Running Head: Classic Airlines Classic Airlines Marketing 571 Classic Airlines Introduction Classic Airlines is a 25 year old airline company whose recent decline of 19% in their Classic Rewards members due to lack of consumer confidence has senior leadership uneasy. Classic Airlines is proud to be the fifth largest airline in the world with 32,000 employees. Due to rising costs in fuel and labor it has limited the airlines competitiveness in its rewards program. Classic Airlines leadership needs to make a 15% across the board cut while enhancing revenue from its rewards program (University of Phoenix, 2012). Marketing Strategy Relationship marketing is the current marketing strategy Classic Airlines is using.
This allows them to allocate resources, like inventory and marketing dollars, to optimize the portfolio. Further, during the economic downturn they have effectively managed payroll while maintaining the service levels customers expect in the stores. To further improve staffing efficiency” Lowe’s is implementing a new staffing software tool, which provides detailed scheduling forecasts based on each store’s customer traffic patterns, incorporates each store’s penetration of specialty business into that forecast and provides managers with improved visibility to daily staffing needs by department. Lowe’s will continue to refine their supply chain”.
After two straight years of financial losses in 1994, CEO Ron Allen rolled out a new strategy called “Leadership 7.5.” Allen targeted to reduce Delta’s cost per each available seat mile from more than 10 cents to 7.5 cents, which would match that of major competitor Southwest Airlines (Bryant, 1997). Along with a new company strategy a change followed with Delta’s human resource strategy. This changing policy devastated employee morale and resulted in a decline of customer service, efforts to unionize, and dissatisfaction among personnel. Delta couldn’t keep the past primary policy about human resources so there were several significant changes in Delta’s organization and corporate culture. There are many programs that Delta has built after passing through the cost-cutting reformation in 1997 for getting back its capabilities on customer relationships like rewards and recognition program above and beyond and more.
The recent history of Air Canada is not bright one. In March of 2003 Air lines cut 3,600 jobs. Which at that time the company was in bankruptcy protection and was negotiating to make major reduction in labour cost. The company attempted to reduce its annual operating expenses by 25 percent, or C$2.4 billion. Last year, because the price of oil had raised to $150 a barrel many CUPE members lost monthly flying time.
JC Penney was named on this list for its disappointing stock price relative to the retail industry. Its stock price was down almost 45% from January 1 1995 to December 31 1999, while the S&P Retail Department Stores Index increased by almost 43%. Due to declining sales and a deteriorating customer base, CalPERS believes the market has lost confidence in Penney's management.
The best forms of motivation focus on what the employees deem to be important. Many organizations find that flexibility in job design increases an employee’s longevity with the organization, improves productivity and betters morale ("Reference for Business; Encyclopedia of Business", 2012). Some methods of motivation include empowerment; creativity and innovation; learning; quality of life; monetary incentives; and other incentives ("Reference for Business; Encyclopedia of Business", 2012). Empowerment means giving employees more responsibility and decision making authority so they can feel control over the tasks they are held responsible for and better equips them to carry out those tasks ("Reference for Business; Encyclopedia of Business", 2012). Creativity and Innovation gives employees the opportunity to use their ideas to improve a job, product, or service ("Reference for Business; Encyclopedia of Business", 2012).
Although its competitors have continued to grow over the last three years, Best Buy has experienced a slow decline. Its announcement of its plans to expand and open 100 new Best Buy Mobile locations over the next year was superceded by two significant events in April of 2012, the resignation of their CEO and its announcement of its closing 50 stores. Both have caused the Best Buy’s stock price to decline further over the last few months. Even when comparing to the DOW Jones, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 in the chart above, Best Buy’s stock price is well below industry average. From 2007 to 2012, industry averages range from ~10% appreciation to ~-10% depreciation.
Revenue fell 4 per cent to $7.9 billion. Qantas' domestic operations reported a 74 per cent fall in pre-tax profit to $57 million, which was blamed on intense competition in the domestic market and growth in capacity. But it was overshadowed again by Qantas' international operations, which slumped to a $262 million loss compared with a $91 million loss previously. This article refers to Qantas cutting down jobs for many workers. This is an internal issue- business management; this affects the business in a negative way.
Sales were up 11 percent from 2009’s second quarter. Third quarter 2009 sales reflect the $276 million impact of a 7 percent decline in tire unit volume due to lower industry demand as well as a $279 million reduction in sales in other tire-related businesses, primarily third-party chemical sales by North American Tire. Unfavorable foreign currency translation further reduced sales by $159 million. Goodyear successfully launched 15 new products in the quarter, in addition to the 42 launched in the first half. The company has exceeded its goal of more than 50 new product launches during 2009.
Factor number two is the company offering free shipping to orders over $100. Not only did this cause the company to lose the income that it brings in for shipping and add shipping costs to it’s expenses, it also added to marketing by $13,000 plus an additional $32,000 for magazine marketing when ‘Marketing and administration’ it was only budgeted at $90,000. The shift in the economy during this time frame affected the budgeted ‘labor’ expense due to the increase in pay for it’s hourly employees. All of these factors combined worked against the company to cause a negative in operating profit. Although AGM fell short in meeting it’s master budget for this quarter, these unexpected occurrences can help them to better budget for the future of agm.com.