1. Management problem and context [500] 730
Proposed title:
Using CSI as a long-term strategic business tool to address the shortage of talent in critical skills areas in the South African aviation industry: A South African Airways case study
Or
Devising a long-term CSI strategy that addresses the shortage of talent in critical skills areas in the South African aviation sector: An SAA case study
OR
Understanding the importance of corporate social investment as a long-term strategic tool for a business: A South African Airways case study
‘Few trends would so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their
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The risk is that in the future SAA will have to recruit from outside the South African borders to fill the vacancies in these specialist science and math careers, and this will be costly to the company as the airline would have to pay global parity salaries. This will eat away at the already dwindling bottom line.
Therefore a CSI strategy that would sustainably address this management challenge would be highly useful for the airline.
Over the years SAA’s CSI projects had no link to the business strategic goals. The CSI function has over the years been compliance driven as required by the South African government and has been a “feel good” exercise linked to the reputation of the company and the ‘leadership” wanting to be seen as ‘do good-ers”.
One thing Executive management, Board and the Shareholder-Government are aware of is that SAA as an airline can never thrive in an unsuccessful South African
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Personal development
From the beginning of this MBA journey the author wanted to find ways to enhance the implementation of CSI in a business beyond the public relation’s function and beyond just the reputation management space where CSI often resides.
It has always been a long-life passion of the author to conceptualise strategic ways for CSI to find and earn its space as a worthy tool that strategically contributes to a business.
The author also aims through this research to enhance the following skills: research, project management, stakeholder management, and to learn to develop an evidence-based argument. As the research work will be an avenue to gain insights of corporate social investment strategies within the airline, the study will also help the researcher identify the possible gap between current CSI practices and business strategic goals of the airline.
It is also important for the researcher as a fully rounded scholar to develop an ability by using all the tools refined during her MBA studies to conceptualise and interrogate firmly CSI strategies and conceptualise ways to enable CSI to be aligned with the intent and goals of a business
The optimal scenario of the AHA would be to have a differentiated workforce that would consist of identifying "A" players and "A" positions throughout the organization where wealth or value is created to contribute to the bottom line of generating the billion-dollar goal by 2010 and placing those players in all positions throughout the organization. However, the reality is that the best action for the AHA due to budgetary and time constraints is to make strategic investments in the workforce that will have high impact and drive desired results by putting the right people in the right places and not the right people everywhere. The AHA did this by creating a new talent framework driven by eight operational goals to help build the foundation for how they will identify their "A" players and positions for strategic investment. The objecti...
The future of BA and that of many other airlines is going to depend on
No matter how a business operates, change is inevitable and affects all businesses. CAMERON SMITH investigates the changes Qantas have had to undergo in order to keep up with their competitors, whilst navigating the challenges of low cost of fares.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the way a corporation achieves a balance between its economic, social, and environmental responsibilities in its operations so as to address shareholder and other stakeholder expectations. In general, when firms hold this wider encouraging role on the public by being engaged with stakeholders, a variety of profit can be produced for both company and the stakeholders. A key inclination is the combination of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into the organization strategy, culture, mission and communications. By incorporating corporate citizenship into the company it is no longer an additional “nice thing to do” or something made to obey laws or regulations. Instead, corporate responsibility has become something business leaders and workforce want to engage in, frequently because executives who believe in the long-term see business profit. The four types of social responsibilities a...
Covey & Brown (2001) “the role of business in society has progressed over the years, from being primarily concerned with profit for sharehold¬ers to a stakeholder and community approach with a focus on corporate social responsibility”
The arguments for and against corporate social responsibility have captured two points of view. Those who believe that organizations should not be concerned about social responsibility base many of their arguments on the costs involved and whether organizations should shoulder those costs on behalf of society. And those who are in favor feel that organizations benefit from society and, therefore, have an obligation to improve it. Although there is no universal agreement, surveys and other reports express that many organizations are, becoming increasingly active in addressing social
Porter stated; “for an airline to succeed in the marketplace, it must have a sustainable competitive advantage” (Porter M. E., 2008). The airline industry is the highest competitive industry, and I believe a sustainable completive advantage is essential to succeed in the future of the aviation industry. The competitive advantages that an airline embrace, needs to be based on the airlines strategy and differentiation to competitors. Emirates displays how it has a strategy and how the airline gets ahead of its competitors through how unique it is.
In the “War for Talent” where technological change has created a demand for new jobs that require specialised technological knowledge that many workers don’t have; having positions going unfilled is expensive (PNC, 2015). A Career Builder survey found that in the United States having a position unfilled for three months or more costs a company on average around fourteen thousand dollars (PNC, 2015). According to Chamber of Comerce and industry Queensland (n.d.) the primary impediment to business expansion has been a shortage of employees possessing the requisite qualifications and
Business organizations regularly run into demands from various stakeholders groups when conducting day-to-day business. These demands are generated from employees, customers, suppliers, community groups, governments, and shareholders. Thus, according to Goodpaster, any person or group of people that can shape or can be shaped by attainment of the objectives by an organization is considered a stakeholder. Most business organizations recognize and understand their responsibilities to these groups and endeavor to honor and fulfill them. These responsibilities are often communicated to the public by a statement of principles or beliefs. For many business organizations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an essential and integral part of their business. Thus, this paper discusses the two CSR views: the classical view and the stakeholder view. Furthermore, I believe that the stakeholder view has brought ethical concerns to the forefront of businesses, and an argument shall be made that businesses would improve both socially and economically if CSR, guided by God’s love, was integrated into their strategic planning.
The Singapore Airlines needs to keep its superiority and stay on top of the competition in the international market, despite the bad times associated with a global economy or strategies implemented by main competitors.
This essay will look at strategic management processes and how they can be used to improve organisational performance; it will also describe how strategic management processes have the ability to lower organisational performance.
In order to get a comprehensive analysis on SIA's financial statement analysis , we compared SIA's 5 financial year ending(FYE) results with the industry's average and 2 of its main competitors Cathay Pacific Airways and Qantas Airways . Cathay has been trailing closely to SIA in terms of first class cabin service and profitability for years. Qantas has long been dominating the highly profitable Kangaroo route and is ranked 5th in the world by Skytrax's survey . Please refer to appendix for the actual figures for every analysis below.
Corporate Social Responsibility is an organisation’s obligation to serve the company’s own interest and the one’s of the society. Moreover, Corporate Social Responsibility has a definition of a concept where the companies integrate social and the environmental concerns into their own business operation and also on a basis of voluntary with their interactions they have with the stakeholders. Corporate Social Resp...
Examine the causes of the problem: The problem is that JetBlue focused on expansion during its’ initial success. Profits realized at this time were used to acquire a larger fleet, expand routes, enlarge staff and increase terminal space. Seemingly, the primary focus was rapid growth, with an assumption that it would be rewarded with future profits. When profits began to decline, JetBlue chose to focus on competition making changes that would allow them to compete more directly with larger airlines. JetBlue became vulnerable to its competition when management made the choice to shift focus from customer service to expansion.
The course was useful in understanding of the interconnected nature of business organisations and the importance of decision making in increasingly competitive and globalized markets.