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<p>For the last several decades, global airline alliances have ensured their market presence in the aviation industry. Scholars have focused on the effects of alliance affiliation for airlines and what the competitive advantages of alliances are. However, these issues have been discussed in relation to operational aspects. The quality of strategic communication can be an important factor in achieving a competitive advantage and realizing a differentiation strategy. This study assessed the differences in quality of strategic communication between the three leading alliance groups (oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance) and a non-alliance group. Comprehensive content analysis was implemented using the letters of chief executive officers (CEOs) of 46 airlines. We found that the non-alliance group has more ideal CEO letters than the alliance groups, and the main topics and quality of CEO letters of alliance group differed. This study provides a novel insight into the competitive advantage of global airline alliances.</p>
</abstract>

For the last several decades, global airline alliances have ensured their market presence in the aviation industry. Scholars have focused on the effects of alliance affiliation for airlines and what the competitive advantages of alliances are. However, these issues have been discussed in relation to operational aspects. The quality of strategic communication can be an important factor in achieving a competitive advantage and realizing a differentiation strategy. This study assessed the differences in quality of strategic communication between the three leading alliance groups (oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance) and a non-alliance group. Comprehensive content analysis was implemented using the letters of chief executive officers (CEOs) of 46 airlines. We found that the non-alliance group has more ideal CEO letters than the alliance groups, and the main topics and quality of CEO letters of alliance group differed. This study provides a novel insight into the competitive advantage of global airline alliances.

Strategic Communication and Competitive Advantage: Assessing CEO Letters of Global Airline Alliances

Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration

Graduate School of Business Administration

Foundations of Management

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

For the last several decades, global airline alliances have ensured their market presence in the aviation industry. Scholars have focused on the effects of...

Strategic Communication and Competitive Advantage: Assessing CEO Letters of Global Airline Alliances

Published Online: Jun 08, 2021

Page range: 57 - 72

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fman-2021-0005

Keywords
global marketing strategy, strategic communication, competitive advantage, global airline alliance, CEO letter, CEO letter effectiveness

© 2021 Gang-Hoon Seo et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Strategic Communication and Competitive Advantage: Assessing CEO Letters of Global Airline Alliances

Published Online: Jun 08, 2021

Page range: 57 - 72

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fman-2021-0005

Keywordsglobal marketing strategy, strategic communication, competitive advantage, global airline alliance, CEO letter, CEO letter effectiveness

© 2021 Gang-Hoon Seo et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
global marketing strategy, strategic communication, competitive advantage, global airline alliance, CEO letter, CEO letter effectiveness