International Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

International Business - Assignment Example The failure of Virgin Express was due to a lack of environmental study of the country and the competition. Richard Branson subsequently desired to repeat the success of Virgin Blue in the United States by the new venture Virgin USA. This will be possible by taking a corrective strategic management and marketing analysis. The objective of the study is to evaluate the factors on which the success of the aviation industry depends upon when starting a new venture in a different location. The study reveals the importance of research, strategic management and environmental analysis for the success of Virgin Airlines. Introduction Virgin Blue airline under the guidance of Sir Richard Branson was launched in the year 2000. The motive of the airline was to provide a low fare carrier to the people of Australia. The Virgin Blue airline demonstrated the success story in the airline industry in the short run. Virgin Blue occupied nearly 30% of the market share of Australia through its low price s trategy. In this case study, the success and the failure of the Virgin brand is depicted. The case reflects that Branson did not get success in the low cost airlines in the initial years. The airlines before Virgin Blue and Virgin Express did not succeed in the European market and was unable to compete with its rival Ryanair and Easyjet. The company was in the exploratory process to merge with the SN Brussels to recover its status, but failed after the 9/11 attack. Furthermore, the venture by Branson to provide air liner facility to the tour operator in the name of Virgin Sun failed to succeed. The Virgin Sun airline was sold to the Firstchoice because of its failure in the market (Daas, 2004). Cynics one of the observant analysed that the success of Virgin Blue was because of the lack of competition in the Australian market. The downfall of the other airline created a scope for the Virgin Blue and gave it an easy entry. According to Branson, the success of Virgin Blue was because o f the strong management, strategy and the financial planning by the management. The objective of the case is to analyse the failure of the Virgin Express in the European market. It is important to analyse the local market before the implementation of the airline expansion strategy in a new country or region. The reason for the mergers by Virgin Express and the success of Virgin Blue are evaluated in the case. Question 1 The Virgin Express started its operations in the year 1996. The airline was formed by Virgin Group when it bought the Euro Belgian Airlines and renamed it as Virgin Express. The aim of the airline was to produce a low cost carrier for the people of Europe. The company had to face severe competition from the rival airlines such as Ryanair and Easyjet. These two airlines were well established in the European market because of their strategic and marketing implementations. The airlines offered a very cheap rate foe the tickets. The tickets were sold at lower prices to t he people on the basis of first come first serve. This strategy encouraged people to buy the tickets much earlier. This created the demand for the airline of Ryanair and Easyjet. Moreover, the flexibility provided in the pricing strategy was attracting more customers. These strategies made the airlines to flourish and on the other hand the new airline Virgin Express was unable to meet these requirements in the European market and hence failed. The airline was then sold to SN Brussels Airlines in the year 2006