Competitive Advantage of Low-Cost Carriers:

Intangible resources analysis

Resumo

A vantagem competitiva é inerente a qualquer firma, que queira ver a sua posição no mercado mais fortalecida. Não é um estado de equilíbrio, que as organizações alcançam fruto de iniciativas singulares, mas sim de ações ricas, complexas e realizadas de uma forma concertada, suportada por recursos internos, que permitem adquirir força competitiva.

Este projeto aeronáutico, baseia-se na Resource-based View, que considera heterógenos os recursos de uma firma, e afirma que a mesma apenas possui um pequeno conjunto de recursos core, independentemente da sua performance.

O desenvolvimento deste tema passou pela análise de dezoito recursos intangíveis em  quatro Low-Cost Carriers e uma Full Service Carrier. Para tal análise, utilizou-se a VRIO Framework que examina se os recursos são valiosos, raros, inimitáveis e explorados pela organização. Os recursos que cumprem todos estes requisitos, são considerados competências core e fonte de vantagem competitiva.

Após obter as respostas de gestores das companhias estudadas e de airline experts, concluímos que os três recursos mais importantes foram Financial stability, Organizational Strategy  e Managerial competence/experience.

As respostas realçam  uma grande importância para aquilo que é a estabilidade financeira das companhias aéreas. É de salientar que apesar de estudos anteriores verificarem que os recursos variam entre os modelos de negócio estudados, tal situação não se verificou nesta investigação.

Keywords: Low-Cost Carriers, vantagem competitiva, VRIO Framework, recursos

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Abstract

Competitive advantage is inherent in any firm, who wants to see its position in the most strengthened market. It is not a state of balance, which organizations achieve, through the result of unique initiatives, it is instead a complete and rich set of actions carried out in a concerted manner, supported by internal resources, which allow to acquire competitive strength.

This aeronautical project is based on Resource-based View, which considers heterogeneous the resources of a firm, and states that it only has a small set of core resources, regardless of its performance.

The development of this theme has undergone the analysis of eighteen intangible resources in four Low-Cost Carriers and one Full-Service Carrier. For this analysis, was used the VRIO Framework that examines whether resources are valuable, rare, inimitable and exploited by the organization. The resources that meet all these requirements are considered core skills and a source of competitive advantage.

After obtaining the responses of managers of the companies studied and airline experts, we concluded that the three most important resources were Financial stability, Organizational Strategy and Managerial competence/experience.

The answers highlight great importance for what is the financial stability of airlines. It should be noted that although previous studies have found that resources vary between the business models studied, this situation was not verified in this investigation.

Keywords: Low-Cost Carriers, competitive advantage, VRIO Framework, resources

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Junho, 2019, Flávio Miguel Gonçalves Semedo (flaviosemedo94@gmail.com), Mestre Nuno Brilha