Tata Consultancy Services & Qantas Airways-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Competitiveness being possessed by TCS and Qantas airways. Answer: Introduction In the present business scenario, contemporary business organizations operating in different business sectors are considering various aspects to enhance their competitiveness in the market. A few organizations are driving against the conventional business theories and rallied their success with the means of innovations and effective determination of the market requirement (Wagner III and Hollenback 2014). Tata consultancy services and Qantas airways are the two leading organizations from India and Australia which have gained tremendous success with the help of innovative ideas. This report will discuss about the competiveness garnered by these two organizations in their own sector. Moreover, the effectiveness of their competitiveness will be evaluated by applying the theory of strategy and innovation. CAGE framework will also be used to determine the aspects of their competitive advantages. Competitive advantages of Tata consultancy service Tata consultancy service (TCS) is one the profitable venture of Indian conglomerate Tata sons. It was been founded in 1968 to cater to the global requirement of information technologies (Tcs.com 2017). Gradually they entered in the field of consulting and providing business solutions. TCS was being founded based on an innovative idea of outsourcing which was quite uncommon at that time. Thus, it can be considered as one of the most innovative and pioneer in the information technology sector. TCS had set a benchmark in this field and initiated the concept of business process and knowledge process outsourcing. To determine the competitive advantage of TCS, strategy of the organization should be considered. A strategy helps in planning the organizational action for the long term objectives. TCS had effectively designed and implemented their strategies to enhance their business portfolio. They designed their strategy to target the market in the developed and western countries more effectively (Slack 2015). Their strategy involved their core competitive advantage of delivering service at low cost. The strategy of TCS effectively complied with their business scenario and competitive advantages which helped them in gaining favorable market share in the western countries. The core competitiveness of TCS is the availability of low cost and skilled employees in their home market which they used effectively in designing their strategy to attract the foreign customers. Another theory that they followed is the business model innovation. TCS adhered to this theory effectively by initiating innovation in every step of this model (Serrat 2017). TCS first identified their target customers and determined their requirement. Accordingly they went for generating innovative ideas to deliver more value to their customers. In this due course, they have changed the existing scenario of providing business solutions. Their innovative ideas enabled the large organizations around the world to outsource their activities and gaining more expertise at lower cost. It creates great value for the customers of TCS and helped their customers to enhance their respective core competitiveness in the market. CAGE framework is also effective in determining the competitiveness of the business organizations. The first aspect of this model is the cultural distance. The less will be the cultural distance between the organization and the target market the more will be their competitiveness (Shenkar 2012). TCS provides personalized business solutions to their customers. In terms of providing information technology, they customize the software according to the need and requirement of the customers. In addition, the outsourced jobs are being accomplished with the help of the skilled employees who are being trained according to the requirement and culture of the target market. Thus, TCS reduced the cultural distance between them and their customers. The next aspect is administrative distance. India is having the favorable political relation with majority of the countries where TCS operates. Moreover, there are no such strict legislations regarding the outsourcing of business which had helped TCS t o enhance their competitiveness. However, in the recent time, various countries are initiating legislations to prevent outsourcing which may have adverse impact on their performance. The next aspect is geographic distance which is being effectively regulated by TCS with the means of internet and other digital technologies. The last aspect is the economic distance. The target customers for TCS are the multinationals and thus economic distance is not applicable for them. Moreover, the advantage of TCS is the low cost which further helping them in marinating the economic distance. Competitive advantages of Qantas airways Qantas airway is one of the leading and largest airline carriers in the world. It is being founded in Australia in 1920 (Qantas.com 2017). They have driven the airline market with their extensive generation of innovation. Few initiatives such as introduction of business class were first initiated by them. Thus, innovation is the primary driving force for them. Moreover, the approach that Qantas has initiated to attract their customers is much distinctive then the conventional approaches by its competitors. They positioned themselves not just as an airline carrier but also a lifestyle provider. The strategy of Qantas is being designed in such a way that it will provide their customers effective service and will meet their visionary goals and objectives. As discussed earlier, Qantas provides lifestyles to their customers and their strategy includes various aspects of lifestyle other than just flying. Thus, strategy of them is well adhered with their vision and mission. Innovation is also been considered by them as their one of the key driving forces. According to the business innovation model, Qantas effectively determines the changing taste and preference pattern of the customers and accordingly they drive their innovations which create more value for their customers. Initiation of business class and premium economy class is the few examples of their innovations which effectively meet the requirement of the market (Volberda, Van Den Bosch and Heij 2013). Thus, Qantas enhanced the existing available infrastructure in the airline industry by the generation of innovative ideas which further solidified their position in the market. According to the CAGE framework, Qantas effectively manage the cultural distance by meeting the diversified preferences of the customers around the world. For instance, Qantas offers food and other facilities for their Indian customers according to the Indian cultures and traditions. Thus, it helps them to reduce the distance of them with their target customers. Australia is currently having air service agreements with more than 100 countries which help Qantas in providing effective service to major part of the global market. Thus, administrative distance is also favorable for them. The next step is the geographic distance. However, in the case of Qantas, geographic distance is the opportunity for them rather than being. This is due to the reason that the core business activity of Qantas is to cover the geographic distance with their fleet service. The last step is the economic distance. To cover this aspect, Qantas offers their fleet service for various customer segments by having d iversified service portfolio in their kitty (Harlacher and Reihlen 2014). However, the extended target segments for Qantas are the higher end customers and with the enhancement of the global economy, the target market for them is increasing. Thus, opportunity is there for them. Conclusion Having analyzed the drivers for the competitiveness of TCS and Qantas airways, it can be concluded that they focus mainly on their innovations to create and enhance their competitive advantage in the market. Moreover, generations of innovative ideas and adhering with the strategy effectively is helping them to cater to the market more effectively. In addition, it is helping them in reducing the distances as per the CAGE framework References Harlacher, D. and Reihlen, M., 2014. Governance of professional service firms: A configurational approach.Business Research,7(1), pp.125-160. Qantas.com. (2017).Our Company | Qantas. [online] Available at: https://www.qantas.com/travel/airlines/company/global/en [Accessed 24 Aug. 2017]. Serrat, O., 2017. Business model innovation. InKnowledge Solutions(pp. 499-507). Springer Singapore. Shenkar, O., 2012. Beyond cultural distance: Switching to a friction lens in the study of cultural differences.Journal of International Business Studies,43(1), pp.12-17. Slack, N. (2015).Operations strategy. John Wiley Sons, Ltd. Tcs.com. (2017).About Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). [online] Available at: https://www.tcs.com/about-us [Accessed 24 Aug. 2017]. Volberda, H.W., Van Den Bosch, F.A. and Heij, C.V., 2013. Management innovation: Management as fertile ground for innovation.European Management Review,10(1), pp.1-15. Wagner III, J.A. and Hollenbeck, J.R., 2014.Organizational behavior: Securing competitive advantage.