Customer Service, as a route to Competitive Advantage

Introduction:

Customer Service is the commitment to providing value added services to external and
internal customers, including attitude knowledge, technical support and quality of service in a
timely manner. It is a contact between a customer and a company that causes a negative or
positive perception by a customer.

Increasing competition (whether for profit or non-profit) is forcing businesses to pay much
more attention to satisfying customers, including by providing strong customer service.
Customer service is a process for providing competitive advantage and adding benefits in
order to maximize the total value to the customer

Customer service requires understanding different communication styles and how to deal
with them, understanding their language. Also, working with customer service standards and
building rapport is also very important.

Top performers are treating their best customers better than ever, even if that means doing
less to wow new ones. While cutting back-office expenses, they're trying to preserve frontline
jobs and investing in cheap technology to improve service.

Direct marketers are in an environment, which changes so quickly and only way to survive is
keeping track with customers’ preferences and trying every possible method to build strong,
long-term relationship with customers in order to increase customer satisfaction, customer
loyalty and customer profitability in cost effective way.

During the heyday of the technology boom throughout the 1990’s many companies
experienced enormous success for a few years, however without creating a solid internal
framework many of these companies did not survive. However, there are some exceptions to
this. To consider the importance of customer service, three companies are considered who
have achieved leadership mainly because of their excellent customer service. These
companies are Dell, Maruti and Kingfisher.
Dell – Customer service as a source to competitive advantage

Michael Dell established Dell Computer Corporation in 1984. He had a vision that he could
do great things by upgrading PCs and sell them. While upgrading and selling PCs, he found
out that traditional manufacturer-retailer chain is not as productive as it should be. Therefore
he started to think of finding ways to sell to the end users directly. By doing so, decreasing
the costs on the supply chain and more important servicing the customer with those saved
dollars would be a great solution in order to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. He
was right to do what he believed in as an entrepreneur and now he has a reputable company
not only in terms of the sales but also building great customer relationships.

In Dell Corporation, success is coming from proper research, positioning and the most
important segmentation. Successful segmentation work gives Dell an opportunity to adjust its
approach to each customer in each segment to build and improve customer relationships. That
is customer relationship management and that is competitive advantage of Dell Computers.
That is not an inside out company but outside in.

Dell computers:
The Company was founded on a simple concept- by selling personal computer systems
directly to customers, the Company could best understand their needs, and efficiently provide
the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs.

Dell Computer Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, markets, services and supports
a wide range of computer systems and also markets software, peripherals and service and
support programs. The Company is managed on a geographic basis. The three geographic
segments are the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific and Japan.

Segmentation and Dell Computers:

Segmentation is the backbone of the Dell Computers operations. Based on segmentation,
company takes its positioning and modifies its offerings for each segment’s customers.
Michael Dell says, “An Important element of virtual integration with customers is
segmentation. The finer the segmentation, the better able Dell is to forecast what customers
are going to need and when. Then coordination of flow of strategic information comes to
stage all the way back to suppliers, effectively substituting information for inventory” Dell's
Market Segmentation.

Business Strategy:
The Company’s business strategy is based on its direct business model. The Company’s
business model seeks to deliver a superior customer experience through direct,
comprehensive customer relationships, cooperative research and development with
technology partners, computer systems custom-built to customer specifications and service
and support programs tailored to customer needs.

Dell Direct Model:

The direct model is based on the principle that delivering custom-built computer systems is
the best business model for providing solutions that are truly relevant to end-user needs. This
concept, together with the Company’s flexible, build-to-order manufacturing process, enables
the Company to achieve faster inventory turnover and reduced inventory levels and allows
the Company to rapidly incorporate new technologies and components into its product
offerings. In the same way that the Company’s computer products are built-to-order, service
and support programs are designed to fit specific customer requirements. The Company
offers a broad range of service and support programs through its own technical personnel and
its direct management of specialized service suppliers. These services range from online
support to onsite customer-dedicated systems engineers. Dell is the first company, which
starts the direct selling model to end users in computer market place.

Following benefits give great competitive advantage to Dell Corporation:

• Eliminates the need to support an extensive network of wholesale and retail dealers
• Avoiding dealer mark-ups
• Avoids the higher inventory costs associated with the wholesale/ retail channel and
the competition for retail shelf space
• Reduces the high risk of obsolescence associated with products in a rapidly changing
technological market
• Allows the Company to maintain, monitor and update a customer database that can be
used to shape future product offerings and post-sale service and support programs.
The Company develops and utilizes direct customer relationships to understand end-users’
needs and to deliver high quality computer products and services tailored to meet those
needs. For large corporate and institutional customers, the Company works with the customer
prior to the sale to plan a strategy to meet that customer’s current and future technology
needs. After the sale, the Company continues the direct relationship by establishing account
teams, consisting of sales, customer service and technical personnel, dedicated to the
Company’s large corporate and institutional customers. The Company also establishes direct
relationships with small-to-medium businesses and individuals through account
representatives, telephone sales representatives or Internet contact. These direct customer
relationships provide the Company with a constant flow of information about its customers’
plans and requirements and enable the Company to weigh its customers’ needs against
emerging technologies.

Dell Goes Online - Dell.Com:

In late July 1996, Dell began selling $1 million per week through Web. Once customers
logged onto the site and configured the system that best suited their needs, they had the
option of purchasing the system using a credit card. After ordering the system, the customer
could use “dell.com” to track the order’s status from the time it was entered in the system,
through to the manufacturing process, and then to shipping. Once shipped, dell.com was
linked to shipping partners who assigned the system an air bill number that racked delivery of
the system. In addition to the purchase functionality, the site contained complete service and
support data, with 35,000 pages of troubleshooting information-the same information used by
the Dell’s technical representatives to solve hardware and software problems over the phone.
Dell served its online customers with 12 sales reps and two order processors dedicated to
processing Internet orders.Dell has created many features and services online to help the
customer see the whole purchasing process clearly. The premise of Dell’s business is selling
directly to customers – customers tell Dell exactly what they want and Dell provides them
with the goods directly. As well as being able to customise the product, customers can track
the progress of the order as it is produced and delivered. This can help the customer see the
stages of the process and likely delivery times.

Customers can create and view their service records online. This includes product support,
shipment and delivery dates. Each purchase comes with a service tag code, which can track
the model bought and its service requirements. This allows Dell customer service
representatives to quickly and efficiently handle requests. This level of 24 hour customer
service and fast response time helps Dell build strong customer relations, which of course is
crucial for the company in its understanding of customer needs. It is also a very cost-effective
way of providing sales and support – cost savings which can be passed on in the form of
better prices to customers. The customer must have a convenient experience when shopping
online and have faith that Dell will successfully complete the order and safeguard financial
details. Customers need to be comfortable using paperless transactions without face-to-face
contact.

Dell’s CRM Strategy:

Customer relationship management is a vital concept for Dell Corporation. Dell’s CRM
strategy is established according to the following steps:
• Make segmentation. Identify customers. Segmentation on the basis of detailed data
helped Dell build closer relationships with the customers.
• Listen their customers to make sure what they need and when they need & responding
them.
• Learn from customers as much as possible (Michael Dell spends 40% of his time with
domestic and international customers)
• Before building any product, they knew what the customer wanted and were able to
deliver exactly that. To make this model successful it was important that the entire sales force
is trained to understand the customer requirements and convey it to the production
department.
• Customer support after sales over the phone and the internet
• According CRM strategy of DELL, each member of DELL is a student who is
responsible of learning from the customer.

Dell’s CRM Strategic Objectives:

Dell Corporation is intending to make the most of every single touch point with the
customers in order to build and expand the relationships with customers.

Here are the CRM objectives of DELL:

• Better customer loyalty · Greater customer satisfaction
• Higher-sales and marketing performance
• Stronger brand consistency
• Improved customer profitability
• More cost-effective customer service

Direct Model & CRM:

Dell Computers has started its unique direct selling model in PC market place. They cut the
cost by eliminating the retail stores and spend those saved dollars on customer service and
other after sale services in order to build great relationships with customers.
Here are some highlights for direct model and CRM at Dell:
• Being able to contact with the customer directly so that can understand better they
customer needs.
• Reducing the cost to reach the customer by eliminating middlemen
• Using saved dollars on customer service to increase customer satisfaction and
customer loyalty.
• Building computers based on customer’s needs.
• Engaging with customer on each touch point as productive & efficient as possible.
Capturing as much information as possible.

Conclusions:
• Dell has a different way to provide computers in market place, in terms of the
channels and quality of contact moments. That gives a great advantage.
• Dell reduces its costs by using direct marketing methods. Therefore they can give
build better customer relationships by using saved dollars from regular distribution channel.
• Dell has to keep contacting with customers to determine any change on customer’s
purchasing behaviour and preferences.
• Dell’s CRM strategy based on direct model is the best way to capture information
about customers and analyse it
• High level of sales is the greatest indicator of success on CRM strategy along with
customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Dell is focussed on enhancing its image and relationships, not only with customers, but also
with employees and the wider community. To do this, the website is also used as a
communication tool for news, press releases and general information to help customers,
employees, the media and prospective employees find out more about the company.
Maruti:
Maruti Suzuki India Limited a partial subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan is
India's largest passenger car company, accounting for over 45% of the domestic car market.
The company offers a complete range of cars from entry level Maruti-800 and Alto, to stylish
hatchback Ritz, A star, Swift, Wagon-R, Estillo and sedans DZire, SX4 and Sports Utility
vehicle Grand Vitara.

Maruti Suzuki is India's number one leading automobile manufacturer and the market leader
in the car segment, both in terms of volume of vehicles sold and revenue earned. It was the
first company in India to mass-produce and sell more than a million cars. It is largely credited
for having brought in an automobile revolution to India. It is the market leader in India and
on 17 September 2007, Maruti Udyog Limited was renamed Maruti Suzuki India Limited.
The company's headquarters are located in Delhi. Since Suzuki has major share in Maruti so
all the key decision are taken by Suzuki.

Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) was established in February 1981, though the actual
production commenced in 1983 with the Maruti 800, based on the Suzuki Alto Kei car which
at the time was the only modern car available in India, its only competitors- the Hindustan
Ambassador and Premier Padmini were both around 25 years out of date at that point.
Through 2004, Maruti Suzuki has produced over 5 Million vehicles. Maruti Suzukis are sold
in India and various several other countries, depending upon export orders.

Maruti tops the Satisfaction list:

According to the latest study -- India Sales Satisfaction Index -- by the market research firm,
Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) topped the list of 11 auto-makers, garnering 819 points on a
1,000-point scale. It was followed by Honda and Skoda, with 816 and 812 points,
respectively.

Maruti Suzuki Ranks Highest in Automotive Customer Satisfaction in India For a Ninth
Consecutive Year Singapore: Oct 20th, 2008 SINGAPORE: 20 October 2008 - For a ninth
consecutive year, Maruti Suzuki ranks highest in customer satisfaction with authorized dealer
service in India, according to the J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2008 India Customer Service Index
(CSI).
The study, in its 12th year, measures satisfaction among vehicle owners who visited their
authorized dealership service centre for maintenance or repair work during the first 12 to 18
months of ownership, which typically represents the warranty period. Overall satisfaction is
determined by examining seven measures (listed in order of importance): problems
experienced; service quality; user-friendly service; service advisor; service initiation; service
delivery; and in-service experience.

"The success of Maruti Suzuki is largely attributed to the enthusiasm of sales people at the
dealership, as well as their ability to understand customer requirements and provide
knowledgeable answers to queries. Quick service turnaround induces a feeling of
convenience and comfort for customers, especially as life styles become faster paced. Dealers
that provide expedient service not only delight their customers but also benefit from greater
dealership profitability as a result of high levels of asset utilization." JD Power Asia-Pacific
Executive Director Mohit Arora said.

New launches, coupled with the easy availability of finances, have helped the car industry
post an over 30 per cent increase in sales during this fiscal. According to the Society of
Indian Automobile Manufacturers, total car sales in this fiscal so far have soared by 34.62 per
cent to 5,92,405 units, compared to 4,40,069 units in the year-ago period. Domestic
passenger car sales in 2009-10 also registered strong growth over the previous year. Car sales
in 2009-10 stood at 15,26,259 units, as against 12,20,475 units in 2008- 09, an increase of
over 25 per cent.

“Maruti Suzuki has effectively implemented simple procedures that improve satisfaction with
the value of work performed and perceptions of the fairness and honesty of the dealer, such
as greeting service customers quickly upon arrival and fully explaining charges and repairs,
Instituting these low-effort, yet high-impact practices helps to foster trust among customers,
which is critical to building loyalty for future service and sales opportunities” said Mohit
Arora

The overall cost of vehicle operation is an aggregation of three components: fuel; repair and
maintenance; and tire expenses. Consumers in India have traditionally exhibited higher
sensitivity to the costs of vehicle operation, compared with consumers in other international
markets," said Arora. In India, customer intent to recommend a model or repurchase a make
is strongly influenced by satisfaction with vehicle operating costs."

Customer loyalty rates have remained stable from 2007, with 64 percent of owners in 2008
saying they "definitely would" repurchase their vehicle make, compared with 63 percent in
2007. However, the study also finds that rates of advocacy and loyalty are much higher
among highly satisfied customers (those with satisfaction scores averaging above 867) than
among customers with lower levels of satisfaction.

Approximately 94 percent of highly satisfied customers say they "definitely would"

recommend their vehicle make, and 84 percent report they "definitely would" repurchase
their vehicle make. In contrast, among customers with the lowest levels of satisfaction
(averaging below 709), only 55 percent of customers "definitely would" recommend, and
only 43 percent report that they "definitely would" repurchase their current vehicle make.

Maruti True Value

Maruti True service is offered by Maruti Suzuki to its customers. It is a market place for used
Maruti Suzuki Vehicles. One can buy, sell or exchange used Maruti Suzuki vehicles with the
help of this service in India. As of 2009 there are 315 Maruti True Value outlets.

N2N Fleet Management

N2N is the short form of End to End Fleet Management and provides lease and fleet
management solution to corporates. This fleet management service includes end-to-end
solutions across the vehicle's life, which includes Leasing, Maintenance, Convenience
services and Remarketing.

Accessories
Many of the auto component companies other than Maruti Suzuki started to offer components
and accessories that were compatible. This caused a serious threat and loss of revenue to
Maruti Suzuki. Maruti Suzuki started a new initiative under the brand name Maruti Genuine
Accessories to offer accessories like alloy wheels, body cover, carpets, door visors, fog
lamps, stereo systems, seat covers and other car care products.
Maruti Driving School
As part of its corporate social responsibility Maruti Suzuki launched the Maruti Driving
School in Delhi. Later the services were extended to other cities of India as well. These
schools are modeled on international standards, where learners go through classroom and
practical sessions. Many international practices like road behaviour and attitudes are also
taught in these schools. Before driving actual vehicles participants are trained on simulators

About J.D. Power Asia Pacific:

J.D. Power Asia Pacific has offices in Tokyo, Singapore and China which conduct customer
satisfaction research and provide consulting services in the automotive, information
technology and finance industries. Together, the three offices bring the language of customer
satisfaction to consumers and businesses in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia,
Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.

The story about a doting mother's determination to fulfil her headstrong son's obsession
leading to the genesis of Maruti Udyog Ltd., India's leading car maker today, is a familiar
one. Not so well known, even to the top echelons at Maruti, is how a play on ego enabled
Suzuki to be associated with Maruti. This was revealed by none less than the Chairman of the
Suzuki Group, Osamu Suzuki himself, in an article in Kenshu, a Japanese quarterly
publication of the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship.

When the Indian team visited Japan back in the early 1980s in its hunt for a collaborator for
the fledgling Maruti, its eyes were on the "biggies'' like Toyota, Nissan and Honda. Suzuki
Motor Corporation was then a minor player in the four-wheeler league, its main strength
being in two-wheelers.

The giants had their top bosses present during the initial introduction phase with the Indian
team but the later detailed technical presentations were left to the lower rungs of their
managements. The canny Osamu Suzuki, on the other hand, made sure that he was present
through all the phases of the Maruti presentation to Suzuki. The constant presence of the top
gun had two effects on the Indian team members - it subtly massaged their egos and also
convinced them about the sincerity of Suzuki's bid. Ego or no ego, the Indian team's choice of
Suzuki as a partner for Maruti was, in hindsight, a very perspicacious move. In order to prove
that it was the right choice despite being a relatively small and unknown player, Suzuki went
out of its way to ensure that Maruti was a success.

No doubt, the Government connection (and the all-powerful doting mother) was a help to
Suzuki in such matters as import clearances for manufacturing equipment (a sore point with
the Indian machine tool industry then), obtaining land for the factory and excise tariffs. But, it
cannot be gainsaid that Suzuki conscientiously nursed Maruti through its infancy.

Maruti has made profits in all the past 20 years since inception, barring 2001. It has today
over 50 per cent share of a highly competitive Indian car market and exports the largest
number of cars to the developed countries of Western Europe. In 2002-03, it sold 3.62 lacs
cars and the figures for the first half indicate that total sales for 2003-04 may touch 4.50 lacs.
Exports have grown a phenomenal 98 per cent during April-October this year to cross 22,400
units.

It is not just new processes or product technology brought in by Suzuki that made Maruti
different. In fact, the manufacturing process instituted at Maruti, although comprising such
high tech equipment like transfer line presses and CNC machines, was a far cry from the
level of automation in use in leading car factories around the world then. The first product —
the Maruti 800 — was no great shakes in automobile technology, being based on a model
introduced in Japan in the late 1970s.

For most of its history, Maruti Udyog Limited had relatively few problems with its labour
force. Its emphasis of a Japanese work culture and the modern manufacturing process, first
instituted in Japan in the 1970s, was accepted by the workforce of the company without any
difficulty.

Quality enhancement:

Perhaps the most ambitious quality enhancement scheme Maruti has launched recently is the
Quality Gate system. It is a home grown effort modelled on a GM system (Suzuki does not
have it). The system consists of a network of 74 Quality Gates throughout the plant. At each
gate, the part or sub-assembly passing through is tested for quality on a number of relevant
parameters. These measurements are passed on to a central place for a statistical quality
control audit. In this way, an hourly check can be kept on the quality of work passing through
the process and any major deviations from standards can be dealt with in time.

One area where Maruti has been weak is product development. It relied totally on Suzuki for
this function. While there is no denying the capability of Japanese designers, the fact
remained that they were not fully aware of the ground realities of the road and traffic
conditions in India. Sometimes the solutions they came up with were counter-productive. For
example, the alteration made in the leaf spring system of the Omni van has reduced the
component cost but at the expense of riding comfort on India's potholed roads.

Finally, Suzuki has relented and sanctioned the setting up of a product design centre at
Maruti. The first goal of this R & D centre is to deliver the design of a new model, perhaps in
the B segment, for the non-Japanese market by 2007

Conclusion:
Quick completion of service is a key source of customer delight, particularly for customers
who visit the dealer for routine maintenance.
Maruti did particularly well in five of the seven factors:
• Delivery process
• Salesperson
• Sales initiation
• Dealer facility
• Paperwork.
Kingfisher Airline
Owned by the India's biggest liquor baron, Mr Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) is
one of the finest luxury airlines of India. Based in Bangalore, the Kingfisher Airlines started
operations on 9th may 2005, following the lease of 4 Airbus 320 aircraft. Recognized with its
colourful logo of Kingfisher bird on the tails of all the aircrafts, Kingfisher Airlines main
vision is to deliver safe, value-based and enjoyable travel experience to all its guest based on
its core values of 'safety', 'service', 'happiness', 'accountability' and 'teamwork'.

Kingfisher Airlines is one of six airlines in the world to have a 5-star rating from Skytrax,
along with Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways and Singapore
Airlines. Kingfisher operates more than 375 daily flights to 71 destinations, with regional and
long-haul international service. In May 2009, Kingfisher Airlines carried more than a million
passengers, giving it the highest market share among airlines in India.

The domestic Kingfisher First seats have a 48 inch seat pitch and a 125 degree seat recline.
There are laptop and mobile phone chargers on every seat. Passengers can avail of the latest
international newspapers and magazines. There is also a steam ironing service on board
Kingfisher First cabins. Every seat is equipped with a personalized IFE system
with AVOD which offers a wide range of Hollywood and Bollywood movies, English and
Hindi TV programmes, 16 live TV channels and 10 channels of Kingfisher Radio. Passengers
also get BOSE noise cancellation headphones. Domestic Kingfisher First is only available on
selected Airbus A320 family aircraft.

Positioning
Kingfisher Airline (KFA) has carved a niche for itself. The airline offers several unique
services to its customers. These include: personal valet at the airport to assist in baggage
handling and boarding, exclusive lounges with private space, accompanied with refreshments
and music at the airport, audio and video on-demand, with extra-wide personalized screens in
the aircraft, sleeper seats with extendable footrests, and three-course gourmet cuisine.

Segmentation on Class of Service

KFA today offers three unique classes of service -Kingfisher First, Kingfisher Class and
Kingfisher Red. Kingfisher First is the business class service of KFA focused on business
class passengers who are willing to spend for premium services. Kingfisher Class is the
aspirational premium economy service of KFA focused on the growing middle-class that is
trendy, savvy and upwardly mobile. Kingfisher Red is the low fare service of KFA focused
on the growing middle class who are price conscious. KFA has carved a distinct position for
itself by its flamboyant lifestyle image and by offering a great flying experience with comfort
seating, personalized entertainment and services to its passengers. KFA has adopted a lot of
marketing strategies since its inception and continues to do so in its growth stage. Its
marketing efforts aimed at building a unique brand image for KFA which plays a huge role in
the success of the airlines.

King Club
The Frequent-flyer program of Kingfisher Airlines is called the King Club in which members
earn King Miles every time they fly with Kingfisher or its partner airlines, hotels, car rental,
finance and lifestyle businesses. There are four levels in the scheme: Red, Silver, Gold and
Platinum levels. Members can redeem points for over a number of schemes. Platinum, Gold
and Silver members enjoy access to the Kingfisher Lounge, priority check-in, excess baggage
allowance, bonus miles, and 3 Kingfisher First upgrade vouchers for Gold membership.
Platinum members get 5 upgrade vouchers. Kingfisher Lounges are offered to Kingfisher
First passengers, along with King Club Silver and King Club Gold members. Kingfisher
Airlines frequent flyer programme, King Club has won Top Honors at the 21st Annual
Freddie Awards in the Japan, Pacific, Asia and Australia region.

Branding
KFA is a pioneer in the concept of bringing luxury, glamour and lifestyle to the skies. The
brand image of the parent Kingfisher brand gave further credibility to its marketing
campaigns, featuring India's then top models. Kingfisher airlines sold the concept of lifestyle
through its glamorous airhostesses, red-the colour of vibrancy and added hospitality which
made every passenger feels like a guest on board. It marketed itself as a budget airline
targeting the middle of the market. It used multiple promotional campaigns, from having
India's top model Yana Gupta on flight, to schemes on discounted tickets, initially, to invite
people to experience the 'good flying' concept.

KFA is all set to redefine the low cost carrier (LCC) segment by using Kingfisher Red as a
flanker brand. An exhaustive market survey done by Kingfisher revealed that an average flier
even in the low cost segment expects certain basic services. Kingfisher Red is positioned
between a low cost and full service carrier. It is the only airline that offers additional services
compared to other traditional low cost carriers and yet economical compared to full service
carriers. Kingfisher Red has carved for itself a straddle position: low fare flying with the
experience of a premium one - a premium low cost carrier as it proudly calls itself. It hopes to
foster loyalty amongst its customers through such positioning.

Kingfisher Red offered new features like web check-in, in-flight reading material, and
frequent flier programs. Kingfisher is offering free wholesome Indian meals on its flights, a
move aimed to regain its lost market share from Indigo, which recently replaced Kingfisher
Red.

Market Share:
Current market share of Indian carriers in the domestic aviation market is shown below:

Jet Airways and Jet Lite 25.9%

Kingfisher Airlines 21.4%
NACIL 18.2%
IndiGo 15.7%
SpiceJet 12.6%
GoAir 5.9%
Paramount Airways 0.3%

Though jet airways top in the list on basis of revenue, Kingfisher still heads the list in terms
of Customer service.

Current Strategy
With the introduction of Kingfisher Red, Kingfisher has 3 product offerings: premium
business, premium economy and premium low cost. Kingfisher's offerings span the entire
market. Such a strategy is generally not a very good one, as it does not send out a very clear
positioning message and may only serve to drive away customers from both ends of the
market segment, instead of serving both.

However, in the current scenario, at a time when the future of the aviation industry is
uncertain, this very positioning and market coverage may be the best thing to do. It becomes
a source of competitive advantage as it gives Kingfisher the flexibility to consolidate its
position, if need be, in any direction depending on the future course of the industry. Also, in
future, Kingfisher would have high flexibility to change its product mix amongst the three
classes contingent on segment attractiveness and changing customer wants.

Future
Kingfisher is targeting a different kind of people, who want to fly with a five star experience.
KFA has obtained its goal of serving its guest a world class experience along with the basic
need of travelling from one place to other. KFA will be flying to many leisure destinations
like Maldives from 30th October 2010. KFA will strive hard to keep their brand on the top of
the mind when people thing of flying.

By-

Manish Shinde 422

Mayur Jain 423

Melroy D’sa 426

Merwin Rodrigues 427