As anyone involved in it knows too well, the record profits of recent years do not make the US airline industry immune from a financial meltdown. And so the question looms: will it fare any better the next time the economy takes a turn for the worse? In fact, concern over global airline stability was the focus of the world travel conference held in Singapore in 2010. IATA, the conference sponsor, sought to develop future goals for the industry, calling the resulting report Vision 2050. Renowned strategist Michael Porter, of the Harvard Business School, used his popular five-force framework to provide a sweeping diagnosis of airline woes. This assessment tool, which can be applied to any industry, measures individual companies' relative strengths vis-a-vis suppliers, customers, substitutes, potential for new entrants, and, most importantly, the intensity of the rivalry among existing competitors.
展开▼
