L'impact des stratégies de croissance externe sur la stratégie de marque des compagnies aériennes

The deregulation and the overcapacity of many industries have lead to a record level in external growth operations in the late 1990s (Doyle 2000). Nevertheless, development by acquisition tends to be selective in terms of industry sector. In banking, insurance, pharmaceutical, airline and automotive industries, the number of mergers, acquisitions and alliances is particularly high compared to other sectors (MANDA 2007).
Particularly, the airline sector has been very dynamic in terms of external development strategies over the last years. The airline market has been fragmented for a long time but the number of players in the air transport sector is now shrinking. The airline industry has entered a phase of consolidation (Euromonitor 2007a). In order to face this phenomenon, more and more airlines are tempted to achieve the critical mass needed to meet the high capital requirements of the industry. Similarly to other industries, mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances allow airlines to lower costs through rationalisation reduce competition and enhance market power. All these advantages are often viewed as strategic to face the new forms of competitions, especially coming from low cost airlines. External growth strategies have therefore seduced many airlines.
In order to deal with such a dynamic environment in terms of external growth, airlines definitely need powerful corporate brands. It may influence the success or fail of a merger, acquisition or alliance. It can also determine how the company is regarded on the market: as a potential acquirer or a target for take-over (Spaeth 2001). The increasing conscious of airlines concerning the importance of their corporate brand is proved by the large number of rebranding strategies - not necessarily a change of name but few brand elements - that occurred after a bankruptcy, crash or merger (Hucko 2007).