As a famous Irish airline, Ryanair is known for its low-priced airline services. This company has currently become the largest low-cost airline in Europe. In the mission statement of Ryanair, it clarifies that this business will continue providing ‘low-fare-no-frills’ flight services in order to become the most successful low-cost airline in the European market (Mayer, 2007). Ryanair has employed a range of approaches to reduce cost to the minimum. For example, certain services like ticketing and luggage handling are contracted to third parties, while unnecessary service free drinks and multi-class seating are eliminated. Johnson, Whittington and Scholes (2011) argue that, strategic management enables an organization to make wise decisions on a business in the long term. As a pioneer in the field of strategic management, Ansoff proposed a matrix illustrating four strategic positions open to marketing managers when considering new opportunities for further growth in sales, including market penetration, product development, market development and diversification. In this essay, the author will discuss how Ryanair can use Ansoff’s matrix to design potential strategic options for its business. However, this essay finds that product development and diversification are more appropriate for Ryannair. There are two variable in Ansoff’s matrix, one is the market where the business operates or is going to operate, and the other one is the product which is already existing in the current market or the new ones (Thompson and Machin, 2003; Marcouse, Surridge and Gillespie, 2011). Therefore, a business faces two alternatives in terms of the market, remaining in the current market or entering into a new one. When it comes to the product, there are also two options, selling existing products or creating new ones. So,
References: Routes (2010) Jet2com Continues to Succeed with Niche Strategy Ryanair (2013) Annual Report 2013 Dublin: Ryanair