MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Marketing Management



Executive Summary

There are several tools available to business managers and strategy planners for determining the competitive position of a business. The primary purpose of this paper is to analyse the situation at Ryanair with respect to the environment in which the company is operating. Ryanair is one of the world's most favourite airlines, operating nearly 1,500 flights on a dialy basis with 1,500 low-fare routes and the company runs operations from 53 bases located in 28 different countries. Ryanair has traditionally operated in highly competitive markets and expanded its client base by offering rock-bottom fares. Hence the business has maintained a wide competitive moat in the markets in which it operates. Using the Porter's Five Forces model, this paper aims to identify the strengths of the existing competitive position of the business, highlighting the factors that have enabled the business to survive amidst tough competition. With the help of the model, the paper analyzes five different forces that affect the business - threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, rivalry among existing competitors, and threat of substitute products or services. Additionally, the paper also uses the PESTEL model in order to determine the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors in the external business environment that affect business operations. The model is used primarily for assessing the future position of the business. After a brief introduction to the company and the methodology adopted in the paper, the paper uses published information in order to analyse the situation of the company followed by a comprehensive analysis that focuses on suppliers, customers, new entrants, substitutes and rivals. Having conducted a thorough review of existing data, the paper then makes recommendations as to the best approach that the business can adopt in order to maintain its wide competitive moat while also expanding its proft margins and minimizing the risk of loss of market share. In this regard, the strategic direction options recommended at the end of the paper are aimed at anticipating and addressing any critical and daunting challenges that the company may have to confront in the future.

Marketing Management

Introduction to Ryanair

Overview of the Company

Ryanair was founded in the year 1985 as a low-cost carrier. The business model of Ryanair was inspired by successful model used by Southwest Airlines which had a primary focus on a “no-frills” customer offering. Today, Ryanair is recognized as being one of the world's most favourite airline business. The company was established in the year 1985 and has, since then, expanded considerably, mainly by capitalizing on its mantra to offer low-cost services to its customers. In a little less than two decades, the company has grown from operating a few flights from a single base to managing nearly 1,500 flights on a daily basis and from 53 different bases. Moreover, the company operates more than 1,500 different routes from bases in 28 different countries. The secret behind the company's tremendous success has always been its emphasis on providing low-cost ...