Competitive strategies adopted by five forty aviation limited

Abstract

In the recent past, the business environment has experienced an upsurge in competition. Investors across industry have undertaken advantage of a liberalized environment to move the competitive scales higher thereby increasing the number of business participants in the market arena. The aviation industry which has hitherto enjoyed a near monopoly especially by Kenya Airways has not been spared. Many players have entered this industry including Five Forty Aviation Limited, Jetlink, Air Kenya and many more others. Five Forty Aviation must thus come out not only to defend its survival but also create a sustainable competitive advantage for itself. In its quest to remain competitive Five Forty Aviation Limited has engaged highly skilled and trained staff, increased advertisements and publicity, provided a wide range of services to the clients in order to retain their loyalty and automated their business processes. The study was conducted in the period between May-October 2009 with the objective of determining the competitive strategies adopted by Five Forty Aviation Limited and the challenges experienced in adoption of these strategies. The research was a case study and data was collected using structured interview guides with questions sent out to seven (7) heads of departments at Five Forty Aviation namely finance, information system, human resources administration, ground handling, technical ,flight operations, commercial and the chief executive officer. From the study it was found out that Five Forty Aviation Limited uses more of Porters generic strategies of cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategies. These were found to be more pronounced. However, the major challenges facing implementation of these strategies were found to be increased competition, meeting and maintaining international air transport association requirements, imitation from other airlines, financial challenges and rapid shifts in interest rates. The result of this project will be invaluable to the company,