A Tale of Two Airlines in The Information Age

A Tale of Two Airlines in the Information Age
 Interorganizational IS, databases, and global interconnectivity

together creates platforms for higher service levels.
 What assumptions did Prof. McPherson make regarding information
technology support at the London-based airlines?
 Do you believe they are realistic assumptions for the technology
environment of the mid-1990s
 What factors do you think lead to the difference between Prof.

McPherson’s expectations and the reality of the situation?
 What alternative approaches could have been taken to resolve the
situation?
 What were the differences between the Atlanta-based and the London
airline’s approach?
 In approaching the problem, did the Atlanta-based airline have any
special advantages?
 What advice would you give the London-based airline’s management?

What did Prof. McPherson assume the British Airway's gate
agent would know about him and what are the enabling
technologies that would be required to execute them?
Assumptions Enabling IT
Ticket Fare The reservation record (stored in
London or downloaded to a USA
server
Gold Card Member and a regular The reservation system should have
patron his Gold Card data and should
be able to use it to their
advantage
That they will know he is on a Integration of two computers
connecting flight and the data on reservation systems which
the connecting flight. historically had no need to be
interconnected with one another.
The information accessible will
show when the plane touches
down and when it actually
attached to the gate
 What are the possible service alternatives

for British Airways?
1. Hold the airplane for Prof. McPherson
2. Hold the plane at the gate until the scheduled
departure time
3. Send an agent to meet McPherson at his arrival
gate and attempt to get him to the plane.
4. Have an agent at the London-based Airways
departure gate briefed on McPherson’s situation
and action alternative in hand.
 “we held the plane until last moment. We have
reserved a seat for you on flight number and is
there anyone in London we can call to notify
them of your delay”
 Delta (Atlanta-based airline) situation?

 Different tradeoffs are possible in bad weather.
 They held the plane for 15 minutes to pick up an extra
8 known connecting passengers.
 There information systems had identified the 8, the
time they needed to connect, plus analyzed the tailwind
data
 A clearly empowered gate staff and crew existed.
Information, guidelines and training had allowed a
partial transfer of operational decision-making to the
customer interface
 It is easier to do this at the hub than in the outlying

regions. Service failures tend to take place at a
distance.
 Reaction from Chairman of British Airways in London

 He had the head of British Airways in USA and his
marketing manager visit Prof. McPherson three
weeks later.
 What do you think will be the focus of the discussion?

 Inflexibility of the British Airways information
architecture
 Difficulties of getting London-based files and other
airline data to the gate agent
 Conflict between operational excellence and now the
additional need for high touch customer service
 Facilitated by flexible use of the new technologies
1. The bottom line of this case is that in the information age, the
expectation of what constitute good service have increased
dramatically. Making it happen seamlessly requires the integration of
large amount of different technologies and databases being passed
across organizations in a seamless fashion.
2. The new technologies require fundamental changes in training and

attitudes. One airline had done it and the other had experienced a
collapse in outlying region.
3. In the today's networked economy business environment distance is

no longer an excuse for inferior customer services
4. There has been an increased in global customer and global business

customers
5. Customers are highly knowledgeable and therefore the level of

expecting has increased significantly.
6. Ability to use IT appropriately (including empowerment) will continue

to be a source of completive advantage.
Targeting IT-Based Investment
High
Increasing
operating Catch up
performance
Manufacturing gap
versus industry leader
Maintain Increase flexibility,

Advantage responsiveness
Differentiate
product and
services
Low
Low High
Services / Marketing gap versus industry leader
Different competitive investment strategies facing industry players as they

consider there position versus industry leaders.
 Type A: x
 Used IT to transform marketing and production and
the organizational design and management process
required to support IT-based investment
 Strong leadership
 Senior business leaders assume responsibility for

planning and executing IT strategy for the firm
 IT is defined as a core capability of the firm.

 Type B: x
 Used IT to support manufacturing and logistics
 IT investment are targeted towards streamlining,

integrating, and coordinating production and
distribution while controlling costs and improving
quality
 Strong relationship between IT and senior

management must be in place to support the
requirement for interfunctional integration.
 Type C:
x
 The challenge to better different their products and
services to meet the needs of ever more-focused
markets.
 The ability to capture detailed data on individual

buyer preferences, competitor prices, and product
moves is crucial.
 Strong IT and general management links are

needed to assure success.
 Type D: x
 Deed catch up situation, outmaneuvered by competitors

on both sides.
 Comprehensive, coordinated efforts are needed to

achieve a defensible competitive position.
 Long lead time and high capital investment costs often

create a situation so serious that the survival of the
corporation is at stake.
 Massive IT investment needed to maintain competitive
position within the industry served to ‘weed out’
competitors that failed to recognize early, the opportunities
that IT would provide for integrating operations, identifying
and meeting customer expectations, and differentiating
products and services. (e.g. People express)
Categories of Strategic Relevance and Impact
A contingency appropriate to IT management.
High
Factory Strategic
IT are important but they Totally depending on it

are not fundamental to the
Strategic Impact of firms ability to compete.
existing IT system
Support Turnaround
Strategic Impact of IT
on operations and future Not absolutely depending on
strategy is low. totally uninterrupted,
Low fast response-time.
Low High
Strategic Impact of IT applications under development
Categories of Strategic Relevance and Impact
existing operating systems

High
Factory
Strategic impact of
Turnaround Strategic
Support
Low
Low High
Strategic impact of
application development portfolio
Sourcing Policies for the IT Value Chain
Decision Criteria Pressure to “Make/Own” Pressure to “Buy”
Business strategy IT application or infrastructure IT application or infrastructure
provides proprietary competitive supports strategy or operations, but
advantage is not considered strategic in its own
right
Core competence
Information/
process security
and confidentiality
Availability of
suitable partners
Availability of
packaged software
or solutions
Cost/benefit
analysis
Time frame for
implementation
Evolution and
complexity of the
technology
Ease of
implementation

A Tale of Two Airlines in The Information Age

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

A Tale of Two Airlines in The Information Age

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

A Tale of Two Airlines in The Information Age

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

A Tale of Two Airlines in the Information Age

 Interorganizational IS, databases, and global interconnectivity

 What factors do you think lead to the difference between Prof.

 What advice would you give the London-based airline’s management?

 What are the possible service alternatives

 Delta (Atlanta-based airline) situation?

 It is easier to do this at the hub than in the outlying

 Reaction from Chairman of British Airways in London

 What do you think will be the focus of the discussion?

2. The new technologies require fundamental changes in training and

3. In the today's networked economy business environment distance is

4. There has been an increased in global customer and global business

5. Customers are highly knowledgeable and therefore the level of

6. Ability to use IT appropriately (including empowerment) will continue

Maintain Increase flexibility,

Different competitive investment strategies facing industry players as they

 Senior business leaders assume responsibility for

 IT is defined as a core capability of the firm.

 Used IT to support manufacturing and logistics

 IT investment are targeted towards streamlining,

 Strong relationship between IT and senior

 The ability to capture detailed data on individual

 Strong IT and general management links are

 Deed catch up situation, outmaneuvered by competitors

 Comprehensive, coordinated efforts are needed to

 Long lead time and high capital investment costs often

A contingency appropriate to IT management.

IT are important but they Totally depending on it

existing operating systems

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.