Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version
In April 1986, the Ryan brothers announce that their fledging Irish airline Ryanair will soon commence service between Dublin and London. For the first time, Ryanair will face formidable competitors such as Aer Lingus and British Airways on a major route. Students are asked to assess Ryanair's entry and anticipate the response of incumbent carriers.
Swot Analysis of "Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version" written by Jan W. Rivkin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ryanair Lingus facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Costs, Marketing and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ryanair Lingus, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ryanair Lingus operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ryanair Lingus
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Ryanair Lingus
Strengths Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ryanair Lingus in Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ryanair Lingus are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ryanair Lingus is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ryanair Lingus has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ryanair Lingus has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Ryanair Lingus is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Analytics focus
– Ryanair Lingus is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Jan W. Rivkin can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ryanair Lingus in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ryanair Lingus digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ryanair Lingus has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
High brand equity
– Ryanair Lingus has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ryanair Lingus to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Ryanair Lingus has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ryanair Lingus to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ryanair Lingus to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version are -
Need for greater diversity
– Ryanair Lingus has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ryanair Lingus is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version, in the dynamic environment Ryanair Lingus has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ryanair Lingus has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ryanair Lingus has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Ryanair Lingus even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ryanair Lingus has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ryanair Lingus has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ryanair Lingus needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ryanair Lingus products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ryanair Lingus needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Ryanair Lingus has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Ryanair Lingus supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ryanair Lingus vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Ryanair Lingus has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ryanair Lingus to increase its market reach. Ryanair Lingus will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ryanair Lingus can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ryanair Lingus can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ryanair Lingus in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ryanair Lingus to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Ryanair Lingus to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Ryanair Lingus can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ryanair Lingus has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ryanair Lingus to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version case study. Ryanair Lingus can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ryanair Lingus has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ryanair Lingus to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Ryanair Lingus can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ryanair Lingus to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ryanair Lingus can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ryanair Lingus operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Ryanair Lingus to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Loyalty marketing
– Ryanair Lingus has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Threats Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version are -
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ryanair Lingus can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version .
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Ryanair Lingus will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ryanair Lingus is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Ryanair Lingus business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ryanair Lingus in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing wage structure of Ryanair Lingus
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Ryanair Lingus.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version, Ryanair Lingus may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ryanair Lingus has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ryanair Lingus needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Ryanair Lingus in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ryanair Lingus with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Ryanair Lingus can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Dogfight over Europe: Ryanair (A), Chinese Version is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Ryanair Lingus needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
