The Story of Continental Airlines remarkable turnaround in 1994 is Essay

The Story of Continental Airlines remarkable turnaround in 1994 is well known in business policy and strategy classes worldwide - Essay Example Continental Airlines is presently America’s fifth largest airline that carries around 50 million passengers a year across the globe to more than 227 destinations. But a couple of decades back in 1993, it was facing its third and final bankruptcy when the new CEO Gordon Bethune and Consultant, Brenneman created history in the turnaround of Continental Airlines. Their leadership initiatives turned the loss of $613 million in 1994 to $224 million profit in 1995 (Brenneman, 1998). The discontented and highly demotivated workforce became the major enabling elements of success that contributed to its renewal. The turnaround strategy was critical factor that was conceptualized around four simple strategic principles that required strong belief, persistence and constant motivation. The creative approach highlighted leaders’ vision which was used to inspire the workforce for higher productive outcome. Turnaround strategy of Bethune and Brenneman was mainly focused on how the firm’s falling fortunes can be turned around into success. They did not place undue emphasis on cost cutting but rather made judicious plans for building strong team of high performance members who believed in collective actions and shared goals. The leadership of new management was exemplary in their forward looking outlook and expedited the process of recovery with single focus on defined goals and objectives. The strategies that were implemented are as follows: 1. Strategic action plans for recovery Bateman and Snell (2009:132) assert that strategic plans facilitate organizations to be innovative and develop linkages to meet the needs of the markets. Flexibility of approach and well laid out plans provide firms with clear direction for the future (Montgomery, 2008). In Continental case, action plan was made with feedback from the customers and employees, which was communicated across the workforce. The recovery plan was distinct in its simple targets but strict in its timeframe so that recovery could be fast. The necessity of fast action was communicated to workforce so that they could understand and become proactive in making it a success. It worked in Continental case because the high frustration in the workforce was mainly due to unclear and frequently changing strategies of the past. The lack of concise directions and target had led to disillusionment, adversely impacting their motiv ation for higher achievement. The new plans were clearly defined by the management and communicated on regular basis to the workforce that helped to strengthen their confidence and motivated them to work towards the goals with renewed enthusiasm. 2. Leadership initiative and team building Drucker (1999) believes that external and internal environment hugely contributes to business performance and managerial leadership innovatively exploits them for the organization’s advantage. The open communication approach used by Bethune and Brenneman helped in adapting to the strategic changes that were introduced to transform business dynamics. Leadership initiative is critical factor to develop an organizational culture of proactive participation, shared learning and strong teamwork (Shapiro, Slywotzky and Tedlow, 2000). The leaders looked for opportunities and exploited them with a sense of high urgency through a team of motivated

DWC ENVIROMENT Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

DWC ENVIROMENT - Research Paper Example ntial district, logistic district, and reserved area for the development of commercial, leisure, and exhibition facilities (Dubai World Central, 2015). An external and external environment, target market and positioning, SWOT, and marketing mix are analysed in the paper to allow for the formation of insightful recommendations for implementation at DRC. Porter’s five forces aid in the analysis of a business internal environment through examining the influence of suppliers, consumers, new entrants, substitute products, and competitors to the organization (Porter 2008, 12). DWC provides a new technologically advanced platform of management of aviation, logistics, and other forms of business related or adjacent to an airport; it has differentiated itself from the competition and faces very low threat of entry. The need for the development of advanced infrastructure, a lot of capital input as evidenced by the development of DWC, which is estimated to costs $US 33 billion aid in deterring any new entrants. The development of the modern infrastructure at the DWC means the use of the very best suppliers of technologically advanced software and the enormity of project requires reliance on the best contractors and developers, Getting quality hardware, software, and manpower requires the payment of a steeper price that gives the suppliers power over DWC. The power of the suppliers has however been reduced using contracts, competitive bidding, and agreements but still supplies have control resulting in the moderate bargaining power of suppliers for DWC. High costs of purchase and maintenance of Material Handling Equipment are also the other factor that provides for supplies having bargaining power. DWC serves a wide market, owing to its global scale of operations, resulting in the ability of a single consumer to have considerable power to influence the decisions and pricing. Consumers lack access to a platform offering the quality and extensive services available at DWC