Flying High in a Competitive Industry: Cost-Effective Service Excellence at Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is widely acknowledged as one of the leading airlines, if not the best airline, globally. This book provides insights into a simple but intriguing question: How has SIA managed to outperform other flag-carriers for decades, in an industry where it is notoriously difficult to succeed consistently?

Flying High in a Competitive Industry begins with an analysis of the airline industry and its key trends, moving on to a broad outline of SIA's strategic drivers of success. Empirical research was conducted at SIA to gain a deeper understanding of its strategy, core competencies and internal organization, innovation processes, and human resource practices, in order to distill strategy lessons that can inform the strategies of any organization competing in intensely competitive industries.

The book ends with some strategic lessons that we believe apply to any organization that aims to achieve sustainable success in hyper-competitive markets.

Loizos Heracleous is an associate professor of the Said Business School at Oxford University.
Jochen Wirtz is an associate professor of marketing at the National University of Singapore and an associate fellow of the Said Business School at Oxford University. He founded the UCLA-NUS executive MBA program.
Nitin Pangarkar is an associate professor of marketing at the National University of Singapore.