Types Of Marketing Essay: A Concise Overview Of Marketing Strategies And Techniques.

Discuss about the Types of Marketing ?

The assignment is about the appropriate benchmarks and milestones that would be used to maximise the opportunities of Qantas airways so that future success can be ensured. These are the alternative future futures that could occur in the organisation so that different environmental challenges can be met. Qantas airways are the largest airline company of Australia and also renamed as one world Airline alliance. The company pays attention on its benchmarking process so that it can meet challenges of external and internal environment. It focuses and adopts benchmarking standards like Total quality management and it needs to adopt some benchmarking standards for its future success.Qantas is the most popular airline of Australia and it is also the largest one if the fleet size is compared. The airline has 65% of share in the total airline market of Australia. Being the biggest airlines of Australia, it needs to adopt some benchmarking so that it could achieve its future objectives.

Benchmarking is the process where the business and its performance have been compared to the performance of the industry. It is the ongoing process which improves the performance of the organisation. It also helps in identifying the gaps in the processing of organisation and helps in achieving the competitive advantage in the industry (Singh, 2016).

Qantas being the leader is the aviation industry in Australia has to measure its performance continuously so that its performance can be improved and it can maintain its competitive position. It is already discussed above that Qantas Airways is planning to improve its operations by creating sustainable environment for its stakeholders, by developing technologies for the effective operations and by creating and developing a good service culture in the organisation. There are competitors benchmarking and also a strategic benchmarking. Competitive benchmarking helps the company to evaluate its position in the industry while strategic benchmarking is used in the case of evaluating and analysing the performance of the company (Min & Min, 2015).

Benchmarking is one of the strategies to facilitate Qantas airways for designing a successful model in the airline industry and it proved as a benchmark for many other airlines in Australia and the world. It not only helps in achieving the objectives of the business but also helps in minimising the costs and maximising the profits. One of the technique or practice to measure the performance of the Qantas airways is performance benchmarking (Mehta et al., 2015). To develop and implement any strategy, it is very important to measure the performance of the company. Performance benchmark is the process which recognizes the best practices which helps the company to improve its performance. Time frames are set and the standards are fixed according to which the company has to maintain its operations so that the standards can be met and the efficiency and performance of the company can be improved. There is a process of benchmarking which is an ongoing process and helps in achieving the goals (Wang, et. al., 2014).

Future benchmarking practices for Qantas Airways

Qantas is a strong performer of the year 2015. It also strived and gave its maximum to make its balance sheet strong and to provide maximum returns to the shareholders. The employees of Qantas are hardworking and they are committed to bring best performance in the business for laying foundations for its growth. It continuously brings new and innovative services to meet the demands of the passengers and take part in certain programs which are designed for building the sustainable future for the business and societies. Sustainability is in the strategies of the company  (Sarina& Lansbury, 2013)

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(Source: https://centreforaviation.com/analysis/qantas-heads-towards-a-full-year-aud1-billion-profit-and-now-needs-to-look-for-market-growth-211539)

The above graph shows that the performance in 2015 increased to a great extent for Qantas in total.In the highly uncertain business environments, the businesses have to set its strategies to shape its future. Qantas can adopt a range of alternative futures for responding to the different environmental changes.  There are considerable changes in the external environment of Qantas like the trends and changes in society, cultural diversity and demographic changes, changes in technology and environment. The following are the alternatives which leads it to success:

Qantas is among the first few airlines which introduced the carbon offsetting program. It does not provide any profits to the company but the funds which are collected are used to purchase the carbon offsets. Qantas can run these types of programs in future so that the social and environmental goals can be met. For this Qantas is planning to expand its range of offset programs so that carbon can be offset. They are also expanding their business with the benefit of environment by collaborating with the tour operators of Australia who work on the sustainability (Abdullah, et. al., 2016).

                                            (Source: https://investor.qantas.com/FormBuilder/_Resource/_module/doLLG5ufYkCyEPjF1tpgyw/file/annual-report/qantas_annual_review_2015.pdf)The company also planning to work on the reduction of the wastage of electricity, water and waste. It plans a strong sustainable future for all the stakeholders of the company. The company also cares for its employees, to maintain their safety and security. The company is aiming to implement a long term strategy so that the significant Workforce involvement can be achieved (Maimbo and Melecky, 2016).  The company also runs different programs which focus on preserving the employees from the injuries and many other risks. The company strives to maintain an environment which improves safety in the business and encourages trust and confidence in the employees of Qantas (KUZEMKO, 2015)

Working with the customers, environment and communities

The company has the highest priority of saving its customers and employees so that collaboration can be maintained between the company, employees and the customers.

Qantas has the main focus on technology in future growth plans. It developed a strong turnaround strategy which brought the company back into profits. The airline business is not easy in terms of costs and profits which is dependent on the prices of fuel in the international market. The company is planning to focus on technology and digital strategies in future to differentiate from the competitors (Qantas airways limited: Travel & tourism - company profile, SWOT & financial analysis, 2016).For the company, new technology is the priority and the company uses its customer relationship extremely well to create its new business. The company is investing in the areas which matters to its customers. The airline company developed its technology for the savings of time and to provide convenience to the customers. It also focussed on the digital transformation where it enhanced the experience of the customer through social media where the customer service is provided 365 days in a year. The company is also planning to develop a mobile application and is planning to develop its own digital channels to enhance the customer experience (Oxenbridge, et. al., 2010).

The company is also planning to strengthen its technology for protecting the business against cyber risks. In the next 10 years, the company is planning to operate with latest technology which takes it better than its competitors. For which, it has to consider various external environment of the company.

The Qantas group is among the leading ones in the industry and it has made many investments in its services to make them better. The company has already made many improvements in the recent years and started providing many new services so that it can build up new customers and entertain the existing ones (Sarina& Lansbury, 2013). The airline company has started investing in new projects to achieve more customers and markets. The company focuses on the customer satisfaction thorough its services and is a proud brand because it receives highest ratings from its customers. It aims at providing safety to its customers and minimise the risks. For this, the company is running many projects of research for providing the best services to the customers and maximum satisfaction to them. For this, it involves its people by supporting and empowering them so that the main objectives of the business can be met. The company runs training programs to unite their people and to empower them. These programs are committed to develop leadership skills in the employees and the company has a diverse workforce which shows the multicultural Australia. The company promote this diversity as its strength. The company focuses on maintaining the gender equality, indigenous employment and flexibility between the Woking hours (Sarina& Lansbury, 2013).

Technology

The company uses New Promoter Score (NPS) to benchmark its performance and the feedback from the customers goes directly to the employees. It helps the company in taking the strategic decisions and in improving the experience of the travellers.

Benchmarking is the process which has to be followed with sufficient time and efforts. Companies nowadays follow benchmarking without devoting time and efforts which leads to poor results of benchmarking. Benchmarking is the tool for future and is the most commonly used tool for improvement in the organisations (Albertin et al., 2015). The techniques of benchmarking which can be used by Qantas for improvement in technology, services and cultures and for creating the sustainable environment for stakeholders are Corporate social responsibility system, customer surveys and knowledge management (Okhrimenko, 2016).

Corporate social responsibility is the term which encourages the company to make a good impact on the society, customers, environment and other stakeholders. Qantas aims at developing a sustainable business for its customers and environment which shows that it has to undertake corporate social responsibility activities to fulfil the same.  Benchmarking is done on the basis of corporate social responsibility and different points and aspects are considered in this like how many environmental initiatives are taken by Qantas to reduce harmful impacts on the environment (Carroll, 2015). Which all social activities it has understand to crate positive impact on the societies and communities like how it strives to provide benefits to its employees, what all health and safety policies are adopted by the company? It also follows the product responsibilities like how the product or services are being produced and how they are provided to the customers, ethics are been considered over here. It also involves the analysis of political contributions of the company, anti-corruption activities and the other practices for the betterment of societies. After following this benchmarking process, it is seen that Qantas airways has won many awards for performing its sustainability like Eco- aviation award in 2013, Australian business award for sustainability in 2015, etc. the company has been identified as the sustainability leader in the country and in its industry (Kusunoki, 2016). It focuses on the environmental, social and governmental practices which help in improving the societies, environment and relations of the company with the government.Client surveys

This is the tool through which the customer satisfaction of the company is measured. In future, Qantas airways are aiming at providing the customer services and culture to the customers and to the employees which benefits them the most. Customer surveys are the tools which help in collecting the information about the customers and helps in tracking the changes in the satisfaction levels of the customers and for identifying the customers who are at risk.

Some of the companies conduct client satisfaction surveys to know the feedback of the customers so that the potential impact on the business can be known. It is very important to know what customers feel so that the business can provide the customers with the expectations they have from the company. Client satisfaction surveys are used by Qantas because they serves as a benchmark to perform and provide the services to them which fulfils their needs and demands. It helps the company to work in collaboration with its customers and helps in meeting the competition. The data of customer surveys are compiled to form a benchmark report. The results of the customer surveys are set as the benchmarks and the surveys are repeated to know whether it is moving in the right direction.

Knowledge management

It is the process through which the knowledge is created, stored, shared and used for managing the organisation and its operations. It involves using the knowledge for achieving the business objectives. It involves efficient handling of information and the available resources in the organisation (Shokri-Ghasabeh and Chileshe, 2014).

It provides a baseline to the organisation. The assessment of knowledge management identifies the required elements which are missing in the organisation to create and develop an effective knowledge management framework. Qantas is aiming to develop and adopt latest and efficient technologies for effective operations and for better business performance. It requires a pool of knowledge to develop and implement such technologies (Borjigen, 2015). This knowledge is then used by the organisation to run effective programs andsystems. The knowledge is updated at regular intervals to match the industry requirements. The assessment of knowledge management will be directly compared to the competitors in the industry and then the comparison is made as to which organisation has better knowledge management. It helps in making the organisation aware about different tools and techniques which can be used to achieve the set objectives of the organisation.

So, knowledge management is another benchmarking tool for meeting the challenges of the future of the business and achieving the set objectives.

The action plan to achieve the benchmarks

Benchmarking has a very strong future. It is a strong indicator for achieving the set goals. Benchmarking provides an opportunity to provide knowledge and innovation which are then used to achieve the objectives of the company. It main idea is to develop an understanding in the business as to how the business can improve in comparison to others. Benchmarking has the process which is divided into different stages (Singh, et. al., 2016).  These stages are as following:

• Planning and analysis: First of all, to improve the operations and practices of the company for future, the company has to devote its time for planning of the whole benchmarking process. Here the management of Qantas has to identify the opportunities and then prioritizing the activities according to their importance. It is to be decided that what is to be benchmarked. Like in Qantas airways, the services and culture has to be benchmarked. Also, the technology has to be benchmarked. So, the processes of service delivery and technology will be considered. The most critical processes which require bench marketing will be identified (Walsh, 2011). 

In the phase of analysis, the information which has been collected will be analysed and then the process of improvement will be developed after that. The company will have to set a goal to achieve from the benchmarking process. The techniques of benchmarking will be decided and the cost benefit analysis will be done (Elskamp et al., 2015).

• Integration

Integration maintains the relationship between the two stages of planning and analysis and the Act onstage. It recommends the action plan for the success of the project. The strengths and weaknesses will be analysed for the company and recommendations will be given related to processes, job responsibilities, staff involved and the use of technology (Min & Min, 2015).

• Action plan

This is the last phase of this process in which process is continued. Here the action plan will be developed for the implementation where all the targets and the time duration consumed in achieving those targets will be discussed. Here the responsibilities of the management regarding the process will be discussed and the process will be continued to achieve the milestones (Zurell et al., 2016). The activities have to be reviewed for reviewing their performance and to ensure the benefits of the process.

• Recommendations

The recommendations are given at last, after reviewing the whole process. This involves recognising the gaps and filling them to achieve the set objectives.

Conclusion

The assignment report focuses on the benchmarking methods which are used to fulfil the objectives of the business which has been set for future of the business to respond to different environmental changes. The assignment consists of the explanation of benchmark and its techniques. The process of benchmarking has also been discussed to explain how the milestones will be covered step by step. This covers the range of alternative futures of the organisation so that the available opportunities can be maximised.

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