The objective of the report is to bring out the competitive advantages of EasyJet through an in-depth analysis of EasyJet, its main competitor Ryanair and its environment. In the later part of the report, we will demonstrate these competitive advantages. The report reveals that its two main competitive advantages are the business positioning, and the service quality - brand image. These are then qualified by their importance. Whereas the first one is important in the short term, the second in relevant in a long term view. Finally, some recommendations are proposed. The recommendations about the business positioning are to keep this competitive advantage until a real change is brought about within the industry. However, one of the recommendations also advises against making an investment. The recommendations about the other competitive advantages relate more to the ways of getting ‘Sticking consistency' and to link service quality to the brand image. Globally, the goal of this report is to provide the ways in which to bring out the competitive advantages of a company, and finally to provide some recommendations about them.
[...] Choice of the principle competitive advantage which has to be nurtured Firstly, the business positioning of easyJet can enable the company to differentiate itself from Ryanair. Indeed, as has been said before, it represents a real difference with Ryanair, and easyJet is going to keep this advantage for a while. Nevertheless, on the one hand a new business customer perception has enabled the growth of a substitute, the share jets. This new perception is changing the market (rewriting the rules) in an unfavorable way. [...]
[...] A crucial point is to find out a competitive advantage which is difficult, or better yet impossible, for competitors to imitate or substitute (Holloway p.23). Indeed, barriers to entry must be created or, if they already exist, sustained in order to protect the chosen strategic position (Holloway p 28). Moreover, competitive advantage is context-dependent, meaning that nimble competitors with different and perhaps new perceptions of the marketplace can undermine it by changing an industry's context- that is, by rewriting the ‘rules of engagement' in their own favor. [...]
[...] Thus, the threat of buyers, added to the threat of substitutes, is especially affecting the industry; an industry which is in a situation of exacerbated competition. Thus, most of the low-cost airlines are going to die or to merge with others, leaving easyJet and Ryanair in a tête-à-tête within the segment (Lois, 2005). III) Analysis of the different forces and strategy between EasyJet and Ryanair organization needs to recognize that they operate in a highly competitive environment and they should analyze their main competitors in terms of their particular strengths and weaknesses. [...]
[...] Business positioning as a competitive advantage As we have said before, one of the specific qualities of easyJet is its positioning on the business segment (cf. Table Marketing mix differences between easyJet and Ryanair). This could represent a competitive advantage that outperforms the direct competitor, on three points: -EasyJet has some routes to major towns within the major airports (cf. Table1). -EasyJet has special business lounges (cf. Table1). -Good service quality (cf. Table1). This is primordial with this kind of customers. [...]
[...] Service quality and brand image as competitive advantage It has been shown that one of the strengths of easyJet and one of the weaknesses of Ryanair is the service quality and the brand image (cf. table 1). Thus, according to Kandampully and Suhartanto (2000) “developing customer loyalty by providing unique benefits to customers via customer satisfaction and service quality image is a precious competitive advantage”. Furthermore, it is clear that this could represent a competitive advantage that outperforms the direct competitor. [...]
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