Classic Airlines Marketing Solution

Classic Airlines Marketing Solution 2

Having a general problem-solving process or framework provides leaders with a way to

begin understanding and managing a wide range of problems, decisions, or concerns (Hiebert &

Bruce, 2001, p. 204). Using Hiebert & Bruce’s model inspired by the Xerox problem-solving

process, the first step is to select and define the concern or problem. According to the University

of Phoenix Week One Scenario (2009) Classic Airlines has seen a 10% decrease in share prices

as consumer confidence has waned and rising costs such as fuel and labor have hit them hard.

Employee morale is at an all-time low and coupled with Classic’s financial strain the corporate

culture is stressed. Classic’s Board of Directors has mandated a 15% cost reduction over the next

18 months and this poses some serious challenges for the all departments including finance,

human resources, customer service and marketing. From a marketing perspective, Classic is

challenged with increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty, while simultaneously decreasing

expenditures.

During this first step, a key question to ask is “of all the things competing for your

attention, which will you deal with at this time? There are competing issues and all involved will

have a personal vested interest. In Classic Airline’s case decreased sales, customer satisfaction

and loyalty, low employee morale and the need to cut costs are all examples of competing issues.

Those who have a vested interest in seeking change include the Board of Directors, finance,

human resources, customer service, marketing and its shareholders. It is my recommendation

that Classic Airlines focus its efforts on improving customer satisfaction and loyalty as this will

directly and indirectly improve sales, employee morale, shareholder and Board of Directors

approval and so forth. Next, it is important to use a priority-setting process to gain agreement on

the problem statement, i.e. how the problem is...