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Airlines sets Deadline on Talks with Italia (International Business)
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Airlines sets Deadline on Talks with Italia (International Business)
Significantly, Etihad airways, the national airline of the UAE, has had a lot of success over the years mainly through expansions: for instance, in 2012, it expanded its commercial team to Saudi Arabia and also added new sale positions in two major offices (new appointments were Aiyaz Khot as manager of Central Province, based in Riyadh and Imran Rakhangi as manager of Western Province, based in Jeddah).
This was a core step for Etihad as one of the front-line officials of the airline put it out that the country was a key part of the airway’s networks which was true since Saudi Arabia’s sales force reflected the developing significance of that market for Etihad airways. Definitely, the year 2012 was significant to Etihad airways since shortly after the Saudi Arabia expansion the great experience from the two appointed managers who had extensive knowledge in sales and business analysis broadly increased the sales in the western and central provinces of nation.
The main point here is that Etihad has made grave impact in the airlines industry and the Alitalia investment should not be any different from the rest of the commercial expansions and stakes that Etihad has been able to acquire over time (Clark 1). Reflectively, Etihad bought a twenty four percent stake in India’s Jet Airways (JETIN) and a forty nine percent stake in Air Serbia; additionally, the carrier increased its stake in Virgin Australia (VAH) by ten percent, holds a twenty nine percent stake in Air Berlin, 40 percent of Air Seychelles, three percent of HYPERLINK “http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/AERL:ID” Aer Lingus (AERL), and recently added a stake in a Swiss regional carrier.
Basically, Etihad’s investment on Alitalia will be a mark of ‘presence’ on the European segment of the business even though it has stakes in Air Berlin and Swiss-based airline a full service legacy carrier would be great for the airway’s reputation: moreover, Alitalia has been trying to recover from some major losses that caused the airline greatly depicting a negative picture to the international market (Kamel 1). Initially, Air France owned about twenty five percent of Alitalia and they had a good thing going on until early last year when AF declined to invest further in the airline after Italia wanted to raise funds under the notion that the carrier belonging to the Italian sector was not yet per to its conditions.
After Etihad made its announcement about investing in Alitalia, Air France refrained from commenting on the matter which could mean a lot of things; for instance, they might be of the idea that it is a bad corporate move that they would not recommend but they don’t want to get in the way or AF might be feeling inferior since Etihad is willing to take on a task that the AF could not counter. All the same, the decision and aim of Etihad still remains at light though there is no way that such Etihad, an internationally recognized airline could enter into such a deal without having done more than enough homework. James Hogan, the Chief Executive of Etihad backed this notion by saying that as a successful corporation, they do not invest for the sake of doing it and only step in when they are sure of a solution; additionally, Etihad has claimed to have already devised ways that they will apply and enable Alitalia to get back on their feet.
Conversely, Alitalia also needs the investment even though they appear to be reluctant on the matter but this is mainly as a result of the management avoiding more embarrassment; all the same, Alitalia’s despair can be seen from their uptight compliance with Etihad’s management (Clark 1). Leave alone Alitalia itself, everyone else supports Etihad in their want for investment; resultantly, Abu Dhabi and his government, who helped prop up Alitalia have promised to step aside and let things go according to plan –‘they would not want to be imposters of the agreement in any way’ (Kamel 1) In another situation, a partner at Clyde and Co was also of the idea that the investment would be a breakthrough for Alitalia giving an illustration of the company being given ‘a shot’ after struggling for a significant period of time; sincerely, Etihad’s best and proven practices plus the three hundred million Euros will create a platform for the airline’s development and its future.
Generally, buying a stake in Alitalia will enable Etihad’s management tap a major Economy in western European that has been drawing major airlines like Emirates and low cost carrier EZI and at the same time they will seek to capitalize on the local airline’s afflictions.
Works Cited
Clark, Nicola. Airline Sets Deadline on Talks with Alitalia: International Business/ The New York Times. 2014. Web, February 3, 2014 < HYPERLINK “http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/business/international/etihad-sets-deadline-on-investment-talks-with-alitalia.html?ref=international&_r=0” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/business/international/etihad-sets-deadline-on-investment-talks-with-alitalia.html?ref=international&_r=0 >
Kamel, Deena. Etihad Sets Deadline to Decide on Alitalia Investment: Bloomberg News. 2014. Web, February 3, 2014 < HYPERLINK “http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-02/etihad-sets-30-day-deadline-to-decide-on-investment-in-alitalia.html” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-02/etihad-sets-30-day-deadline-to-decide-on-investment-in-alitalia.html >
Airline Service Quality
Airline Service Quality
The Airline Industry, just like any other service provider, has had to confront issues associated with service quality. Service quality involves understanding customers’ expectations in comparison to company’s performance. Quality of the service determines customer’s satisfaction which is essential in a competitive market. Customer’s satisfaction highly depends on the dimensions of service quality referred as SERVQUALwhich includes various considerations like reliability, tangibles, assurance, empathy, and responsiveness. SERVQUAL guarantees not only customers’ satisfaction but also loyalty, retention, and company’s performance superiority (Parasuraman, 1988). This shows that quality in a service industry is vital in its marketing strategy.
In the airline industry, service quality has become a key consideration in marketing strategy since the beginning of airline deregulation. Competition in the airline industry has led to improvements in the services offered in this industry. To meet the standards required, and to be ever improving, companies have to deal with issues associated with service quality (Keith, 1961). These issues involve customers’ satisfaction, expectations, service performance, and changes in services.
A competitive airline company has to first and foremost address complaints emanating from unsatisfied customers. This helps in knowing what they lack in order to determine what needs to be improved in the company. For instance, time in air travel is one of the major factors that contribute to airline satisfaction. Customers gauge an airline company using its on-time performance. Delaying of taking off or landing times are things that should be avoided if an airline company has to survive in the industry. Identifying dissatisfied customers involves research which helps in understanding the areas that need improvements. Every company faces a hard task in implementation of changes geared towards improvements since its different customers have different opinions about the services offered. In trying to satisfy all customers a company has to increase its expenditures in offering of first, economy or tourist classes in order to accommodate all types of clients. This fact has seen many airline companies that emerged after deregulation in the United States exiting the market for failing to meet the customers’ needs (Dawna & Dawna, 1998).
Discovering customers’ requirements and expectations is also an important aspect in researching for improvements in service quality in the airline industry. The comfort of aircrafts seats is a requirement that customers use in selecting an airline company to travel in. An airline company has to discover what customers require in their seats such as adjustments, texture, and proximity to the window among others. Providing all seats adjacent to the windows is uneconomical since it will mean reducing the number of seats. Each row usually has two or at at least three seats and removing the seats not adjacent to the windows however reduces the number of passengers boarding the aircraft which in turn reduces the income earned by the airline company. This issue can be tackled by offering different classes that suit customers’ needs in regard to what they can pay (Caves, 1962).
An airline company has to forecast future expectations. This involves its expectation about the market together with customers’ future expectations of the firm. Forecasting helps in improving the quality of services and understanding what changes are to be made. Most customers expect prices to fall in the future. In dealing with the issue of prices, an airline company has to come up with better marketing strategies that will ensure that they meet the expectations of their customers. Such strategies include Frequent Flier Program (FPP). FPP is a program that offers low fares to frequent customers. FPP mostly works for small or emerging airline companies competing with large and already established airline companies.
Change in service is also an issue associated with service quality. Change in routes is an example of changes of service in an airline industry. An airline industry may decide to change its route due to many reasons such as weather, war, cost, or increase in customers in a certain route. This change may be advantageous to others and disadvantageous to some. Changes need to be gauged for in terms of their effectiveness. A change in service has to fulfill the company requirement and at the same time guaranteeing customers’ satisfaction. Gauging effectiveness of any changes implemented is based on certainties which call for expert assessment (Merlin & Fareena, 2001). In addition to making changes a company has to keep track of the repercussions of their changes. Monitoring of the changes is essential in determining their effectiveness.
In service quality, a company performance has to be assessed in comparison with its competitors. Since the airline deregulation, companies have always sought out to outdo each other. Any company’s performance is vital to its survival in the industry. An airline company performing well increases its customer’s base. The need of expansion entirely depends on the current performance. If an airline company is to expand its business operations, it has to assess its financial position in the targeted market.
In addition, service performance can be assessed by the appraisal and rewards a company offers to its workers. An example of reward an airline company can get is the World Airline Award. Such an award is a measure of performance which shows that the quality of services offered by the company is the best according to worldwide standards. Appraisal of a company’s employees also motivates its staff in their performance.
References
Caves, R. (1962). Air Transport and its Regulators: An Industry Study. Cambridge, MA: HarvardUniversity Press.
Dawna L. R. & Dawna L. R. (1998). Service quality in the US airline industry: progress andproblems. Journal of Managing Service Quality, 8(5), 306-311
Keith J. Mason. (2001). Marketing low-cost airline services to business travelers. Journal of AirTransport Management, 7, 103-109
Merlin C. S. Jr & Fareena Sultan. (2000). International service variants: airline passengerexpectations and perceptions of service quality. journal of services marketing, 14(3), 145148.
Parasuraman, A., Berry, L.L. and Zeithaml, V.A. (1988). SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scalefor measuring customer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing, 64(1), 12-40.
Evaluation of the Outcomes Determined by the Current Public Health Policy for Children Affected by Parental Substances Use in
Evaluation of the Outcomes Determined by the Current Public Health Policy for Children Affected by Parental Substances Use in the UK
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Evaluation of the Outcomes Determined by the Current Public Health Policy for Children Affected by Parental Substances Use in the UK
Introduction
The research proposal entails a brief discussion focused on reviewing and evaluating the different outcomes that have resulted from the urge to help children brought up by parents that use substances hence developing different issues. Significantly, parental substance use has been a major issue over the years especially when it comes to the child welfare system; according to research maltreated children of parents with substance use disorders often remain in this system longer and experience poorer outcomes than other children (NSPCC, 2013, 22). However, addressing and countering the multiple needs and problems faced by these children and their families has always been very challenging.
Basically, it is very apparent that putting up with a substance misusing parent affects the children’s self-esteem and can cause feelings of isolation as they try to make up something out of their world; generally, it robs them of their ‘right’ to a normal childhood. According to statistics, such a child is seven times more likely to also misuse the substances at an older age which will result to a harmful/ poor lifestyle and aspects like health and education will be affected or even worse indulge in crime (Colin, 2013, 15). This has resulted to the dissimilar outcomes that the paper is looking at to determine whether the public health policy has applied the right and effectual measures to counter the same.
Background literatureParents with substance use disorders may not be able to function effectively in a parental role; this can be due to impairments (both physical and mental) caused by alcohol or other drugs, domestic violence, expenditure of often limited household resources on purchasing alcohol or other drugs, frequent arrests, confinement, and court dates time spent seeking out, manufacturing, or using alcohol or other drugs, and estrangement from primary family and related support (Eileen, 2011, 47).Moreover, children parented by substance abusers also have an increased chance of experiencing a variety of negative outcomes; some of the challenges include: they are at a greater risk of developing the behavior themselves, they are also likely to find themselves in foster care (where they are likely to stay for a long time than others) and more significantly they are likely to have poorer physical, intellectual, social and emotional outcomes (Barnard &McKeganey, 2004, 553).
As a result of this, there has been a budding society toward cooperation among the child welfare, substance abuse and other different systems that offer services for children and families affected by the fact that their parents use substances (both drugs and alcohol). Communication, understanding and active collaboration among service systems such as the United Kingdom Public Health Sector are paramount when it comes to ensuring that child welfare-parents that are involved in substance abuse hence require accurate identification after which they will receive essential treatment in a timely manner (Barnard, 2003, 294).
Over the years, there have been cases where various systems have been put in place to try and effectively counter the problems; some of them have made a great impact to a number of families in the UK while others have failed (Werner, 1993, 152). The Public Health Sector together with some health care organizations has funded a number of discretionary grants to promote demonstration projects with a goal of improved outcomes for children growing up in families where one or both the parents/guardians has a problem associated with substance use (Copelo et. al, 2005, 273). The contributions have involved family support services for grandparents and other relatives who provide care to children whose parents are substance abusers, model development and replication to implement programs involved in identifying and looking after substance exposed newborns and, there have also been grants that were meant to augment the well being of these children and also advance the permanency outcomes for them (Dube et. al, 2001, 1634).
Problem Statement
The project came up as result of the multiple problems experienced by children whose parents are substance abusers.
Objectives
The study is aimed at using different factors and systems that have been used in the past to provide a solution that will basically serve this purpose.
General aims of the study include:
Review the multiple risk and protective factors impacting on child outcomes in families with parental substance misuse.
Consider the scope of the predicament and data available on the numbers of children that have to face parents that practice substance abuse
Scrutinize the situation of children and families in national, state and territory policy.
Analyze the treatment literature to figure out whether there is enough information for services to increase an “evidence-informed” approach to treatment.
After attaining all these factors, the study also aims at coming up with a system that will:
Delivering parent training in the home resulted in better outcomes compared to those interventions that were only clinic-based;
Interventions that focused on teaching specific child management techniques were most effective in changing childrearing practices, but less effective in changing other aspects of parental functioning; and
Individualizing the interventions to the specific needs of families enhanced outcomes.
Research Question
How will the proposed approach counter these problems?
Will it give a better chance for the children being affected by poor parenthood?
Will the chances of these children becoming drug substance abusers reduce?
Project Justification
The projects aim is mainly to help the different children be able to counter the different problems that they experience due to their parents abusing the drugs; moreover, no child deserves to go through such since all child are entitled to the good parenting.
Project Scope
The scope of the project elaborates the limitations of the project proposal in order to develop an utter approach for the children and all the stakeholders enabling them to establish the different problems and handle them appropriately and affecting the children positively.
Aim of the study
Currently, more than two hundred and fifty thousand children have parents with drug problems in the United Kingdom and an estimate of around six in twenty children live in a home with at least one overindulged drinking parent; all these children are a high-level risk of abuse or abandon which in most cases leads to chaotic lives (Joseph, 2007, 8). These children require a program that campaigns or facilitates confidential space to express their feelings, reduce isolation and build self esteem overlooking all the past situations; moreover, the parents also require help when it comes to understanding the comprehensive impact of their substance abuse and mostly on their children (DeBellis et. al, 2001, 940).
Research methods
Some of the research methods to be used include:
Retrospective studies which will literature reviews, case studies and other studies using medical records and misconduct databases as the data sources; moreover, this will also include studies of significant event audit in the retrospective category since although the assessments themselves were reported in real time, the research involving their databases was finished retrospectively.
Prospective/ single method studies using information and data analysed either qualitatively or quantitatively – this will include reporting systems studies in this category since although reported incidents may have happened in the past (retrospectively), reports used in this case will be made especially for the research, or in real time.
Participants, including how and where you will recruit them
The core participants to be involved are the practitioners who play the key role of offering these services; however, they are those that are involved in offering the treatment to substance abusers but have not acquired training when it comes to mentoring since they are involved with the treatment alone. In such as situation, the first recruit involves those with experience since training may not be offered at the start of everything.
The practitioners will be acquired through the public health sector and other health care organizations; however, the process will take sometime since it will require a lot of convincing and making them understand and trust the whole system after which the approaches will be adapted into their systems.Data collection methods
The research will apply two methods of data collection in the process of conducting this study, and methods will use both primary and secondary sources data. We shall use questionnaires as instruments of data collection, which will be issued to people who are close to these children (not parents) and also children that can be able to fill them. There will be an internet search using the commonly known search engines like Google, with initial search focusing mainly on application of social media marketing by organizations.
Data Analysis Methods
This study will have qualitative data, and a different analysis of this data; where the qualitative be analyzed using the latest version of SPSS. Tables, diagrams, and gridswill be applied in the analysis of qualitative data.Contribution to knowledge
The general factors that these children face as a result of their parents abusing drugs include; high levels of family disharmony, domestic violence, Physical, sexual or emotional abuse, inconsistent, ambivalent or neglectful parenting, he absence of a stable adult figure (such as a non-using parent, another family member or a teacher), parental loss following separation or divorce, material deprivation and neglect, and the family not taking the important step of seeking help (Hanson et. al 2006, 5).Additionally, the common substance-specific factors known include; both parents excessively using the substance, substance misuse taking place in the home, greater severity of the problem, exposure to and awareness of criminal activity like drug dealing, presence of the child when drugs are taken, and witnessing someone inject drugs and lying around the home after they have used the substance (Young et. al, 2007, 142).
The parents also try to apply protective factors that, through one way or the other affect the children; these mostly comprise: the presence of a stable adult figure, (who does not use the substance at all or uses it least), close positive bond with at least one adult in a caring role (e.g. parents, older siblings, grandparents), little separation from the primary career in the first year of life, parents’ positive care style and characteristics, being raised in a small family, larger age gaps between siblings, engagement in a range of activities, individual temperament, positive opportunities at times of life transition, and continuing family cohesion and harmony in the face of the misuse and its related effects (e.g. domestic violence, serious mental health problems) (Smith et. al, 2007, 153).Concurrently, these protective factors encourage resilience which is evident due to a number of factors; deliberate planning by the child that their adult life will be different, high self-esteem and confidence, self-efficacy, an ability to deal with change, skills and values that lead to good use of personal ability, a good range of problem-solving skills, feeling that there are choices, feeling in control of own life and previous experience of success and achievement (Little et. al, 2004, 110).
With the knowledge of these different factors and knowing where they result from one can easily establish and come up with a solution and approaches to the different problems considering the unrelated outcomes.
The first step would be establishing an approach that will cover prevention and treatment whose core components will circle around giving a lot of attention on early identification of at-risk families in substance abuse treatment programs (‘prevention is better than cure’) where prevention services are provided to ensure that children are safe and doing well in the home. Parents are also coached and mentored as the go through their treatment, recovery and also parenting; all together, shared family care is offered where the affected child (maltreated) is placed with a host family for support and mentoring too.
There is also provision of inpatient treatment for mothers in the facilities where they can have their children with them and also get first priority access to substance abuse treatment slots.
Some changes should also be included as part of the solution so as to make the collective approach more effectual and successful. These changes include: stationing addiction counsellors in child welfare office all over UK or rather ongoing teams of child welfare and substance abuse workers can be formed; moreover, cross-system partnerships can be developed to ensure that the services being offered are coordinated and well-administered. The public health policy can also involve providing wraparound services that streamline the recovery and reunification; and at the already existing drug courts can be modified to ensure treatment access and therapeutic monitoring of compliance with the given court orders.
Other changes involve conducting cross system training to the personnel offering the services which can be made successful by recruiting (new) and training a diverse workforce which is included in cultural competence. The countries public health sector can also consider exploring various funding stream to support the efforts being put into the matter by maybe using a significant amount state or local funds to get the most out of child welfare funding for substance abuse related services or even making alliances with other organizations that are directly or indirectly related to the matter.
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