Strategic Response by Kenya Airways to Challenges in the Global Business Arena

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine how Kenya Airways responds to the challenges of global business arena.In doing this, the study sought to answer the following questions: establish the challenges of global business arena to Kenya Airways and establish how Kenya Airways has responded to these challenges. The study applied case study research design where only one organization was involved. The study used primary data collected through interview guide administered to senior managers at the organization. Content analysis was used to do the analysis and the findings presented in a prose format. KQ had circumvented various solutions to ensure that the challenges were minimized thus remaining profitable. On pricing, the institution restructured its costs and also provided special offers for its customers in order to remain competitive and gain a competitive edge over the others. Kenya Airways planned to launch JamboJet, a low-cost subsidiary to handle regional flight operations subsidiaries to handle local routes. On fleet modernization and growth, KQ was currently implementing its 10 year expansion strategy that entailed buying nine Boeing 787-800s Dreamliners, one Boeing 777-300ER and 10 Embraer-190 aircraft. The new routes opened by KQ within the past one year included direct flight to New Delhi, Kilimanjaro in Northern Tanzania and Eldoret in Rift Valley. The airline should increase flexibility by adopting more sophisticated fleet assignment optimization models to match the right-sized aircraft to the stochastic and dynamic booking patterns of different routes