Research Paper on:
Post 911 Delta Airlines' Strategy

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
corporate strategy. The way in which a competitive advantage is gained and then maintained should be the focus. If we consider the well known airline company Delta, the past struggles  appear to have been from a lack of developing any competitive advantage. Deltas history is mixed, the performance of the company in recent years has improved under the leadership  of the current Chief Executive Leo Mullin who is turning the company around (Hammonds, 2000). In the three years he has been in charge there were improvements in profits and  operations, however, on key factor remained. The company was noted by many commentators that the company still had a very high vulnerability to competition especially from the low cost carriers  (Hammonds, 2000). This was the result of a lack of competitive strength due to weak market perception and no real competitive advantage. If we look at the strategies that Delta  is starting to follow and should continue to follow it appears that this is the target; to increase competitive strength in terms of market position and customer perception through the  building of a competitive advantage. Porter argued that competitive advantage might come in two forms; that of cost advantage of by way of differentiation (Mintzberg et al, 1998). Cost  advantage is where a company has lower costs than its rivals in producing the goods or services (Mintzberg et al, 1998). This means the company has a higher profit margin.  It does not mean it is offering goods to the market at a lower rate. This is an advantage that can only be open to a single competitor in any  market, only one company may have this position. The cost advantage may be in place as a result of economies of scale or achieve by way of better increased operating