Air Canada Gains U.S. Market Share Through Technology Management - Essay Sample

Introduction

In any business, excellent managerial skills are crucial to quality performance and general enterprise growth, to have a favorable competing power with related organizations. This paper is a case study of the technology management and other techniques used by Air Canada to gain the upper hand on the U.S. markets.

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Air Canada has been using emerging technologies such as online plane ticket booking and reservation systems and free high-speed Wi-Fi, to improve customer experience. To ensure that it covers more destinations, Air Canada is part of the Star Alliance Team, which ensures that it covers up to 180 countries. Air Canada already covers about 178 destinations within Canada, the United States of America, part of Asia and Europe, all with the help of affiliate companies.

Air Canada intends to expand its operations to six cities in the U.S., and later expand its routes to cover North Africa (Algiers) to Reykjavik, and Taipei to Tel Aviv; however, this plan comes with a severe threat of competition from other companies.

The primary management issues that arise in this case are technology management issues and economic issues (competition between Air Canada and other airways transport companies). Air Canada tries to incorporate technology to its customers, as a marketing tool, to establish the right name with the customers by ensuring they get a remarkable experience during their travel. Air Canada also tries to penetrate the American market, to expand its market to American cities, and later serve routes connecting Africa to Asia, which is already done by other flight companies.

Management Fundaments: Concepts, Applications and Skill Development by Lussier (2018) studies various cases, and examines the management issues arising in each. The main concepts related to the case of Air Canada that is evident in the textbook are harmonizing time-based competition and design, operation system management, and current management issues such as diversity and technology. Air Canada plans its competitive strategy in stages, to gain an advantage over the existing companies in the region where it wants to venture; here, it employs some degree of time-based competition to ensure quality services. Also, Air Canada, alongside its affiliates have a business have an operations management system which aims at expanding its services to new markets. Finally, the case covers current management issues such as technology and diversity; the company tries to incorporate technology in its services, and several companies provide the same services as Air Canada.

To gain power in new markets, Air Canada can start by finding means to attract loyal customers; this can be done by trying new ways to create an excellent customer experience since happy customers are likely to be regular customers ("How Can Airline Companies Enhance Customers Customer Experience?" 2017). To achieve loyalty through customer experience, the airline company should listen to customer needs, identify its target customers and get to know them, and also find a moving way to communicate with customers ("7 Ways to Improve Your Airline Brand's Customer Experience on Social," 2018). The overall effect of winning customer loyalty will be that the company will be able to compete favorably with other companies (Lee & Cunningham, 1996).

Air Canada's plan to extend its operations can be categorized as a strategic plan because it outlines the company's long-time goals and vision for a few years to come. The environmental factors that Air Canada has taken into account are the threat of competition from related companies and customer loyalty; however, the company has not emphasized on ways to get the required customer loyalty. The main issue affecting the profitability of the company is competition, and the strength of the business would be its partnership with other companies.

References

7 Ways to Improve Your Airline Brand's Customer Experience on Social. (2018, April 19). Retrieved from https://www.litjium.com/resources/how-to-guides/7-ways-to-improve-your-airline-brands-customer-experience--on-social

How Can Airline Companies Enhance Customers Customer Experience? (2017, October 17). Retrieved from https://cloudcherry.com/blog/arilines-cusomer-experience-tips/

Lee, M., & Cunningham, L. F. (1996). Customer loyalty in the airline industry. Transportation Quarterly, 50(2).

Lussier, R. N.(2011). Management Fundamentals: Concepts, Applications, Skill Development. South Western College.