Singapore Airlines is one of the most successful and leading airlines in the world in service quality, profits, innovation, and growth (Michael & Ahmed, 2009). Singapore Airlines is a company that has managed to become a global leader in a competitive business environment, which is characterised by changing customer demands and behavior, fierce competition, and changing environmental laws and obligations. According to Michael and Ahmed (2009), the competitive nature of the company is based on a core leadership strategy of cost leadership, service differentiation, and service excellence. The strategy is defined by five core elements, which include empowering frontline staff to control quality, using a straight selection recruitment process, using successful service delivery teams, motivating staff through rewards and recognition, innovation, continuous improvements, and extensive investment in staff training and retaining. The company’s strategic plan is defined by a growth strategy, workforce well-being, effective resource management, and customer satisfaction.
Company growth strategy
The growth strategy into the next decade is defined by a dual strategy which is based on service differentiation, service excellence, cost leadership, and service innovation (Vosen & Schmidt, 2011). The company focuses on the provision of excellent customer services through the acquisition of new low cost planes and the use of latest flight guidance technology. The company has invested in the most recent and leading technological innovations, uses the latest inflight gadgets, and a well-trained crew to address performance issues. The company focuses on customer safety, personalised flights, and the use of cost effective standard processes. To differentiate her services, the company has introduced a program to advertise the quality of her services, which is one of the cultural elements highly valued by the Asian people. In addition to that, the company has made significant investments in a company branding strategy and intends to form partnerships with smaller companies. It has been established that the growth strategy was the driving force that made the company to purchase a 49% stake in VIRGIN ATLANTIC airlines and for creating a partnership with the new entrepreneurial companies.
Assessment of the workforce program
To ensure that Singapore Airlines becomes competitive, the company has formulated a customer service transforming strategy which is specifically focused on motivating employees at the work place (Wirtz & Heracleous, 2012). The company has a sophisticated recruitment process to ensure that the best qualified people in terms of skill, experience, and attitude are recruited into the workforce. Experience is a critical tool used to create employee satisfaction and competence. The company strategy provides employees with a comprehensive cyclic training program and a system for benchmarking their performance against continuous improvement frameworks. In addition to that, the company has put in place an employee recognition program for those who show exceptional performance to ensure excellent service provision. The company has invested a significant amount of money to present the airlines as modern airline that offers the best services in the world, and focuses on stewardship as one of the core elements of the strategy.
Resources management
Resource management is a critical component for the airlines industry. The company strategy is to manage her resources based on the acquisition of new and low cost fleet of aircrafts. Well qualified and trained personnel are employed to ensure good quality service delivery. The company has formed government and private stakeholder partnerships, and always ensures that profits are ploughed back into the business. Singapore Airlines has well maintained and serviced freight handling facilities in the world, 89 international flight destinations, and an excellent human resource training facility (Wirtz & Heracleous, 2012). Some of the most important resources for Singapore Airlines are partnerships and alliances with other airlines, and excellent brand attributes.
Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is a key component in the strategic growth of the company and depends on successful leadership efforts. In this case, the management has implemented a customer satisfaction program that focuses on the provision of good quality services, which starts by resolving service related problems by the line managers (Wirtz & Heracleous, 2012). One approach that is used is to admit mistakes when they happen and proactively take the responsibility of settling customer disputes to raise the trust levels in the company. Customer problems are also solved by local level managers who are authorised to solve customer problems on the spot. The company has focused on the provision of special training programs for employees to ensure outstanding services are provided, which include check in procedures and effective boarding and delivery of baggage. The services are benchmarked and complaints about food are attended to on the sport.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Singapore Airlines has grown to be one of the largest and most competitive business organisations in the airline industry in the world. The company has developed a growth strategy, which is based on high levels of innovation, excellence of services, and continuous improvements. The internal organisation of the human resources is based on continuous service quality improvements, excellent service design and delivery, strategic alliances to improve organisational performance, innovation, and new technologies to grow in the competitive market.
References
Michael, E. R., & Ahmed, M. (2009). What Sets Exceptional Companies Apart. Harvard Business Review, 53(12), 40-45.
Vosen, S., & Schmidt, T. 2011. Forecasting private consumption: Survey-based indicators vs. Google trends. Journal of Forecasting, 30 (1), 565–578.
Wirtz, J., & Heracleous, L. (2012). Singapore Airlines: Managing Human Resources for Cost-effective Service Excellence. Web.