EasyJet: A No Frills Airline

This report illustrates an in-depth look of easyJet and will also discuss an analytic research that was made to demonstrate aspects of the history of the airline, along with the marketing strategy and brand strategy used and implemented by the low-budget airline. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, known as SWOT analysis, will also be illustrated along with the external environment better known as PEST analysis which consists of the political, environmental, social/cultural and technology factors of easyJet. In addition an analysis of the competitive market environment of easyJet will be shown, which includes an overview of easyJet’s main competitors and the nature of business in which they operate

Many larger organizations have already achieved a mature stage in their organizational lifecycles and some are even in decline as their business models fail to keep pace with changes in an increasingly globalized marketplace. One larger organization that continues to grow using its original business model, though, is easyJet, which is already one of the largest low-fare air carriers in Europe and current signs indicate that the company will continue to grow its market in the future. To determine how easyJet has succeeded where others have failed, this paper examines the company's efforts in meeting the challenges with its initial launch, the company's early growth and the lessons learned from these experiences, as well as the acquisitions and mergers that have helped the company achieve its organizational goals. An examination of easyJet's organizational maturation status and how the company has differentiated its services is followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

The essay will firstly introduce the organisation easyJet. Secondly the essay will explain about how easyJet uses its operation strategies and its competitive priorities. Finally the essay will discuss the most important operation decision and explain it further in detail. easyJet is a well known low-cost airline which operates in several European countries and has been founded by serial entrepreneur Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 1995. easyJet undertook intensive research of a United States owned low-cost airline ‘Southwest Airline’. Most of the concepts for easyJet were adopted from Southwest airline; however easyJet added its own touch which reduced operating costs even further. EasyJet was strategically located at London's Luton airport.

A cost leadership strategy focuses primarily on “producing products and/or services that are the lowest in the industry” (Turban, Rainer, & Potter, 2003). This type of organization forms business alliances that support their inventory management through computers and computerized purchasing. A differentiation strategy focuses on being unique within the industry and provides high-quality products at a competitive price (Turban, Rainer, & Potter, 2003). These types of companies “provide their customers with a

The company’s mission statement is to provide customers with a safe, good value point-to-point air services. To ensure consistent, reliable product and fares, appealing to leisure and business markets on a range of European Routes. Evidently, Easy Jet is in mass transport business. It focuses on leisure and business travellers offering them point to point air transport with safe, good value. Easy Jet as at 30 September 2009 had a staff of 8,000 people throughout Europe (Easy Jet Airline Company).

In cost leadership a firm will set out to become a low cost producer in its industry. A low cost producer must find and exploit all sources of cost advantage. If a firm can achieve and sustain overall cost leadership then it will become an above average performer within its industry. The sources of cost advantage are varied and depend upon the

There are two schools of thought pertaining to how firms should choose the competitive strategy that best suits them. One is of the opinion that firms should choose one of the generic strategies and commit all resources to making it work. Porter belongs to this category. They believe that the value chain necessary for cost leadership is quite different from that of differentiation strategy and that while differentiation deals with better quality, cost leadership deals with lowering costs wherever possible.(DESS and DAVIES 1984) What porter articulated here is that there is need for strategic clarity.

To attain competitive gain, organisations can differentiate their merchandise and services from their competitors they can also choose to lower their costs in order to compete with other contenders. By aiming their produces to a wide-ranging target, they are essentially covering most of the marketplace or if they choose, they can decide to concentrate on a narrower target within the market (Lynch 2003). While doing so may reduce their market range it essentially reduces their other competitors. Porter stated that there are three generic strategies that an organisation can follow to achieve competitive gain over other organisations. These are:

Differentiation: In Differentiation strategy, a company ‘s goal is to create uniquely desirable products and service, that are different and more attractive than their competitors. It is rewarded for its uniqueness with a premium price.

There are also some risks for each strategy. Upholding cost leadership can be risky because of the requirement of frequent capital investment to sustain cost advantage, then cost surges narrow price differentials and diminish ability to compete with other’s brand royalty. Differentiation strategy has some threats, such as imitation decreases alleged differentiation, buyers need for differentiation falls. Meanwhile, the risks for focus or niche strategy are the differences in preferred products or services between the strategic market and target as a whole narrows, the cost discrepancy between wide ranged competitors and the focused firms broadens to eradicate the cost advantages of allocating a narrow target or to offset the

There are five generic business strategies that companies choose from when trying to successfully compete within their respective industries. This is the first choice a company must make, even before deciding an overall strategy. These generic business strategies include low-cost provider strategy, broad differentiation strategy, best-cost provider strategy; focused strategy based on low costs, and focused strategy based on differentiation. These strategies have many advantages as well as disadvantages. Choosing which one to use depends on what market position a company wants to pursue. Deciding to be more offensive or defensive also plays a role in choosing a

Competitive advantage is explained by Mahoney and Pandian (1992) as the function of industry analysis, organizational governance and the firm’s effects in the form of resource advantages and strategies. In order for a firm to be competitive it must adapt to the volatile business environment and through strategic management decisions establish a competitive advantage that will ultimately produce superior performance relative to its competitors (Akimova 2000).

A successful cost leadership strategy usually provides the entire firm with high efficiency, low overhead, limited perks, intolerance of waste, intensive screening of budget requests, and wide span of control efforts. However, some risks of pursuing this strategy are that competitors might imitate the strategy, thus, driving overall industry profits down; that technology breakthroughs in the industry may make the strategy ineffective; or that buyer’s interest may swing to other differentiating features besides price.

Porter’s generic strategies describe how a company attains competitive advantage across its chosen market scope. There are three generic strategies-cost leadership, differentiation and

The generic strategy allows the firm to react to the five forces better than their competitors (Worthington & Britton, 2006). According to Porter (1985), an organization can enjoy competitive advantage by focusing on the generic competitive strategies. The organization could enjoy competitive edge by either offering the product at low cost or differentiating the product from the competitors or by focusing on a specific market. Porter (1985) emphasized that the generic strategies should be at the centre of the strategic plans.