This is the detailed Porter five forces analysis of British Airways which has been operating in Airline Industry. British Airways is one of the largest airlines in the United Kingdom operating worldwide. Established in 1974, British Airways now competes with huge airlines operating around the globe.
Conducting a porter’s five forces analysis on British Airways model, we can determine its position in the market and the airline industry. This model was developed by Michael E. Porter to analyze the effect of five external forces acting on a certain company and effecting its operation in a certain industry.
Threat of New Entrants
There are various barriers to entry in the airline industry including the huge investments required to be a part of the industry, the effort required to gain the desired market share due to huge number of already established airlines, very little product differentiation is present so it is difficult to build up your competitive edge, maintenance cost required, and the unavailability of distribution channels. These barriers and others add up to the fact that not everyone can enter this industry and even if they enter, it is not easy for them to gain the customer base. Concluding, there is low threat of new entrants for British Airways.
Threat of Substitutes
When we determine the substitutes available to the customers as compared to British Airways, we can list train, car, bus, ship and all other modes of transport as their substitutes and all these can pose a threat to British Airways customer base but it is all dependent upon the fact that how customers see the value or what do they need. For instance if the customers are just looking for low price, then they have high chance of choosing some mode of transport other than an airline. But it is to be noted that those are not the target market for British Airways. On the other hand, if the customers are looking for convenience and time saving means of travel, they have a high probability of choosing British Airlines, and that is exactly the target market for British Airways. So we can say that there is a moderate level of threat of substitutes for British Airways.
Bargaining Power of Buyers
Most of the customers are price sensitive and the consumers nowadays are very much aware of their rights and they know that they have many choices when it comes to choosing an airline. And this also adds up to the fact that there is next to zero switching cost for customers if they do not like the price offered by the airline, unless the customer is very much loyal to British Airways and very much satisfied with their services. It is also to be noted that in case of group travelers or people buying tickets through travel agents, they will look at multiple options to provide the best deal for traveling, which leaves the power to the travel agents, i.e. consumer. Concluding, there is a high level of bargaining power of buyers in case of British Airways.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Suppliers for British Airways include the suppliers supplying the airplanes, fuel as well as laborers. There are very few suppliers of airplanes as it is very difficult task to do that and involves huge amount of investments. So when the suppliers are less, the power is not with buyers, especially in this case as British Airways cannot function without the supply of airplanes so they need to develop good long term relationships with the supplier. Same is the case with other supplies; British Airways cannot survive without fuel or crew and maintain good relationship with these suppliers as well.
Thus, the bargaining power of suppliers is high in case of British Airways.
Industry Rivalry
British Airways have huge competition on different levels, including competition with local competitors as well as competition with international airlines. The competition is however intense on the international level on different terms including price, convenience and the services that they provide so they really need to maintain their quality in order to remain in the industry and maintain their market value. Similar terms are required to be maintained in the local competition as well as the competition there is also intense. So, British Airways face high level of industry rivalry.
Reference
About British Airways. Retrieved September 11, 2017, from https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/about-ba
Newsdesk, M. C. (2017, April 13). British Airways CRM Case Study. Retrieved September 11, 2017, from https://www.mycustomer.com/marketing/strategy/british-airways-crm-case-study
Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7720. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720. http://doi.org/10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f