Short summary of the key industry speakers from the field trip, Essay

Short summary of the key industry speakers from the field trip, drawing conclusions of their overall importance to the developme - Essay Example The Airlines has partnered with the tour operations for catering to the package deals rather than the individual customers because the place is visited mostly for tourism purpose. The company has rendered its services to the government during time of catastrophe of the Tsunami which has provided an additional leverage to popularity of the brand. The company has entered the Chinese market rather than the Singapore market because the market is untapped and there is a lot of scope to enter into alliances with the other Airlines flying to different parts of the world. Since the journeys are longer, the company intends to make the trip an entertaining one and set up sales agencies in China from where the potential customers can be acquired (Fiji Airways, 2013, p. 1). b) A number of areas of consideration are there where the airline intends to improve its services. It includes the frequency of the flights and more accuracy in the timings. The company can add more destinations to its portfo lio which would improve the sales of Fiji Airlines. For the flight services, Fiji Airways would make improvisation of their menu serving a 5 course meal and better wines since the flight timings are longer and the travellers need to be engaged. The Fiji Airways can make the tourism of Fiji popular to the rest of the world with the effective use of the Brand name. Tourism Fiji a) Since Tourism is the main source of income for Fiji Islands, the initiative of the government to promote the Tourism is on various grounds. The Brand Fiji is a composite package of the luxury resorts, the private islands for the tourists, the sun bathed beaches and the adventures that are arranged for the potential customers. Tourism Fiji has attempted at the consolidation of the markets at US, Australia, New Zealand and other places internationally. The country as to move towards a more sustainable tourism by involving more of the local people into the activities through empowerment. The country provides a 4 month Visa option to the customers to encourage their stay in the islands (Official Website of Tourism Fiji, 2013, p.1). b) Tourism Fiji has various challenges lying ahead of it. People only look at the principal islands when they plan their travel but ignore other regions. There are limitations on the facilities that the resorts would provide along with the restrictions on the flexibility of the flights. The government has to continuously invest in the development and up gradation of the facilities in the disaster prone islands. The misperception of the people about the pricing and quality has made several tourists hesitant to opt for the Fiji tour. Since the tourism at the present stage is mostly on the fag ends of the customer continuum, more medium category of tourism facilities has to be arranged so that the number of visitors gets increased. The places which are preferred by the tourists especially the northern parts do not have enough hotel facilities. The establishment of the individual island brands like Denarau have to be encouraged by Tourism Fiji so that they act as catalysts in the tourism development. South Sea Cruises a) Being the leader in the maritime operator services in Fiji this Brand provides the water transportation to various parts of the

IKEA case study in strategic management report Essay

IKEA case study in strategic management report - Essay Example IKEA primarily sells furniture along with other home products such as appliances and accessories for kitchens and bathrooms. It sells these in knock-down kits that are ready-to-assemble by the customers themselves who are also resorted to for transportation of the goods to their respective homes. This retail model has been very successful for the company in all its emerging markets, resulting in a sheer increase in size to the point of becoming the largest furniture retailer in the world (Reuters). Their business model wholly focuses on a cost leadership strategy which forms the core of their competitive advantage. As we shall see, IKEA resorts to offer a distinguished appeal by coupling this strategy with various other methods of creating a unique product which not only appeals to those with an urge to maintain a level of quality but also to those looking to cut their purchasing costs. The purpose of this report is to outline its internationalization model and to verify some of the key opportunity areas for growth as well as managing looming risks. Analysis Retail is a fast growing industry in today’s consumer based societies, managing to look out for the needs of consumers directly without the expense of innovation. In today’s business, it has managed to become an important pillar industry of the society, certifying economic and social development in the region it most thrives in. With prosperity comes an improvement in lifestyle and comfort, and with an edge towards affordability, IKEA has sought to cater to the household goods market by passing on its cost leadership strategies to the benefit of consumers in the form of cheaper yet quality-proven products up to a range of 25 to 50 percent. Ever since its inception, IKEA has gradually set up shop in several different countries reaching a grand total of 267 Group stores by the end of 2009, with Germany being the highest selling country by far as a percentage of total sales. Their model incorpora tes the various principles of expansion that in turn harmonize their competitive advantage of price in several other markets. They achieve this by the process of internationalization. Internationalization for a company is a crucial stage of development, as it serves to integrate it into the retail sector for a consumer based economy (Dawson 2007). It not only increases the life cycle of a product, but also attains economies of scale by extending the size of potential markets. In order to pursue this task for any company, it must develop some conceptual strategies IKEA has managed to successfully integrate into other markets with the strategies of cost leadership, focused cost leadership, and focused differentiation. Cost leadership engages in reducing the product costs and ignoring the various market segments that the company caters to, while focusing on a distinct narrow segment, thereby saving on the additional research, analysis and management requirement that necessitate additio nal investment and lead to a rise in manufacturing costs. IKEA does this by allowing the customers to choose, buy, assemble and transport their own goods, passing on the benefit of cost leadership directly to the consumers in the form of a 25 to 50% discount compared to competitor rates. Moreover, IKEA’s Scandinavian image capitalizes on the persistence of quality, so that their target audience of first-time buyers, and elderly people are infused with the perception that