Heracleous, Loizos and Wirtz , Jochen. (2010) Singapore Airlines' Balancing Act. Harvard Business Review, Vol.88 (August). pp. 145-149. ISSN 0017-8012

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Abstract

Singapore Airlines is widely regarded as an exemplar of excellence in an industry whose service standards are tumbling. What's not so well known is that the company is also one of the civil aviation industry's cost leaders. SIA's success in executing a dual strategy of differentiation and cost leadership is unusual. Indeed, management experts, such as Michael Porter, argue that it's impossible to do so for a sustained period since dual strategies entail contradictory investments and organizational processes. Yet SIA, and a few other emerging-economy companies, view the dualities as opposites that form part of a whole. SIA executes its dual strategy by managing four paradoxes: Achieving service excellence cost-effectively, fostering centralized and decentralized innovation, being a technology leader and follower, and using standardization to achieve personalization. The results speak for themselves: SIA has delivered healthy financial returns; it has never had an annual loss; and except for the initial capitalization, the Asian airline has funded its growth itself while paying dividends every year.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Marketing & Strategic Management Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School
Journal or Publication Title:	Harvard Business Review
Publisher:	Harvard Business School Publishing
ISSN:	0017-8012
Date:	August 2010
Volume:	Vol.88
Number:	August
Number of Pages:	5
Page Range:	pp. 145-149
Status:	Not Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/43671

Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge

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