It has been almost a decade since I graduated from school. I'm definitely rusty, not that I was even good in the first place. I was those who slept throughout the years and barely made it through. Somehow I managed to pass every module, mainly motivated by the unwillingness to incur more cost in money and time if I fail to pass every exam which came my way. I was lucky to get away.
Penny must be desperate to pass her CPA module to ask me for 'help'. I was an Information System student, not Accounting. Little did she know that accounts was the only subject I flunked in my GCE 'O' Levels. Ha. Rather bad luck to find someone for help in his worst field. Anyway, if I can help, I will. At least I try.
I was tasked to read Virgin Blue's new strategy of rebranding and reinventing itself as a premium carrier to save its sorry ass after Jetstar poached much of its market share of the low cost, no frills air carrier model. In short, after Jetstar successfully tried to be Virgin Blue, Virgin Blue is now trying to be a successful Qantas. That was the gist of what I gathered after 1-2 hours of sleepy reading.
So how can an IS student answer a business question? Easy. Anyhow answer. After all I am not going to the exam hall, so use this material at your own risk. The reason why I decided to blog this was that my time for blogging was used up, so I might as well tell you why. Most importantly Penny need not re-type these (if she find any useful at all) to discuss the topic with her friends. I might as well save her some precious time. Discuss? Apparently, there are a few of them in Singapore in her 'team' to tackle this exam module together. I don't know how it really works. I've heard of long distance study programs. So this is long distance discussion (copying) program? heh heh.
Anyway, the question I was asked to help out was:-
"Has the organisation considered any misalignments with all the interconnected '7-S' aspects of the implementation plan?"
So what the heck is 7-S? Sounds like some crap Lim Swee Say would come up with. Those better, betterer, betterest nonsense. I wasn't too far wrong. They represent:
Strategy
Structure
Systems
Style
Staff
Shared Values
Skills
More or less the Lim Swee Say shit.
My answer:
Virgin's Game Change program is strategy that requires a reinvention of its brand from a low cost, no frills model to a full service one to take market share from Qantas. Virgin's logical strategic move is to implement the Game Change, as Jetstar has been eroding Virgin Blue's market capacity in a market segment with a slim profit margin that leaves Virgin little room to further lower cost for consumer to regain a competitive advantage over Jetstar.
Virgin's new CEO Borgetti (Spaghetti haha) immediately made changes to Virgin's organisational chart by establishing a new management team to rival the Qantas team, specifically in competition for business class travellers, by recruiting ex-Qantas veterans in key appointments. This move was evident that Virgin was aware of a possible misalignment of its previous company structure to perform according to their new business needs.
To align a new business system to its new goals, a major brand restructuring will take place. Virgin Blue will consolidate their 4 airlines into 1, collectively known as Virgin Australia thereafter. Other significant changes include its website, ticketing, fleet rebranding, a new advertising campaign, signage change, introducing a premium valet service, developing new lounges fore premium class travellers and a new frequent flyer program, developing new uniforms (fuck, does these ever end?) ETC. (I'll probably "Stop at two" if I was taking this exam)
A radical change in the company management threatens the iconic Virgin Blue's service style, having to establish itself a reputation as a fun, funky and "renegade" air carrier over the years. To address losing its Virgin Blue culture, the airline spent a lot of resources to recruit the right people to preserve their identity and style.
These major changes bring a possible risk that the reformed organisation do not build a sufficient understanding of the new business ideals among different levels of people who make operational decisions across the company. To minimise the effects of this risk, Borghetti sent a message to new employees and highlighted the repositioned focus of Virgin and the different needs it would require in achieving its Game Change program goals.
However, it remains a challenge for Virgin Australia for service staff to impress the business class consumers with their attributes specifically cultivated to service their core leisure market. If Virgin Australia were to reposition and transform itself in this aspect, it risks losing existing customers loyal to their 'renegade' approach if it fails to keep their balancing act precisely tuned.
