Strategic responses by Kenya Airways to the effects of globalization
Abstract
The new global economy of the 21st Century has transformed the economic, political,
social, technological and educational landscape in a profound and indelible manner.
Globalization has melted national borders, free trade has enhanced economic integration,
and the information and communications revolution has made geography and time
irrelevant. Technological innovations, free movement of people across nations has
increased trade and subsequently increased demand for air travel impacting greatly on
aviation business.
For the airline business, the dynamic changes in the business environment have become
very complex and are threatening their survival. Both opportunities and risks are part of
everyday business in commercial aviation. As with any company, Airline companies
have sustainability risks; social, environmental, operational, threat, strategic and financial
risks that have to deal with. As a result of the changing and dynamic aviation business
environment, Kenya airways have experienced some challenges. This study seeks to
investigate the strategic responses by Kenya Airways to the effects of globalization. The
objectives of the study were to find out the effects of globalization on Kenya airways and
how the airline has responded to such effects. A case study targeting Kenya Airways
senior management as the respondents was used. 14 out of the targeted 18 managers were
interviewed by the researcher. The findings indicate that globalization have had negative
and positive impact on Kenya Airways. It has increased competition eating up market
shares while diluting yields on some of the airlines‟ network. On a positive note,
globalization has melted trade barriers; enabling Kenya airways expand its network to 50
destinations currently. New technologies have also enabled Kenya airways increase its
efficiency and saved costs.
Kenya airways have responded to the effects of globalization by joining alliances and
partnerships with other strategic airlines, adopting new technologies, being compliant
with IATA/ICAO/IOSA airline operations standards. This study recommends further
research on if the strategies adopted by Kenya airways have been successful.
Citation
MBA Thesis 2012Sponsorhip
University of NairobiPublisher
School of Business, University of Nairobi
Description
Master Thesis