Airasia

Yield and profitability would decrease for AirAsia if fuel prices become too high. Overall, although such economic events are unavoidable, the opportunities outweigh the threats, presenting AirAsia opportunities to expand its business: during times of economic downturns, demand for affordable low fares would increase amongst budget-conscious travelers, especially from leisure and corporate travelers. 3. Political/Legal Globalization saw a trend of increased privatization and deregulation of governments across the world, which resulted in the ongoing consolidation of the airline industry.As governments were important drivers of airline success in Asia, most airlines in East and Southeast Asian countries had full or substantial state ownership, management, and control, often subsidized and protected by the governments from competition; with the pursuit of non-business goals, profits were often sacrificed for the sake of national objectives. Privatization and deregulation of governments presented opportunities for new routes and airport deals through open-skies agreements between countries, or the permission of the entry of private airlines, reducing the constraints for international airlines. For instance, in 1997, Malaysia signed an â€Å"open-skies† agreement with the United States; such deregulation present new airlines (i. e. AirAsia) with the opportunity to access domestic routes. Having access to domestic routes could lead to the trial of long haul flights to attain and penetrate an undeveloped market share (i. e. new routes to utilize its new aircraft). However, globalization can also result in global uncertainty (i. e. accidents, terrorist attacks, and disaster), which can affect customer confidence. Once customer confidence is affected, AirAsia would face the threat of losing its profitability, or even bankruptcy.Being a low-cost carrier, AirAsia is subjected to subjected to aviation regulations, government policy and government restraints (i. e. government protection in favor of full-service airlines), and dependent on the geography and infrastructure of Asia, and the travelling preferences of customers. 4. Sociocultural In recent years, rapid economic growth resulted in a burgeoning middle class within Asia’s large population. Together with increased in trade and tourism within and into Asia, demand for air travel increased; more people were willing to compromise on food and other services in exchange for lower prices.The attractiveness of budget airlines is primarily their low ticket prices, which can be as low as 10-20% of those charged by full-service airlines. This presents AirAsia with opportunities to differentiate itself from competitors by adding customer services or operation as full service airline with low fare, giving it a competitive advantage (i. e. provision of in-flight food and drinks, and online sales of hotel, car, and holiday reservations, as well as travel insurance), and corporate travel services, with its own branded credit card; further increasing brand awareness and value for customers.However, if AirAsia is not careful in its implementation to differen tiate itself from competitors, it could incur an (unnecessary) increase in operation cost in producing value-added services. Overall, the social/cultural aspect presents AirAsia with more opportunities than threats, as long as it does not unnecessarily increase operation cost in producing value added services. 5. Technological Global By utilizing information technology, AirAsia was able to the first airline in Southeast Asia utilize e-ticketing and bypass traditional travel agents.This enabled the airline to save on the cost of issuing physical ticket (i. e. estimated at US$10 per ticket), and eliminated the need for large and expensive booking and reservation systems, and agents’ commissions. If not handled properly (i. e. backup systems and maintenance), there would be risk of system disruption due to heavily reliance on online sales. Hence, the technology aspect would pose to be a threat if AirAsia’s systems are not properly backed up and maintained (i. e. contingency plan in the event of a system disruption). 6. Physical EnvironmentThe physical environment segment refer to potential and actual changes in the physical environment and business practice that are intended to positively respond to and deal with those changes. To sustaining the quality of the physical environment Industry Analysis 1. Threat from New Entrants: Low The airline industry requires high capital. The cost of setting up an office, purchasing or leasing aircrafts, hiring pilots and other staffs such as air stewardess and etc incurs a high start-up cost. Hence, the threat of new entrants is low for Air Asia. Strict government regulations.Every potential entrant is required to obtain license and permit before it is allowed to be operated. This is because the airline industry in Malaysia is already highly competitive. As a result, the government needs to protect the interest of its national airline, Malaysia Airlines (MAS), where MAS has been operating on losses a few years back. Apart from offering air transportation service, Air Asia also offers affordable tour packages. Air Asia has been establishing good relations with hotels and tourism companies around Asia, therefore, it is hard for new competitors to compete.Most of Air Asia customers have high brand loyalty towards Air Asia because of its widely known ? one of the low-cost airlines that continues to offer the lowest possible price?. 2. Bargaining Power of Supplier: High Overall, power of supplier is high as there are limited and just availability of suppliers, the switching cost is high (i. e. airplanes and their maintenance are costly), and there are few substitutes for airplanes (i. e. air travel covers longer distances in a shorter period of time). Limited number of aircrafts supplier.There are only two aircrafts supplier companies in the world, which are Air bus and Boeing. Compared to Boeing aircrafts, Airbus aircrafts is the most advanced in technology, hence, Air Asia must rely on the Airbus engineers to do maintenance on the aircrafts and seek advices. 3. Bargaining Power of Buyer: High The internet has allowed customers to have access in aviation market information, mainly, the price of air transportation ticket charged by different airline companies, where price comparison can be made. Low switching cost for customers.Customer’s priority is to look at price and flight schedule that suits them best when purchasing air transportation tickets. As mentioned earlier, customer’s main purpose of using the airline service is to get to their intended destination. Therefore, customers can switch to other airline easily. As there are almost no switching costs for customers switching from one budget airline to another, the bargaining power of buyer is moderately high. Moreover, customers are able to compare prices of budget airline via the Internet, giving them more choices 4. Threat from Substitutes Product/or Services: LowAlthough there are several substitutes (i. e. trains and ships), the geographical structure of Asia has made air travel an efficient, viable, and convenient mode of transportation. Hence, threat from substitutes is moderately low. Compared to other modes of transportation, the archipelago geographical structure of Asia made air transportation the most viable, convenient and efficient mode of transportation. However most of the low-cost airlines only fly domestic routes within the country of origin, while only a few operate international routes connecting nearby countries.Hence, customers will always look for alternatives. The prices of substitutes are about the same with Air Asia. Some of the airlines offers cheaper price to achieve profitable passenger loads. The price offered depends on the time gap between the booking date and flight date. The longer the date, the cheaper the price. If the air transportation tickets are purchased last minute, the price will be about the same with premium airlines such as MAS and Singapore Airlines (SIA). Therefore, in this situation customer would switch to the premium airlines. . Rivalry among Competing Firms: High Intensity of rivalry is moderately high due to the increased competition (with more competitors wanting a part of this growing lucrative market), and high exit cost. Exhibits 8 and 9 provide information on low-cost carries in Asia: from 1 budget airline (Cebu Pacific Air) in 1996 to 16 budget airlines by 2005, the entry of more low-cost airlines dramatically increased competition. AirAsia also faced competition from a broad range of airlines, ground transportation, and sea services.The airline industry offers similar service. Customer’s main purpose of using the airline service is to get to their intended destination. Though Air Asia offers additional services such as hotel booking and tour packages, it is subject to its customers’ choice. An industry with similar products and/or services offered is highly competitive. The airline industry incurs high fixed cost. In order to cover the fixed cost, the airline companies have to gain more market share.As such, constant price reduction is done to compete with others. Hence, the rivalry is strong. Low switching cost for customers. Customer’s priority is to look at price and flight schedule that suits them best when purchasing air transportation tickets. As mentioned earlier, customer’s main purpose of using the airline service is to get to their intended destination. Therefore, customers can switch to other airline easily, which makes the industry so competitive. The airline industry incurs high exit cost.In order for an airline company to exit the industry, it needs to pay its loans and staffs retrenchment as well as refund the flight cancellations, which all incurs high cost. Even making losses, the airline company has to get running to cope with fixed costs. There are approximately 45 low-cost airlines in Asia. Some of the airlines do not compete directly with Air Asia, but they compete indirectly in routes that Air Asia does not fly. Thus, the higher the number of competitors, the fiercer the competition.

Leonardo Davinci aritist or scientist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Leonardo Davinci aritist or scientist - Essay Example (Catholic Encyclopedia) Leonardo da Vinci is best described as one of the greatest minds of the Renaissance. He was born in a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 14th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe. He was a multi-talented artist-scientist who excelled in various fields as painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scholar. "Leonardo was one of the greatest men of science in history, but the world which admired him as an artist did not discover the man of science until many centuries after his death" (Dibner, 380). He was chosen the 13th among the "Immortals of Science" by nearly 1,200 college and university presidents, editors of science periodicals, science editors of the world's great newspapers, and professors of science at scores of universities. (Dibner, 380) Leonardo's fascination with machines probably began during his boyhood. Some of his earliest sketches clearly show how various machine parts worked. As an apprentice in the studio of the artist Verrocchio, Leonardo observed and used a variety of machines. By studying them he gained practical knowledge about their design and structure. (Museum of Science) During the Renaissance, European artists began to study the model of nature more closely and to paint with the goal of greater realism. They learned to create lifelike people and animals, and they became skilled at creating the illusion of depth and distance on flat walls and canvases by using the techniques of linear perspective. (Holmes, 87) In the fifteenth century, Italy was not the unified country we know today; rather it was divided into many small independent states. Naples in the south was ruled by a series of kings. Popes of the Roman Catholic Church ruled the middle section. To the north different families controlled the largest and wealthiest city-states of Florence, Milan, and Venice. They fought wars against each other and against smaller neighboring states to increase their power. (Museum of Science) In that time of the renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci trained as a painter, and his amazing power of observation and skill as an illustrator enabled him to notice and recreate the effects he saw in nature. Leonardo was curious and observant, and wrote down and sketched so many of his observations in his notebooks. He was among the very first to take a scientific approach towards understanding of the world. (Museum of Science: Leonardo's Perspective) Leonardo wrote in Italian using a special kind of shorthand that he invented himself. He used "mirror writing", starting at the right side of the page and moving to the left. He did this probably to make it harder for people to read his notes and steal his ideas. Another reason is that he was hiding his scientific ideas from the powerful Roman Catholic Church; and also, writing left handed from left to right was messy because the ink just put down would smear as his hand moved across it; therefore he chose to write in reverse because it prevented smudging. (Museum of Science) As an artist, Leonardo borrowed almost nothing from the past - a few details in a candelabrum in the small "Annunciation" of the Louvre, rare sketches such as the "Dancers" of the Academy of Venice, a warrior's head at London (British Museum). Leonardo, therefore,

Entering the Age of Controller-Free Interactive Technology Research Paper

Entering the Age of Controller-Free Interactive Technology - Research Paper Example Testing Kinect has been thoroughly tested to work efficiently with the Xbox 360. It has built-in features that anticipate the Xbox’s potential downsides like heat. Gizmodo (2010) points out that Kinect tests out the heat in its environment with a sign warning passers-by in all caps, , DO NOT OPEN CRITICAL TEST IN PROGRESS. A tiny built-in fan turns on in demand when Kinect assesses a hot environment when the heat produced by the the three sensors and the atmosphere around it mix to create conditions warmer than Microsoft would like (Gizmodo, 2010). Leyvand et al. (2011) report that the developers of Kinect designed the system to reduce mistaken identities. From the tests, it still commits mistakes, but the system allows the players to correct their identity by running through the Kinect Identity process again to reduce the chances of future misidentifications. Ben Kilgore, Xbox’s general manager, claims that Kinect maps out as many people as it can detect depending on t heir distance from the sensor. It shades the people in different colors. However, if a person lines up with another, they both turn into the same color. Kilgore says the â€Å"design focus† was for two people (Gizmodo, 2010). Accessibility Microsoft is an organization committed to serving people of all kinds of abilities. It claims that its mission is to help people and businesses to realize their full potential with the innovation and technology they produce. However, as Kinect is its newest product, it has yet to develop more accessibility features for disabled users. As it is originally designed for full-body motion it has an inherent physical nature of the gameplay that may not serve disabled users well. Microsoft is working to improve the system’s skeletal tracking technology...Gaming technology has come a long way from the antiquated portable Game and Watch to the early video game consoles like Atari, Nintendo Family Computer and old versions of Play Stations. No w, three gaming consoles dominate the market namely Nintendo Wii, Sony Play Station 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. This paper will focus on Microsoft Xbox 360’s latest additional feature called Kinect which is a gadget designed to work with the Xbox for controller-free gaming and entertainment experiences. The article of Dudley-Nicholson (2010) entitled â€Å"Microsoft’s Back in the Game† which came out in the Herald Sun on November 17, 2010 is the springboard article for this paper. Originally known by the code name of Project Natal, Kinect for Xbox 360 works by using a camera to track 48 parts of the human body, from head to hips, knees to feet and identify colors. An infra-red projector and image sensor detects objects in three dimensions. It is also equipped with microphones to identify voices by removing background noise (Dudley-Nicholson, 2010). The human mind is never satisfied as it continually conceives of new ideas to implement and create intelligent technology to make life more convenient. This is evidence that no matter how impressive new technology continues to develop, human beings will still reign as its masters.