Strategy and organisation at Singapore Airlines: Achieving sustainable advantage through dual strategy

Abstract

Singapore Airlines has consistently outperformed its competitors throughout its four-decade-long history, in the context of an unforgiving industry environment. We examine how Singapore Airlines has achieved its outstanding performance and sustained its competitive advantage, through effectively implementing a dual strategy: differentiation through service excellence and innovation, together with simultaneous cost leadership in its peer group. We examine the organisational elements that have allowed the company to do so, illustrate its strategic alignment using a vertical alignment framework and conclude by highlighting the significant challenges ahead.