Category: Performance

Regulations during the Progressive Era played a key role in helping the general economic performance. The Progressive Movement is associated with the way assessments concerning challenges facing the people were resolved. Government involvement was necessary for the reforms. During the Progressive era (about 1880 to 1930s), the ideology of justice begun taking hold. Members of the Progressive Movement supported the government’s regulations, policies and programs intended to address the problems of the time. An increasing government interference and interventions regulating business between the late 1800s to the late 1930s was seen to help the overall situation of the economy and that of the common workers.

There were legal systems that existed to protect the rights of property and business over labor. In 1893, there was a change of legislation that gave mandate that women and teenagers were only supposed to work for eight hours a day. Also abolished was child labor in factories and the businesses were against such regulation terming it as going against their businesses. The court did not, however, grant men the freedom of the eight-hour workday. The state tried to protect the women because it felt that their productive capabilities were of concern to it. The result was that male and female workers were not equal in the eyes of the law and women had limited opportunities in the economy. Women were socially inferior when compared to men in law and apart from that, however, the government had helped their wellbeing by reducing their extreme working hours and ensuring that they were not physically injured at work. Women started to get organized and worked together to identify and seek solutions to problems which were caused by urbanization (Whitaker, 2, p. 504-506). The General Federation of Women’s Clubs of 1890 controlled what the women did in the entire country. Progressives pressurized for the enactment of new regulations by the municipal governments. They lobbied that such legislations be addressing the deplorable conditions in the urban areas of poverty, inequality and disease pandemics. It was in 1899 that the first juvenile court was established through the efforts of women in Chicago. From such women efforts and activism, public health was improved, clean water supply ensures and even clean food supplies such as pure milk.

In the year 1899, the National Consumers League advocated for democracy in the national level. It worked to ensure that companies offered better working by conducting investigations and it encouraged its members to force companies to using new production standards. This would be done by the use of their purchasing power and those companies which did not comply with the practice of better standards in employment did not get their products purchased. The efforts of the National Consumers’ League later bore the New Deal legislation. The legislation was against child labor, set the minimum wage level and the maximum working hours (Schultz, 1, p. 378). There were regulations such as the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and the 1890’s Sherman Antitrust Act which started considering the challenges of the unregulated capitalism associated with laissez-faire and monopoly which restricted trade. This war on monopoly continued until 1909 when President Theodore Roosevelt decided to use the powers of the congress to fight against monopolies in corporates that restrained trade. The Congress was given the power to ensure regulation and control of the predatory practices in business by The Elkins Act. There were also other government Acts that regulated the quality of food sold from industries such as the Meat Inspection and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. The Great Depression (1929) was harsh and Franklin Roosevelt initiated the New Deal regulation in 1932 to use the federal government’s power to bring to halt the economy’s downfall. Under Roosevelt, the Agricultural Adjustment Act together with other 15 important laws were passed and helped reshape America’s Economy (Leonard, 3, p. 215).

Although, the regulations of the progressive era were aimed at the better good of the economy and workers, it had its downfalls. There was increased cases of discrimination and segregation against African Americans. Less efforts put on improving lives of the African Americans and even cases of laws that supported segregation being upheld in the Supreme Court.

In the recent times of financial calamities, regulations regarding the revival of education, investment in the public sector and protection of the environment among other social and public services are crucial. Laws which discourage impunity and give the people the power shows great progressiveness in democracy.

I have engaged with concepts, principles, and strategies about tactical awareness and its use within the sport of netball. Throughout this task, my motor learning goal is for the ability to change from one stable state of movement to another when performing the specialized movement sequences of a wing attack. In order to achieve this goal I am required to self-organise. In response to the many adjustments that I am consistently making to a range of tasks, learner, and environmental constraints will either limit or enable my movements. It is suggested by sports scientists that with a favorable environment and a suitable task to perform an individual will spontaneously produce effective and efficient movement sequences. Therefore, tactical awareness gives me the ability to make the right decision and execute the appropriate skills at the best possible time. Resulting in opportunities for increased chances of success when performing the specialized movement sequence (Reference).

In this folio, I will devise a tactical strategy to optimize my performance based on the interaction of the constraints and principles of decision-making. The evaluation of the effectiveness of the tactical strategy will focus on the outcomes, implications, and limitations of the constraints on the proficiency of my movements. To analyze my personal performance, I gathered data using video footage of the specialized movement sequences and movement strategies for the position of wing attack in a range of authentic netball environments. A games performance assessment instrument (GPAI) was also used. I will also be evaluating the effectiveness of my personal performance when setting up for an attack.

Non-linear learning:

My position of wing attack is the key play-maker in netball. It was my job to create as many goal-scoring chances as possible by passing the ball to the shooters (Reference). As a result of being the key playmaker, I faced several tasks, learner, and environmental constraints that played a significant role in both limiting and enabling my performance. The dynamic systems theory suggests that my behaviors and/or actions emerge through and are influenced by the interaction of these constraints (Reference).

The actions of my opposition presented one environmental constraint that required me to perceive relevant information when they intercepted the ball or passed it to their other players. I was required to respond to their movements and/or the movement of the ball and react to implement the appropriate movements. For example, on occasions the gold defender would catch the rebounds, therefore, their next teammate to pass to the wing defender which was my opposition. I was required to modify movements and transition from an attacking player to a defending player, allowing for the opportunity of an intercept.

Perception action coupling is a theory that suggests “we must perceive in order to move, but we must also move in order to perceive (Reference). This theory along with the influence of this dynamic environment can be seen in the video evidence where my performance of attacking is limited or enabled by a range of different task, learner, and/or environmental constraints.

In comparison, learning to set in a nonauthentic netball environment such as the basic hands-over defense drill seen here does not facilitate this nonlinear approach to learning. Since the wing attack’s primary responsible is to get the ball to the shooter unless a rebound is caught by the opposing team, my responsibility is then changed to a defender. Therefore, learning needs to occur through a dynamic systems approach in order to learn in a constantly changing environment that represents the competition and the perception of the actions of my teammates passing the ball and the movements of the opposing team.

The role of tactical strategy:

• My tactical strategy will focus on the role of. The roll-off can be broken down into the following steps.
• Stand with the back against the defender, the far side of the passer, and identify the defender’s blind side.
• Continue to orbit around the defender and head towards their blind side to receive the pass.
• The interaction of a range of tasks, learners, and environmental constraints will limit or enable my movements and decision-making.

Task constraints are the goals, rules, equipment, play areas, and players (Reference). As the wing attack, the task constraint of needing to perform a successful pass to the shooter is the most significant task constraint that influences my movements. The goal of the wing attack in a team is to use the third pass to accurately and firmly pass the ball to either the goal attack or goal shooter who can then perform and shot and defend my player when our team is defending against an attack.

Learner constraints are your personal characteristics that can limit or enable your movements and decision-making. These constraints may include the physiological characteristics of the learner such as their height and speed as well as their ability to perceive the environment and process information for effective decision making to occur. The learner constraint that limited my performance and enables the development of my tactical strategy was my height in relation to the opposing players. As I was shorter than the opposing player I struggled to receive the center pass when I was on the outside of my player, therefore, I was unable to get the ball to my shooter. Through the dynamic systems approach to learning, I developed the tactic of the roll-off. This allowed me to roll around my player easily successfully receiving the centre pass.

Environmental constraints in netball are factors that influence my performance and my decision-making process. One of these factors includes the court size. In netball, there are different-sized courts. Indoor courts which I am used to playing on are much smaller giving you limited space to move around, however, these courts were much larger giving you the opportunity to make more movements. Therefore, this environmental constraint of the court size enabled the development of my strategy as I was given more space to roll around my player.

The interaction of the task, learner, and environmental constraints allowed me to make decisions about my movement patterns when performing a roll-off when placed against a taller opposing player. The tactical strategy of performing a roll-off emerged from the interactions each of these constraints had. The development of this personal tactical strategy is evidence of self-organization in response to these tasks, learner, and environmental constraints through a dynamic systems approach to learning.

Evaluating and justifying the personal tactical strategy – roll off:

My personal tactical strategy of performing the roll-off when placed against a taller opposition has been effective in optimizing my performance of the movement strategy of setting up for an attack. When performing the roll the results of this tactical strategy were varied. On most occasions, the roll-off was effective in allowing me to successfully receive the center pass allowing me the wing attack and the center to travel the ball down to the shooters. This roll-off made it difficult for my opposing player to perform a defending play.

Limitations that occurred during this tactical strategy were that in order to perform a successful role, there were several learner constraints that had to be overcome. Executing a successful role off requires me to be in the right position beside my player early enough to perform the relevant movements required. When I performed a roll-off at any other time my decision-making and ability to perceive the actions of my teammates needed to occur more quickly. Another learner constraint that limited this tactical strategy was my ability to organize my movements in response to the perceived action of the opposing defenders. If a defender put themselves in a position where I was unable to roll off in that particular direction, my movements needed to self-organize in time to respond to this perceived action, which was not always possible.

The most surprising implication of the tactical strategy of performing a jump set can be best described through perception-action coupling. A roll-off is a very effective way to trick your opposing player into making them think that you are going in a certain direction, however, you go in the opposite direction. Occasionally, I was able to hang back and let the goal attack receive the center pass, therefore, I was able to disguise my roll-off as a drive to the goal attack on the other side of the court. This meant that my player was behind me and I was able to catch and pass the ball without a defender. This modification of my action was in direct response to the perceived actions of the goal attack and the environmental constraints presented. This implication further allowed for the optimization of the movement strategy of setting up an attacking play.

These outcomes and implications of performing a roll-off justify the use of this tactical strategy to optimize the movement strategy of setting up for an attacking play. I would maintain using this tactical strategy when playing in an attacking position during netball as it helps me overcome the learner constraints identified earlier in relation to my height in comparison to other players as discussed previously. This strategy also allows me to disguise a drive toward the top of the circle where the goal attack would pass to me. This provides additional attacking plays for my team. The role is also a useful tactical strategy to maintain as it limits the opposition’s ability to defend.

Evaluation of my personal performance – setting up for an attack:

To evaluate my personal performance when setting up for an attack, I have selected two body and movement concepts. “These provide a framework for enhancing movement performance.” (Reference). The quality of movement and relations will be evaluated as to how they relate to the specialized movement sequences and strategies.

Quality of movement is the combination of mobility and stability/motor control (Reference). My roll-off is particularly effective in achieving the desired outcome when setting up for an attack. The following video evidence shows me transitioning with speed from the center pass to the top of the circle with accuracy and flow of movement. Occasionally I will hang back on the center pass. This allows me to trick my player into thinking that I am taking the center pass, therefore, I then can run in front of the goal attack and receive the pass without any opposing players. As you can see, I am able to regularly catch the center pass and accurately pass to the next player, in a position that allows the team to effectively pass to the shooters. I also perform a number of other specialized movements, sequences relevant to the position of goal attack with accuracy and fluency of movement. The video demonstrates my ability to perform an attacking play in this position.

When applying the body and movement concept of relationships to my performance as a wing attack in netball, you can see that I am able to quickly determine the location of the center or goal attack as I transition into a position where I am then able to pass to the shooter to take the shot. While performing an attacking play, I effectively use spatial awareness which is the ability to be aware of oneself in a space (Reference) to determine the location of the goal attack or center in relation to my position on the court and the distance I am from the top of the circle. This relationship is important to my successful performance, as I am required to quickly make a decision about optimal attacking strategy and which player to pass to based on the chance of the ball being intercepted. I also have to make decisions in relation to my teammates in terms of the type of pass that I am required to perform. For example, if the player is taller than his/her opponent I would perform a lob pass. The video here shows me performing a number of different attacking plays.

To further improve my performance and my ability to set up for an attack as a wing attack, I need to further consider the position of the opposing players to determine if they are taller or faster. Currently, I am also able to consider the position of my teammates.

Evaluation of my personal performance – defending against attack:

When defending against attack, you can see that I am able to perform a defending play, this includes ensuring I am three feet away from the player and my hands are over the ball. This allows me to successfully defend against an opposing opponent possibly getting an intercept. As a mid-court player, it is vitally important that I am able to perform this specialized movement sequence, as having a mid-court player who does not defend, creates a significant defensive gap on the team. The video here shows me demonstrating a number of defending players with accuracy, fluency, and speed. When defending against attack, I am easily able to modify my performance in response to the movements of the opposing players. I do this by perceiving the body position of the player to determine where they are planning to throw the ball. Therefore, this influences my actions as I react in response to the direction of the ball.

Conclusion:

Overall, it was evident that I was struggling to receive the center pass as my opponents were much taller than I was. Therefore, I put in place the tactical strategy of the role, which allowed me to receive more passes. Mine attacking play therefore improved greatly.

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the operating and commercial performance of Ryanair Airlines. This paper begins by briefly looking at the operational characteristics of the company, will follow with the marketing and competitive situation followed by the financial performance and It will conclude with the environmental policy of the airlines.

Ryanair, founded in 1984, has their headquarters in Dublin, in Ireland, and its first operational base is London Stansted. part of Ryanair Holdings is Ryanair Uk, Ryanair Sun and Ryanair Lauda. The company was inaugurated in 1984 when the first flight departed from Waterford and landed in its final destination, London Gatwick.

Ryanair runs with more than 400 Boeing 737-800 aircraft and one 737-700 used as a charter airplane. It’s fast expansion, and the low-cost business model has characterized the company which now serves more than 35 countries between Europe, Africa and the middle east with 84 bases connecting over 200 destinations.

Ryanair usually chooses to fly to and from secondary airports or little ones, typically situated outside the central city, this helps the airlines to reduce costs benefiting of lower landing tariff and quick turnaround. For example, it flies from Weeze, which is 70 km away from the central city of Dusseldorf. Despite this, sometimes the secondary airports are not that far from the central city or in some cases even closer for example Roma Ciampino (anna.aero, 2019).

Ryanair operated in a point-to-point model as a substitute of the traditional hub and spoke model, that is when the Flyers have to swap aeroplane in transit at the main airport (anna.aero, 2019).

According to the Ryanair web site in 2017, it was the first European airline to have transported over 1 billion customers (Corporate.ryanair.com, n.d.).

Operational characteristics

Routes:

Ryanair has more than 50 bases in Europe, It has a significant presence in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. At the moment the biggest market is Italy with 14 bases and 9 non-base airports. During the year 2018, 3,765 new programmed services have been launched from airline; it represents a 6.8% increase over the preceding year.

Ryanair was the first airline for new air services, and the US was the principal country for new networks.

As seen above Ryanair connects over 200 destinations around the world (anna.aero, 2019).

Figure 1(Ryanair Europe coverage, 2019)

Ryanair has maintained the denomination that it obtained in 2017 for the number of new routes launched, and it added to its map 218 airports. A number which many other airlines are nowhere near. Marrakech and Frankfurt has been added the newest routes with 16 and 14 services correspondingly. Despite the fact that Ryanair is the top airline ranking for the major new routes, it has launched 60 routes less in 2018 than the years before. In 2017 it launched more than double as connections as the second-placed Eurowing (anna.aero, 2019). According to BBC, Rynair is dropping the flies to Poland and to Malta. It is also reducing the flights operating to London Stansted and Manchestairs airport. This is happening because of the weak request from the uk market and the tax UK Air Passenger Duty (APD) (BBC News, 2019).

Passenger traffic :

[image: /var/folders/dd/rd2hvs9n17j567y_cxtdswnw0000gn/T/com.microsoft.Word/WebArchiveCopyPasteTempFiles/Ryanair-passenger-growth.jpg]

Ryanair Holdings Plc published in 2018 another year of slowdown passenger growth as a result of a battle with unions, not good weather and air traffic control and pilots’ strikes.

The growth was of 8% compared to 2017, smaller than the previous year which was 17% compared to 2016 (Perez, 2019).

Comparing Ryanair to the other airline companies, Wizz had a 20% growth in passengers in 2018. Ryanair had a load factor in the first half of 2017 of 94.7% and 96% for the other part of the year. Compared with the competitors, EasyJet had one of the lowest load factors with 92.1% (Jarvis, 2018).Figure 2 (Ryanair passengers’ number, 2019)

Financial performance

Profitability:

According to the article written in the Financial Times in 2019, Ryanair has been faced a profit warning, due to the fall of the airfares more than expected. The company announced at the beginning of the year that the final report would be down of over a billion due to a predicted drop of 7% in ticket prices. Over the previous 16 months, the airline had devastating service disruptions due to the staff that strike in 2017 to the summer of 2018 and causing the cancellation of many flights (Spero, 2019). The cabin crews are requesting a “fair living wage” and a contract based on their language and law rather than Irish (BBC News, 2018). According to BBC of the end of 2018, the higher oil prices, the low fares and strikes hit the profits and the enthusiasm of investors (BBC News, 2018).

At the beginning of the year, Ryanair was down by 40% compared to the previous year, while competitors such easy jet has dropped off a quarter and Hungary’s low-cost airline decreased of 14%. According to Daniel Roeska, an analyst at Bernstein the strategy of the company at the moment is to focus on ancillary services for example, reserved seats that in other words they prefer to have more passengers even at lower fares (Spero, 2019).

Looking at the table 1, 2 and 3 of the FY Ryanair annual report we can see that in the last five years the profit has increased.

From the year 2014 to 2015 it increased of 25% and 43% the followed year, the increase of the following two years has not been dramatic as the past as the profit increased of 6% on 2017 and 10% on 2018 due to the reason seen above.

The introduction and prospect of Brexit is considered a considerable threat to the company because there is a risk that on the event of hard Brexit the company’s UK shareholders may be considered as non-EU. That means that they may reduce the English shareholders to ensure that Ryanair will remain owned by the majority of EU shareholders (BBC News, 2018).

Costs and Revenues:

One of Ryanair’s strengths is to have a very low cost. On FY18 the unit prices fell of 1%.

For the FY19 Ryanair is investing in people, systems and business, it will deliver a new Boeing aircraft B737-MAX-200, the airplane will be 16% extra fuel-efficient also it will have 4% more seats and 40% less noise emissions. It will reduce the unit cost massively over the next 6 years. The staff cost is expected to rise by 200 m. Which means higher pay for the employee. Ryanair is expecting the unit cost to grow in the next year by 9% (Ryanair Investor Relations, 2018).

The staff cost grew by 34% due to the increase of the pilot salary and flight hours (BBC News, 2018). In 2018 has started the negotiation with the pilot’s unions and cabin crew regards them requests due to an incredibly dramatic and well-documented strike by the media. The higher pay rate, improved rotas and job security, are the improvements that the airline is making to make sure that it will be an employer choice. The company is hiring many pilots and cabin crew including lots coming from bankrupt airlines like Air Berlin (Ryanair Investor Relations, 2018).

[image: ]As already seen, Ryanair’s strong point is the capacity of maintaining the cost very low. Any other EU airlines can equal or even arrive close to Ryanair unit cost. According to the report, the fuel is better circumvented than most European competitors (Ryanair’s Corporate, 2018).

To support this statement, figure 3 shows how significant is the difference between the other airlines, the main difference is the Airport, the choice of the company to fly on the second airports (Ryanair’s Corporate, 2018).Figure 3 ( Europe’s Lowest Costs, 2019)

Revenue is the amount of money a certain company gets from its clients in conversion to sales.

It is the top item on an income report where the costs and expenses are deducted to get the net income (Macrotrends, 2018). Ryanair in the last 5 years have had a steady growth on revenue as shown by the table 1, 2 and 3.

The growth has been not dramatic but steady around 10% every year apart from 2017 were it grown just 2% from the year before.

Table 1 (FY 2018 results, 2018)

Table 2 (FY 2015 and 2016, 2016)

Table 3 (FY 2015/ 2014, 2015)

Compare with competitors

American airlines are the world most lucrative airline according to table number 4, followed by Delta airline. Part of the profitability comes from the fact that airlines have added seats on their aircraft in recent years. Also, the low oil price has been a significant contributor.

[image: Top 10 economic profit generators, by absolute dollars (2012-2016)]To have a clear comparison with Ryanair, there is an essential factor to consider, the dimension of the airplane (Consultancy.uk, 2017).

American Airlines is the largest carrier in the world with 1,556 aircraft, Delta 1330 aircraft,

United Airlines 1229 aircraft, International Airlines Group 464 aircraft and Ryanair 349 aircraft (Consultancy.uk, 2017) .

To conclude Ryanair is the second European most lucrative airline and the six- world wise

Table 4 (Top 10 economic profit generator, 2018)

Competitors

Main competitors:

Ryanair has numerous low-cost competitors. Around 60 new low-cost airlines have been formed in 2004.

The main competitors for Ryanair are Easy jet and Wizz Air because they are the one that tend to keep a low prices and extended routes.

Comparing the three companies on the main points, the results are that All of them have an extensive network, and each has some unique routes; however, Wizz Air is offering flight to the US and Asia. All of them have a random seat assignment system for the customers who don’t buy packages or don’t pay for the additional upgrade. Regarding reliability, Ryanair had had a period with many strikes, much more than its competitors (Nukina, 2018).

Ryanair has a strong sense of competition, and it treats all companies that are trying to compete in a very competitive way. It has been blamed for dropping prices significantly just to cut their competitors. An example of competitivity happened in 2003 when MyTravelLite starts to compete on the Birmingham/Dublin route then Ryanair creates very competing flights on certain MyTravelLite routes until they pulled out (anna.aero, 2016).

EasyJet is Ryanair’s principal competitor. In 2004 it started new routes in Irland. Before that moment EasyJet was never directly competing with Ryanair on its territory.

When in 2012, WizzAir moved its flight operations to new low-cost Warsaw Modlin Airport, Ryanair started numerous routes identical to Wizz Air (anna.aero, 2016).

Alliance:

Alliance is an arrangement among different airlines with the aim of pool resources. The main benefit is the reward system. The main alliance are Star Alliance, One Worls and Sky team (Boon, 2018).

Ryanair is not part of an alliance for the reason that it doesn’t fit the company’s business model, it took the decision of not have any interaction with other airlines.

Marketing strategy:

The main reason why the growth of Ryanair is the small price it offers. It practices a different strategy to arrive at the lowest cost level it practice outsourcing (Leeham News and Analysis, 2019). For example, the pilots are not employed by Ryanair, but they are all contract pilots, another strategy is the decision to fly from secondary airports; this is the main difference from EasyJet, it main competitor witch fly from the main ones. The figures show an average of Ryanair’s tariffs compared to other low-cost airlines. This significant gap gives a real understanding of the effective marketing strategy they act (Leeham News and Analysis, 2019).

The Chief Executive Officer Kenny Jacobs affirm that the marketing of the company has focused on delivery. Ryanair operates on the philosophy of having as much as digital expertise is possible to avoid to pay the advertising on or Google (Rogers, 2017). The chief declared that the company doesn’t spend any money on Google but it’s by far the most researched airline, he also affirmed that the company is right on social and always talk with the press and it’s very accessible. Ryanair is expanding its additional products, selling holidays and car rental servicing and offering tailored packages for members of MY Ryanair. This means that is taking the way of personalizing the marketing approach (Rogers, 2017).Table 5 (Airlines compared fares, 2019)

Environmental policy

In March 2018, Ryanair published a new Environmental Policy called Europe’s Greenest Airline. In this policy, the airline commits to helping to fight climate change and it looks to lower noise pollution and CO2 emissions (Ryanair Corporate, 2018). The plan goal is the reduction of global impact and local impact.

According to Ireland (2018) Ryanair invested billion into the fuel-efficient airplane and allowed the client to offset the carbon fee of their flight.

Ryanair promises to decrease noise and emissions through the new “next generation” airplanes. These new planes, 737-MAXs, are fuel-efficient, and quieter and will continue to decrease the local noise by up to 40% per seat and air quality (Ryanair Corporate, 2018).

The mission of the plan is to achieve by 2030 an emission rate of 61.4 gr of CO2 for flyer km. iN spring 2019 will further reduce noise by up to 40% per seat;

The plan explains the main point of the reduction of the emissions such us the increase of load factors to 94%, the wingless, high density and light-weight seats (Ryanair Corporate, 2018).

However, According to the EU Trasport and Environmental Group, Ryanair is part of the top 10 biggest polluters. The airline is the first that does not operate a coal-fired power plant to be part of it. (BBC News, 2019)

Plastic pollution is a threat to our planet, Ryanair is one of the few airlines to have introduced the policy of eliminating non-recyclable plastics. The company will work together with its suppliers to replace non-recyclable plastics with favorable solutions for the environment such as a paper cups. Ls solution will be fully in place in the next five year’s time across the entire operation (Ryanair Corporate, 2018).

Off Set:

Ryanair from 2018 offer to them customers the option on the booking process to do a donation to offset carbon emissions. Environmental Charities will annually benefit from this deliberate guest domination (Ryanair Corporate, 2018). The charities are First Climate, Renature Monchique, the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group and Native Woodland Trust.

According to an article of the Jornal.it, the EU’s verified Emission report has discovered that Ryanair was in the top 10 for carbon polluters in Europe.

The data shows that the airlines produced over 9 million of tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2017, the date was shocking because is the first time that a company that is not running a coal-fired power plant is into the list. the airline’s defense itself says that it has more than 400 aircraft and a loading plan over 94% on average (McDermott, 2019) .

Conclusion

The present research aimed to evaluate the operating and commercial performance of Ryanair airlines.

This report has shown that the airline in question, Ryanair, has experienced as dramatic financial growth over the past few years. Ryanair has constantly, for many years, scored and higher than many of its competitors. This is for many reasons, but the main credit has to be awarded to their strategic decisions when it came to the extra light seats and the choice of flying to secondary airports. This growth has been not only, under the financial aspect as Ryanair kept the unit cost lower than the competitor ensuring the best low fairs, but the airline has created many new routes and bought new airplanes.

Despite this, the company has aspects to improve such as the relationship with the cabin crew and the pilots, the result of many strikes from a variety of different members of staff, but also for these actions to have been so heavily documented in the press meant that the airline is required to act for the sake of its own reputation if nothing else.

As well as the emission because however, it releases environmental policy, “Europe’s Greenest Airline” it is in the ranking of the top 10 polluter airlines. Said that In the next few years, Ryanair has a keen focus on decreasing the unit costs and reducing the emission.

Bibliography

1. Airlines compared fares. (2019). [image] Available at:https://investor.ryanair.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Q3-FY19-Ryanair-Powerpoint-Final.pdf [Accessed 6 May 2019].
2. anna.aero. (2016). easyJet, Norwegian, Ryanair, Vueling, Wizz Air competing more.[online] Available at: https://www.anna.aero/2016/01/13/easyjet-norwegian-ryanair-vueling-wizz-air-competing-more/ [Accessed 6 May 2019].
3. anna.aero. (2019). Airlines launched 3,750+ routes in 2018, with Ryanair once again the leader. [online] Available at: https://www.anna.aero/2019/01/23/airlines-launched-3750-routes-in-2018/ [Accessed 30 Apr. 2019].
4. BBC News. (2018). Ryanair profits hit by higher wage costs. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44921614 [Accessed 5 May 2019].
5. BBC News. (2019). Ryanair ‘one of Europe’s top polluters’. [online] Available at:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47783992 [Accessed 8 May 2019].
6. BBC News. (2019). Ryanair cuts flights from Belfast airport. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47481843 [Accessed 30 Apr. 2019].
7. Boon, T. (2018). The 3 Major Airline Alliances: Star Alliance, OneWorld and SkyTeam – Why Are They Good? – Simple Flying. [online] Simple Flying. Available at: https://simpleflying.com/the-3-major-airline-alliances-star-alliance-oneworld-and-skyteam-why-are-they-good/ [Accessed 5 May 2019].
8. Consultancy.uk. (2017). The 10 most profitable airlines of the globe. [online] Available at: https://www.consultancy.uk/news/13588/the-10-most-profitable-airlines-of-the-globe [Accessed 6 May 2019].
9. Corporate.ryanair.com. (n.d.). History of Ryanair. [online] Available at: https://corporate.ryanair.com/about-us/history-of-ryanair/ [Accessed 30 Apr. 2019].
10. FY 2015 and 2016. (2016). [image] Available at: https://investor.ryanair.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Ryanair-Results-FY2016.pdf [Accessed 6 May 2019].
11. FY 2015, 2014. (2015). [image] Available at: https://investor.ryanair.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FY-2015-AnnualInterm_Results-Results.pdf [Accessed 6 May 2019].
12. FY 2018 results. (2018). [image] Available at: https://investor.ryanair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Ryanair-FY2018-Results.pdf [Accessed 5 May 2019].
13. Ireland, B. (2018). Ryanair pledges to be Europe’s greenest airline. [online] Travel weekly. Available at: http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/299371/ryanair-pledges-to-be-europes-greenest-airline [Accessed 2 May 2019].
14. Jarvis, H. (2018). Airlines with best and worst load factor. [online] STANDBY Nordic. Available at: https://standbynordic.com/airlines-best-worst-load-factor/ [Accessed 30 Apr. 2019].
15. Leeham News and Analysis. (2019). Ryanair: cheapest and most profitable airline in Europe. [online] Available at: https://leehamnews.com/2017/02/22/ryanair-cheapest-profitable-airline-europe/ [Accessed 30 Apr. 2019].
16. Macrotrends. (2018). Ryanair Holdings Revenue 2006-2018. [online] Available at: https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/RYAAY/ryanair-holdings/revenue [Accessed 5 May 2019].
17. McDermott, S. (2019). Ryanair claims to be ‘greenest’ airline following appearance on list of worst carbon polluters in Europe. [online] TheJournal.ie. Available at: https://www.thejournal.ie/ryanair-carbon-emissions-europe-4572798-Apr2019/ [Accessed 2 May 2019].
18. Nukina, K. (2018). Battle of Euro-LCCs: Ryanair vs. easyJet vs. Norwegian vs. Wizz Air.[online] KN Aviation. Available at: https://www.knaviation.net/ryanair-vs-easyjet-vs-norwegian-vs-wizz-air [Accessed 6 May 2019].
19. Perez, I. (2019). Ryanair Passenger Growth Slowest Since 2015 After Strike Turmoil. [online] Bloomberg.com. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-03/ryanair-passenger-traffic-grew-8-in-2018-slowest-since-2015 [Accessed 30 Apr. 2019].
20. Rogers, C. (2017). Ryanair CMO: Brands don’t need to be loved to win over consumers. [online] Marketing Week. Available at: https://www.marketingweek.com/2017/05/09/ryanair-cmo-brand-love/ [Accessed 5 May 2019].
21. Ryanair Corporate. (2018). [online] Available at: https://corporate.ryanair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Enviromental-Policy-Doc.pdf [Accessed 2 May 2019].
22. Ryanair Corporate. (2018). Ryanair Launches New Environmental Policy | Ryanair’s Corporate Website. [online] Available at: https://corporate.ryanair.com/news/ryanair-launches-new-environmental-policy/ [Accessed 2 May 2019].
23. Ryanair Europe coverage. (2019). [image] Available at: https://investor.ryanair.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Q3-FY19-Ryanair-Powerpoint-Final.pdf [Accessed 5 May 2019].
24. Ryanair Investor Relations. (2018). [online] Available at: https://investor.ryanair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Ryanair-FY2018-Results.pdf [Accessed 5 May 2019].
25. Ryanair passengers number. (2019). [image] Available at: https://investor.ryanair.com/traffic/ [Accessed 5 May 2019].
26. Ryanair’s Corporate. (2018). Ryanair Reports H1 Profit Down 7% To €1.20bn Lower Fares, Higher Oil & Eu261 Costs Leaves Fy19 Guidance Unchanged At €1.10bn – €1.20bn. [online] Available at: https://corporate.ryanair.com/news/ryanair-reports-h1-profit-down-7-to-e1-20bn-lower-fares-higher-oil-eu261-costs-leaves-fy19-guidance-unchanged-at-e1-10bn-e1-20bn-excl-laudamotion/ [Accessed 5 May 2019].
27. Spero, J. (2019). Ryanair issues second profit warning in four months. [online] Financial Times. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/8ee72ffa-1af0-11e9-9e64-d150b3105d21 [Accessed 5 May 2019].
28. Top 10 economic profit generator. (2017). [image] Available at: https://www.consultancy.uk/news/13588/the-10-most-profitable-airlines-of-the-globe [Accessed 6 May 2019].

I Introduction

1.1 Background of the study

In Ethiopia, in particular, in Amahara Regional State, textile and garment industries are the most potential areas for further development and job opportunities. Because of the large agricultural land for the production of cotton as the raw material source, Amhara Regional State should take advantages for further processing their raw material to finished product. According to a McKinsey (2015) study apparel buyers are sourcing large-volume items from Ethiopia.

Amahara Regional state is the second largest state in Ethiopia with a total population of 20 million. In Amhara region there are more than 685 small and medium manufacturing industries those are engaged in textile, garment and leather and leather products manufacturing. Some small and medium industries have started export finished products to international markets. The local manufacturers of garment and fashion products have their own attributes in local customers. In Ethiopia, particularly in Amahara Region, at holiday, peoples are wearing traditional clothes that are prepared from cotton and sometimes from wool. Therefore, the current study will focus on the supply chain integration, quality management and learning capability of small and medium industries towards their performance. The purpose of the study is to investigate the supplier and manufacturer integration and the impact of total quality management on firm performance of SMEs in Amahara region.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Recently, the manufacturing industry in developing countries has been facing pressure generated by the new business trends. To contend with this pressure, the manufacturing industries have tried to upgrade their operations by using different manufacturing techniques such as Supply chain integration, Total Quality Management, Kaizen practice, and human resource development. In Amahara region small and medium industries are trying to integrate more in their production activities such as raw material sourcing, production, and delivery to customers.

Firm performance is essential indicator of the strength of firms to stay in operation, expand, and compete in local and international markets and thereby contribute to employment, and economic development. In order to meet the target effective supply chain integration are becoming increasingly critical factors for small and medium enterprises performance. As Samaranayake (1998) stated that organizations integrating their information and raw material flow can transform to optimal utilization of the supply chain.

Most SMEs source their major raw materials from locally produced cotton product whereas other sources their major raw material from Chinese fabric manufacturer. In addition, the supply chain starts from cotton cultivation from local suppliers and then local textile manufacturers and finally distributes to local SMEs and foreign markets customers. However, this all steps lack integration, there is wastage of time in raw material delivery system, and information sharing between cotton producers and garment manufacturers is inefficient and lacks synergy. Many firms simply do not trust other members of the supply chain, and they reluctant to share information. This indicates that the main challenges of supply chain integration are information exchange and planning activities to fulfill the appropriate delivery lead time and organizational learning capability towards quality improvement. Therefore, the present study will try to investigate the impact of supply chain integration, quality management and organizational learning capability on small and medium industries operational and financial performance.

1.3 Research gap

Various researchers conducted in context of supply chain integration and firm performance (Frohlich and Westbrook, 2001; Cousins and Menguc, 2006; Mitra and Singhal, 2007, Flynn, Huo, and Zhao, 2010). Hence, they did not consider the critical contextual factors like organizational learning capability, Total Quality Management and the moderating role of Information Technology towards the organizational performance which play a prominent role for holistic understanding about firm performance.

Others also tried to investigate the role of Supply Chain integration to firms’ their competitive strategies and advantage as well as organization performance (Lambert & Cooper, 2000; Birhanu, 2014; Pathak, 2015; Rao, 2015). On the hand some researchers also investigate the impact of total quality management and employee performance on firms’ performance in order to satisfy customers need (N.M Zakuan et al., 2008).

Furthermore, others investigate human resource practices as critical strategic tools for promoting favorable behavior among employees and leveraging their knowledge, skills, and abilities, which should increase productivity and performance of firms’ (Bartlett, 2001; Bates & Chen, 2004; Clardy, 2008).

Hence, the above studies did not investigate firm performance in a comprehensive conceptual framework. The previous studies explored the influence of supply chain integration on firm performance has been largely overlooked. In addition, the impacts of Total Quality Management on firm performance have been investigated in the previous research adequately. However, the previous studies could not show us the human capital factors and IT competence as a comprehensive framework. To fill this gap in the literature, we have try to develop a system through which the effect of supply chain integration, Total Quality Management and organizational learning capability on firm performance with the moderating effect of IT strategy. So, the present study will be a step forward by applying a comprehensive conceptual framework to investigate firms’ performance.

1.4 Research Contribution

This study aims to make key contributions by providing key predictors that through influence firm performance in small and medium industries sourcing, making and delivering processes. This study identified three predictors of operational and financial firm performance which are supply chain integration (internal and external integration), Total Quality Management and the moderating effect of firms’ organizational learning capability. Therefore this study will try to fill two gaps.

First, it tries to extend the theories that supply chain integration is more important in small and medium enterprises in the context of developing countries and inter-organizational and extra-organizational transfer of raw materials and information sharing.

Secondly this study will use a comprehensive conceptual model to investigate the performance of manufacturing firms and assessing the relationship between supply chain integration, total quality management and organizational learning capability on firm operational and financial performance in the context of developing countries SMEs.

II. Literature review

2.1. Supply chain integration

The literature has provided numerous definitions for Supply chain integration. Some studies defined Supply Chain Integration as a regular process of partnership (Cao et al., 2010), others understand SCI as a set of practices that include sharing of resources and information across internal departments and external organizations (Swink et al., 2007). Furthermore, Flynn et al. (2010) argued that supply chain integration implies collaboration among industrialists and other supply chain partners in order to develop an effective and efficient movement of materials, resources, and information to produce products and services that are valuable to the customer quickly and at low cost. Qi et al. (2017) also defined supply chain integration as cooperation plans and activities between suppliers, manufacturers, and consumers that plan to develop products by transforming raw materials into finished goods.

Supply chain integration refers to the degree to which a firm coordinates intra- and inter-organizational processes with channel partners in a collaborative way (Liu et al., 2013; Kim, 2006). Basically, supply chain integration is related with firm information sharing and operational coordination with channel partners and the degree to which partners are provided with information that might help them (Liu et al., 2013). The present study will apply two major classifications of supply chain integration which are external integration and internal integration (Abdallah et al., 2017; Lii & Kuo, 2016).

2.1.1 Internal integration

Internal integration ensures product quality and reduces the duplicated tasks by promoting the internal resources and capability (Flynn et al., 2010). Internal Integration has been said to be the foundation of other kinds of integration and is defined as the linkage of business processes of departments in an organization into a strategic fit for improved performance (Fawcett &Magnan, 2002). Therefore internal integration in this study refers to the degree to which a firm can construct its organizational practices, procedures and behaviors into collaborative, integrative and manageable processes in order to fulfill customer requirements (Sank et al., 2001).

2.1.2 External integration

External integration refers to the degree to which a firm can partner with its key supply chain members (customers and suppliers) to structure their inter-organizational strategies, practices, procedures and behaviors into collaborative, synchronized and manageable processes in order to fulfill customer requirements (Stank et al., 2001).

2.2 Firm performance

Organizational performance refers to how to do mission and organizational activities and the results of them as well [19]. Based on the conducted researches, the evaluation of organizational performance is divided into two dimensions: operational performance and financial performance [21].

2.2.1. Financial performance

A company’s financial performance is defined as the achievement of organizational goals or as active, constructive, and effective performance [22]. Financial performance refers to the company’s achievement to shareholders’ financial goals in order to increase their wealth. These goals include indicators and criteria such as profit earnings, return on assets, return on investment, etc. which are considered as a part of organization’s performance [3,23,24]. Financial performance is one of the important concerns of shareholders and managers of economic entities and, using new methods, managers try to manage their organization and provide an outstanding performance [25].

2.2.2. Operational performance:

Operational performance refers to the ability of a company in reducing management costs, order-time, lead-time, improving effectiveness of using raw material and distribution capacity (Heizer et al., 2008). Operational performance has an important role to business firms by improving effectiveness of production activities and creating high quality products (Kaynak, 2003), in turn, leading to increased revenue and profit for companies

Many researchers Spasojevic et al., (2013), Spasojevic et al., (2011), Sadikoglu and Zehir (2010) and Samson and Terziovski (1999) formulate five dimensions to measure operational performance such as customer satisfaction, the share of defective products in relation to the volume of production, the cost of the warranty period as compared to total sales, quality costs in relation to total revenue and proportion of timely deliveries in total deliveries.

2.3) Organizational learning capability

Organizational learning capability is defined as the organizational and managerial characteristics, practices, skills or factors that facilitate the organizational learning process such as generating, acquiring, disseminating & integrating information and allow an organization to learn (Jerez Gomez et al, 2005).

Jerez-Gomez et al., (2005) stated that organizational learning capability have four dimensions managerial commitment, openness and experimentation, knowledge transfer and integration, and systems perspective.

Managerial commitment indicates the development of managerial support for and leadership commitment to the learning process and employee motivation (Jerez-Gomez et al., 2005). Systems perspective refers to bringing the organization’s members together around a common identity and a shared vision, interconnecting the activities of employees, and developing relationships based on the exchange of information and shared mental models (Jerez-Gomez et al., 2005). Openness and experimentation denotes a climate of accepting new ideas and points of view and allowing individual knowledge to be constantly renewed, widened and improved through experimentation (Jerez-Gomez et al., 2005). Knowledge transfer and integration refers to the internal spreading of knowledge through verbal and non-verbal communication and the information systems (Jerez-Gomez et al., 2005).

2.4 Total quality management

According to Dean & Bowen, (1994) define Total Quality Management as a system approach which is an integral part of organizational strategy aimed at people focused management featuring participation of all firm members and a culture of cooperation to create value for all stakeholders through continuous improvement. In addition, Terziovski (2006) define Total Quality Management improves effectiveness, flexibility, and competitiveness of a firm to meet customers’ requirements, as the source of sustainable competitive advantage for business organizations

Besides to its definition Total Quality Management has been successfully implemented in many small and large business firms, giving them the edge in international as well as local competitiveness through the production of high quality products to satisfy customer needs (N.M Zakuan et al., 2008). This is supported by Lakhal et al. (2006), who noted that organizations with Total Quality management systems in place consistently exceeded industry standards for return on investment. For this study we adopt Six fundamental factors of Total Quality Management practices such as customer focus, leadership, training, teamwork, communication, and top management.

2.5 IT Competence

The concept of IT competence was first put forward by foreign research scholars Ross et al. (1996). In their opinion, IT competence is the ability to influence the organization goal by controlling the cost relevant to IT and implement IT. Based on the resource-based view (RBV), IT competence was further classified into human, technology and relative resources. Some scholar defined IT competence as the ability to use and integrate IT resource (Bharadwaj, 2010). Thus, IT competence is the tools but purpose for enterprises to attain competitive advantages. Some scholar defined IT competence as the ability to use and integrate IT resource (Bharadwaj, 2010). For this study, IT competence particularly IT Strategy is used as moderating role.

III. Hypothesis development and Conceptual Framework.

3.1 Supply chain integration and operational performance

As Frohlich and Westbrook (2001) suggested that companies with the widest degree of integration with both suppliers and customers have the strongest association with performance improvement. In addition, (kim 2006) argued that Supply chain management (SCM) seeks to improve competitive performance by closely assimilating the internal functions within a company and effectively linking them with the external operations of suppliers, customers, and other channel members.

Droge et al., (2004) states that external integration with suppliers and customers has a direct positive influence on market share, while internal integration has an influence on financial performance. He also suggests that integration may enhance flexibility and reduce costs, thus leading to improved performance by retaining more customers and increasing profit ratios.

In addition, process integration with supplier helps the manufacturers reduce mistakes and improve product quality by information sharing and jointly planning to enhance the operation performance (Petersen et al., 2005).

The product integration with suppliers and customers can enhance manufacturers’ new product development capabilities, promoting product quality, flexibility and innovation in addition to product competitive advantage (Koufuteros et al., 2007; Swink & Song, 2007). Therefore, we proposed the following hypothesis:

H1: Supply chain integration /internal and external/ positively relate to firm performance.

3.2 Organizational Learning Capability and Firm Performance

Many studies have stated that organizations are going to promote productive learning as a core competency (Sinkula, Baker, & Noordewier, 1997). In addition, other researchers suggested that there is a significant and positive relationship between organizational learning and firm performance (Zahir et al., 2008; Garcia et al., 2006; and Carayannis & Alexander 2002). Moreover, others also suggested that learning at organizational level has a positive effect on firms’ performance (Milia & Birdi 2010); in the same line Baker and Sinkula (1999) suggested that learning orientation has a direct effect on company performance. Therefore based on the above empirical studies the following hypothesis is formulated.

H2: Organizational learning capability has a significant and positive relationship with firm performance.

3.3 Total Quality Management and Firm Performance

Some previous studies suggested that TQM have been positive relationship with manufacturing performance and productivity (Chenhall, 1997); financial performance (Agus & sagir, 2001; Kaynak, 2003; Fuentes et al., 2006) and comprehensive organizational performance (Sharma 2006; and Zahir & Sadikoglu, 2012). Sharma (2005), Samson and Terziovski (1999), suggested that quality improvement practices improve business performance.

Based on this relationship the following hypothesis is formulated

H3: Total Quality Management positively related with firm performance (operational and financial performance).

3.4 The moderating effect of IT Competence/IT Strategy/

IT influences the operation of a firm in multi aspects, including product quality, types and customer service. Some scholar proposed that IT influences the operation and strategy of a firm, and the effect of operation reflects the enterprises operation performance (Mukhopadhyay, 2002); also IT competence promotes the integration of supply chain.

H4: The positive relationship of Supply chain integration and Operational performance is strengthening by IT strategy of the firms.

H5: The positive relationship of Total Quality Management and Operational performance is strengthen by IT strategy of the firms

Importance of keeping transport and inventory

Inventory and transport are critical elements in managing a successful supply chain or logistics network. Organizations keep an inventory to reduce the time lags that are present in the supply during the flow of goods from one stage to the other. Inventories (Eckerson, 2009) ensure economies of scale to the organization through bulk buying of goods as compared to buying one item when required by the customers. Inventories also serve to reduce uncertainties caused by demand, supply by acting as buffers. Inventory management addresses issues such as how many goods are to be ordered when an order is to be placed and what safety stocks are available. Transport on the other hand serves a critical role in the flow of goods from the producers to the final consumers (Khadaroo and seetah, 2008). Today’s organizations are on the lookout for ways through expanding their businesses to reach more customers efficiently and without incurring unnecessary overheads. This requires them to keep proper transport management systems to optimize their transportation systems. The organization has to choose the best mode of transport, routing, and also scheduling process.

Key performance indicators

The performance of an organization or business is determined by many factors. By developing Key Performance Indicators an organization can narrow down these factors to a small number of key indicators that are easier to keep track of (Skibniewski and Ghosh, 2009). In an organization Key Performance Indicators are used to measure the performance of factors that are critical to the success of the organization. There are several reasons why business organizations must measure their performance using Key Performance Indicators. Most organizations use Key Performance Indicators internally for learning and hence improving on past mistakes to achieve the set organizational goals. Evaluation reports such as financial reports come in handy when organizations need to report their progress to stakeholders.

Paulson and Hughes (2006, pp. 59-65) argue that since Key Performance Indicators are used to measure the performance of an organization, it is necessary to ensure that the selected indicators are easily quantifiable. This is of utmost importance if these Performance Indicators are to be of any value to the success of the business. The modes of quantification vary according to the nature of the business an organization is involved in (Poneman and Elsman, 1992). This is done to ensure that all the designed Key Performance Indicators reflect quantities that are critical to the success of the organization. In addition, the method to be used to calculate the indicator and its units must be spelled out (O’Brien, 2010). It is, therefore, necessary, that an organization selects Key Performance Indicators that reflect the goals it wants to achieve. This way the data collected can be effectively used to determine the next step towards organizational success.

Five key performance indicators for both transport and inventory

One of the Key Performance Indicators involved in inventory management is inventory turnover. Inventory turnover is used to show the number of times stock or inventory has been sold and replaced during a specified period (Aghahowa and Stephen, 2007). It is calculated by finding the ratio between the total goods sold within a specific period and the average inventory available at the beginning and the end of the observation period. Low inventory turnover values may point out that the organization is holding excessive stock or that the stock being sold is not selling fast enough. This prompts the management to make the necessary changes to achieve the set goals.

Stock-outs can be used as Key Performance Indicators in inventory management. Hall (2010, pp.31-34) defines the term stock-outs as an indicator of the number of times products or goods have been unavailable to the customer due to high demand. During these shortage scenarios, the organization faces loss in sales thus limiting the rate of growth. The information obtained from the data collected ensures that the organization keeps enough safety stock to reduce the risk of stockouts. It is therefore important for an organization to find the right mix for the correct safety stock levels to avoid the costs of holding too much inventory and the loss of sales associated with keeping too little safety stock. Another Key Performance Indicator in inventory management is the service level of the available goods. According to Webster (2006) and Liu et al. (2010), service level value is calculated by considering the number of times a particular good has been issued to a customer to the number of times consumers have demanded that good. Low service levels for a good means that the store could be stocking the wrong products or it can mean that goods ordered by the consumer take too much time before they are delivered.

Lead time is a Key Performance Indicator in the inventory management process of an organization. It is defined as the time interval between when an organization places an order for goods from the supplier and the time the goods arrive. By monitoring the lead times over some time an organization can stock enough goods or make orders at appropriate times to ensure that the inventory arrives at the correct time. Long lead times can force an organization to hold excess goods thus leading to a significant increase in the storage costs involved. Stock cover is another Key Performance Indicator in inventory management. Stock cover is used to refer to the period that the available inventory will last if consumption continues at the same rate. If an organization assesses the stock cover then it can make informed decisions on when to order for more stock depending on the lead time thus eliminating the possibilities of running out of inventory.

In transport management, the cost per given unit distance can be used as a Key Performance Indicator (Hall, 2010). This can be calculated by dividing the total cost for transporting goods to a particular destination by the total distance covered. High costs per unit distance can force the management to find alternative means of transport to increase transportation efficiency. Secondly, the percentage of on-time pickup or delivery of requested goods can be used by an organization as a Key Performance Indicator of the transportation system. Late deliveries of goods to clients can lead to loss of sales or increased inventory costs during storage. An organization can choose the distributor with the highest percentage of on-time pickup and deliveries thus maximizing the number of deliveries made on time.

An organization can consider claims percentage of the total freight costs as a Key Performance Indicator of its transportation system. This value can be attained by dividing the total loss due to damage to goods being transported by the cumulative freight costs (Nigrini and Johnson, 2008). High percentages show the need to introduce better handling techniques to reduce the losses. An organization can set a particular target and use this KPI to estimate whether it is achieving its goal.

Empty running is another transport Key Performance Indicator in the management of transport. This term is used to refer to the total time the vehicle is moving around empty with no inventory onboard (Aghahowa and Stephen, 2007). It is expressed as a ratio of the empty miles to the loaded miles that the vehicle traveled with inventory on board. Vehicle time utilization is the percentage of the actual time the vehicles are used to the scheduled utilization time for the vehicles. It can be used as an effective Key Performance Indicator to monitor how effectively transport vehicles are being used.

Impact of using KPI in the business organization process

The success of an organization is determined by how carefully it selects and defines its Key Performance Indicators (Eckerson, 2009). This is because the organization will use the data obtained from the Key Performance Indicators to measure their progress towards achieving set organizational goals. Shapiro and Wagner (2009, pop.161-173) found out that if the measured indicators point at the elements critical to the success of the organization then the decisions made after analyzing the data obtained will push the business closer towards achieving its goals. Key Performance Indicators allow an organization to measure the particular factors that are critical to the success of the business.

An organization can use the data obtained from results obtained from Key Performance Indicators for several purposes. According to (Onwubolu and Dube, 2006) one main use of the collected information is for learning and improvement purposes within the organization. These Key Performance Indicators allow the management to make better-informed decisions on what changes need to be done to the existing organizational process… Key Performance Indicators are also used to provide necessary progress information as demanded by the organization’s stakeholders. One good example of such a performance indicator is the annual financial statements or environmental impact assessment reports. Key Performance Indicator results can be used by the top management of an organization to guide and control how employees act within the organization to improve operational efficiency within the organization.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a United States organization that aims at providing both safe and efficient aerospace systems in the world. To assess their progress towards achieving these goals FAA has designed several Key Performance Indicators that it uses periodically to assess its success rate. Two of these KPIs are the fuel consumption efficiency and the percentage of on-time arrivals for the aircraft they are monitoring (Khadaroo and Seetah, 2008). The fuel consumption efficiency checks the average amount of fuel that an airplane consumes during its transportation trips. On the other hand, on-time arrivals KPI is expressed as a percentage of the flights that arrive within 15 minutes of the scheduled time to the total number of flights scheduled to arrive. Croatia Airlines is another good example of a transportation company that checks its aircraft utilization and punctuality of flights to assess its growth towards achieving set organizational goals (Wadsworth, 2010).

Reference List

Aghahowa, E. and Stephen, A., 2007. Developing Key Performance Indicators for airport safety and security. Facilities, [e-journal] 25(7/8), pp.296-315.

Eckerson, W.W., 2009. Performance management strategies. Business intelligence journal, [e-journal] 14(1), pp.24-27.

Hall, A., 2010. KPI’s: The new measure meeting management. Corporate meetings and incentives, [e-journal] 29(8), pp.31-34.

Khadaroo, J., and Seetaah, B., 2008. Transport and economic performance: The case of Mauritius. Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, [e-journal] 42 (2), pp.255-267.

Liu, W.B. et al., 2010. The 3E methodology for developing performance indicators for public sector organizations. Public money and management, [e-journal] 30(5), pp.305-312.

Nigrini, M.J. and Johnson, A.J., 2008. Using key performance indicators and risk measures in continous monitoring. Journal of emerging technologies in accounting, [e-journal] 5(5), pp.65-80.

O’Brien, J., 2010. The value of key performance indicators. Receivables report for America’s health care financial managers, [e-journal] 25 (5), pp.6-8.

Onwubolu, G.C. and Dube, B.C., 2006. Implementing an improved inventory control system in a small company: a case study. Production, planning and control, [e-journal] 17(1), pp.67-76.

Paulson, G.K. and Hughes, S.B., 2006. Racing to success by identifying key performance drivers. Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance, [e-journal] 20(3), pp.59-65.

Poneman, D.A. and Elsman, D., 1992. Retail economic indicators. Monthly black book, [e-journal] 42 (2), pp.11-20.

Shapiro, J. and Wagner, S.N., 2009. Strategic inventory optimisation. Journal of business logistics, [e-journal] 30(2), pp.161-173.

Skibniewski, M.J. and Ghosh, S., 2009. Determination of key performance indicators with enterprise resource planning systems in engineering construction firms. Journal of construction engineering and management, [e-journal] 135 (10), pp.965-978.

Webster, J., 2006. Fundamental finance: Retail performance measures. ICSC research review, [e-journal] 13 (3), pp.27-34.

Wadsworth, T., 2010. Top choice. Canadian Transportation & Logistics, [e-journal] 113 (8), pp.18-27.

The network

The current network comprising of category 5 cable could essentially be enhanced through technical upgrading of the infrastructure. Through the installation of a different cable quality, the entire system could become upgraded and increase the network speed. The system upgrade could include replacing the current cables with enhanced versions of network cables.

Category 5 cable connections utilize a single pair of wires for carrying signals through the entire network. The availability of a single pair of cable would immensely enhance upgrading to the category 6A cable connection (Gast, 2005). This upgraded connection requires four twisted pairs of cable wires carrying the essential signals in the system. Intended upgrade would involve installation of three pairs to create the required four by the category 6A cable connection.

Problems

The category 5 cable connections have a limitation of the distance that can be covered. When expansion becomes necessary, repeaters can essentially be used to increase the length of the connection and network. These connection points however, become the weak points through which information can be lost (Breyer, 1999).

Necessity arises to reduce the number of repeaters utilized within a network as a way of ensuring safety of the signals transmitted. By using the category 5 cable connection, the use of repeaters remains a fundamental application, because the maximum length for a cable is a hundred meters. Connections therefore, and as a result of this limitation remain imminent within the category 5 cable connections owing to this limitation.

Solutions

The bridging technique works efficiently in reducing the limitations present within the category networking systems. Bridging allows for the confinement of information in a single network, and in turn significantly reduces the effects of creating joints using repeaters within the network.

The technique does not disseminate information by categorizing the sources; it instead combines all information contained into a single network. The technique connects several network segments into a single channel of transmitting information. The technique could be applied with upgraded networking systems. The length of the network could be enhanced through the utilization of fiber optic technology. This could essentially be increased up to any desired length while increasing the speed of information transmission.

Category 6A cable allows for high frequency performance using the noise reduction capability presented by the insulation. Using the category 6A cables could increase the speed of network significantly. However, the thickness of the cables utilized could involve implementing numerous changes in the infrastructure.

Several connectors cannot require unique modular pieces when fitting into category 6A cable connections (Gast, 2005), as this could significantly increase the costs involved in upgrading the network cabling. The category 6A cables have the capability to run high frequency at lengths surpassing 100 meters. This category of cables possesses the ability to carry a frequency of up-to 500 MHz – more than four times the capability the current category 5 cables.

Enhancement into high frequency network would involve addition of three extra cable pairs. This would upgrade the network into a 1000BASE-T connection. This method of upgrading would involve little amendments into the current infrastructure while enhancing performance (Breyer, 1999).

The costs involved in such an upgrade would be significantly low hence, this would be a cost effective way of ensuring improved performance. Installation of a new infrastructure system would also have significant impacts on budgetary allocation of the company.

References

Breyer, R. (1999). Switched, fast, and gigabit Ethernet. London: MacMillan Technical Publishers.

Gast, M. (2005). 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide 2nd edition. Sebastopol: O’Reilly Media.

The article primarily focuses on the disruptive aspect of read-only participants in an online learning community setting. The research problem is based on the fact that a student’s online visibility affects their performance, which inevitably influences the outcome of courses. There are two main research questions where the first one addresses whether online participation has a relationship with successful course completion and learning. The second element focuses on the correlation between learning community and participation. The methodology was comprised of both qualitative and quantitative approaches, which is also referred to as a mixed methodological framework. The former utilized ATLAS.ti software to gather valuable data on examination essays, online quizzes, discussion posts, and blog postings (Nagel et al., 2009). The quantitative component used the LMS tracking tool, which calculated the instances of relies and postings.

The findings of the study illustrate the proper correlations between the overall performance and outcome. For example, five key elements, such as logins, posts, reply ratio, collaboration, and feedback percentage, were highly predictive of the grade group within the online classroom (Nagel et al., 2009). In other words, the degree of a student’s participation in the given activities determined whether they will fail, pass or be distinctive. The authors also discussed the implications of the research, which derives several conclusions from the gathered data. Low online visibility of a student can be attributed to a read-only approach, lack of contribution, technical problems, and absence of any reason. An online course can be completed only if there is active participation. The researchers additionally suggest rotating group members, encouraging the submission of high-quality postings, grading individual contributions in a group project, and communicating login frequency.

References

Nagel, L., Blignaut, A. S., & Cronjé, J. C. (2009). Read-only participants: A case for student communication in online classes. Interactive Learning Environments, 17(1), 37-51. Web.

Introduction

Background information of intercontinental hotel

Intercontinental hotel is a leading brand of high class hotels globally. Initially, it was founded by Pan African World Airways and is currently owned by intercontinental hotel groups. It remains the largest world hotel operator in terms of rooms. The company operates over 4500 hotels globally and has leading global brands like Counts Holiday Inn, and Crown Plaza within its basket. Its operations spread across 75 nations and in literally all the continents. The company’s broad economic growth is attributed to quality services it offers to its clients. Reception forms the pillar of service provision to hotel clients (Brendan, 2005). The kind of reception accorded to ancient determines whether or not the client will or will not use the same service provider in future. Often good reception results into increased customer base and hence increased revenues within the hotel while vice-versa is true.

Quality is often based on both customer and management perception within the hotel industry. Customers perceive overall hotel quality on basis of the kind of reception they receive. Basically, it would not come as a surprise if a client opted not to check into a given hotel upon arrival at the reception lobby. The reception personnel often represent the many aspects of a hotel ranging from hospitability, friendliness and even the hotel hygienic conditions (Brendan, 2005). Customer satisfaction is a rather complex area more especially considering the fact that there exists no measurement scale (Bapat, et al., 1999). Customers make quality decisions depending on how they perceive the services they are accorded within a hotel facility and reception is the face of these services. At the intercontinental hotels, quality is fundamental and a specific department is charged with responsibility of ensuring that quality is observed in al area of operation including reception. The hotel recognizes that customer satisfaction and quality of service are vital in customer retention and building of a competitive edge against the clientele (Bonham, 2008). Having been in business for a long duration, intercontinental group of hotel has been able to build a strong reputation globally with regard to the quality of services they offer. However, this is not enough as they still have to engage in continuous quality monitoring. This paper applies SERVQUAL mode to investigate quality provision at hotel intercontinental reception.

SERVQUAL Model

Service quality measurement is a rather cumbersome venture (Neely, 2002). Unlike measurement of product quality where measurable parameters exist, service quality measurement is characterized by intangibles qualitative aspects which lack relevant measurement parameters (Moore, 2008). Additionally, complications arise from the complicated nature of expectations displayed by customers which, considerably vary depending on a number of factors including customer experience, individual customer needs, and receptions arising from what other people say. SERVQUAL questionnaire provides an avenue for service quality measurement. It examines three aspects considered vital in management of quality which include service reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangible which facilitate service provision.

For each of the mentioned dimensions, the customer’s expectations and service perceptions are measured with the help of a SERVQUAL questionnaire on a scale ranging from 1 to 7 rated as strongly disagree to strongly agree in that order (Nyeck et al., 2002). Te five dimensions weighting is performed depending on the importance of customers and the respective scores multiplied by the obtained weighting. This allows for calculation of gap scores of each expectation and perception score. The gap score is used as an indicator of the actual score and a negative vale shows that the actual service provided falls below the actual expected service (Zeithaml & Berry, 2005). The gap score is used to reliably indicate the quality level of the services provided and hence is useful in highlighting of the areas that might need improvement. It is important to note as the class of hotel rises, so does the level of quality expectations by the clients. SERVQUAL model can be best summarized by the diagrams below:

The diagrams describe the components that make up the important attributes of SERVQUAL model. This method basically involves translations of qualitative results into quantitative aspects which can be easily interpreted and conclusions drawn.

Although the model has been used in many instances, it has also been criticized as subjective, complex, subjective and unreliable statistically (Nyeck et al., 2002). critiques SERVQUAL on operational and theoretical ground. He pointed out that the dimensions of SERVQUAL have not been determined to be universal. Therefore its application would vary depending on particular environments. According to him the model has some limitations. Theoretically the model is not based on an attitudinal paradigm but rather a disconfirmation paradigm. However, quality that is perceived by the customer is best judged as an attitude. There is also no solid evidence that customers rate service quality depending on perceived service level and their expectations. In addition the model concentrates on service delivery rather than the results of the service experience. As the SERVQUAL dimensions are contextualized direct relation to the factors might not be what is expected. There is ample inter-correlation within the dimensions. In terms of operations customers use other standards and not just their expectations in the evaluation of quality of service they receive. SERVQUAL as a toll cannot measure in full the customers? Service quality expectations (Nyeck et al., 2002). Customers assessment of service quality is not static and as such not a dependable element in the assessment. The model use of scores leads to an unreliable proportion of item variances.

Qualitative research

Qualitative research is a common research tools used by various academic and research disciplines. Traditionally though, this tool is associated with social sciences and marketing research (Creswell, 2003). Qualitative research is often aimed at investigation human behavior/reactions to situations and the ensuing decisions resulting from this behavior. Qualitative research is basically concerned with individual attitudes, behaviors, system values, cultures and individual lifestyles (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005). Generally it involves interviews, analysis of contents, evaluations and unstructured materials analysis. Though at times messy and complex, ways have been developed with which such information can be converted into qualitative information for assessment e.g. use of Likert scales (Mason, 1996).

Research Methodology

Data was collected from ten clients who were presented with interview questions with regard to their views on SERVQUAL dimensions. Customer’s responses are used to analyze the SERVQUAL dimensions with respect to hotel reception. The interview schedules were presented to ten customers who were identified with the help of the hotel management at intercontinental. Additionally, 3 hotel managers were also presented engaged in interviews to establish their opinions regarding the 5 SERVQUAL dimensions in measurement of quality at the hotel reception.

Research challenges

Like any other research, SERVQUAL model is not without challenges. The interviewed persons may not give actual information that reflect their actual views regarding the case being investigate but instead provide information as they want them to be. Additionally, identifying a representative sample may be difficult considering that the management may maintain records of clients who were in deed satisfied only.

Research findings

The interview questions focused on the dimensions used in SERVQUAL model. Discussions in this section are based the how customers perceive the concept of SERVQUAL model in evaluation of hotel reception.

The findings based on the customer’s views are discussed below:

Tangibles

With reference to a hotel reception, customers view tangibles as the physical evidence present at the front desks of hotels including personnel appearance, tools and various physical equipment that facilitate reception’s service provision. Customers expect such facilities to conform to the global set standards globally. However, most interviewees put much emphasis on personnel appearance as an important tangible. They emphasize that any measurement of hotel reception tangibles must focus on this area. Major tangible areas mentioned by interviewees include appropriate dressing, cleanliness and attractive appearance. Overall customer satisfaction with regard to tangibility at intercontinental hotels reception is satisfactory. This is with regard to the aforementioned factors. Customers believe that when reception staff and other tangibles are excellent, they feel more confident and impressed with the perceived awaiting services. The findings of this research generally stressed that, tangibles in hotel’s reception related to behaviors that are tangible and the physical appearance of the reception’s staff. These findings are best summarized by the response of one interviewee who said that “I consider staff dressing, appearance and cleanliness as the most fundamental tangibles that would tell whether I book into a hotel or not.”

Reliability

One interviewee stated that reliability of reception staff is important to any client as it is the only way one can be assured of better and prompt services. The customer said “ if you order a cup of water and get it one hour later, then you can be sure that the super will be three hours late. However, this does not happen at intercontinental hotel” the customer’s remarks reflect confidence on the reception at hotel intercontinental. The response generalizes customer perception of reliability as being able to perform a service dependably and as earlier promised. Additionally, reliability reception staff is viewed as they being able keep time and maintain error free records. One interviewee mentions that reception staff who assigns you to a room that is already occupied is definitely unreliable. Further customers are sensitive to minor issues like having the reception staff promptly pick up their phone and making right reservations. The respondents believe that hotel InterContinental’s reception staffs are efficient in this area and often exhibit desirable reliability.

Responsiveness

Responsiveness in the context of hotel reception refers to the willingness of the reception staff to assist clients and offer prompt service. As most customers mention, when you walk into a hotel reception with lots of luggage and nobody comes to your aid, then you can as well expected rough times ahead. Customers view responsiveness as fundamental and indicative of the services ahead. Quick service, willingness to acknowledge and correct mistakes, and professionalism top the list of responsive factors that client’s value. Most respondents gauge InterContinental’s responsiveness as up to standards and meeting their ideal expectation. A client indicated that responsiveness of a hotel is best viewed when a customer finds all rooms booked up and is offered accommodation at its sister hotel for the night. This, the customers indicates the hotels responsiveness to the needs of the client.

Assurance

Assurance is gauged by the receptions competency levels, courtesy, staff credibility and feeling of security. Most clients gauge reception staffs competency by how efficiently they respond to questions asked. Courtesy also assures client of better services. Security is a fundamental component of assurance the client need at the hotels. Assurance of security makes clients feel more comfortable. One respondent mentioned that if you lose your luggage at reception, then definitely your security is not guaranteed at that hotel. Security can be best summarized by the statement of one interviewee who said that “I’d feel more comfortable in a hotel where my security and that of my belongings is assured,” “additionally, I’d be more assured of a nice stay at the reception are able to promptly and accurately respond to my queries,” he added.

Empathy

Ease of access to the reception and understanding displayed are important components of empathy that are fundamental to customers. Most customers view empathy from an individualized perspective. While most customers mention that they would appreciate personalized attention from the hotel reception, they don’t think of it as being very fundamental to service provision by the hotel.

The findings based on the manager’s point of view are summarized below:

On tangibles, the managers reinforced the stand of clients on tangibles. One manager mentioned that they view staff appearance and dressing with much concern. Anther stated that “we value staff and general appearance other tangibles at our reception and I believe it is an important measurement of quality. The manager’s opinion about reliability as a dimension can best be summarized by a statement by one major in which he stated that “unreliable staff at the reception is just anther way of accelerating the fall of a hotel business.” The statement stresses the emphasis that managers put on having reliable staff at the reception and hence the need for measurement of this dimension.

On responsiveness, a manager indicated that at the intercontinental the value of responsiveness is valued highly and special staffs are availed at the reception specifically for this purpose. In a statement another managers said that, “The value of being responsive to the clients is an important measure of our reception staffs performance and that must be heavily invested in.” Further on assurance, managers mention that this is an area that they mostly strive to address at interview levels of staff and further through constant training and access to information for the staff. One manager stated that, “our reception staffs deal with a variety of clients and the need to keep them informed cannot be overstated.” Lastly, unlike most customers who seemed not to attach much value on empathy, managers insist that this is a fundamental measure of hotel staff reception quality provision.

Conclusion

The interview with both managers and the hotel staff seem to converge at one point. Both parties agree that SERVQUAL dimensions reflect key aspects that can be used in quality assessment of hotel reception. The managers acknowledge that SERVQUAL dimensions reflect the key areas that affect customer satisfaction at reception. The clients interviewed also are in agreement that SERVQUAL dimensions largely represent the aspect they use to gauge quality of a hotel via reception. Generally, both parties are in agreement that quality of hotel reception is best reflected by the SERVQUAL model dimensions. Generally, all the parties interviewed agree that SERVQUAL dimensions are best in describing hotel reception quality. Tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, and assurance all play an important role in measurement of hotel reception quality.

References

Bapat, V. et al. (1999). Performance Enhancement in Hotel reception: Simulation and Modeling Approach. Chicago: CUP.

Bonham, S. (2008). Strategies through Integrated Performance: A Look into Hotel reception. New York: Artech House.

Brendan, R. (2005). Designing Effective Hotel reception for Business: Outsourcing, Services and Staffing. London: Focal Press.

Creswell, J.W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (2^nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 11-69

Leedy, P. & Ormrod, J. (2005). Practical Research: Planning and Design. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, pp. 34-57

Mason, J. (1996). Linking qualitative and quantitative data analysis. In Bryman, A. & Burgess, R. G (eds) Analyzing Qualitative Data, Routledge: London, pp. 56-101

Moore, R. (2008). Benchmarking 100 Success Secrets – The Basics, The Guide on how to Measure, Manage and Improve Performance based on Industry Best Practices. Emereo Pty Ltd

Neely, A. (2002). Business Performance Measurement: Theory and practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England

Nyeck, S. et al. (2002). “10 years of service quality measurement: Reviewing the use of the SERVQUAL instrument.” Cuadernos de Difusion, 7(13), 101-107.

Zeithaml, V. A. & Berry, L. L. (2005). Reassessment of expectations as a comparison standard in measuring service quality: Implications for future research, Journal of Marketing, 58, 111-124.

Zeithaml, V. A. & Berry, L. L. (2005). SERVQUAL: A multiple item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality, Journal of Retailing, 64, (1), 14-40.

Introduction

The issues of the High-Frequency proximity Radio Frequency Identification systems have become rather important in recent years due to the wide spreading of technology and tags in various spheres of human life. Accordingly, the major focus of this work is the consideration of the High Frequency (HF) proximity Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems in the presence of electromagnetic (EM) interference. The phenomena examined in the paper include eavesdropping and the means to either facilitate or eliminate it through the coded and non-code tags. The paper also contains a review of the relevant literature and the account of the methods by which the data are collected, analyzed, and presented for consideration.

Research context

The research under consideration has the study of the High Frequency (HF) proximity Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems in the presence of electromagnetic (EM) interference. Accordingly, the context for the current research is the y’s situation when numerous items of licensed and registered, as well as private and non-licensed, the equipment can be observed in the country’s HF space thus interfering with the work of each other and making the cases of eavesdropping rather numerous. The presence of such an issue leads to certain problems that, for example, the medical or governmental equipment can have in their operation and work results. To support the research, a review of the relevant literature on the topic of HF RFID should be carried out.

Literature review

Scholars have taken their time to examine different aspects of the topic of this research. Thus, Finke and Kelter (2004) and Casciato and Sarabandi (2004) concentrate on the consideration of the transaction range that HF proximity RFID can have under different circumstances. Stating that the usual range is about 15cm, the authors claim that the remotely powered tags and readers transmit signals for a longer distance. Further on, Guerrieri and Novotny (2007) and Kumar et al., (2006) consider the different ways of HF measurement and its influence upon the possibility of eavesdropping in RFID systems. Important data can be found in the European Patent EP1033669, which considers the use of patents in devel the non-standard tags to suppress the negative effects on RFID systems. Harrington (1961) proposes the theory of the simple loop fields, while Hancke (2007) considers the carrier variations necessary to introduce to reduce the eavesdropping cases.

Research methods

The research methods used in this work include the combination of the quantitative and qualitative methods with the study of the relevant previous research on the topic of HF proximity RFID systems. The quantitative method is used to deal with figures implemented to show the results of equations and other mathematical operations involved. The analysis of the figures through the quantitative procedures allows also the implementation of the qualitative method to see the underlying messages in the figures. Finally, the combination of these methods with the study of the relevant research works by other authors allows this research paper to offer avenues for further research (see the respective section).

Data collection and presentation

The data collection procedures also started with the literature review but were continued by the direct research carried out with the help of a 1m loop with the capacity of 50Ω and the tag with 16kB of memory. Using these tools, the researchers tried to eavesdrop on signals of a commercial-off-the-shelf reader (COTS). As for the data presentation, the technical data, equations, and terminology is supported by visual aids, including schemes, pictures, and tables demonstrating the HF waves and HF proximity RFID systems’ work.

Avenues for further work

Considering the avenues for the further research work on this topic, the issues of the assurance of anti-eavesdropping protection should be considered. This research has managed to find out that the properly shielded RFID readers can be such protective means but further research is necessary to prove this point in practice. Also, the data security and the possibility of using the non-coded RFID readers in critical conditions should also be further researched.

References

1. ISO/IEC 14443 Identification cards — Contactless integrated circuit(s) cards — Proximity cards.
2. ISO/IEC 18000-3 Information technology — Radio frequency
3. identification for item management — Part 3: Parameters for air interface communications at 13,56 MHz.
4. ISO/IEC 15693 Identification cards – Contactless integrated circuit(s) cards – Vicinity cards.
5. ISO/IEC 18092 Information technology — telecommunications and information exchange between systems — Near Field Communication — Interface and Protocol (NFCIP-1) and ISO/IEC 21481 Information technology — Telecommunications and information exchange between systems — Near Field Communication Interface and Protocol -2 (NFCIP-2). Finke, T., Kelter, H., Radio Frequency Identification -Abhormoglichkeiten der Kommunikation zwischen Lesegerat und Transponder am Beispiel eines ISO14443-Systems, Bonn 2004.
6. Guerrieri, J and Novotny, D, NIST Internal Report 818-7-71,”HF RFID Eavesdropping and Jamming Tests, 2006”, 2007.
7. European Patent EP1033669
8. Harrington, R.F., “Time-Harmonic Electromagnetic Fields”, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1961, pg. 93.
9. Hancke, G., “Modulating a noisy carrier signal for eavesdroppingresistant HF RFID”, e & i Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik, Volume 124, Number 11, 2007, pp 404-8.
10. Casciato, M.D.; Sarabandi, K. “High-frequency radio wave diffraction from singly curved, convex surfaces a heuristic approach”, Microwaves, Antennas and Propagation, IEE Proceedings – Volume 151, Issue 1, 2004 Page(s): 43 – 53.
11. Kumar, A., R. Uma, and V. K. Tripathi, Nonlinear reflection of a high-frequency radio wave by the ionospheric grating created by another wave, Radio Sci., 41, RS4014, 2006.

Introduction

Tourism is among the sectors most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments across the globe introduced lockdowns, quarantines and restrictions on national and international travels to protect their population (Lew et al., 2020). This resulted in economic consequences on tourism industry, especially on organizations that depends on this sector. Airbnb is one of the organizations that have felt the impact of COVID-19. It is an online marketplace that involves renting property to travelers from across the globe (Midgett et al., 2018). The organization was started in 2008 and is based in San Francisco, US. Therefore, the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the number of travelers, reducing its productivity.

The Aim of the Research

The research aim is to identify the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the operations and performance of Airbnb.

The Objectives of the Research

• To examine the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on the operations of Airbnb.
• To find out how the COVID-19 pandemic affects the performance of Airbnb. In addition, it will determine how the pandemic impacted the company’s revenue.
• To understand how Airbnb responded to the reduction of the COVID-19 pandemic. This involves understanding the strategies adopted by the company to curb the pandemic.

The Research Problem

The covid-19 pandemic has significantly influenced the operations and performance of the tourism industry. The existing literature has only explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry (Gössling, Scott and Hall, 2020). However, there is limited information on how the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected organizations such as Airbnb. There is also little knowledge on how COVID-19 affects individual organizations. The existing literature has not effectively provided readers with how Airbnb worked to curb the effects of the pandemic.

Research Questions

• What are the effects of COVID-19 on the operations of Airbnb?
• What are the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on Airbnb?
• What actions did Airbnb take to reduce the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic?
• What are some of the challenges the leaders of Airbnb faced when trying to lower the impacts of COVID-19?

Methodology

Research Method

A research method is important in a study because it indicates how data was collected. Qualitative secondary research was used to obtain data in this research. This type of research majors in collecting data from existing sources (Green and Thorogood, 2018). The research is primarily based on secondary data gathered from books, published papers, newspapers, websites, magazines, and other sources. It is easy to use, cost-effective, and only requires skills of article analysis to obtain information (Martins, da Cunha, and Serra, 2018). The data has been gathered from reputable sources. Despite the fact that the research method has limitations, the researcher has attempted to minimize bias and errors.

Secondary data analysis was used to draw insights from sources collected. This is a great way to keep the research going by repeating, re-analyzing, and re-interpreting old research (Garcia and Mayorga, 2018). In addition, it gives researchers the chance to try out new ideas, theories, frameworks, and models of how to do research. To achieve this, the research requires extensive reading of all texts to understand the concepts. In this approach, themes were obtained from the sources to arrow down in the findings. The themes used were the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry, decline in revenue and many more.

Timeline of The Research

Table 1: Timeline

Literature Review

Numerous researches have been done to determine the impact of COVID-19 on the achievement of the travel industry. According to Sobieralski (2020), the COVID-19 outbreak has significantly impacted tourism. Globally, the industry faces a rapid and sharp decline in demand and a surge in job losses, putting many businesses’ viability in jeopardy (Shen et al., 2020). Even though tourism’s increased resilience in the face of other crises, the current pandemic’s scope and complexity will almost certainly have an extended impact on the industry than other sectors. However, according to Strange (2020), international tourism is more likely to recover once major restrictions are lifted. As a result, this is due to the possibility of long-term behavioral shifts, with people becoming more reluctant to travel overseas in the future.

Gyódi (2021) examined various strategies used by Airbnb and hotels to mitigate its impact during COVID-19. They compared the two business models’ responses to the pandemic. The findings are consistent with the notion that Airbnb’s supply chain is more adaptable. While hotel supply quickly recovered to levels comparable to 2019, the number of Airbnb listings reduced by more than 15%. Additionally, the price analysis determined that Airbnb rates declined at a slower rate than hotel rates (Walsh, Saxena, and Muzellec, 2020). These findings indicate that a sizable proportion of hosts have shifted away from providing short-term accommodations toward long-term rentals.

The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the global tourism and hospitality industries. Airbnb, offering an accommodation service, faced a sharp decline in bookings as a result of the changes (BorosL, DudásG, and KovalcsikT, 2020). This study examines and compares the effects of the pandemic’s first wave on the Airbnb markets in 15 cities. Insideairbnb.com provided the data for this analysis. Special consideration was given to the pandemic’s impact on various price categories of listings (Harchandani and Shome, 2021). The result shows that the pandemic had the greatest impact on bookings and occupancy rates.

Findings and Analysis

A Decrease in Booking

The first finding is that COVID-19 had an adverse impact on the performance of Airbnb. As shown in the graph, gross booking on Airbnb declined drastically. In 2020, the company experienced a negative rate in its bookings. As a result, Airbnb reported a sharp decline in its booking operations. The graph shows that more effect was felt from March to May 2020 (Richter, 2020). However, there was a positive change in the rate of booking. The negatives reduced significantly, showing a positive gain from June to September 2020. In addition, the graph shows that in the first quarter of 2019, the gross booking value was $29.5 billion. On the other hand, the gross booking value in the first quarter of 2020 was $18.0 billion. Therefore, the effect of COVID-19 was experienced in the area of booking.

Airbnb Drop in Sales

The second finding is that Airbnb and other firms reported a decline in sales. The amount of sales is crucial because it determines an organization’s performance. As shown in the graph below, the sales of the company declined significantly (Lee, 2020). In 2019, the sales within the first quarter were about $4 billion. On the other hand, in 2020, the sales were slightly above $2 billion. This indicates that the sales dropped by about $2 billion (Lee, 2020). This is a significant amount because it can hinder the payment of hosts, employees and many more. In addition, it is indicated that the impact of COVID-19 was felt more by Airbnb competitors in the market. For instance, Marriot reported a decline of about $8 billion in sales due to COVID-19 (Lee, 2020). As a result, a drop in sales is one of the areas COVID-19 pandemic affected Airbnb in the sector.

Conclusion

Airbnb experienced the effects of COVID-19 due to a decline in bookings and sales. In reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments restrict international and local movements. This main aim was to protect people living in different countries. As a result, Airbnb reported a decline in bookings and sales. The company usually rely on tourists from across the country to offer accommodation. However, when people were forced to stay in their country, there was a sharp decline in sales.

Reference List

Gyódi, K. (2021) ‘Airbnb and hotels during COVID-19: different strategies to survive,’ International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research. Web.

BorosL., DudásG., & KovalcsikT (2020) ‘The effects of COVID-19 on Airbnb. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin, 69(4), 363-381. Web.

Garcia, N.M. and Mayorga, O.J. (2018) The threat of unexamined secondary data: A critical race transformative convergent mixed methods. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(2), pp.231-252.

Gössling, S., Scott, D. and Hall, C.M. (2020) ‘Pandemics, tourism and global change: a rapid assessment of COVID-19,’ Journal of sustainable tourism, 29(1), pp.1-20. Web.

Green, J. and Thorogood, N. (2018) Qualitative methods for health research. Sage.

Harchandani, P. and Shome, S. (2021) Global Tourism and COVID-19: An Impact Assessment. Tourism: An International Interdisciplinary Journal, 69(2), pp.262-280.

Lee, D. (2020, November 17) Five takeaways from Airbnb’s IPO filing. Financial Times. Web.

Lew et al. (2020) Visions of travel and tourism after the global COVID-19 transformation of 2020. Tourism Geographies, 22(3), pp.455-466. Web.

Martins, F.S., da Cunha, J.A.C. and Serra, F.A.R. (2018) ‘Secondary data in research–uses and opportunities,’ PODIUM sport, leisure and tourism review, 7(3).

Midgett et al. (2018) ‘The sharing economy and sustainability: A case for Airbnb,’ Small Business Institute Journal, 13(2), pp.51-71.

Richter, F. (2020). How Hard Has Airbnb Been Hit by the Pandemic? Statista Infographics. Web.

Shen et al. (2020) ‘The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on firm performance.’ Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, 56(10), pp.2213-2230.

Sobieralski, J.B. (2020) ‘COVID-19 and airline employment: Insights from historical uncertainty shocks to the industry,’ Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 5, p.100123. Web.

Strange, R., (2020) The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic and global value chains. Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, 47(3), pp.455-465. Web.

Walsh, C., Saxena, D. and Muzellec, L. (2020) Airbnb: Managing trust and safety on a platform business. The Irish Journal of Management, 39(2), pp.126-134. Web.