Arline competitiveness: the

case of Malaysia's AirAsia

Airlines

1
Executive Summary

The report discusses AirAsia's purpose, issues, strategic analysis along with strategic methods
for the business to gain a sustainable competitive advantage in Malaysia. The research method
used is solely secondary resources from AirAsia's websites and academic papers. In detail,
AirAsia's vision is to be the biggest budget carrier in Asia to offer quality services with the
lowest operating cost. However, the main challenge to obtain that goal is the high level of
competitiveness in the airline industry. Besides, the report examines the strategic analysis by
interpreting the AirAsia's external and internal background. Moreover, the external analysis
shows the growing opportunity towards AirAsia but demonstrates a threat during an economic
recession. Next, the internal analysis applies the value chain and VIRO framework to illustrate
the strengths and weaknesses of the company, where the core capabilities are Outbound
Logistics, Marketing, Technology, and HR Management. Thus, the weaknesses are Inbound
Logistics, Operations, Services, Firm Infrastructure, and Procurement. Consequently, the report
recommends AirAsia to follow the Product Development method of the Ansoff Matrix to
innovate their products as inflight meals. Likewise, the firm should outsource the catering
service to PapaRich (famous Malaysian eatery) to gain competitive advantages of cost and
differentiation yet fulfill its vision and mission.

2
Table of Contents

Executive Summary ............................................................................................................... 2

Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. 3

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 4

1.1 Vision and Mission .............................................................................................................5

1.2 Strategic Management Issue ..............................................................................................5

2. Strategic Analysis ........................................................................................................... 6

2.1 Competitor Analysis ...........................................................................................................6

2.1.1 Rivalry among Competitors ...................................................................................................................7

2.2 External Analysis ................................................................................................................7

2.2.1 PEST Analysis .........................................................................................................................................7

2.3 Internal Analysis .............................................................................................................. 11

2.3.1 AirAsia Value Chain ..............................................................................................................................11
2.3.2 VRIO Analysis .......................................................................................................................................12

3. Recommendations: Strategic Direction ......................................................................... 14

3.1 Ansoff Growth Matrix – Product Development ................................................................. 14

4. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 16

References........................................................................................................................... 16

3
 1. Introduction

AirAsia is a low-cost airline that originated in Malaysia from 2001. The airline started as an
indebted company; with the help of three talented leaders, the business rapidly took off and has
been successfully operating until now with more than 20000 employees and a market
capitalisation of over $2 billion (AirAsia, 2020a). Nowadays, AirAsia is one of the most
recognizable airlines in Asia, with 11 awards as the World's Best Low-Cost Airline (Kurniawan,
2010; Yashodha, 2012; AirAsia Newsroom, 2019).

Generally, the report aims to evaluate one critical management issue of AirAsia by following the
strategic management process (Figure 1) and recommend a suitable strategy for AirAsia to
obtain a sustainable competitive advantage. In detail, the study will indicate the vision and
mission, along with the current strategic management issue towards AirAsia. Then, the internal
and external environment of the corporate will be analysed to generate a corporate level strategy.
Overall, the scope of the report contains secondary data from the company's website and
academic researches.

4
 1.1 Vision and Mission

Figure 2 displays AirAsia's vision and mission; these statements demonstrate the company's
objectives of being the leading low-cost carrier yet establish a healthy environment for their
workforce to provide high-quality services with the lowest expense (AirAsia, 2020b).

1.2 Strategic Management Issue

One of the key obstacles in the airline industry is intense competition due to its similar products
(Lee & Kim, 2017). Besides, airline alliances and expansions allow loyalty programs, and
promotions also cause a high level of rivalry (Hanlon, 2007; Riwo-Abudho & Ochieng, 2013;
Yu, 2019). In particular, Figure 3 displays AirAsia's top competitors, where the airline has to
battle against three major carriers, namely Malaysia Airlines, Malindo Air and Jetstar (CAPA;
2014; Sidhu, 2017).

5
 2. Strategic Analysis

This section covers the competitor analysis along with the external and internal environment in
which AirAsia is operating (Rudnicki & Vagner, 2014). In this case, the strategic analysis will
help the report to discover AirAsia's external opportunities and threats together with internal
strengths and weaknesses (Wheelen, Hunger, Hoffman, & Bamford, 2010). In detail, Porter's
Five Forces model will evaluate the competitor analysis; PEST framework will be applied for
external evaluation; the value chain and VRIO assessment will be used for internal evaluation.

2.1 Competitor Analysis

Porter’s Five Forces model demonstrates five factors that form all industries which aid
businesses to apply their strategies according to the industries’ strengths and weaknesses (Porter,
2008). Figure 4 displays the framework towards AirAsia, in which the Competitive Rivalry
factor will be further analysed to assess the current situation of AirAsia with its competitors in
the marketplace (McGee, 2017; Lee & McDermid, 2019; AirAsia, 2020e).

6
 2.1.1 Rivalry among Competitors

The top competitors of AirAsia are Malaysia Airlines, Malindo Air, and Jetstar (Trip Advisor,
2017). In 2018, AirAsia's market share was the majority of 50% in Malaysia (Figure 5) (CAPA,
2019). However, there will always be other carriers attempting to acquire a portion of that share,
such as Malindo Air, its market share increased throughout the years in Figure 5, and it has the
potential to grow in the future (Bellman, 2011; CAPA, 2014). Consequently, the rivalry among
existing carriers is high in Malaysia, and this might negatively impact on AirAsia if the firm does
not renovate or enhance its products long-term.

2.2 External Analysis

2.2.1 PEST Analysis

7
The objectives of PEST (Political, Economic, Social, Technological) analysis are to tackle
external influences that potentially affect AirAsia's operation, thus uncover the business'
opportunities and threats (Kotler, 1997; Gupta, 2013). Table 1 displays the PEST analysis of
AirAsia in Malaysia, where two relevant factors, namely Economic and Social, will be further
examined towards the goal of gaining a competitive advantage.

2.2.1.1 Economic

According to Figure 6, the unemployment rate of Malaysia in February 2020 has remained
unchanged in the corresponding of the same month last year (Trading Economics, 2020a). The

8
data is considered as "healthy," according to the Federal Reserve, while they estimate this rate to
be between 3.5% and 4.5% as the goal of full employment (Federal Reserve System, 2020).
Moreover, the GDP per capita in Asian countries is also gradually increasing (Trading
Economics, 2020b). Hence, this establishes an opportunity for AirAsia to gain in sales as
individuals with occupations of higher income are more likely to spend on traveling (Fouquet,
2012).

However, during the unexpected period of the current pandemic, come along the economic
recession (Fernandes, 2020; Bonaparte, 2020). This negatively affects the tourism industry as the
world is in lockdown; thus, a threat is generated towards AirAsia as the whole operation has to
stop indefinitely, which will cause a downfall in sales (Folinas & Metaxas, 2020; Khan, Hassan,
Fahad, & Naushad, 2020).

2.2.1.2 Social

9
Firstly, the perception of passengers has changed as researches indicate that customers favour
quality over ticket prices, particularly when deciding which airlines to fly on within Asia (Reed,
2019). In other words, travellers would be willing to spend more on high-quality inflight services
like meals or entertainment (Zahari, Salleh, Kamaruddin, & Kutut, 2011). Presently, airlines are
competing and exploring ways to enhance their inflight meals as an advertising approach to
attract travellers (Somanchi, 2019; Compton, 2019).

Secondly, nearly 70% of Malaysia's population is online and with the rising of social media,
tourists do not have to be on the flight to experience the services as there are reviews videos
online (Steckman & Andrews, 2017; Pásková, Hruška, & Zelenka, 2018; Roser, Ritchie, &
Ortiz-Ospina, 2020). Therefore, travellers acknowledge their options even before they book the
ticket. For instance, a famous Instagram account shares images of his inflight meals (Figure 7),
which also helps the passengers to decide on which airlines to choose the next time they travel
(Hosie, 2019). Overall, this trend could create an opportunity for AirAsia as the business can
come up with unique inflight services to stand out from competitors.

10
 2.3 Internal Analysis

The internal analysis will tackle the resources and capabilities of AirAsia to classify AirAsia’s
internal strengths and weaknesses (Grant, 2016). The report suggests a framework that
implements VRIO criteria based on the value chain activities to discover the core competencies
that may enhance the company's competitive advantage (Andersén, 2011).

2.3.1 AirAsia Value Chain

Figure 8 displays AirAsia’s value chain as a sequence of value-adding activities consist of

primary measures associate with logistics and services along with secondary activities as
infrastructure, technology, and human resources (Porter, 2011; Fearne, Martinez, & Dent, 2012).

11
 2.3.2 VRIO Analysis

The value-rarity-imitability-organisation (VRIO) model evaluates AirAsia's sustainable

resources and competencies that needed to be enhanced to achieve competitive advantage
(Johnson, Whittington, & Scholes, 2011). Tables 2 and 3 demonstrate the concept towards

12
AirAsia and its value chain activities.

13
Overall, AirAsia’s core competencies are included in Outbound logistics, Marketing and Sales,
Technology Development, and Human Resource Management. Nevertheless, the firm should
implement outsourcing highlighted activities with low sustainability to completely concentrate
on the company’s strengths. Hence increase productivity and retain minimum expenses to gain
sustainable competitive advantage (Janssen & Joha, 2010; Lacity & Willcocks, 2013).

3. Recommendations: Strategic Direction

According to Porter and Kramer (2002), there are the business and corporate levels of strategy.
Furthermore, business-level strategies focus on competing approaches in individual product
markets, and corporate-level strategies relate to the product/market choice and how to grow the
company (Nandakumar, Ghobadian, & O'Regan, 2010). In general, the report recommends
AirAsia to implement a corporate level strategy corresponding to the situation of the company
towards competitors.

3.1 Ansoff Growth Matrix – Product Development

Figure 9 presents the Ansoff Matrix with four principal strategies for corporations to decide
based on existing performance. In particular, product development strategy is recommended to
AirAsia as the firm should create new products targeted at the existing market to stand out from
competitors and gain sustainable competitive advantage (Ansoff, 1957).

14
Moreover, according to the VRIO analysis; Inbound logistics, Services, and Procurement are the
weaknesses of AirAsia. Besides, the PEST analysis shows that the company has an opportunity
to establish unique inflight services. Therefore, the research suggests AirAsia outsource the
catering service to a well-known eatery, specifically PappaRich - a famous Malaysian restaurant
with the international popularity of over 100 outlets worldwide (PapaRich, 2020). Through this
innovation, AirAsia will be able to introduce new quality products to customers, yet reduce costs
of food supply long term (Kline & Rosenberg, 2010). Additionally, consumers of PapaRich are
then AirAsia's potential passengers, which will help the brand to gain sustainable competitive
advantages in terms of cost and differentiation.

Overall, the recommendation is to aid the undeniable dilemma of the airline industry as
customers tend to have the perception of poor-quality inflight meals, especially towards low-cost
carriers (Saurine, 2015; Gajanan, 2017). Hence, travelers are willing to pay more for excellent
food, and airlines are now competing over meals on-board (Geraldine & Chikwendu, 2013; Page,
2014; Hacks, 2018). Nonetheless, the strategy also acts as a marketing opportunity for AirAsia

15
and will help the brand stand out from rivals yet fulfill the vision and mission of the leading
budget airline.

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, the purpose of AirAsia is to develop into a significant budget airline in Asia to
attain the lowest cost with high-quality products. However, the main strategic issue towards
AirAsia is the aggressive competition of the industry in Malaysia. Therefore, the evaluation of
external and internal environments shows that the company has an opportunity to grow but might
fall under a threat to the economic recession period. Additionally, internal analysis indicates the
core competencies of AirAsia, but there are still weaknesses in logistics and services
departments. Generally, the report recommends AirAsia to undertake the product development
strategy in order to propose innovation in the new products (inflight meals). This strategy will
gain the business sustainable competitive advantages in cost and differentiation to outcompete
rivals. Overall, the report still has a limitation towards the research method of only secondary
resources. Hence, towards future study, primary research should be added towards examination
to expand on the company insights and competitors' position.

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