Expansion Strategies Kenya Airways Have Used to Enter into the Global Market

Abstract

The research evaluated expansion strategies Kenya Airways have used to enter into global market and determined their effectivene ss and contributions to the company’s performance. The findings highlighted direct and code sharing as strategies the company used to enter into global market. The study evaluated the effectiv eness of the two strate gies in terms of routes sustainability based on the method of entry used. The study further revealed that the company on its expansion path selectivel y chose certain regions of emergi ng economies in Africa and Asia while reducing its scope of operations in developed countrie s in Europe. The reduction of scope in Europe was due to competition the company faces from well-established airlines operating in Europe. This ther efore emphasized the company’s challenge to compete with highly developed airlines as far as offering of quality services is concerned. It emerged that the company has shown high sensitivity on c ompetition rather than improvement of quality services. The expansion strategies also evaluated the extent of utili zation of aircraft in terms of the number of routes they cove r and homogeneity of company’s fleet of aircraft as a way of lowering operations costs. The findings re vealed that utilization of aircraft and homogeneity of fleet was considered low. Even though the company has potential for expansion into global market due to growth in aviation sector, improvement of inf rastructure at its hub in J omo Kenyatta International (JKIA) Airport and good image, it is ye t to maximize such opportunities to expand its operations. Keywords : Direct Entry, Code Sharing, fleet homogeneity, Strategic Plan, Expansion strategies