netrashetty
Netra Shetty
KBR, Inc. (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root) NYSE: KBR is an American engineering, construction and private military contracting company, formerly a subsidiary of Halliburton, headquartered in Houston. The company also has large offices in Arlington, Birmingham and Leatherhead, UK. After Halliburton acquired Dresser Industries in 1998, Dresser's engineering subsidiary, The M. W. Kellogg Co., was merged with Halliburton's construction subsidiary, Brown & Root, to form Kellogg Brown & Root. KBR and its predecessors have won many contracts with the U.S. military, including during World War II, Vietnam War and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
er’s generic strategies to position itself in the marketplace. Accordingly, a company positions itself by leveraging its strengths. Today, more and more people and organization are striving to be recognized in the business arena. With this objective, these organizations had been able to competently and effectively adapt to the situation in the market place by using generic strategies that enhanced their competitiveness. There are five different generic strategies that a business can choose.
These include cost leadership, differentiation, focused cost leadership and integrated cost leadership/differentiation. Each generic strategy helps the company to establish and exploit a competitive advantage within a particular competitive scope (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson 2003). By applying these strengths, three generic strategies are resulted: cost leadership, differentiation and focus (Johnson & Scholes 1997). The strategies used by the company include cost leadership, differentiation strategy and focused differentiation.
Cost leadership strategy is based upon a business organising and managing its value-adding activities so as to be the lowest cost producer of a product within an industry (Campbell, 2002). Cost advantage may achieve in terms of how product or services is designed or in terms of its quality. Differentiation strategy is based upon persuading customers that a product is superior to that offered by competitors (Campbell, 2002). The value added by the uniqueness of the product or services may allow the company to charge a premium price for it. However, the danger associated with differentiation may include imitation by competitors and changes in customer tastes.
Focus-differentiation strategy is aimed at a segment of the market fro a product rather than at the whole market or many markets (Campbell, 2002). The successful way using focus strategy is to tailor a broad of product or service development strengths to a relatively narrow market segment that they know very well. The risk may include imitation and changes in the target segments. In the case of Ryanair, these three generic strategies had been utilised. First, the company offers the lowest cost of fare than its competitors in the airline. On the other hand, Ryanair has also become a focuser because it concentrated on a narrow customer segment which include Irish and UK business people or travellers who could not afro to fly major airlines.
The main goal of the company is to provide a no frills service with low fares designed to stimulate demand. At the time, it did not aim to offer the lowest fare on the market. However, the company expanded to continental Europe and had to focus on critical success factors to survive. Nowadays, it can be said that Ryanair has shifted generic strategies to become more of a cost-leader not only in terms of passenger volumes but being the lowest cost operator in the airline industry.
Ryanair has restyled itself and shifted from a full service conventional airline to the first European low fares, no frills carrier. In 1985, it provided scheduled passenger airline services between Ireland and the UK. By the end of 1990 and despite a growth in passenger volume, the company had experienced some trouble and had to dispose of five chief executives, recording losses of IR£20 million. Ryanair had to fight to survive and the new management team, headed by Michael O’Leary, decides to restyle the company on the model of successful American Southwest Airlines.
er’s generic strategies to position itself in the marketplace. Accordingly, a company positions itself by leveraging its strengths. Today, more and more people and organization are striving to be recognized in the business arena. With this objective, these organizations had been able to competently and effectively adapt to the situation in the market place by using generic strategies that enhanced their competitiveness. There are five different generic strategies that a business can choose.
These include cost leadership, differentiation, focused cost leadership and integrated cost leadership/differentiation. Each generic strategy helps the company to establish and exploit a competitive advantage within a particular competitive scope (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson 2003). By applying these strengths, three generic strategies are resulted: cost leadership, differentiation and focus (Johnson & Scholes 1997). The strategies used by the company include cost leadership, differentiation strategy and focused differentiation.
Cost leadership strategy is based upon a business organising and managing its value-adding activities so as to be the lowest cost producer of a product within an industry (Campbell, 2002). Cost advantage may achieve in terms of how product or services is designed or in terms of its quality. Differentiation strategy is based upon persuading customers that a product is superior to that offered by competitors (Campbell, 2002). The value added by the uniqueness of the product or services may allow the company to charge a premium price for it. However, the danger associated with differentiation may include imitation by competitors and changes in customer tastes.
Focus-differentiation strategy is aimed at a segment of the market fro a product rather than at the whole market or many markets (Campbell, 2002). The successful way using focus strategy is to tailor a broad of product or service development strengths to a relatively narrow market segment that they know very well. The risk may include imitation and changes in the target segments. In the case of Ryanair, these three generic strategies had been utilised. First, the company offers the lowest cost of fare than its competitors in the airline. On the other hand, Ryanair has also become a focuser because it concentrated on a narrow customer segment which include Irish and UK business people or travellers who could not afro to fly major airlines.
The main goal of the company is to provide a no frills service with low fares designed to stimulate demand. At the time, it did not aim to offer the lowest fare on the market. However, the company expanded to continental Europe and had to focus on critical success factors to survive. Nowadays, it can be said that Ryanair has shifted generic strategies to become more of a cost-leader not only in terms of passenger volumes but being the lowest cost operator in the airline industry.
Ryanair has restyled itself and shifted from a full service conventional airline to the first European low fares, no frills carrier. In 1985, it provided scheduled passenger airline services between Ireland and the UK. By the end of 1990 and despite a growth in passenger volume, the company had experienced some trouble and had to dispose of five chief executives, recording losses of IR£20 million. Ryanair had to fight to survive and the new management team, headed by Michael O’Leary, decides to restyle the company on the model of successful American Southwest Airlines.