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Case Study

Easyjet: The web's favorite airline

By Nirmalya Kumar and Brian Rogers

22 pages

December 1999

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Reference: IMD-3-0873

Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the 32 year-old CEO and founder of easyJet airlines, achieved profitability for the first time in 1999, almost 4 years after launching his London-based low-cost carrier. The concept behind easyJet was “to offer low-cost airline service to the masses”, and the airline accomplished this by adopting an efficiency-driven operating model, creating brand awareness, and maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction.

A key issue in the case is whether the airline will continue to grow and survive in the highly competitive low-cost segment of the market. In 2000, Stelios was anxious to try his hand at launching other businesses, so he started a chain of Internet cafés. Some questioned whether Stelios would be able to successfully transfer his low-cost business model to Internet cafés. Undeterred, Stelios moved ahead with his plan to create easyEverything, with the belief that he could make a profit by encouraging customers to surf the Internet, send email, and shop online.

Keywords

Marketing Strategy, Industry Analysis, Service Management, Airline, General Management

Settings

Europe
Easyjet
1999

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese

Related material

Teaching note, Video

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This case study is part of a series

EasyEverything: The internet shop
EasyEverything: The internet shop (Abridged)
EasyJet: The Web's favorite airline
Easyjet: The web's favorite airline (Abridged)
Www.easyrentacar.com

2002 ECCH AWARD WINNER (Overall Winner)

2001 ECCH AWARD WINNER (Policy & General Management)

Best-selling Case Study

This case study is part of a series

EasyEverything: The internet shop
EasyEverything: The internet shop (Abridged)
EasyJet: The Web's favorite airline
Easyjet: The web's favorite airline (Abridged)
Www.easyrentacar.com

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Case reference: IMD-7-2455 ©2024

Summary

In the 2010s, card processing – Mastercard’s flagship service – started showing signs of commodification as new, nimble players (typically, fintech startups thriving on digital) entered the payment processing space, and customer preferences evolved beyond plastic cards and traditional contact payments. To re-energize its central position and its ability to capture value, Mastercard – as the incumbent – had to make bold decisions. The case details Mastercard’s approach to conceptualizing and building a global platform ecosystem that upholds the principles and design elements of modularity (i.e. interoperability and scalability) and optionality. Today, Mastercard's services, based on application programming interfaces (APIs), integrate with a variety of platforms and offer flexibility to businesses that require customized payment solutions. All along, the company has accommodated a high level of internal disruption. The case also explores the nature of Mastercard’s systematic collaboration with fintechs – players that often started out as competitors in specific parts of Mastercard’s value chain. It describes the company’s engagement with fintechs as fostering collaboration and co-creation and facilitating access; in other words, opening doors and sharing tools with partners. The case presents observations and quotes by CEO Michael Miebach, whose career trajectory at Mastercard – spanning Africa & Middle East experience, fintech partnerships, product management and the CEO role – sheds additional light on the philosophy and values that have driven the company’s transformation to a technology powerhouse and self-described original fintech.

Reference IMD-7-2455

Organization Mastercard

Industry Finance and Insurance, Financial Services

Available Languages English

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