firm`s culture that may keep it from clearly choosing a strategy and also allow structured decision making similar to that which led to the crash of Swiss Flight 111
3) Would you classify airlines that seek to be both low cost and differentiation as being stuck in the middle? Why or why not?
4) What would be the means to avoid being stuck in the middle?
Please write atleast 2-3 paragraph of each question in your own words.
Thank you.
SWISSAIR: STUCK IN THE MIDDLE Historically, Swissair was one of the Swissair itself was a major European through a differentiation strategy flagship international businesses in carrier offering a differentiated ser and aims to set new benchmarks in Switzerland, and the airline was ce, but then the firm had sought to customer service and product quality known for excellent quality throughoutn bankrupt and troubled air- Swiss International Airlines operates a Europe. Swissair, however, filed for lines throughout Europe that wereodange of short and long-haul bankruptcy in early 2001. It had operating with low-cost strategies. As aircraft sought to be a global player but never result, Swissair's image became was able to reach the critical mass blurred. Was it a high-quality airlinestrong direction and make decisions needed to be successful. In large part or a regional airline? Was it offering when faced with a crisis is reflected in these problems were rooted in the fact a differentiated product or a low-cost more than just the firm's bankruptcy. In that the airline never developed a product? clear strategy. The firm, in the late 1980s, sought to form an alliance egy was, as stated earlier, bank- United States. The pilots smelled smoke with high-quality airlines in Eroperuptcy. At the time of the filing Swisand requested that they be diverted to AUA, KML, and SAS), all of which sair grounded its fleet, stranding a nearby airport for an emergency followed a differentiation strategy. thousands of customers throughout landing. The pilots then, in accordance The alliance failed, however, because the world. The Swiss are known as it was never clear who was to lead the stoic people, but in response to the unknown origin, shut off the power sup- alliance. Swissair the expand into small regional airlines. the streets, in one of the largest dem- For example, in 1995 the firm bought onstrations by the Swiss in recent circulation fans to shut 49.9 percent of Belgian Sabena Air-memory, with 10,000 participants lines, and later pursued a major investment in the Polish Airline LOT.situation in Swi Swissair also bought a 70 percent the 1970s when the Swiss watch share in a low-cost regional airline industry collapsed. However, that named Crossair. These regional air- industry has been aided by an inno- lines had significant problems, how vative new watch enterprise, Swatch ever, and Swissair did not have which created a major new position expertise in restructuring airlines-itthe Swiss in the watch industry: the was not even able to reorganize its differentiated fashion watch. How- own cost structure Swissair's inability to identify a 1998, 229 people died in the crash of The outcome of this confused strata Swissair flight from Europe to th with the rules when faced with smoke of n sought to grounding, citizens demonstrated in ply to the cabin. But in this case, follow ing the rules to the letter caused the The only comparable corporate cockpit. Ultima caused the fire to spread back into the the fire destroyed itzerland occurred inthe various control systems, and cause the plane to crash. This lack of creative decision making is often cited as an example of when following the rules can be the wrong decision. This deci- sion making will be covered in more detail later in the book. ever, no new product category hasBonsu, H. (2001). A nation in shock: Swis In reviewing the airline's actions, yet been created for the Swiss airlinesair crisis. BBC News. hftp://news.bbc.co. ndustry. In the wake oft ssair appeared to lack strategy-it was attempting to use Swissair, Swiss International Airlines both the low-cost strategy and the dif- was created from Crossair. Swiss ferentiation strategy at the same time nternational Airlines is currently posi- by investing in various airlines. tioning itself as a premium airlin One. www.wsj.com. rammes/crossing_continents Garstka, M. (2002, April 4). When global strategies go wrongExplanation / Answer
Ans 1) The case deals with Swissair's plea for Bankruptcy and the sequence of events leading up to said bankruptcy. It appears that the major cause behind this was an unplanned expansion with undefined project leaders and timelines. Whimsical alliances with other major European Airlines also contributed to loss of originality. Swissair had a long-standing tradition of differantiated service offering. But due to the turmoil, their service offering was severely impacted leading to falling standards and loss of revenue. The final nail in Swissair's coffin came in the form of an aircrash leading to loss of 229 lives. Lack of improvised decision-making, extreme standardisationa and the crew's inability to think on their feet were responsible for this crash. Swissair is currently aiming to improve itself by formulating new ways of improving customer-experience and offering a more differentiated service.
Ans 2) The 2 major contributing factors in case of lack of clear decision making and strict adherence to procedure without creative thinking are:
Ans 3) Yes. Low cost and differentiation are 2 factors that all airlines have to battle if they want to survive in the competitive market.
Ans 4) Optimisation is the key in such a scenario and all airlines must fined effective dynamic optimisation strategies. There is no point in staying stuck. The only way forward is to move ahead.