Write a business report based on the following:
Two airlines have decided to merge their business.
Wombat Airlines is a full service airline flying to 23 international destinations and 40 domestic locations. It prides itself for on-time flights, excellent service and a fleet of new Skycraft aircraft (less than 6 years old) – each capable of carrying 300 passengers. 70% of its sales come through tour operators and travel agents.
Koala Airlines is a low-cost carrier flying to 20 international destinations and 35 domestic cities. Its strengths include low priced flights and on time service. It takes advantage of late hour departures and arrivals (between 12 midnight and 6am). Its online booking system is excellent. Its fleet consist of a fleet of Skycraft aircraft each capable of carrying 300 passengers.
Senior management has finalised on the following decisions:
1. The combined company Wombat-Koala Airlines will retain all existing all staff, aircraft type, flight schedules and destinations. It has been determined that current scheduling does not conflict. Wombat’s aging system is to be merged into the Koala advanced system.
2. Wombat-Koala will begin service as a premium based low-cost carrier (low cost fare but passenger can pay for everything else: seating, baggage, drinks, meals, inflight entertainment, WiFi in the air and even carry-on luggage to first-to-board previlege). It will move to low-cost carrier terminals where available.
3. Travel bookings is available primarily online with a service charge of 15% if booked through an agent, third party website operator (eg. popular airline ticket site) or tour operator. It will become a very hi-tech connected company with 24 hour, 7 day telephone and web support but no face-to-face customer support.
Write a business report outlining the above case, stating assumptions you make at the beginning of your report. Provide critique into the management decisions substantiating with reference to literature. In your report, make the difference between Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) issues and how it will affect customer choice, continued patronage, brand loyalty, etc. Suggest how to attract new customers (from competitors) and any other new business opportunities that may arise with such a set up (eg. Premium Lounge services, Limo Pickup from Home/Office, etc.). All these should be substantiated with references to IS and IT literature.
Rationale
This task meets Learning Outcomes 5” Information Systems Within the Organizationincluding
1. Transaction Processing Systems
2. Functional Area Information Systems
3. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems
4. ERP Support for Business Processes
5. Reports
Outcomes 6 :Customer Relationship Management (CRM) including
– Lifetime value
– Customer churn
– CRM Strategy versus CRM Systems
Low-end CRM Systems versus High-end CRM Systems
Students will:
be able to critique management processes and involvement in planning for Information Systems and Information Technology in an organization
be able to identify and co-relate emerging technology issues in management and provide a short balanced analysis report.
Presentation
Business report format
Readers of business reports expect certain information to be in certain places. They do not expect to search for what they want and the harder you make it for them the more likely they are to toss your report to one side and ignore it. So what should you do?
1. Follow the generally accepted format for a business report: Title/Table of Contents, Executive Summary, Introduction, Main Body, Conclusions, Recommendations and Reference List.
2. Organize your information within each section in a logical fashion with the reader in mind, usually putting things in order of priority – most important first.
Report Title/Table of Contents. This is simply the front cover page identifying the report and a Table of Contents page showing each key section of the report and the page number where it can be found in the report.
Executive Summary. Give a clear and very concise account of the main points, main conclusions and main recommendations. Keep it very short, a few percent of the total length. Some people, especially senior managers, may not read anything else so write as if it were a stand-alone document. It isn’t but for some people it might as well be. Keep it brief and free from jargon so that anyone can understand it and get the main points. Write it last, but do not copy and paste from the report itself; that rarely works well.
Introduction. This is the first part of the report proper. Use it to paint the background to ‘the problem’ and to show the reader why the report is important to them. Then explain how the details that follow are arranged. Write it in plain English.
Main Body. This is the heart of your report, the facts. It will probably have several sections or sub-sections each with its own subtitle. It is unique to your report and will describe what you discovered about ‘the problem’.
These sections are most likely to be read by experts so you can use some appropriate jargon but explain it as you introduce it. Arrange the information logically, normally putting things in order of priority — most important first. In fact, follow that advice in every section of your report.
Conclusion. Present the logical conclusions of your investigation of ‘the problem’. Bring it all together and maybe offer options for the way forward. Many people will read this section. Write it in plain English.
Recommendations. What do you suggest should be done? Don’t be shy; you did the work so state your recommendations in order of priority, and in plain English.
References. As your business report must be academically sound as well as making good business sense, it is essential that your report is supported by accurate in-text referencing and the inclusion of a reference list. Although some business reports in the workplace do not require full referencing (and some students may be used to this), it is a requirement in the academic environment. This is equitable for all students.