Internal and External Assessment - China Eastern Air Holding Company - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2144 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Marketing Essay Type Analytical essay Level High school Did you like this example? 1.0 Introduction China Eastern Air Holding Company (CEA) is one of the three major airline companies in China, which headquartered in Shanghai. At the end of September 2012, China Eastern owned total assets of about 108.5 billion RMB, which included more than 400 large and medium-sized and had over 60,000 employees. (CEA, 2014) As an official member of SkyTeam, CEA builds its flight network from Shanghai, which convergences with the Union, included 187 countries around the world and more than 1000 cities. CEA services the worlds 70 million passenger trips each year, which ranked among the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s top 5 passenger traffic. Since 2009, CEA with a new attitude usher in a new development, named Chinas civil aviation safety Five Star Award; topped the Fortune magazine Most Innovative Chinese Companies Top 25, was named the international brand agency WPP Top 50 most valuable brands in China. (Anon., n, d.) The major purpose of this report is to discuss the China Eastern Air Holding Company strategy, which included external analysis (PESTLE analysis), internal analysis (SWOT analysis), and so on. As a company, business strategy is playing an important role in firm development and success. In the report, it also will include in strategic options and recommended strategies. 2.0 External Analysis 2.1 PESTLE Analysis External analysis included in PESTLE and five forces. The PESTLE framework categories environmental influences into six main types: political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal.(Johnson, et al., 2012, p. 21). Politics highlights the role of governments. The china political background is conducive to state-owned aviation company, which included in China Eastern. Aspects of domestic routes, no one aviation company except for three state-owned aviation companies can apply to a private airline to fly the main routes in 2005 to 2007, these routes are the all the high-quality airlines. Internationally route, national policies biased in favor of Air China, most of the international routes are concentrated in the hands of Air China. China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines in this regard are at a disadvantage. The background to the rapid development of private aviation industry, but the China internal policy was biased in favor of oligopoly. And the development of private airlines has been almost impossible. Economics refers to macro-economic factors, which included world economy and domestic economy. The global economic growth sustained, global economic growth in 2014 of 3.7%, compared with 2013 growth of 0.7%. Advanced countries economies from 1.3% to 2.2%, which indicates that there will be new opportunities in advanced countries. ( World Economic Outlook, 2014) Chinas economy will maintain steady and rapid development in recent years, with GDP growth of around 8% and the consumer price index rose about 4.8%. Economic Development of the ent ire aviation industry is just beginning in China. In addition, world oil prices also affected the cost of flying. The cost of fuel is the biggest cost in CEA. Social influences include changing cultures and demographics. In this case, due to changing lifestyles and values, aircrafts have become one of indispensable transportation in China. More and more customers are choosing aircraft as transportation because it is efficient and convenient. The development of the aviation industry, especially the cheap airline industry, is a significant opportunity. More importantly, the air ticket is no long luxury, but also more civilians. Technological influences refer to innovation. The information technology makes it easier for passengers to buy tickets online reservation. This technological improvement helps firm to increase the number of air travelers. The aircraft manufacturers, airport facilities, information technology impact on aviation industry technical environmental. Impro ving airport facilities, such as a passenger check-in desk, luggage facilities, shuttle vehicles, etc., which increasing customer satisfaction and promoting the development of the entire industry. Environmental stands specifically for green issues. The company improved the aircraft type, flight routes and route optimization enhance DOC (direct operating costs) control and environment management, according to the flight plan accurate refueling and other means to save our fuel consumption. It not only reduced the fuel cost, but also reduced the carbon emission to protect the environment. Not only that, the CEA also cut down the disposable supplies and the number of magazines. (CEA, 2014) Legal embraces legislative constraints or changes. The main issues are preferential airport rights for some carriers and restrictions on mergers for the airline industry. For example, CEA hopes to establish bases in Beijing but there are multiple barriers from other airline company and local gov ernment. 2.2 Five Forces Analysis Porters five forces framework affecting the industry attractiveness is: the threat of entry, the threat of substitutes, the power of buyers, the power of suppliers and the extent of rivalry between competitors. Through the five forces, the company will know their external environment and understand which part needs to improve. The five forces indicate that the advantages and disadvantages in the whole environment. 3.0 Internal Analysis 3.1 Enterprise Resource Analysis CEA mainly engaged in public air transport, general aviation operations and sale of air transportation and related products and so on. (CEA, 2014). In addition, CEA also involved in a wide range of import and export of aviation, financial services, aviation food, travel ticketing, hotel, real estate property, advertising media, machinery manufacturing and other industries, has formed a new pattern diversify. CEA flights include Airbus A300, A320, A330, A340, Boeing 7 37, Boeing 767, MD-90 and CRJ-200, ERJ-145, a total of 238 aircraft, the main operating base for the Shanghai Hongqiao International airport and Shanghai Pudong International airport, there are other important base Kunming International airport, Xian Xianyang International Airport and so on. 3.2 Enterprise Capability Analysis The CEA as the hub of airlines main income comes from the passenger and freight transport, CEA began to focus on running the network routes. Currently, CEA has nearly 250 aircraft, 293 domestic routes and 80 direct international routes. Rely on network operators, CEA will direct route between the existing city criss-crossing associate, meet the transport needs of the market and travelers. CEA explore the potential and use of existing resources, which achieve maximum benefit. 3.3 VRIO Analysis The VRIO framework determines the competitive power of a companys resources and capabilities. The overall competitive power test is moderate for CEA because the resource and capability is the moderate value; the resource and capability are rare; the resource and capability is not hard to copy; the firms policies and procedures are organized to support the exploitation. The CEA resources are limited in China, other companies hard to get their resources, but the low-cost airline is impacting on the other airline companies and sharing the market shares. 4.0 SWOT Analysis SWOT summaries the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats likely to impact on strategy development. Through the SWOT, it can clearly indicate that the strategys strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, which will help companies to know themselves strategies. There are many strategic issues in CEA. The major issues are the cost is too high, and limited at domestic and international development, which is difficult to develop. 5.0 Strategic Options 5.1 Cooperative Strategy 5.1.1 Horizontal integration CEA and Shanghai Airlines comp leted merger in 2010. This is a successful procedure for CEA. It not only consolidated their stronghold of CEA, CEA also made them more competitive in the last years. The merger has two advantages. On the one hand, CEA can get local market share and build a base. On the other hand, CEA can get more resources in a short time and enhance its competitiveness. Thus, CEA can merge another lol airlines business, like as merge the Shanghai Airlines. 5.1.2 Vertical integration (Equity fuel supply companies) Fuel costs are a major component of airline costs, for example, 40% of the total fuel costs in CEA whole cost. If fuel prices continue to rise, it will further increase the cost of pressures airlines. The Chinas fuel supply companies are large state-owned enterprises, the CEA cannot merge the fuel supply. However, CEA can consider equity participation; it also can help CEA to reduce the fuel cost. Because CEA can enjoy discounts when CEA buy flight fuel. It will make the CEA mor e competitive in todays high fuel prices. In cooperative strategy, vertical integration will reduce cost and horizontal integration will help CEA to develop the domestic and international market. The cost of fuel is the biggest cost for an airline company, thus, reduce the cost of fuel is the most important in a company. If the CEA cooperate with the fuel supply, it will cut down more money on the cost of fuel. The merger is a good way to explore a new market and consolidate an old market. It will help companies to get more market shares and improve awareness. 5.2 Cost-leadership strategies Cost-leadership strategy involves becoming the low-cost organization in a domain of activity. (Johnson, et al., 2012, p. 112). Low-cost providers must have the resources and capabilities to keep costs below those of competitors. Input costs are important in cost leadership. For example, CEA reduce the types of aircraft. CEA has seven kinds of models, 1050 routes, which will inevitably lead to higher costs of the huge variety of aircrafts. Kinds of civil aviation fleet are the core of aviation hardware resources. Too many kinds of aircrafts will lead to high cost of maintenance. Complex models of aircrafts are the main cause of the high cost airlines. Thus, CEA should adopt a single model and short range, high-density routes, which provides adequate financial security. Chinas civil aviation aircraft utilization is very low, with an average aircraft utilization rate in the advanced world airlines around 9.8 hours. Improved aircraft utilization, it not only reduce the need for the number of aircraft, but also reduce the number of occupied capital in order to effectively reduce costs. In addition, the rational use of regional aircraft is important to the CEA route network improvement. CEA can use the mid-size aircraft as regional aircraft in order to guarantee adequate attendant circumstances and give full play to the small regional aircraft effect. In the cos t-leadership strategy, to reduce the kinds of aircraft will cut down the cost and to use the mid-size aircraft to fly regional airlines, which will get more profit for a company. These two strategies will make the CEA profitable. 5.3 Best-cost strategy Best-cost providers must have the resources and capabilities to incorporate upscale product or service attributes at a lower cost than rivals. CEA can provide the cheaper airline tickets and promotion tickets. Through this way, CEA could provide the same price tickets as the low cost airline, as well as provide the best service. The consumers must buy CEA tickets because it provides the best service with the low price. This strategy will improve attendance in each airline, it will get more profit. In the meanwhile, the cheaper tickets will help CEA get more market shares in their new routes because customers will be chose the cheaper tickets in the same routes. 6.0 Recommended Strategy For any company, it owns the limit ed resource and energy for a certain period, and it cannot choose more strategies to operate together. Therefore the implementation of the strategy should first be necessary to elect from alternative strategies. Thus, I consider that the cost-leadership strategy is the best strategy for CEA now. Cooperative Strategy is a perfect strategy, but merger need for a long time to operate. At the short time, it hard changes for anything for a company, and it needs to integrate for a long time. Best-cost strategy also is a good strategy, but it is not a long-term strategy. The cost-leadership strategy is to take advantage of the enterprise avoid or mitigate the impact of external threats. Through the merger, CEA received a huge of resources; however, these resources are not really playing a role. If CEA cannot full use of these resources, these resources will affect the development of enterprises. These resources as inside restricted need to become the outside strength. In addition, company staff mobility, and operational confusion, CEA has been to optimize the internal management of the development strategy. 7.0 Conclusion Chinas aviation market entered a rapid development period; the performance of the airline has been the turning point. With a high level of CEA actively promote strategic cooperation will help CEA and improve their management, operations and profitability. CEA is one of the three major airline company in China, which shouldering responsibility for the development of the aviation industry in China. Through this analysis, we can clearly see the CEA have strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, as long as the Eastern able to choose the right strategy, I consider that China Eastern Airlines will be able to a leader in the Middle East aviation industry for a long time. 8.0 Reference List Anon., n.d., About China Eastern, China Eastern Airlines, [Online] Available at: https://easternmiles.ceair.com/about/zjdh/t2013812_11 832.html. [Accessed 14 April. 2014] Anon., 2014, China Eastern Social Responsibility Report on 2013. China Eastern Air Company, [Online] Available at: https://pdf.dfcfw.com/pdf/H2_AN201403260005322096_1.pdf. [Accessed 14 April. 2014] Johnson, G., Whittington, R. Scholes, K. (2012): Fundamentals of Strategy, 2nd edition, England: Pearson Education. World Economic Outlook, 2014, International Monetary Fund, [Online] Available at: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2014/update/01/pdf/infographic.pdf. [Accessed 14 April. 2014] Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Internal and External Assessment China Eastern Air Holding Company" essay for you Create order

Different portrayals of women in Antigone and Lysistrata

The different portrayals of female characters Antigone and Lysistrata illustrate the fundamental nature of the proper Athenian woman. Sophocles Antigone allows the reader to see that outrage over social injustices does not give women the excuse to rebel against authority, while Aristophanes Lysistrata reveals that challenging authority in the polis becomes acceptable only when its faced with destruction through war. Sophocles and Aristophanes use different means to illustrate the same idea; the ideal Athenian womans ultimate loyalty lies with her polis. This Greek concept of the proper woman seems so vital when considering Athenian society because both a tragedy and comedy revolve around this concept. The differing roles accorded to†¦show more content†¦Lysistrata comes to the conclusion that the only way to save Athens from destruction in war comes with defiance of her husband. In her role of rebel within the family, Lysistrata decides to ...compel [her] husband to make pea ce by withholding sex from him until he stops his disastrous warring behavior (Lysistrata, 7). She concludes, ...there are a thousand ways of tormenting [him] that will lead to the ultimate safety of Athens (Lysistrata, 9). Unlike Antigone, Lysistrata realistically considers the possible consequences of her actions. She understands that the consequences of rebellion against her husband could be dire. Lysistrata recognizes that her husband might beat her or even rape her in order to get physical satisfaction, but she also realizes that her husband would, ...soon tire of the game theres no satisfaction for a man, unless a woman shares it (Lysistrata, 9). Lysistrata acknowledges that defying her husband will have consequences, but she chooses to realistically face those possible consequences, and continues knowing that her actions will benefit Athens. Aristophanes reveals that a womans greatest allegiance lies with her polis through Lysistratas role of rebel within her family to save A thens. Lysistrata takes the position of leader in her relationships with other women; she encourages her followers to fight for the betterment of their polis; thus, sheShow MoreRelatedComparison Of Euripides Antigone And Lysistrata1362 Words   |  6 Pagesduring the 5th century in ancient Athens. Antigone and Lysistrata both are two important, popular plays that contain a main character that was female. Although they can both be seen as very similar, they do differ in many ways. The most important difference between Antigone and Lysistrata is that Antigone has a community that does not approve of the main character’s plans and although they feel sympathy for her, they take the opposing side, while Lysistrata has a society of people that come togetherRead MoreEssay on The Lives of Athenian Women1880 Words   |  8 PagesWomen in classical Athens could not have had an extremely enjoyable experience, if we rely on literary sources concerning the roles of women within the Greek polis . The so-called Athenian democracy only benefited a fraction of the entire population. At least half of this population was female, yet women seem to have had very little influence and few official civic rights. `The position of women...is a subject which has provoked much controversy. (Lacey: 1968, 151). Studies concerning the

Micro Econ Free Essays

Describe the efficient market hypothesis and give a piece of evidence consistent with this theory. Markets operate efficiently when resources are fully employed and output is produced at lowest possible costs at quantities that correspond to rational consumer behavior. Market efficiency involves both productive and allocative efficiency. We will write a custom essay sample on Micro Econ or any similar topic only for you Order Now Productive efficiency is concerned with quantity of goods and services produced. It is achieved when it is impossible to increase output of one type of product without reducing the output of another product i.e. all resources are fully employed and the economy is operating on its production possibility curve. Allocative efficiency is achieved when the resources are allocated in the right proportions to produce different goods and services to give a product mix that reflects consumers’ preferences. (Grant, 2003) The term ‘efficient’ as used by economists simply means, ‘If price and quantity take anything other than their equilibrium values, a transaction that will make at least some people better off without harming others can always be found.’(Frank and Bernanke, 2001)   This is known as Pareto efficiency, named after the Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto. It is a state whereby there is no way of making one party in a market better off without making the other party worse off. It is achieved when productive and allocative efficiency interacts. An efficient transaction creates an economic surplus. If a product sells below the market equilibrium price, it is not efficient. 2. The cleaning service firm Clean All plc increased its workers wages by 4% and it experienced an increase in its profits. How can this have happened? Increasing wages boosts workers’ productivity. Workers are also tempted to work for longer hours which also increase productivity. This results in higher profits and labor turnover is also significantly lowered. Even though wages are higher, the firm may not have significantly higher labor costs per unit of output. An employer’s reservation price for a worker is the most the employer could pay without suffering a decline in profit. In a perfectly competitive labor market, this price is the value of worker’s marginal product (VMP). A worker’s marginal product is the extra output the firm gets as a result of hiring that worker. Value marginal product is the net contribution the worker makes to the employer’s revenue i.e. result of multiplying the worker’s marginal product by the net price for which each unit of product sells. By reason of the law of diminishing returns, we know that the marginal product of labor, hence VMP, declines in the short run as the quantity of labor rises. The individual employer’s demand curve for labor, in this case Clean All plc may be shown as downward sloping function of wage rate. The supply curve of labor for any particular occupation is upward sloping. 3) Does on increase in saving lead to a higher standard of living? Why? Might a politician prefer not to try to introduce resources increase at the rate of saving? Yes, savings lead to higher standard of living. Savings are that part of current income that is not spent on current needs .Higher rates of saving today leads to faster accumulation of wealth and the wealthier an economic unit is (e.g. household or nation) the higher its standard of living in the future. Savings are mostly employed in financial investments e.g. government bonds or shares of stock in a corporation. These pay returns in form of interest payments, dividends or capital gains High returns are desirable of course   because the higher the return the faster ones savings grow. The rate of return most relevant is savings decision is the real interest rate i.e. the rate at which the real purchasing power of a financial asset increases over time .it is the market nominal interest rate minus the inflation rate. The real interest rate is relevant to savers because it is reward for savings. Empirical evidence suggests that higher real interest rates lead to increases in savings (Frank and Benanke, 2001). Politicians tend to benefit e.g. by gaining political mileage when the economy is favorable, thus they tend to exert a strong bias toward expansionary policy. What prevents politicians from implementing the expansionary policies is inflation at least to fear of generating on acceleration inflation. Inflation is a continuous rise in price level measured with price indexes. If money supply rises the price level will also rise. Inflation does not promote a favorable political environment. References Bernanke, B. and Frank, R. (2001): Principles of Economics .New York: McGraw-Hill Colander, D.C (2001): Economics, New York: McGraw Hill Companies. Eaton, B., Diane F. and Douglas W. (2002): Microeconomics.5th Edition: New York, Prentice Hall Mankiw, N. (2000): Principles of Microeconomics. London, South-Western Pub Prentice Ha Grant, S. J. (2003): Stan Lake’s Introduction Economics, 7th Edition. Harlow: Pearson’s Education ltd Ruffin, R. and Paul R. (2000): Principles of Microeconomics. New York, Addison Wesley How to cite Micro Econ, Essay examples

Augustine Medical Inc Case Study free essay sample

Augustine Medical, Inc. is a Minnesota corporation that develops and markets products for hospital operating rooms and postoperative recovery rooms. Company executives are now finalizing the marketing program a patient warming system, which is designed to treat postoperative hypothermia in the recovery room, called Bair Hugger Patient Warming System. It is specially designed to maintain body temperatures of patients recovering from surgery. The product consists of a heater/blower unit that is a large, square, boxlike structure that warms filters and blows air through a separate plastic cover. The unit is mounted on wheels for easy movement. A dial controls the temperature with one to four settings. Twelve warming blankets can be stored in a top loading bin for easy access. The disposable covers are packaged in 18-inch-long tubes. The blanket is made of a thin plastic layer and a layer plastic material laminated into full length channels. Inflated by a connection at the patients feet, the tubular structure arcs over the patient, and warm air flows over the patient. We will write a custom essay sample on Augustine Medical Inc Case Study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The average warming time for a patient is two hours. The plastic cover is patented but the heater/blower unit is not. Target Market: The target market for this particular case study is hospitals with seven or greater recovery room beds. Target market makes up a total of 80% of all surgical operations in the United States. The Bair Hugger Patent Warming System is not a consumer product, in fact it is a device designed to control the body temperature of postoperative patients. The main users of this product would be businesses and hospitals. Hospitals will be in high demand as they are continuously trying to prevent diseases such as hypothermia. After completing interviews with nurses and physicians there were a great deal of responses. They believed that the Bair Hugger Patient Warming System would speed recovery for postoperative patients. They also believed that the pressure of moving patients from bed to bed was in the past. Competition: The Bair Hugger will exist in a highly competitive market. Currently, its most popular alternative is the traditional hospital blanket. These are safe, simple and at $0. 13 per pound, relatively inexpensive. There is no way of competing with this product on a cost basis, so ethical reasons such as increased patient comfort and increased recovery speed will be the main reasons for customers switching to the Bair Hugger. Water-circulating blankets are the next closest alternative. Although these products are popular, the technology has stagnated over previous years, with little product development. Considered to be slightly to moderately effective, the Bair Hugger is considered the more superior treatment. These products are priced at between $4850 and $5295, with the control system priced at $3000, with discounts of up to 40% ($1800). Reusable blankets are priced at around $200-$400, and disposable blankets are $25. In terms of direct competitors, â€Å"The Climator† made by British company Hosworth is expected to become available in the US within the next year. This reflects the need for Augustine Medical to price the product correctly at launch, so as not to be undercut by an experienced and well-established competitor. Market Potential: With approximately 21 million surgical operations in the US every year, and 60% to 80% of patients needing treatment for hypothermia, the market is a large one. There are 31,365 post op recovery rooms in the US. Research suggests that only hospitals with more than seven beds will be interested in purchasing the product. This leaves 12,546 beds. Research also suggested that one product would be needed for every eight beds. This means the market available to Augustine was, at most, 1568 purchases. This was an important factor in deciding the price of the system. It was also important to take into account the fact that any hospital purchase over $1500 was subject to a formal budget committee review, which the company or distributors would have no control over. It may be hard to convince these budget review panels of the need for the product, especially when they may already possess viable alternatives such as water-circulating blankets. Breakeven Analysis: The best way for Augustine Medical Inc. to determine their price is to carry out a breakeven analysis. This is done by finding their variable costs, fixed costs and predicted sales volume. Variable costs are calculated as estimates from subcontractors indicate that direct cost of the assembly of the heater/blower unit would be $380. The variable costs for the blankets are packaging of the plastic, cost of materials and manufacturing, which are $0. 85 per blanket which leaves a total variable cost of $380. 85. The fixed costs of the product are said to be covered by a $500,000 initial capitalization. Research indicates that there are 31,365 total postoperative beds in the United States. If one out of eight of these beds adopts the Bair Hugger system (as is believed to be possible in the case), the volume of sales will be 3,920 Bair Hugger Systems sold. Therefore, for the purposes of the break-even analysis, a sales volume of 3,920 will be used in this calculation.