Strategic Management at British Airways Case Study

Strategic Management at British Airways - Case Study Example The present study on British Airways is to identify, evaluate and assess the planning, development and implementation process of its strategy management and to analyze the performance of the strategic decisions made as part of the strategic management on the organization because it is believed that British Airways has been able to achieve the present position since its establishment in 1919 only due to its strategic management decisions (Cole, G.A., 2003:191). This section deals with various literatures available on the present research in order to study the process of planning, development and implementation in British Airways and also to identify the role of various stakeholders in the decision making process. Thompson, Martin and Thompson (2009:p2) stated that strategy is about how organizations cope with the world which is dynamic and emergent with technologies, design and competitors getting revamped at regular intervals providing the impetus t reformulate the existing strategy and restructure the organizations in order to survive in the competitive market. It is further clarified that strategies are means to ends; whereas the process of strategic management involves clarifying the desired ends, mapping out a route for achieving them (development), putting those strategies into practice (implementation), changing what the organization is doing tactically in the face of competition and unexpected issues that arise and finally evaluating progress and performance. Mintzberg (cited in Idenburg, 1993) stated that there are at least ten schools of strategy development with two fundamental dimensions i.e. goal orientation (what) and process orientation (how). The process of strategy developme nt includes rational planning, planning as guided learning process, logical in incrementalism and emergent strategy. Idenburg (1993) stated that four alternative view of the process of strategy development must be reflected in business research and education. Thompson and Martin (2005, p8) mention that strategic management is a complex and fascinating subject with straightforward underlying principles but no right answers. It is further stated that companies succeed if their strategies are appropriate for the circumstances they face and are feasible in respect of their resources, skills and capabilities and the same companies fail if the fail to meet the expectations of its stakeholders or produce undesirables outcomes. According to Thompson and Martin (2005), strategies are means to end as opined various other researchers and management specialists and managers are strategy makers to some extent in the companies. This statement articulates that mangers are the key persons involved in the strategic management process of planning who then take decisions regarding the development and implementation in the organization. The aviation industry has undergone major transition phase wherein the main stakeholders were involved and have been granted a greater degree of autonomy. Airlines were the first to realize the importance of strategies and strategic decision making in a competitive environment (Delfmann, 2005; p3). British Airways (BA) is major international airline with multinational operations which came into existence with merger of two