A633.3.4.RB - Complexity Science

A633.3.4.RB - Complexity Science

Complexity science is a new approach or method to science that has arisen over the past few decades to present an alternative paradigm to our standard method of scientific enquiry. (Sopow, PhD, 2012) Strategic planning is a continual process for airlines. Plans must take into account the challenging and ever-changing competitive environment as well as how passengers define value. For example, business travelers are sensitive to flight times and expect a high level of service. Short-haul business travelers tend to be more sensitive to ticket prices than long-haul business travelers. Leisure travelers are more sensitive to price but less demanding about service levels.

Deregulation has had a significant impact on airline strategies during the past several decades. As regulations on commercial aviation relax, airlines gain freedom to vary fares in response to competition and demand, develop network and schedule planning, and manage other key aspects of airline business. Deregulation has helped stimulate traffic and network growth, and the resulting competition provides increased choice to travelers. Airline business models continue to evolve in order to adapt to the dynamic marketplace.

As my company celebrates the past with our centennial anniversary, we continue to look to the future with our Current Market Outlook. This publication is companies long-term forecast of passenger and cargo traffic and the number of airplanes necessary to support that expectation. Our Current Market Outlook is one of the longest published and most accurate forecasts in the aviation industry.

These predictions are used to shape the company's product strategy and guide long-term business planning, as well as to share our view with the public, informing airlines, suppliers, and the financial community of industry trends. We first shared Current Market Outlook in the early 1960s at a Boeing-supplier conference. Since then, we have updated our market outlook annually to freshly factor in the industry's changing market forces.

"Boeing has always built tomorrow's airplanes today!" That phrase is from a late-1930s advertisement for the Boeing Model 314 Clipper, and it applies still today in 2016. Which proves two things: First, Boeing has always had some pretty smart advertising people. But second — and more important — it reveals the fundamental truth about The Boeing Company's leadership throughout its first century of existence, beginning with the first B & W lifting off the waters of Lake Union in 1916. Boeing has always been the leader in customer satisfaction, technical thought, and innovation. Those qualities, sustained over a century, are unmatched by any other aviation company. (Obolensky, 2014)

References

Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership. Burlington: Gower Publishing Company.

Sopow, PhD, E. (2012, May 8). Applying Complexity Science for Organization Development. Retrieved from YouTube: https://youtu.be/g13IDarbR_4