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A tale of strategic and governance errors/In my opinon
Journal
European Business Forum
ISSN
1469-6460
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2004-01-01
Author(s)
Abstract
This is a story of leadership, corporate governance, national culture, finance, European politics and terrorism and how all these factors converged to undermine a great airline - Swissair - in October, 2001. Some of the important causes of the Swissair downfall are clearly related in the case: the McKinsey-inspired strategy of buying into Sabena and smaller and often ailing airlines; weaknesses in top management and a supervisory board that had poor knowledge of the air transport industry; and the missed opportunity earlier on to build a strong alliance with other EU airlines and vital US partners (Alcazar). In early 1998, the SAirGroup board finally decided not to strike a deal with BA and not to join the Oneworld alliance. Instead, relying on SAirGroup's strong reserves, the board adopted a plan developed by McKinsey to pursue minority shares in a number of small European airlines. It is unlikely that EU membership would have made much difference in the light of the other factors.
Language
English
HSG Classification
not classified
Refereed
No
Publisher
European Business Forum
Publisher place
London
Number
17
Start page
56
End page
60
Pages
5
Subject(s)
Eprints ID
8362