greenheaLTH
MN6005 Managing Corporate Reputation
Case Study: Ryanair www.ryanair.com
______________________________________________________________________________
Introduction:
Despite being a hugely successful company, with revenues in 2013 of Euro:4,884 million, and profits of Euro:569 million, the ‘no-frills’ airline Ryanair has a number of problems. It regularly comes bottom, or near the bottom, of every major customer satisfaction survey, customers regularly use social media to complain about the dreadful quality of service, its belligerent CEO, Michael O’Leary, brushes aside any criticisms of his company, claiming that he gives customers what they want – cheap ‘no-frills’ flights with little quality service - and there is even a website called ‘I Hate Ryanair’ (see www.ihateryanair.org). But things are changing. In 2013 and 2014, faced with reductions in predicted profits, many shareholders, plus other key stakeholders, are asking Michael O’Leary many tough questions, and are demanding that Ryanair radically improves its levels of customer service, turns its negative publicity into positive publicity by managing its communications more effectively, plus radically improves its overall corporate reputation. Ryanair’s CEO O’Leary finally agreed, and made 2014 the year of change for Ryanair (see: www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryanair-announces-customer-service-improvements-over-next-6-months, plus also ww.thedrum.com/news/2014/01/17/ryanair-insists-it-s-changing-2014-weekly-twitter-chats-and-new-irish-ad).
O’Leary will clearly need help, and will require the expertise from the industry’s best corporate communication professionals - you - in producing a comprehensive communications presentation / report which identifies Ryanair’s key stakeholders, and improves communication with them in order to: (i) improve the company’s customer service, identity, and image (ii) ensure the company gains positive publicity, and (iii) develop a strong corporate reputation for the
Case Study: Ryanair www.ryanair.com
______________________________________________________________________________
Introduction:
Despite being a hugely successful company, with revenues in 2013 of Euro:4,884 million, and profits of Euro:569 million, the ‘no-frills’ airline Ryanair has a number of problems. It regularly comes bottom, or near the bottom, of every major customer satisfaction survey, customers regularly use social media to complain about the dreadful quality of service, its belligerent CEO, Michael O’Leary, brushes aside any criticisms of his company, claiming that he gives customers what they want – cheap ‘no-frills’ flights with little quality service - and there is even a website called ‘I Hate Ryanair’ (see www.ihateryanair.org). But things are changing. In 2013 and 2014, faced with reductions in predicted profits, many shareholders, plus other key stakeholders, are asking Michael O’Leary many tough questions, and are demanding that Ryanair radically improves its levels of customer service, turns its negative publicity into positive publicity by managing its communications more effectively, plus radically improves its overall corporate reputation. Ryanair’s CEO O’Leary finally agreed, and made 2014 the year of change for Ryanair (see: www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryanair-announces-customer-service-improvements-over-next-6-months, plus also ww.thedrum.com/news/2014/01/17/ryanair-insists-it-s-changing-2014-weekly-twitter-chats-and-new-irish-ad).
O’Leary will clearly need help, and will require the expertise from the industry’s best corporate communication professionals - you - in producing a comprehensive communications presentation / report which identifies Ryanair’s key stakeholders, and improves communication with them in order to: (i) improve the company’s customer service, identity, and image (ii) ensure the company gains positive publicity, and (iii) develop a strong corporate reputation for the
References: should be included as a bibliography and should follow the Harvard system. For example: Boddy, D (2007) Introduction to Management, (4th ed) Essex: Pearson Education Ltd