Mr Hongwei Jiang [HREF1], School of Aerospace, Mechanical, and Manufacture Engineering [HREF2] , GPO Box 2476V, RMIT University [HREF3], Victoria, 3001, Australia.george.jiang@rmit.edu.au
The main objective of this study is to provide significant new insights into the development and implementation of e-business strategies that will lead airlines to a competitive advantage.
The success of application of e-business strategy to airline industry depends
on the value added of e-business to airlines. Currently, many airlines are looking
at e-business to protect their assets and to secure customer's loyalty, and
to be successful in today's competitive environment. In view of the new features
of Internet, the core question of this paper is:
Can an e-business system utilising Internet technology to achieve competitive
advantages for airlines?
To provide an answer to this question, the researchers conducted an online survey
and develop a Customer Centric E-Business (CCEB) System Model, using China ShenZhen
Airlines as a case study.
The work in this paper is organised as follows: Introduction; Section 1: Research
Goals, Literature Review, Research Methods, Original Contribution, and Research
Outcomes; Section 2: Research Flow Chart; Section 3: Findings and Results; and
Section 4: Other Considerations. Furthermore, the work presents some pertinent
strategies for airlines based on Michael Porter's Five Competitive Force Model.
With respect to the typology suggested by Porter, the results indicate that
Porter's model was essential in evaluating the airline industry under both descriptive
and elucidative aspects.
Many e-commerce principles were pioneered by the airline industry. These include the first business-to-business electronic information exchange and industry-wide electronic marketplace. This environment provided unprecedented opportunity for operations research (OR) modelling. Airlines continue to derive billions of dollars annually from these and derivative models. The availability of reliable, low-cost communications via the Internet is not only providing new modelling challenges within the airline industry, but it is also providing similar opportunities in other industries [1].
Electronic Commerce is defined as "buying and selling of goods and services
through electronic technology utilising on line services such as Internet, interactive
television, commercial online services and screen telephones so that an organization's
objective can be achieved."[2]
In the 21st century digital technologies will push beyond the existing boundaries
in all these spheres of our lives [3]. The transition from brick-and-mortar
business to "clicks" business is happening in all sectors of the economy
[4]. Any size business can have an e-commerce strategy; from a sports club selling
T-shirts with their name on, to a medium-sized business selling widgets, through
to a traditional retail behemoth like Wal-Mart [5]. Some e-commerce companies
sell only over the Internet; others sell both over the Internet and in standard
brick-and-mortar distribution channels [6]. Most airline managers realize that
a major business transition is taking place. Some believe the various processes
by which business strategies are developed will need to change. New value propositions
are being promoted by e-commerce, and it is being used to give airlines competitive
advantage.
Regardless of which business model airlines adopt, to be successful, airlines
need to understand how the Web and e-commerce affects their business [7]. Airlines
need to develop an overall strategy covering: strategic management, IT infrastructure,
design, content, e-commerce systems, marketing and customer service. Airlines
also need to be creative and entrepreneurial. As every entrepreneur knows however,
you will only be truly successful if you provide genuine value to your customers
and solve a problem for them.
The scope of this research was to create an e-business solution, which will concentrate on developing a Customer-Centric E-Business (CCEB) System Model for the Chinese Airlines.
Can an airline increase market share and customer loyalty by achieve competitive
advantage utilising e-business models?
Undoubtedly, one of the faster-growing business sectors is Internet-based commerce,
commonly called e-commerce (electronic commerce) or I-commerce (Internet commerce).
E-commerce includes both B2C (Business-to-Consumer) and B2B (Business-to-Business).
The demand for e-commerce systems will translate into career opportunities and
new challengers for systems developers, another name for systems analysts. Advances
in technology have greatly expanded the role of e-commerce in business. Some
business analysts believe that the Internet is changing consumer buying habits
and reshaping the economy. E-commerce is changing traditional business models
and creating new ones [8].
To figure out just how fast the Internet economy is growing, the Centre for
Research in Electronic Commerce at the University of Texas at Austin conducted
a study of over 2000 Internet companies. If found explosive growth from $322
billion in 1998 to $524 billion in 1999, a 68% increase. The fastest growing
sector was e-commerce, which skyrocketed by 72% from $99.8 billion to $171.5
billion. According to researchers' estimate, over 50,000 companies make some
or all of their money online. By 2002, over a trillion dollars in revenue will
be generated through the Internet [4].
The number of Internet users surpassed 530 million in 2001 and will continue
to grow strongly in the next five years. Most of the growth is coming from Asia,
Latin America and parts of Europe. By year-end 2005 the number of worldwide
Internet users will double to 1.12B [9].
Goldman Sachs has estimated that B2B e-commerce will generate as much as 1.5
trillion dollars in revenues by 2004, with some estimates running even higher
[10].
Between 2001 and 2002, the proportion of Internet users that are shopping online
has not increased. However, an increase in number of people online has helped
to ensure that e-Commerce is growing [11].
Corporate spending for e-commerce infrastructure is increasing, despite the
current economic slowdown. Worldwide spending on software and IT services are
projected to increase nearly 36%, to $1.15 trillion, by 2003 [12].
Figure 1 and 2 show typical current e-business models used by airlines.
Figure 1. Generic Airline e-business model [1]
Figure 2. Integrated current e-business model of airlines [13]
The Customer-Centric Electronic Business (CCEB) system model for airlines industry is still in its infancy, therefore, there are limited resources available. Customer-Centric Management is related to what is called Customer Relationship Management (CRM). "CRM is defined as aligning business strategy, corporate culture and organization, customer information, and supporting information technology; so that all customer interactions promote a mutually beneficial relationship between each customer and enterprise." [14]
To some airlines especially airlines in China, over 95% of commerce is still
conducted through traditional business models. Airlines are investing heavily
to deploy customer centric management in traditional channels. Perhaps most
significant, the Internet provide a completely new way for an enterprise to
interact with its customer-the electronic channel, or the e-channel.
Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the differences between traditional business model
(market-centric) and new business model (customer-centric). Figure 5 shows SAS
(Scandinavian Airlines System) model to understand how to fulfil its customer's
basic needs.
Figure 3.Traditional market-centric business model [15]
Figure 4. Customer-Centric business model [15]
Figure 5. SAS model to understand how to fulfil its customer's basic needs [16]
Although per-capita Asian Internet usage rates still pale by comparison to those of North America and Europe, the number of customers signing on to the World Wide Web is growing at an exponential rate. This is impart what the region's airlines are hoping to profit from as they take to the net in the same way as have their more advanced North American and European counterparts. Finally they hope to move forward with concrete online strategies. Apart from the region's e-business leaders-Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore Airlines-many airlines have been slow to log on, although a rapid catch-up game is taking place. Airlines are seeing the benefits of not just selling online, but buying. In China, some airlines including China Southern Airlines have led the way in terms of online services through travel site Et-China.com, which it owns jointly with Australia's Et-China.com Investments [17].
In 1999, the average global load factors is 69%, United Airline's load is 71%,
Cathay Pacific is 71.4%, China Eastern Airlines is 58.9%, other airlines in
China average for 58.6%. There are two reasons behind low factors of airlines
in China: one is the fewer application of Information Technology; the other
is outdated marketing strategies. For example: there are advanced aircrafts
in China Eastern Airlines such as A-340, the flight size is same as Cathay Pacific
in 1999. Passenger transport quantity is approximately the same, but the revenue
per year, revenue per employee is just a fraction of Cathay Pacific's. Comparing
IT employees between China Eastern Airlines and Cathay Pacific, there are 450
employees in Cathay Pacific, only 80 in China Eastern Airlines [13].
On studying the current e-business models shown in Figures 1, 2, and 5, and
through the literature review, most of the current research about airline e-business
have the following limitations:
It is obvious that it is an urgent need for further research in the application
and development of e-business models to airlines.
This work present a fist significant application of integrating System Engineering
methods and marketing strategy to a real world situation using data from Chinese
Airlines. Figure 6 demonstrates the key function of this integrated model, two
top-level operations Marketing and System Engineering drive the model. Each
operation satisfies its unique top level requirements e.g. the System Engineering
addresses the 5 Cs: Complete, Cost-effective, Congruent, Consistent, and Correct,
and Marketing the 5Ps: Passenger, Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. Model
Output includes the Value-Added operations, i.e. the 5 Hs: High performance,
High load factors, High profit, High market share, and High loyalty. It will
help Chinese airline industry in pursuit of competitive advantages over its
rivals, and lead it to profit, it will play a significance role for airlines
in China, since airlines in China lost a lot of money since 1997, it is contradictive
with the very strong economy growth of China.
Figure 6. Integrating Marketing and System Engineering Activity
System engineering
and marketing approach
System Engineering Approach to gain a better understanding of customer's requirements and Marketing Approach to learn about customer's needs.
System Engineering:
Marketing:
On line survey (E-Survey)
For this research, an online survey was conducted to test the key hypothesis
.500 airline passengers were chosen randomly as a sample both in Australia and
China. The questionnaires were sent to them by email in February and March 2003.
The total number of response was 66 (13.2%).
Case study
China Shenzhen Airlines was chosen as a case study. The developed model was
aimed to work in conjunction with airline Customer Service Centre (CSC), which
holds critical customer data. Data collection and analysis was done using MS
SQL Server 2000 and MS Excel 2000.
The rationale for this research is to address the issue of application and development
of e-business for airlines industry and the results of this research program
will address needs of community, industry and the field of study.
Benefits to the Community and Industry
There are many benefits to be gained for airlines and airline passengers, firstly,
passengers could book and check in through internet 24 hours, 7 days a week,
at any time, any where. Secondly, airlines could reduce sales cost.
Significance derived from CCEB implementation will allow for new business model,
based on the wide availability of information and its direct distribution to
end-customers.
It is hoped that this search will provide information to assist Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC), China ShenZhen Airlines manager, and other airlines in China, to make an informed decision when they consider the application and development of e-business to Chinese airlines industry.
Contribution to the Field of Study
Chinese airline industry is one of the highest growth areas of world civil aviation
industry; it is estimated 8.3% increase rate annually from 2001 to 2010. The
most recent focus is the entrance to WTO of China, and 2008 Beijing Olympic
Games. Recent research of application e-business in Chinese airline industry
has pointed to a lack of subject matter, it is just at the stage of sale air
tickets through websites. Furthermore, there is an absence of existing literature
that explores the application of CCEB to both China airline industry and other
airlines all over the world. Therefore, the current proposed research will open
up a new area for further investigation and study of the airline CCEB system.
The research can also be used as tool for community education, to generate meaningful
discussion on particular findings, and assist with planning and policy developments
for adopting particular strategies in application and development of e-business
to both Chinese airline industry, Australia airline and world wide airline industry.
Figure 7 illustrates the research stages undertaken by for this work. Starting
with needs analysis and closing the loop based on performance results.
Figure 7. The research stages
Experimental Hypothesis
Application of E-business Strategy could achieve competitive advantage for Airlines.
(Research Question)
Design questionnaire and collect data
China ShenZhen Airlines (CSZA) provide some data including some on-line passenger
list in Frequent Flier Programme (FPP); some On-line Customer Service Representatives
list; some data about sales and promotion for this research.
For this research, an online survey was conducted. This survey includes 50 questions
regarding the impacts if airline introduces the e-business process and strategy
to improve passenger services and increase passenger loyalty. 500 passengers
were chosen randomly as a sample. The questionnaire was sent to them by email
in February and March 2003. 66 passengers response to this survey, the response
rate is 13.2%. Some questions are as following:
1. Do you think Airline Website increase your satisfaction
with airline?
A. Yes
B. No
2. Would you give up traditional booking if you have used Internet booking?
A. Yes
B. No
3. Web based chat room will increase your satisfaction with airline?
A. Yes
B. No
4. Web based FAQs will increase your satisfaction with airline?
A. Yes
B. No
5. E-mail newsletters will increase your satisfaction with airline?
A. Yes
B. No
6. Web based one-to-one services will increase your satisfaction with airline?
A. Yes
B. No
7. Web based ticket auction will increase your satisfaction with airline?
A. Yes
B. No
8. Personized Website will increase your satisfaction with airline?
A. Yes
B. No
9. Have you used the E ticketing option?
A. Yes
B. No
10. How do you think E-ticket?
A. Excellent
B. Good
C. Fair
D. Poor
E. Very Poor
11. How do you think E-check in?
A. Excellent
B. Good
C. Fair
D. Poor
E. Very Poor
Model Design
Model design includes:
1. System analysis and concept design (CASE tool: MS Visio 2000)
2. Design CCEB process (CASE tool: MS Visio 2000)
3. Detail design (Developing tools: Macromedia Dreamweaver 4.0; MS Visual Interdev
6.0; MS Visual Basic 6.0; MS SQL Server 2000; MS Excel 2000)
4. Analyse data and test hypothesis (Tools: MS SQL Server 2000; MS Excel 2000;
SPSS 10)
5. Validate and simulate model
Because of constrains respect the length of this report, only two examples are given here. Example 1 " Design UGI " (Figure 8) and Example 2 "Design CCEB Process" (Figure 9).
Figure 8. Design User Graphic Interface
Figure 9. Design CCEB Process
It was found that in order to provide an adequate answer to the research question
"Can an airline increase market share and customer loyalty by achieve competitive
advantage utilising e-business models?" One must fully understand the main features
of E-commerce and their relevance to Airline competitive advantage.
Figure 10 identifies sixteen key features which need to be studied and relate
them to business success. [18][19].
Figure 10. Features of E-commerce (F-Feature)
F1. Online/immediate/24-hour availability, directly connect
buyers and sellers
A Web server is usually online 24 hours per day, and virtually immediately accessible
(depending on line speed and network traffic, of course). This creates time
independence and enables customer service to be decoupled from supplier availability.
Such 24-hour availability is a strong facilitator of a global presence, overcoming
time differences. As the customer is in the first instance interacting with
an automated system, there is a set of service requests that can become 'self-service'
F2. Ubiquity
Global information networks (fixed and mobile, cable, satellite) promise to
offer worldwide, large-scale and low-cost, access to electronic commerce.
F3. Global
It is often claimed that one of the largest changes brought about by the Internet
is that it is global: companies get access to customers globally, customers
get access to suppliers globally.
F4. Digitisation
The Internet and the communication and computer systems connected to it are
all processing digital and digitised information. Digital information can be
easily stored, transmitted, processed, mixed, transformed, in short manipulated
in many ways, independent of its source or carrier.
F5. Multimedia
Closely related to digitisation is the aspect of multimedia, referring to the
capability to deal with and deliver information in several ways: text, graphics,
sounds, video, eventually tactile.
F6. Interactivity
As opposed to EDI, which is for application-to-application data exchange, the
Internet offers person-to-person and person-to-application interactivity. Even
if one side of the interaction is automated, through a Web-server program, the
interaction possibilities are wide ranging and can be extremely varied and engaging.
F7. One-to-one
The Internet makes customer profiling fairly easy, by capturing and analysing
customer characteristics. Technically, this can consist of storing some information
about the customer on the customer's computer (e.g. a 'cookie'), which is retrieved
when the customer returns to the site. This can be combined with more detailed
information, partially solicited from the customer and partially collected by
the merchant, e.g. the pattern of purchases. Many sites encourage potential
customers to provide an e-mail address, personal data etc. Customer profiling
technology can be complemented by 'intelligent agents' that assist in the sales
process.
F8. Integration
Customer service is greatly enhanced by integrating the functionalities of the
transaction parties on the basis of standardized information flows.
One-stop integration of functions-that is, integrating all the necessary functions
for a transaction at a single point of access and with seamless flow of information
between them, as illustrated by this example is, however, only one aspect of
integration. Information integration is another opportunity to extract additional
value by analysing data from various steps of the transaction or across transactions.
F9. Can be updated in real-time, therefore always up-to-date
F10. Reduce costs
F11. Increase productivity
Airline can gain significant productivity improvements by using business-to-business
e-commerce to streamline and improve its supply chain processes. Airline can
save time and money by purchasing supplies via the Web. Similarly, Airline can
use e-commerce to communicate and transact with distributors and customers in
a more cost-effective and timely manner than through traditional channels.
F12. Improve level of customer service
Airline can improve it's level of customer service by allowing customers to
access "help" information, complete application forms, pay invoices, or change
their account details via it's Web site, at their own convenience.
F13. Strengthen customer relationships
Airline can strengthen relationships with existing customers by allowing them
to access - via it's Web site - previously inaccessible decision-support information,
such as detailed research reports, product specifications and price comparisons.
F14. Enhance business intelligence
Airline can use its Web site to collect valuable intelligence about customer
needs, buying habits and preferences. This intelligence can be a valuable input
to the development of new, profit-enhancing processes, products and services.
Similarly, Airline can use the Web to research new markets and to gather valuable
intelligence about its competitors.
F15. Increase direct sales of products or services
The Web enables businesses to reach customers all over the world, 24-hours per
day, 7-days per week. Airline can use the Web to create a "self-service" environment
that allows Airline to offer lower prices and provide more detailed product
information than that which Airline can offer in the real world.
F16. Generate advertising, sponsorship or brokerage revenue
Many "content" and "infomediary" sites generate revenue through advertising
or sponsorship arrangements with other sites. Infomediary sites provide useful
information and act as springboard to sponsoring Web sites. Infomediary sites
offer earn brokerage fees on transactions that result from the information or
service they provide.
Airline industry is one of the most competitive industries within the economic
environment. Within industry's boundaries actors have more or less recently
and with significantly different patterns of action undertaken efforts to achieve
an integration of the internet platform and its applications. In this section,
we explore the effects of electronic commerce and its potential for competitive
advantage for airline industry by using Michael Porter's seminal work on industry
analysis as a framework (Figure 11).
Figure 11. Sources of Competitive Advantage [20]
Airlines do conform to those which Porter describes: Cost Leadership, Differentiation and Focus. The proposition is that airlines that can successfully work in one of these areas will be able to establish and sustain a competitive advantage.
Cost Leadership (F10, F11, F15, F16)
Airline can generate significant cost savings by sending tickets, newsletters,
quotes, and other documents via Internet, rather than by post or facsimile.
Airline can use Web site to publish - in a cost-effective way - public domain
documents such as annual reports, product brochures, positions vacant, contact
details and other important Airline information. Airline can save on the cost
of running "bricks and mortar" outlets and can reach global markets without
having to develop a physical global distribution network. Most importantly,
Airline can save on customer service costs by enabling customers to serve themselves.
American Southwest Airlines CEO, Gary Kelly said the Web site is playing a major
role in mitigating the rise in unit costs affected by high fuel prices. It's
10 times cheaper to deliver to customers through the online service than through
a travel agent, Kelly said, and costs 5 times less than using Southwest's own
reservation staff. The booking cost per passenger online is "well under $1,"
said Kelly, and is scaling down even further. He said Internet use by passengers
was helping the carrier keep fares at low discount levels [21].
Massive investment in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer
(B2C) information systems is expected to translate into important cost savings
in procurement, sales, billing and other support activities. The airline's fully
automatic ordering system, for example, should reduce order processing costs
by 90%, according to Chairman/CEO Juergen Weber of Lufthansa Aviation Group
[22].
Differentiation (F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F8, F9)
E-ticketing, the issue of a booking code at the conclusion online transition that replaces the traditional airline ticket. E-ticketing seems to be a 'win-win' solution for the airline business. It offers the airline the chance to make considerable savings in both trade terms as well as in invoicing and internal accountancy procedures. Moreover, it helps to fight the downward profit spiral that has affected the industry for years. Secondly, it is very attractive to customers, who may benefit from a service offer both technologically advanced and of high intrinsic value.
Focus (F7, F12, F13, F14)-Case Study FedEx
The airline industry gives us a perfect example of successful Focus strategies
- that is the so-called "Integrated Operators" of the air freight business.
FedEx, the integrated cargo carrier, was the pioneer. Having developed a very
efficient and fully computerised system for tracking individual parcels anywhere
on its network it took the next logical step. In 1994, through its website,
it allowed its customers to book and pay for its services without restriction
via the Internet [23].
The e-Commerce infrastructure developed by airlines allows collection and central
storage of sales and marketing data. Airlines use this data to drive decision
support tools for planning and marketing.
The developed model comprises of: Airline-Passenger Interaction Subsystem; Data
Warehouse Subsystem; CCEB Operation Subsystem; Assessment and Forecast Subsystem.
The function of Assessment and Forecast Subsystem is to assess the performance
of CCEB system; it was done by using MS Visual Basic 6.0, and MS Excel 2000.
The performance indicators are:
Forecast function provides five years forecast for these indicators.
Internet commerce offers a range of advantages that collectively have been shown to be important enough to attract massive interest on the part of businesses, both as users of the technology and as providers of technology and solutions. Although, e-commerce is growing very fast, it was witnessed dot-com failure by the world in 2000. "Why did the dot.com e-grocers in the USA fail? The electronic copy of a supermarket did not work!" [24]. On one hand, New Economy cannot be built overnight - there are some (a few winners); On the other hand, it is segregated from the rest of the enterprise.
The potential of electronic commerce has been spotted by many and is one of
the key factors behind the so-called "Internet Bubble" currently being exhibited
within global stock markets.
There is still hesitation among many companies about committing any major effort
to electronic commerce, let along about fundamentally rethinking their business
strategy in line with the new opportunities. The reasons for this hesitation
are summarized below by Timmers [18].
According to Porter's overall approach, Harmon extend and give a new sense of dynamics. Figure 12 illustrates an e-business strategy process that is conceptualised as a continuos cycle. In effect, the strategy team never completes its task; it simply works to develop a temporary understanding, makes commitments, and then evaluates the results as it cycles through a subsequent cycle in order to arrive at a new understanding [25].
Figure 12. A cyclical process for formulating e-business strategy [25]
This research revealed that the Internet contributes more to the core of business process and transformation than other comparable technologies such as the telephone. Whilst the source of competitive advantage is changing - with information becoming a key resource and electronic commerce a key facilitator.
The success of airline applications and the communications, data, and control
afforded by the Internet are encouraging. This is also supported by The Wall
Street Journal, it summarized the situation: "Eventually, many suppliers are
likely to use the Web's fine-tuned interactivity to perfect yield management
strategies similar to the way airline tickets are priced today, slashing prices
to avoid surplus inventory or to quickly respond to changes in customer preferences."
[26]
The researchers have found that the development of the information economy is
as much about strategy as it is about technology. The Internet is not just another
medium or a distribution channel to reach customers. It is an important medium
to find new customers and continue relationships with current customers. It
is almost impossible for business and consumers to ignore this new technology.
The users of Internet are not just so-called "techi's". They are people from
all age group in many parts of the world.
This work demonstrated that integrating key operations such as technologies,
marketing, and system solutions can assist the airline industry to achieve competitive
advantages.
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