Research Articles Base: Share Price Strategies

Exploring the impact of recent union strikes to the corporate image and share price of the company

Exploring the impact of recent union strikes to the corporate image and 	share price of the company 	  	1.0  	 	 	Title 	 	The working title of the study is initially drafted as – Exploring the 	impact of recent union strikes to the corporate image and share price of the 	company. According to the Office for National Statistics, there are more 	workers in Britain that are willing to strike with 29% of workers belonging 	to a union three in five of which works in the public sector and one in five 	in private companies. One of the recent and widely celebrated unionism in 	2010 is that of British Airways’. Having said this, the study will focus on 	the airline industry and how it is being affected by the recent union 	strikes and how it is addressing the said issue. 	2.0  	 	 	Background 	            Conceptual design for this 	study is as follows:  	 	 	Figure  SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1 Share Price – Corporate Image Model for 	British Airways 	            There are four elements to 	the framework which are share price, corporate image, recent union strikes 	and British Airways. Share price simply refers to the price of a particular 	company’s — in our case, British Airways — shares at a particular time. On 	the other hand, corporate image refers to how a corporation like British 	Airways is perceived. As such, the framework depicts the effects and impacts 	of union strikes related to British Airways to its share price and image as 	a company. 	 	British airline industry 	 	Union strikes in British airline industry 	 	Effects of union strikes to airline companies 	            Bamford and Xystouri 	(2005) noted that union strikes are one reason for service interruptions. 	The authors said that the diffusion of a single union 20 years ago and the 	eventual creation of several others is in fact ““the power to influence 	events in the hands of an uncompromising few”. As such, employees who felt 	that their needs were not taken into serious consideration used their union 	to make demands. Bamford and Xystouri (2005) claim that weak management 	support, combined with discontented employees can result in continual strike 	action that gives an impression of a disorganised company. 	 	Effects of union strikes to airline companies’ corporate image 	 	Effects of union strikes to airline companies’ share price 	3.0  	 	 	Industry background 	            British airline industry, 	according to the Guardian (Milmo, 2010), is in profit but the UK is singled 	out as the weakest performer in Europe. Reasons behind this are the weaker 	economy and the impact of passenger taxes apart from the series of strikes 	to its flag carrier. British Airways has generated a pre-tax loss of nearly 	£1bn over the past two years while also being locked in a dispute with cabin 	crew as it strived to pare down costs (Milmo, 2010).  	            Basically, staff working 	for British Airways are represented by thee key trade unions namely British 	Air Line Pilots Association (BALPA), British Airlines Stewards and 	Stewardesses Association (BASSA) and Unite the Union, representing pilots, 	cabin crew and employees, respectively. According to Milmo (2009), cabin 	crew at British Airways went on strike in 1997 and then in 2009 because of 	the cost-cutting programmes implemented during those times. Milmo (2009) 	believed that the staff morale never recovered hence the unrest within the 	company ever since. 	            While there are union 	strikes in 2005, 2006 and 2007, industrial relations is most turbulent 	between British Airways and Unite in 2009 and 2010. The global financial 	crisis had taken its toll in the UK airline industry, forcing companies to 	propose changes to the working conditions.  Strikes occurred in December 	2009, February 2010, March 2010 and then May 2010. British Airways is 	seeking an injunction and the company withdrew travel perks of those who 	participated in the strike (BBC News).  	4.0  	 	 	Research aim, research questions or hypotheses and objectives 	            The main aim of this study 	is to investigate the effects of the recent union strikes in the airline 	industry in the UK. Specifically, the study aims at exploring the effects of 	the recent union strikes on the corporate image and share price of UK’s 	national carrier which is the British Airways. In lieu with this, the 	following questions will be given answer to: 	1) In what specific ways do the recent 	union strikes affect the share price and corporate image of the airline 	industry? 	2) To what extent do the recent union 	strikes are affecting the share price and corporate image of British 	Airways? 	            Further, to answer these 	questions, the following objectives will be addressed: <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%"> 		 		To explore the implications of the recent union strikes in the British 		airline industry as a whole </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%"> 		 		To analyse the effects of the recent union strikes on British Airways’ 		corporate image and share price</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%"> 		 		To recommend different strategies that British Airways can implement to 		remedy the negative effects of the recent union strikes</li> </ul> 	5.0  	 	 	Significance of the study 	 	This study is undertaken to advance the awareness in various effects of 	union strikes to the corporate image and share price of companies. 	Understanding the impacts of such meant to uncover how the different UK 	industries can address the situation more proactively and advantageously 	while also avoiding the similar event in the future. 	            Based on the findings of 	this research, the corporations will be provided with 	guidelines/recommendations in addressing union strikes that will minimise 	its negative effects on the image and reputation of the company. Union 	strikes can be avoided if the corporations are educated enough on what 	specific strategies will provide them with much efficiency in addressing 	such. The study is also important as it can relate the factors affecting the 	likelihood of success in every corporation/company-union relationship.  	 	            On a more personal note, I 	am expecting a role in the business environment in the future hence it is my 	role to contribute to literatures concerning understanding strategic 	relationships or how relationships can be made strategic internal to the 	corporations. In addition, this study will be important for corporations 	because it will increase their understanding of unionism and how important 	unions are for the success of the business. 	6.0  	 	 	Research methodology 	 	Research philosophy 	            The research philosophy 	adopted for this dissertation is interpretive epistemology which simply 	refers to the philosophical underpinning of the research. Interpretive 	epistemology has a basic assumption that knowledge can only be created and 	understood from the point of view of the individuals who live and work in a 	particular culture or organisation. Therefore, every individual acts in 	situation and makes sense of what is happening based on experiences of the 	situation and the expectations people bring into it. This means that there 	may be different understandings and interpretations of reality and 	interpretive epistemology leads to accessing meanings made by others and 	describe how they come to make those meanings (Hatch and Cunliffe, 2006, p, 	14). The choice of this philosophy is important because it guides the 	research design, the research approach, choice of methods, analysis of the 	findings, and even the presentation. 	            Further, an instrumental 	case study approach would be used since this enables the researcher to make 	generalisations based on the findings although only one case study 	organisation will be considered. In an instrumental case study, the 	particular case is less important than the insight it can provide into a 	specific issue of theory.  Thereby, the goal of this case study is to 	understand something more general than the case but nothing generalisable to 	other contexts (Colwell, 2006, p. 331). Denzin and Lincoln (2005), however, 	contend that the case, although it is of secondary interest, plays a 	supportive role and facilitates the understanding of important concepts. 	Investigating the case in-depth has a purpose of pursuing an external 	interest (p. 445). 	 	Research strategy 	 	Descriptive research will be used in the study. A descriptive research 	intends to present facts concerning the nature and status of a situation, as 	it exists at the time of the study (Creswell, 1994). It 	is also concerned with relationships and practices 	that exist, beliefs and process that are on-going, effects that are being 	felt or trends that are developing. In addition, such approach tries 	to describe present conditions, events or systems based on the impressions 	or reactions of the respondents of the research (Creswell, 1994). 	 	 	Basically, a descriptive research utilizes observations and surveys. It is 	for this particular reason that this approach was chosen by the researcher, 	whose intention is to gather first hand data from managers and/or 	supervisors from different corporations who recently had experienced union 	strikes. Moreover, this will allow for a flexible approach that when 	important new issues and questions arise at the duration of the study, a 	further investigation can be conducted. Also, with this type of approach, 	the researcher will be allowed to drop unproductive areas of research from 	the original plan of the study. Another advantage is that with this 	approach, the research will be fast and somehow cost-effective. 	Data collection 	 	Different methods for collecting data will be used. In this study, primary 	and secondary research will be both incorporated. The reason for this is to 	be able to provide adequate discussion for the readers that will help them 	understand more about the issue and the different variables that involve 	with it.     	The primary sources 	of data will be the interviews that will be conducted by the researcher to 	the representative(s) of an airline company in the UK who had recently 	experienced union strikes. British Airways is chosen as the setting of the 	study. After the data had been gathered, these will be analysed to determine 	their specific differences in the nature and dynamics of union strikes, as 	well as how these strikes affect the corporate image and share price of the 	company which is now identified as the British Airways. 	It is hoped that by conducting a survey and then interviews based on the 	survey results, the researcher will be able to gather the pertinent data 	needed in the fulfillment of the research objective. 	 	Survey is the chosen means to collect data because it 	 	is valuable in understanding the audience, and in the definition of the 	existence and magnitude of the problems, and the survey data are also 	helpful in determining cause and effect relationships between variables 	(Commonwealth of Learning, 2000). Further, the preliminary descriptive 	survey results can prove to be useful for planning more sophisticated survey 	studies with a view to identify areas where problems occur or where changes 	are required, to understand why people behave in a certain manner and what 	can be done to provide alternate solutions to the problems, where an attempt 	is made to understand the relationships between different variables, and the 	purpose of survey to diagnose or analyze the situation rather than just 	describe the situation (Commonwealth of Learning, 2000). Meanwhile, the 	secondary sources of data will come from published articles from business 	and international g journals, thesis and related studies on unionism 	particularly in the UK. 	 	For this research, the researcher, after gathering the relevant data needed, 	will collate them together with published studies from different local and 	foreign universities and articles from business journals, then afterwards 	render a critical analysis on the collected documents and verbal materials. 	Online libraries such as Emerald, Oxford and Highbeam will be another 	relevant source of data. A summary of all the information gathered will also 	be provided by the researcher, as well as a conclusion and insightful 	recommendations. 	 	Data analysis 	 	            The data obtained will be analysed with descriptive statistics 	analysis using SPSS version 14.0. The data results of the study will be 	analyzed by determining their corresponding frequency, percentage and 	weighted mean. The interview data would be presented, with emphasis on the 	discourse that took place to illustrate the main points being made by 	interviewees. To build on this and provide a structured qualitative 	approach, the use of discourse analysis would be employed. Discourse 	analysis generally refers to a number of approaches to analyse written, 	spoken or sign language use. 	7.0  	 	 	Resources 	            The only concern of the 	researcher is conducting the interviews with organizations which should 	provide the primary data of this research. I assume that it would not be 	very easy to access interviews with bank executives, but I will ensure that 	I will exert all my effort and negation skills to organise these interviews. 	Nonetheless, as the researcher I will assure them the commercial 	confidentiality to informations disclosed (or to be disclose) so as not to 	jeopardised the internal processes and might eventually lead to consequences 	such as industrial espionage and other business ethical dilemmas.    	8.0  	 	 	References 	 	Bamford, D & Xystouri, T 2005, A case study of service failure and recovery 	within an international airline, Managing Service Quality Journal, 	vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 306-322. 	 	BBC News 2009, British Airways cabin crew vote for Christmas strike. 	 	 	BBC News 2010, British Airways cabin crew back strike action. 	 	BBC News 2010, BA Strikers to forfeit cheap travel perks. 	 	Colwell, R 2006, Handbook of Research Methodologies, Oxford 	University Press, US. 	 	Creswell, J W 1994, Research design: Qualitative and quantitative 	approaches, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California. 	 	Denzin, N K & Lincoln, Y S 2005, The SAGE handbook of qualitative 	research, Sage Publications Inc, UK. 	 	Hatch, M J & Cunliffe, A L 2006, Organization Theory: Modern, Symbolic, 	and Postmodern Perspective, Oxford University Press, Oxford. 	 	Milmo, D 2009, BA Strike: conflict that was always on airline’s flight path, 	The Guardian 	 	Milmo, D 2010, Airline industry in profit but UK carriers hit by disputes, 	The Guardian. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Exploring the impact of recent union strikes to the corporate image and share price of the company

Exploring the impact of recent union strikes to the corporate image and share price of the company 1.0 Titl...