Ryan Air

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

Question:

Analysis of Ryanair’s Competitive Strategy

NAME: Kevin Mwaura

STUDENT NUMBER: 10160628

COURSE: Master of Business Adminstration (International)

UNIT: MBA 5713: Business Strategy

LECTURER: Mr. MAINA KIMATO

Executive Summary

Ryanair reports to have carried 16 million passengers between December 2008 and December 2009. This shows a gross domination of the intra-European travel market with closest competitor EasyJet registering 11.9 million passengers as of end June, 2009 (The Times, 2009). This paper looks at the events that have led to the growth of the airline over the last 25 years with a close scrutiny of the time under the tenure of CEO Michael O’Leary who has manufactured the firm’s climb to the top.

The paper first takes a look at the strengths and weaknesses of Ryanair and later the organizational opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis) faced by the firm. Key highlights here include the potential to increase the organization’s size by merging with Aer Lingus, the unpredictable air transport environment that includes threats from terrorist cells and unpredictable fuel price fluctuations as well as the firm’s progressive culture, strong leadership values in their CEO and their shortcoming in terms of the locations that they fly to.

The paper then goes on to look at the external environment surrounding Ryanair. Here, we use Porter’s five forces analysis to expound on the effects that the firm’s suppliers and buyers have towards the growth of the organization as well as the threats received from competitive rivalry, potential entrants and the availability of substitutes in the transport market in Ireland and the European market as a whole.

The paper then goes on to analyse the resources available to Ryaniar (Resource Based View, RBV) in the form of its human resources, the aircraft fleet and the advantages that these resources bring to the company. This is followed by an insight into the...