Business Essays

Business Essays: Malaysian Airlines

Introduction
Malaysia Airline Systems (MAS) like many other airlines is suffering financially, this is due in part to world events that have occurred recently and market conditions in Asia, although these market conditions have also been experienced on a worldwide scale.

People have been reluctant to fly after the events of September 11 2001, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the outbreaks of the Servere Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS as it is more commonly known. There has also been the problem of more companies entering the airline market sector especially the low cost operators such as BMI Baby or EasyJet. If MAS is to survive the next 3 to 5 years they are going to have to compete against powerful carriers like BA and Qantas, low cost carriers, and strategic alliances such as One world and Star Alliance.

To win back and retain customers MAS is going to have to implement a marketing plan and a strategic business plan, which is going to have to incorporate the current positioning and branding of MAS and how they want to be perceived in the future. This essay will attempt to answer the question 'If MAS is to survive and thrive in the future how would you combine the resources and skills of the Operations and marketing functions over the next 3-5 years?' This will be done using marketing tools and models such as perceptual maps, SWOT analysis.

Being successful is about more than surviving and if MAS is to realise their vision "To be the largest, most successful and most respected airline in the world"[1] they are going to have to realise that money will need to be spent.

Current Situation
We will begin the analysis of the current state of Malaysia Airlines by looking at their most important asset, their planes

Table 1 - MAS Fleet [2]
After their planes we should look at their financial figures to see how MAS has weathered the financial storm since 2000

Strengths

Malaysian Airlines is the pride of a nation, they carry the Malaysian flag and their success is important to the country. This means that they can and have been aided by the government. [3]
MAS have also invested a lot of money on IT, which has left them in a strong position to leverage this IT to the benefit of their customers and performance.
MAS is an award winning company, having diversified into many areas of travel,[4] even during the difficult era for the airline industry.

1999 Received 'Top Airline-Service Staff Service' in their World First Class Survey by a UK based In- flight Research Services

2000 Awarded the Five Star Diamond award by the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences.
Rated 'Number One Airline' for cabin staff operations by Australian travel magazine, 'Luxury Travel'
Notched top placing for best cabin staff service in first class in the 2000 World First Class Survey conducted by In-flight Research Services (IRS) of United Kingdom
2002 Received 'Best Cabin Staff 2002' award in an international airline survey conducted by Skytrax Research of London, UK.

Table 2 - Awards for MAS
In what may seem a contradiction the management team at MAS received an award from the Asian Institute of Management and the World Executive Digest, for its excellence in general management and success in positioning itself in the airline industry. [5]

Weaknesses

Financially speaking, pre 2003, MAS made a loss for 5 years running, although before this MAS was known as a company that was happy to invest for the future. This may have helped cause the current situation. One of the reasons for this was the purchase of 25 Boeing planes to be delivered over 5 years The purchases of the aircraft were made in US Dollar and no hedging method was used at that time because of the stable currency between Ringgit Malaysia against U.S Dollar. Unfortunately in 1997, Asian countries including Malaysia incurred economic down turned which, has resulted the devaluation of Ringgit Malaysia and an increased of interest rate. Consequently, MAS' cost of purchase increased tremendously.

1. Sohail (2003): 3
2. Malaysia airlines: corporate < http://www.malaysia-airlines.com/corporate/?menu=au&mode=mas03 > [Date Accessed 01/08/03]
3. Malaysian Airline Systems < http://uia2k.tripod.com/MAS.htm > [Date Accessed 01/08/03]
4. Sohail (2003): 6
5. ibid: 7

• BIBLIOGRAPHY
  
• Crawford, R.B Leadership style. HRODC (2001)
• Jobber, D Principles and Practice of Marketing, 3rd Ed. McGraw-Hill Education (2001)
• Kotler, P Marketing Management US Imports & PHIPEs (2002)
• McDonald, M Advanced marketing planning, Cranfield Business School (2000)
• Sadiq Sohail, M. Malaysia Airlines (MAS) - Facing Challenges in the New Millennium, KFPUM (2003)
• 2002 airline analysis < http://btcweb.biz/airlineanalysis.htm > [Date Accessed 01/08/03]
• Asiaweek.com < http://www.asiaweek.com/ > [Date Accessed 01/08/03]
• Malaysia airlines: corporate < http://www.malaysia-airlines.com/corporate/ > [Date Accessed 01/08/03]
• Malaysian Airline Systems < http://uia2k.tripod.com/MAS.htm > [Date Accessed 01/08/03]
• Market segmentation < http://www.businessplansoftware.org/advice_segment.asp > [Date Accessed 01/08/03]
• MEA < http://www.mea.com.lb/ > [Date Accessed 01/08/03]
• The five forces model
  < http://www.wiley.co.uk/innovate/website/pages/atoz/fiveforcesmodel.htm > [Date Accessed 01/08/03]
• Traventec.com < http://www.traventec.com/ > [Date Accessed 01/08/03]

Free Business Essays:

• International Trade Overview
• Malaysian Airlines
• Strategic Challenges In the 21st century
• Critique of Cable and Wireless Business Strategy
• Easy Group Study
• Easy Jet Analysis
• Motorola Study
• Caterpillars International Strategy
• Amazon Business Strategy
• E-commerce
• Developing Internet Strategy
• International Business Contracts

• Corporate Governance and The USA
• Joint Ventures In The Motor Industry
• Strategic Alliances
• Renault - Nissan Alliance
• Strategy Is A Myth
• Employee Relations And Trade Union Recognition
• Employee Relations Vs Strikes
• Organisational Culture and Change
• Business Plan
• Organisational Behaviour
• Johnson and Johnson Organisational Behaviour
• Competitive Forces In The PC Industry Pre Dell

Please note: The above business essays and dissertations were written by students and then submitted to us to display and help others. Thanks to all the students who have submitted their work to us.

Business Essays