Business Management of Qantas Environment

Question: Discuss about the Business Management of Qantas Environment. Answer: Introduction The report is all about the business management of the organization in the general and specific environment. For the discussion, Qantas airlines will be taken. In the report, one factor from the general environment and one factor from the specific environment will be taken. The report will focus on the specific aspects of the organization by critical analysis. Qantas Airlines limited is one of the popular national airlines of Australia. This is the biggest airline in the Australian Airline industry and this is also the oldest working airline in the world. The Headquarter of the Qantas Airlines is Mascot Suburb, Sydney. The Airlines started its operations in 1920 with the name Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited. Now, in the present time Qantas is the famous long distance airline across the world. The mission of the company is to operate as the best airline across the world and to be the low cost airline in the world (Qantas airline, 2016). The main objectives of the Qantas Airlines are as follows: To ensure security and safety of the passengers through best safety services, To provide best customer services to its travelers and passengers, To improve the productivity of the company by continuous operational efficiency, To develop and prove Qantas as the best company in terms of low cost, and To provide best route for traveling by selecting proper and right way and aircraft. After some time, Qantas group has divided the services in to two airlines named Qantas and Jetstar. The company has various brands i.e. Qantas Frequent Flyer, Jetstar, Qantas freight, and Q-catering. These brands are operating in domestic, regional and international market having in-flight catering and travel services. This airline is a commercial airline. The main focus of the company is to adopt strong marketing policy such as operation policy and customer services. In this report, the aim is to strategically analyze business operations of Qantas Airlines (Qantas Airways, 2010). For this, environmental analysis in terms of general and specific factors will be done. It has been seen that the Qantas Airlines has evolved in this industry and also facing competition in the market. Along with this, there are many factors the can affect the business operations of the company. The CSR activities adopted by the company will also be described in the report. Organizations general environment General environment of the company includes those factors or conditions that generally affect the business operations in an industry or market. Those factors are legal, economic, social, political, and circumstances. These factors can be rules and regulations imposed by the government on trade practices, taxation or employment rule and climate. The climate in the business is such in which the customers have purchasing power and willingness to purchase the specific product or services. The business operation of the Qantas is affected by many environmental factors. The company is affected by political, technological, economic, social, legal and socio cultural factors. One of the general environment factor is economic factor which significantly on the business of Qantas. The performance of Australian economy is declining and also affecting the performance level of the company. The performance of Qantas Airlines has been affected by the economic condition of Australian market. There was financial crisis in the market that impacts the airline and hit the market. Along with this, the airline industry is also affected by the increased prices of oil and crude. There is instability in the economic situations in Australian market and that is the reason the business of the Qantas Airlines is affecting more (Pash, 2016). In the airline industry, there is strong competition in the market due to low cost airlines. There are many airlines which are attracting the customers by providing low cost services to them. Customers, now a days are very smart and they are able to compare the prices of the airlines through internet. Internet has made this thing very easy for them. Due to the competition, the Qantas has launched its carrier Jet Star. Along with this, another impact on the airlines is that the rates of business class carriers and first class travels are decreasing continuously. Their rates have come down drastically over the last few years. All the major airline companies found that the reducing rates in the business class and first class are one of the main causes of reducing the cost of the company. Qantas airlines are also facing same issue in the industry. On the other hand, the operators of airlines are reducing their costs by finding the instability in the system. So, they are putting efforts to reduce their operational costs. The main challenge for the Qantas is develop the financial cycle and indentify the investment opportunity for the business. Due to increment in the fuel prices, the Qantas has faced losses in last year (Lawton, 2002). The economic factors of the market are affecting the business of the company but it is important to deal with those factors for the success in the industry. As the business operator, the company cannot control the economic factors. Due to changes in the prices of fuel and crude, Qantas has faced many problems. By some strategic decisions, company will be able to overcome from the impact of economic factors. There is a need to adopt more aggressive and customized to cover Asian market. Company can import the oil and crude from such nations where the prices of fuel are low. Along with this, to overcome from the competition, company should provide innovative services with the travelling services. To deal with these factors, communication is the best option. Employees in the company can join the hands to solve the problem. The most important need of the business is to make money on the continuous basis (Qantas, 2015). To deal with the economic factors, it is important to focus on some po ints and those are as follows: There is the need in the Qantas to focus on the demand of customer for getting success in the market. The demand of the customers is the low cost traveling experience with the innovative services. Market research shows that consumers are now using technology to compare the prices and services. They switch to that airline which has low prices. So, there is the need to understand the demands of the customers. Company should do innovation in its services time to time (Roades Waguespack, 2008). This is another economic factor. High tax on the fuel and oil encourages the customers to switch to other airlines. Increasing charges of tickets are also affecting the decision of the customers. This situation can be deal by keeping the average rates for the customers. Along with this, company can provide attractive offers to the passengers (Law Leung, 2000). Organizations specific environment The specific environment of the organization can be described as the forces the environment from outside of the organization. These forces or environment are directly connected to the success of the organization because they have direct impact on the decision making process of the organization. The factor s of specific environment is unique and can be change according to the conditions. The important factors in the specific environment are suppliers, competitors, customers, and pressure groups. Customers are the important part of the company because they are the key of success. The company is providing good services to its customers. The company is trying to provide quality services to its customers because the buying and consumption behavior of the consumers are very important for the future growth. It has been observed that consumers are switching towards low cost airlines. Because of excess in their requirements, consumers of Qantas airlines are switching towards other airlines. But still, Qantas airlines are trying to identify the needs of the customers (Ranaweera Prabhu, 2003). The result is that it is the second largest airline in the Australia. The company is trying to provide different range of services to various customers and for this, it is operating its services for regional areas and international markets. Still having these services, the customers want more and they are switching to other low cost airlines. Failure in the services can lead negative impact on the customers and the company (Lewis McCann, 2004). Customers have lots of expectations from the airlines regarding prices, quality, and support of the employees etc. the company is always trying to fulfill the needs of the customers. But at some point, the company is failure in terms of providing services. The failure of the service can be the cause of customer dissatisfaction so there is the need to adopt some strategies (Lovelock, Wirtz, 2007). Those strategies can be: Company needs to identify that where is the problem. It involves identifying the problem and solving it quickly. There can be many problems such booking services, website error, aircraft services, quality, price, and behavior of the employees. There is a need to identify the problems by the company so that it could provide better services to the customers. After identification of the problem, the main aim of the company should be the recovery of the problem. By focusing on the cause of the problem, company will be able to deal with those factors which are creating the problems. Website error can be a problem because of server failure and behavior of the employee cannot be so good due to lack of motivation. Because of lack of attention, there can be issues related to the price and quality (Babbar Koufteros, 2008). Company can adopt proper strategy such as communicating the customers to tell about the problem. By communicating with the customers, the company will be able to get feedback from the customers. Along with this, the company will be able to explain the reason behind the failure of services. This will ensure the customers about the loyalty of the company towards the customers. Employees should be trained by the company to overcome from the failure of services. This is because the customer satisfaction depends upon the actions, judgment of the customers and decision making power. So, it is very important that company train its employees for providing the best quality services. Training of the employees should include the providing assurance to the customers who are facing problems in the services provided by the company. Along with this, training must include empower and motivate the employees at the time of failure, and focus on the satisfaction of the employees so that they can provide customer satisfaction. These training parts will be helpful for the company to recover the problems in the services (Zeithaml, Bithner Gremler, 2009). Qantas airlines can adopt the above discussed strategies for retaining the customers. It will also be helpful to recover from the services problems and failures by effective training, communication with the customers, and explanation regarding service failures. Apart from this, apology is the good option that can be adopted by the company (Cranage, 2004). CSR strategies by Qantas Qantas airlines are leading airlines in the Australian airline industry. With its good services, it has pleased its customers. This is the biggest airline in the Australian Airline industry and this is also the oldest working airline in the world. In the company there are some ethics related to the business operations. The company is using CSR strategies to strengthen its business in the Australian market (Coye, 2004). Qantas is using the fuel efficient planes and aircrafts such as Boeingdream lines 787 which is very much fuel efficient. In the Jet Star, the Aerodynamic drag is used by the company which is also very fuel effective. Along with this, the company is concerned with the conserving of fossil fuel which helps the company to save the fuel. With this strategy, company is able to save more than 4.9 million of fuel per year. This strategy of saving fuel has decreased the issue of sustainability to save the ecological balance. In todays market, customers are very concerned about the environment and they chose those services which are sustainable and environment friendly. So, the customers are associated with Qantas because it has the environmental friendly services by saving the fuel (Christopher, Payne Ballantyne, 2002). Qantas is trying to maintain its brand image strong in the market. Consumers and employees are because of the quality of services of Qantas but they want more than their needs, wants and expectations. To provide safe and secure working environment to the employees is very important for the company. There are many efforts done by the company to reduce the workplace hazards related to the health and safety of the employees in the social responsibility. Qantas also has made significant efforts to promote the workplace diversity by different measures. The organizations social performance is found positive in terms of representation of female in the board membership. The Qantas has raised its female representation in the board by 8% to 25% and in the foundation board, female representation is 57%. Along with this, Qantas has also adopted proactive attitudes for the flexible work environment for its employees. By doing this, Qantas is able to meet the national requirements. Sometimes compa ny provides necessary balance in the work life of the employees (Greatbrook, 2016). Personal quiz Culture of the organization is very important for the growth and success. The organizational culture is different in every organization. For the Qantas airlines, an analysis has been done on the basis of personal insights quiz. The scoring in the quiz is given below: I like the thrill and excitement from taking risk- 4 I prefer managers who provide detailed and expectations for their decisions- 5 If a persons job performance is inadequate, its irrelevant how much effort he or she made-5 No persons needs should be compromised in order for a department to achieve its goals-4 I like being part of a team and having my performance assessed in terms of my contribution to the team-5 I like to work where there is not a great deal of pressure and where people are essentially easygoing-4 I like things to be stable and predictable-5 According to the quiz, if the sum of the score is above 22, so it can be said that the culture of the organization is informal, flexible, and innovative. The company has humanistic and strong culture. According to me, I will be fit into this organization very well because the company always focuses on the benefit of the employees. It focuses on the welfare of the society and it also takes challenges in the competitive environment. Conclusion This report has been discussed about the environmental factors affecting the operations of Qantas airlines. From the above discussion, it has been analyzed that Qantas Airlines limited is one of the popular national airlines of Australia. This is the biggest airline in the Australian Airline industry and this is also the oldest working airline in the world. Factors in general environment describe how society or community can affect the operations of a business in general manner. The economic factors have the significant impact on the performance level of the Qantas Airlines. Qantas airline is also facing strong competition due to low cost airlines in the Australian airline industry. So, it is important to maintain the brand image among the customers. By the CSR activities, the company y is trying in this way. By the quiz, it is clear that the Qantas airlines has flexible, and innovative environment for the employees. To satisfy the customers, Qantas can provide the regret for the fai lure of the services. By expressing the apology, the image of the company can be increased in front of the customers. Along with this, company can also present compensation such as discount, vouchers and tangible payments in front of customers for improving the customer satisfaction. References Babbar, S., Koufteros, X., (2008), the human element in airline service quality: Contact personnel and customers, International Journal of operation production management, 28(9), 804-830 Christopher, M., Payne, A., Ballantyne, D., (2002), Relationship Marketing: Creating Stakeholder Value, Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann Coye, R. 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