CASE BREIFING

Singapore Airlines is one of the best air transportation

company in the world. Founded in 1972, Singapore
Airlines is constantly improving service to its
passengers performed by its employees, especially
those who served in the cabin that with the name of
the Singapore Girl.

Singapore Girl
Singapore Girl became an icon in the service
when the plane was on land and in flight.
Singapore Girl has a dress uniform of batik
kebaya with materials designed by Pierre
Balmain, as an icon of Singapore Airlines
tradition with a full service hospitality that are
characteristic of Asia

Training
New recruits are trained from rules for laundering uniform to
personal grooming technique.All applicant must be fluent in
english & should have positive attitude towards work.
Training covered both Functional skill and Soft skill:
The functional Training (pouring a cup of coffee at 30,000
feet)
The soft skill- (connection,warmth and engagement with
passenger while pouring coffee)

Ongoing Training
This training is intended to form the character of the
Singapore Girl is friendly and caring to the passengers.
The Singapore Girl training for 15 weeks to form a
professional attitude when they work in the cabin.
This training emphasizes the human touch, the
employee must be able to remember the names of
passengers and learn to communicate well and
effectively. Training provided on an ongoing basis it
has the objective that the Singapore Girl was always
going to provide the best service for passengers.

On-ground Service strategy (OGS)

The company launched a program in 1987 called on ground
service for ground staff.
Through this program they give training to the ground staff
regarding how to handle the baggage and how to help the
customer. Check in procedures were to be quick and
courteous.
They were taught to approach customer first rather than wait
for customers to come to them with questions.
Boarding have to be systemic and smooth. Elderly passengers
& parents with children should be given priority.

Transforming customer service

It was launched in jan 2000 in replace of OSG.
TCS includes entire organisation- Pilots, cabin crew,
ground staff, reservation staff and so on.
Idea was to improve the customer service.
Driving force behind TCS was the change in
customer feedback and expectation

Innovation
The company created a luxury travel experience and
retained the glamour of the longdistance travel. Thus, many innovations support that.
For example, at first we have the iconic Singapore girls
(easily come to mind) costumed in a specially designed
version of the graceful Malay sarong kebaya, designed by
renowned fashion house, Pierre Balmain and representing
the Asian value and culture; the company was the first in
-seat TV sand offered more channels than any airline and
also put some luxurious suites in their planes.

Strong brand strategy

Iconic Singapore girls, the heart of the services delivered by SIA. They
represent a very powerful idea
and have become a successful brand icon with an almost
mythical status and aura around her. The Singapore Girl
encapsulates Asian values and hospitality, and could be described as caring,
warm, gentle, elegant and serene. It is a
brilliant personification of SIA's commitment to service and quality excellence.
SIA engaged French haute-couture designer
Pierre Balmain at the inauguration of the airline in 1972. He designed a special
version of the Malay sarong kebaya as the
uniform which later became one of the most recognized signatures of the
airline. A very designated and visual part of the entire brand experience. All
this means that the iconic Singapore girl is a main tool of marketing,
promotion and communication and a king of customerization for SIA across
the world

Best technology :
SIA is always trying to use the latest aircrafts to maintain the
youth of its fleet (which average age is 6.6
years).Singapore Airlines recognizes that each innovation has
a relatively short life span. Once other airlines adopt it, it is no
longer considered "innovative". Therefore, the airline
continues to invest heavily in R&D, innovation and
technology as an integrated part of the business strategy to
further differentiate itself

Connection with Customers.

SIA makes a concerted effort to stay in touch with customers through
in-flight surveys, customer focus groups and rapid replies to every
compliment or complaint they receive. SIA then consolidates this
input with other key data to create a quarterly Service Performance
Index that is very closely watched throughout the airline.
Frequent flyers are kept well-connected with special messages,
attractive offers and publications sent regularly to Priority Passenger
Service (PPS) members. And very frequent flyers achieve an elite
Solitaire status with a wide range of valuable privileges: most
convenient check-in, additional baggage allowance, priority seating
and wait listing, and more.

Improvement, Investment and Innovation.

From the earliest days, SIA has built a solid reputation for
taking the lead and doing things differently, introducing free
drinks and headsets, fax machines onboard, individual video
screens and telephones in every seat, cutting-edge gaming and
in-flight entertainment, book the cook service for special
meals in First and Business Class, telephone, fax, e-mail and
internet check-in, innovative cargo facilities the list goes on
and on.
Not every innovation succeeds and some are eventually
removed from service (the fax machines are long gone), but
SIA makes every possible effort to find the key to success or
to create it.

Consistent External Communication.

Whether their advertisement is about new destinations, new airplanes,
onboard cuisine, or new seats and entertainment services, the
legendary SIA Girl is always featured.
Why? Because the bottom line for SIA is not the plane, seat,
entertainment or destination. The bottom line is delivering high-quality
service, and the SIA Girl is the brand identity, the personification of
that service.
Of course everyone knows it takes the entire SIA team to
deliver excellent customer service, but showing a picture of a smiling
engineer, a competent pilot or a friendly telephone reservations agent
would not carry the same consistency in external communication: The
SIA Girl represents impeccable quality service. In the airlines
external communication, she is always there.

Internal Communication
SIA is a large organization, with more than 28,000 staff
(including subsidiaries) located around the world. People from
different cultures work together to produce a seamless and
consistently positive customer experience.
To keep everyone on the same wavelength, SIA publishes a
variety of department newsletters, websites and a monthly
company-wide magazine.
Regular dialogue sessions between management and staff keep
communication flowing. A program called Staff Ideas in Action
ensures that new suggestions for service improvement are
constantly put forward. Semi-annual business meetings provide
another forum for sharing and evaluating results in sales,
marketing, yields and customer satisfaction levels.

3 Level of business strategy

1. Functional level strategy.
R&D - heavier investment
.
Advance technology - reduce the cost
.
Human resource mangement- recruit the best
employee

2. Business level strategy.

cost ledership - excellence service
.
Differentiation- comfortable & safety
3. Corporate level strategy
.
Business diversifiction -over 20 subsidiaries
.
Strategic alliance - star alliance member

Strong strategic capability

Youngest air fleet -

6 years vs 13 years

Robust cash flow from operations -

higher cash and

bank balances

Keep the highest standard within the industry

marketing strategies invest a lot in service

Marketing Strategy
Brand awareness -

advertising the value through all kind of

media platform

Perceived value -

Fly SIA=Fly safety +Fly comfortable

Reward program - Krisflyer

Cutting-edge quality Service strategy

A culture of customer service -

3interviews +tea party

-positive attitude
-functional skills and soft skills

More cabin staff per seat than other airlines

Free of charge amenities to Economy class passengers
Singapore girl promotion
-a sense of style
and sophistication
-service-oriented airline
marketing icon

Measuring satisfaction

Performance Survey (SPS)

Performance (GAP) (under IATA)

- romance of travel
-global

-Service
-Global Airline
-feedback report

Alternatives

Reduce labor cost via recruit from other countries

Inexpensive and well-educated labor from other countries

Different route implement different strategy

Long distance route: Spacebed
Short route: In order to compete in Economic class, SIA can cancel
meal on broad, so that it can provide low-price, high quality service in
Economic class

Test market
Implement Spacebed only in competitive routes
Focus on safety features

Spacebed
In response to British Airline, SIA plans on
implementing the Spacebed

Challenges
Ongoing cost of on-broad innovation and investment of $14
billions in new aircraft
resulted the first bank loan in SIA history
9/11
Labor cost kept increasing in 1990s

High competitive climate

Low price challengers

How about cutback our service?

Spacebed Decision
Install cost: $100 million USD
In 45 aircraft
Reduce seats in Raffles Class

from 58 to 50
Keep it or drop it?