Image i förändring : En fallstudie av SAS Sverige AB

During the early 1990´s, the Swedish commercial air traffic was de-regulated and the new market-condition made it possible for low-budget airlines to enter the Swedish market. The former monopolistic airline company, Scandinavian Airline Systems (SAS), was facing a new type of competition which had the advantage of offering much cheaper air trips than SAS. Adding the decrease of profitability that struck SAS as well as other airline companies after the terrorist attacks on the 11th of September, forced them to carry out a mayor reorganization programme. The programme, called “Turn Around 2005”, was a direct economical measure that begun in 2002 and lasted until 2005 and resulted in a cost saving of 14,5 billion SEK as well as a notice or a transfer of 6000 employees. The purpose of this essay is to investigate if the opinion of the consumer, the image, corresponds with the profile that SAS wishes to mediate today. Our intentions are also to see if the changes during the reorganization have reached the consumers. This essay is a case study based on both a quantitative and a qualitative method. The quantitative study included questionnaires handed out to 143 persons and a former costumer satisfaction study made by “Svenskt Kvalitetsindex”. The qualitative study included deep interviews with employees on SAS. The results of the questionnaires, interviews and theories about image, profile, identity and GAP-analysis, clearly shows that SAS’s profile of being a low- cost airline and being the most price worthy alternative doesn’t correspond with the opinion of the consumers. The result also shows that the consumers have not detected any of the changes, apart from the price reduction, that was made during the reorganization. However SAS have succeeded to be known by the business-passengers as a bit better regarding the ground services and departures, and that part of their image are therefore close to their profile. Our conclusion states that there is an indistinctness regarding SAS profile since the costumers cannot decide if SAS is a low-cost or a traditional airline company