in a competitive industry

operations present special management challenges with demanding customers and tough competitors. The authors of ‘‘Flying High in a Com-petitive Industry: Cost-effective Service Excellence at Singapore Airlines’’ present a comprehensive description and analysis of a company that is highly successful in not just any service industry but in the extremely challenging airline industry. The presentation is very thorough, examining Singapore Airlines from top to bottom. Extensive use of data from a variety of sources and specific details from Singapore Airline enhance the discussion of strategic choices, promotion and support of innovation, and human resource manage-ment that contribute to Singapore’s continued success. Readers will be in-spired to learn that service excellence can be achieved in a cost-effective manner. The book begins with an in-depth history of the airline industry as a preface to a description of Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its successful management system. The background chapter is invaluable in setting up the SIA story. In addition, the presentation of SIAs own history adds to the understanding of its long-term success. The introduction relates the ups and downs of the airline industry along with examples of how different companies have responded and reacted to external and internal pressures. A specific discussion of economics describes governmental impacts on the industry and a well-developed expla-nation of airline alliances help the reader understand some of the distinct elements of the industry. Supporting data from a wide variety of sources is presented effectively in graphical form here and throughout the book. The chapter concludes with a discussion of key factors for successful strategies fo