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Essay Instructions: Qantas Airlines:
It is up to you how you structure your answer. A typical "essay style" is not expected. Rather you should think in terms of imagining yourself to be a strategic management consultant who has been hired to prepare a preliminary review of the core strategies of Qantas for presentation to the board.

Thus, the report needs to contain an executive summary, a body of text arranged around a series of section headings, and conclude with recommendations about the appropriateness of the current strategies.

Not expecting a full comprehensive analysis of the strategies of Qantas. With the resources (including time) and information available, a full and comprehensive analysis is clearly impossible. Instead you should focus on identifying the main strategies and keu issues, so as to provide the Board with an overall appraisal of current strategies. In undertaking this analysis you need only rely upon information that is publicly and easily available., and you can make reasonable assumptions to fill in any gaps in your information. You should, however, be careful to clearly identify these assumptions in your answer. A detailed financial analysis is NOT required.

OVERALL APPROACH TO UNDERTAKING THE ASSIGNMENT
The number one thing to bear in mind in undertaking this assignment is that what is primariliy required is an application of the concepts, principles and tools of strategic management that have been (or will be) presented in the topic (NEED TO DISCUSS GLOBABL STRATEGY, COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE, PORTER'S FIVE FORCES).

SOME KEY CONCEPTS TO KEEP IN MIND IN UNDERTAKING YOUR ANALYSIS:
-Remember that strategy is about taking actions to maximise profit (over the long term) -- thus your assignment should answer such questions as: How is Qantas seeking to maximise profits? (ie what is their current core strategy/ies?) Have these strategies been successful to date? Are they likely to be successful in the future? Why? Why not? Emerging Threats? New Opportunities and implications for stratwgy?

- Strategy is also about establishing and sustaining a competitive advantage. -- What is/are the competitive advantages of Qantas? Can these competitive advantages been sustained? What is required for them to be sustained?

- Corporate strategies and business strategiesmust complement one another. -- Do the various airline operations of Qantas complement one another? Or might the diversification into new airline operations in recent years provide to be a strategic mistake? REMEMBER: This assignmentis to identify and critically review the strategies of Qantas in respect of their passenger airline operations. You only need consider the other businesses run by Qantas to the extent that these businesses have some strategic significance for the airline passenger businesses.

- To be effective, strategies need to be consistent with both the external environment and with the resources and capabilities of the firm.

Some Specific Questions to ponder in Undertaking your analysis:
-What is the competitive advantage/s of Qantas in the domestic market relative to Virgin Blue? Sustainable? What is required if the competitive position(and hence profitability) of Qantas domestic is to be sustainable?

-Whatis the strategy underlying Jetstar? Proving to be a good strategy? What is the danger in JetStar cannibalising paasengers (and revenue and profits) from the parent operation (ie Qantas Domestic)? How real is the danger? How to limit it? Where to next for JetStar? Dangers/positives in the latest strategies for JetStar domestic?

-Where should the focus be: Qantas domestic or JetStar, or both? Other?

- What about JetStar International - a good strategy?

- Threats to the Qantas International operations? How is Qantas addressing these threats? Sufficient/adequate?

-Value of international alliances and code-sharing?

-Threat of new entrants to both domestic and international operations? Strategies to limit the opportunities for new entrants?

-Why have Qantas ans Virgin Blue been able to continue to earn good profits in recent years while most airlines around the world have suffered significant financial losses? Is this likely to remain the situation?

INFORMATION SOURCES:
Qantas's annual report 2005/2006 (do not fall into the trap and simply paraphrase material from annual reports - information may be useful but it does not by itself represent an adequate identification or analysis of strategies for the company. You need to supplement such information from other sources, and most especially, it requires an intelligent application of the theory and concepts of strategic management).
Analysis is expected to be more up to date - with focus being the current strategies and situation.

MARKING GUIDELINES:
- the quality of the arguments presented, including its relevance and logic;

- level of understanding illustrated of the concepts introduced, how they have been applied etc.

- insightfulness of your analysis

the organisation of your assignment - overall structure of your answer, clarity of expression, and the succintness of your answer


There are faxes for this order.

Essay Instructions: Choose an 'Australian Business', in this case 'Qantas Airlines' and prepare a Research Report that examines the impact of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) on that business with respect to one of themes discussed by Forster (2010) - strategic management theory (page 31). You can make comparisons with other businesses in the same industry but the essence of your report is to discuss the impact of the GFC on that business (given the industry in which it operates) from the perspective of one of the themes above and make recommendations to the business about about how to respond (deal with) the issues you identify with respect to the theme you have chosen to research and analyse.In the Research Report ? the executive summary; background; and aspects /issues/problems sections are each to be under 150 words. The body of report (discussion); recommendations and implementation plan is to be concisely presented in under 1000 words (maximum).

Essay Instructions: Request for Bolavans!

Subject: Management

Words: 3000

BACKGROUND:
Since the deregulation of the airline industry in Australia on 1 November 1990, competition has intensified with rivals Virgin Blue, Jetstar, and Tiger Airways challenging
Qantas airlines’ dominance over Australian skies. The battle for market share has seen unprecedented fare discounting, greater choice of destinations, frequencies and scheduling, by contenders in the market, all at a time when airlines are struggling with ever-increasing fuel costs.

Read the following articles on the Portal to gain an overview of the Australian airline industry:

• Wastnage, J 2008, ‘Lion in Wait’ Travel Weekly, 25 January, p 6.
• Hadley, M 2007 ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ Travel Weekly, 23 March, pp 4-5.

You can download the files here:

http://users.tpg.com.au/jodaniel//articles.zip
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You will need to use at least 4 Academic Journal Articles and other good sources to support your essay.

Login details:
website: http://www.deakin.edu.au/library
Family Name: guan
ID: x9055
password: terrytao
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Words: 3000 (4 parts)

TASK:
You are required to choose one competitor in the Australian airline industry (not Qantas) to compile a case study report that covers the following key areas:

• a discussion of the background of your chosen organization, including the organisation’s mission/vision statement, and strategic goals (approximately 400 words)

• a general and task environmental analysis of your chosen organization
(approximately 800 words)

• a SWOT analysis of your chosen organisation (approximately 800 words)


• based on your responses to the previous dot points, critically analyse the business level strategies your chosen organisation has adopted to compete in the Australian airline market (approximately 1000 words).



MMM132 Major Assignment

Sources of information:
Students are expected to provide both academic and non-academic sources as they address the key areas above. Academic sources include academic articles from academic journals, and text books. Non-academic sources include company websites, material published in industry and business magazines, newspapers etc. Students
should NOT use Wikipedia, or other unauthenticated sites.

All sources are to be properly referenced and cited.
Students are required to be constructively critical and analytical. In addition, students have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of management through a
practical and realistic approach to their basic research methods, discussion of relevant real-life applications and demonstration of strong essay/report writing and referencing
techniques.


Essay document format:

A SUGGESTED LAYOUT FOR A CASE STUDY REPORT:
1. Cover page (title of report, student names, ID’s, name of lecturer, class – not
included in word count)
2. An Executive Summary:
• An executive summary is a brief summary of the full report. It highlights
the objective of the report, key facts, issues, and conclusions. The summary must contain enough information for the reader(s) to become
acquainted with the full document without actually reading the whole report.
3. Table of contents, with page numbers (not included in word count)

4. Introduction:
• Some background on the task being undertaken
• The objectives/aims of your report
• Layout of the report (lets the reader know what to expect)
• Conclusions drawn from your research
5. Background of your chosen organisation (not Qantas)
• Introduce the section
• Provide a critical analysis of the organisation’s mission/vision, and
strategic goals. Use your theory to provide critical analysis
6. Environmental Analysis:
• Introduce the section
• Provide general analysis (using organisation information and your theory)
• Provide task analysis (using organisation information and your theory)
• Provide a summary about the effects of the environment on your organisation

7. Competitive Analysis:
• Introduce the section
• Conduct a SWOT analysis for your organisation (using organisation
information and your theory)
• Provide a critical summation of the competitive situation for your chosen
organisation
• Provide recommendations
8. Strategic Analysis:
• Introduce the section
• Describe the current strategic approach of the organisation (provide links
to dot point 1 re strategic goals.) Discuss generic strategy, target market in this section
• Critically appraise the organisation’s strategy in light of the environmental
analysis and the SWOT analysis
• Provide a critical summation
• Recommendations for the organization
9. Conclusion:
• Provide an overall conclusion for your report
10. References