Management Assignment: Air New Zealand

Organisational Scenario:
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand is an international and domestic airline group which provides air passenger and cargo
transport services within New Zealand, as well as to and from Australia, the South West Pacific, Asia,
North America and the United Kingdom.
Air New Zealand also encompasses business units providing engineering and ground handling services.
Subsidiaries extend to booking systems and travel wholesaling.
Air New Zealand Limited (NZX: AIR, ASX: AIZ) is the national airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland,
the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 22 domestic and 29 international destinations in 16
countries around the Pacific rim and the United Kingdom. The airline has been a member of the Star
Alliance since 1999.
Air New Zealand currently operates an international long-haul fleet consisting of Boeing 777 family,
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, and Boeing 767-300 aircraft. Airbus A320 aircraft operate on routes to
Australia and the Pacific Islands, and on domestic routes. Air New Zealand’s regional subsidiaries, Air
Nelson, Eagle Airways, and Mount Cook Airline, operate additional domestic services using turboprop
aircraft. Air New Zealand was awarded Airline of the Year in 2010 and 2012 by the Air Transport World
Global Airline Awards.

http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/about-air-new-zealand

Requirements:
As an engineering management consultant you are required to advise the company on their
strategic plans.
This includes an analysis of the influence which the external environment plays on the
formulation of Air New Zealand’s organisations strategy.
You will be required to use the tools of strategic management to analyse and evaluate the
strategic position of Air New Zealand’s organisation and propose and evaluate its strategic
options to meet its objectives and make suitable recommendations.
You will be required write an individual strategic report (approximately 2500 words) to the
senior management of Air New Zealand highlighting the benefits and risks associated in the
current set-up and make suitable recommendations to champion the benefits and mitigate the
outcomes of the risks identified.
1) Strategic Analysis:
The aim is to achieve an understanding of the key strategic issues, both externally and
internally, that are likely to influence the performance of the company into the future. You are
required to carry out extensive research to update the information provided, in order for a full
strategic overview to be formed.
2) Strategic Options and Strategy Selection:
Develop a range of strategic options, their evaluation and the selection of the ones to be
implemented. Various models and tools that are part of strategic management theory may help
you in your analysis. The emphasis here is very much on widening the strategic perspectives
and creating a cross-disciplinary approach. Additionally, there is a key issue that has received
research attention in management journals, writers are encouraged to introduce this into the
debate presented in their projects.
Understanding is only achieved by interpretation of the analysis undertaken, and it is up to you
as an engineering management consultant to present a well justified and logical argument for
the strategic plan presented.
Justification should be made by referring to the relevant literature, or additional research. It is
the quality of the argument presented that will determine the final mark. Hence it is the data /
interpretation of the data that is important and not the volume of tools of analysis used.
Data Sources
Under no circumstances should you approach the case study company for any reason.
Additional Information
Here are some additional resources to use as a starting point only.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1603/S00790/air-new-zealand-launches-inspiring-voices-speakerseries.

htm

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/78159919/air-new-zealands-sticky-tape-solution-onplane-

engine-shocks-nelson-woman

http://www.airnzenvironmenttrust.org.nz/

http://www.airnewzealandgasturbines.co.nz/

Appropriate Secondary Data Sources
It is suggested that secondary data sources are extensively utilised e.g. electronic library
sources / hard copy data / articles in academic journals / business press such as the Financial
Times and the Economist – class notes should not be referenced and the ‘popular press’ not be
used. Wikipedia references are not considered to be of the required standard and hence should
not be included.
Final Reports
As in all decision making in business, generally there are no right and wrong solutions. Good
strategic decisions are generally recognised as those where there has been generation of
several alternative strategies, consideration of the likely outcome from adopting each
alternative, and a convincing justification for why the chosen strategy is likely to be more
effective than the other alternatives.
The range of strategic issues that are to be addressed in the strategic plans presented, and the
relative emphasis that is given to each is part of the decision making process, should be decided
by you, this in itself part of the assignment. The content of your individual engineering
management report will differ from other candidates, there is definitely not one “right answer”.
Submission requirements