Introduction
Business strategy is a key factor that can define the success of an enterprise. For a strategy to be fully functional and implemented in the right way, there is a requirement that people in charge must be proactive to ensure that all the elements of the strategy are followed (Chabiera, 2021). For competitive advantage, a company must establish cost leadership, differentiation. Qantas is an Australian-based airline that has been in service since 1902 (Johnson, 2021). During the pandemic when many airlines had closed due to slow business, Qantas was among the few businesses that did not have adverse effects on its employees. Through his transformational leadership, there was intellectual stimulation, consideration, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence (Johnson, 2021). Thus, the metrics that Qantas followed through the management are part of business strategies that allow breakthrough and significant competitive advantage.
Purpose of the Business
At Qantas, the main business is the provision of air transport domestically and internationally. Through air transport, the company has been offering fare guide details to reward according to the economic situation (Duffey, 2019). The company also offers travel insurance through collaboration with key companies that have been in the field for a long time. Some of the services at Qantas include holidays, hotels, cars, Airbnb, and platforms that help in booking and taxiing, such as Madpaws and Uber, respectively (Kotcharin, Maneenop, and Jaroenjitrkam, 2022). Through the business, Qantas has set the following business aims that help the company be outstanding.
- To exploit stakeholder value by applying of systematic, reliable, and sufficient supply of goods and services (Pascual and Cain, 2021).
- To offer value of money to the clients by reducing the cost and the level of quality that guarantees them a chance to return for the same services (Raynes and Tsui, 2019).
The aims above pose some pros and cons as it would be to other businesses. The pros include the value chain analysis to benefit the majority of the customers, as seen in the second aim, and solving financial risks that can hinder the business’s success (Raynes and Tsui, 2019). Exploiting stakeholder means having key people in the company offer additional value of time and resources to save the company, which is a key constraint (Siopis, 2021). Additionally, it means that employees might have difficulty trying to transition to the new changes.
Business Strategy Concept at Qantas
As depicted in the introductory paragraph, Qantas differentiated itself from other firms offering similar services through cost leadership led by the CEO, Mr. Allan Joyce. The valid definition of Qantas’s business concept is applying ideas that are important to have a rainy-day fund, prioritizing employees first, and self-sacrifice through cost-effective leadership that can run the business effectively (Qantas Case Study: Leading Innovation in the workplace, 2022). The advantage of this concept is that it is one of the suitable paraphernalia that can be applied during events when there is an economic crisis.
The other advantage is that at Qantas, the employees that were deployed to save on wage cost had employment opportunities organized by Qantas in other companies, a way of protecting the business reputation in the society. Among the cons is the self-sacrificial leadership that saw the management of Qantas incur a cost for the benefit of its staff to ensure that the goals and objectives of the business were reached (Watt and Abrams, 2018). Considering the above points, the audience can understand the meaning of business strategy at Qantas through the validity concepts used by Mr. Allan Joyce.
Role of Business in Achieving Success
Generally, business strategy aids in defining the business and giving a set of values that, when implemented, there is a return on investment without key challenges due to laxity in leadership and innovation (Bundtzen, 2020). Through business strategy, a business gains purpose, and the management can draw points that can enable a further breakthrough in the industry that it serves. One advantage is that through this strategy, Allan Joyce was able to navigate a few issues that ensured or guaranteed success despite the Coronavirus turbulence that hit the company (Duffey, 2019). First, he reduced flights and refinanced to ensure stability in terms of resources for running the giant company.
Secondly, he introduced exploitative behaviors such as changes to flight paths that saw a reduction in cost to protect against the possibility of being bankrupt and firing staff. Additionally, through the CEO, the company raised more than $1.9 billion from investors by modes of share selling (Qantas Case Study: Leading Innovation in the workplace, 2022. p. 23). Thus, by selling shares, the disadvantage is that the company may not be able to have stability whenever hit by another business turbulence. By using helicopter view, Allan as more than $80 billion for emergencies through what is known as the ‘rainy day fund’ (Qantas Case Study: Leading Innovation in the workplace, 2022. p. 23). Other factors such as individual and intellectual considerations aided the company in looking for alternatives that would prevent any possible failure during the Covid-19 crisis.
Business effectiveness and responsibility
Qantas ensured there was efficacy in doing the required activities to safeguard the company’s interests and sustain the employees’ jobs. Like any other successful business Qantas treasured its employees and they were not fired without a reason. In this section, the reader will be able to realize the application of volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) theory through the management of company affairs depicted in the entire paper. Covid-19 pandemic was an uncertainty that was not expected to last for a long period and to stop the major activities of the Qantas Company. The company adjusted to the unpredicted change in the world, evidence of the VUCA concept. The volatility was the change in the style of leadership that was committed to protecting the key stakeholder due to the nature of the business that had been hit by the pandemic (Hrynko and Vyshnevetska, 2021). Evidence of uncertainty was seen since the business had kept the employees despite the fact that there was a need to reduce their number. The unpredictable changes in the future that could offer an opportunity to reduce the number of employees in a responsible way were unpredictable.
Mr. Allan developed interconnected factors that had a possibility to create confusion during implementation creating a complexity in the business. For example, the fund drive and sale of shares were to be done with logical reasoning so that no individual constraints would lead to liability during the process (Bundtzen, 2020). Ambiguousness of the established processes was seen to press the matters significantly more concerning the flight paths as one way of reducing the cost (Kotcharin, Maneenop, and Jaroenjitrkam, 2022). Therefore, the effectiveness of business at Qantas dependent on transformational, ambidextrous, and self-sacrificial leadership that maintains the business well.
Effective Engagement of Stakeholders
According to the Qantas case study the stakeholders of the company are involved in the business and the CEO considers them as his priority. The company engaged the investors that saw a selling of shares that amounted to a significant figure that could enable the running of the business procedures at Qantas (Pascual and Cain, 2021). Optimizing employee factors of consideration was an important gesture for effective and responsible engagement (Pollak, 2019). Allan Joyce made efforts to communicate to his team so that all the required concepts would be applied in time and to avoid confusion that would lead to misunderstandings and collisions among the employees.
Conclusion
In conclusion, an effective business strategy is important for the success of an organization and in Qantas, they are getting things together to have an effective business strategy that would make them stand out in the competitive market. Engaging the right stakeholders and shareholder would help in making the right decision concerning the running and management of the organization. There is need to communicate effectively with all shareholders.
Reference List
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