Venturing Abroad-Dnata ( International Strategy)

Founded in 1959, Dnata is an international travel management services company based in Dubai. It provides services in aircraft and cargo-handling, and engineering, information technology, as well as travel-related services and in-flight and institutional catering. Dnata has mainly three divisions: Dnata Airport Operations, Dnata Cargo, and Dnata Agencies. It is the fourth largest combined air services provider in the world with approximately 20,000 employees across five continents. As a key member of the Emirates Group, Dnata provides the Emirates Airline and other world major airlines with ground-handling services at 73 airports internationally. Today its business has expanded to 38 countries.

Despite the recent global economic recession, Dnata's revenues have increased dramatically, and nearly quadrupled over the past few years. The success is attributed largely to Dnata management's forward thinking strategy and a global mindset. Dnata has been pursuing a global growth strategy and has structured its business units in line with the strategy. It has one dedicated administration and management division called Dnata International, which oversees a number of Dnata's business operations including wholly-owned and joint ventures in eight countries and a global network of sales offices outside the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Dnata has constantly scrutinized the world markets enabling it to capture opportunities to enter the markets based upon the strategic fit between the business opportunities, such as the growth pace of airline operations in a certain region and its existing resources.

The president of Dnata described the approach as a result of extremely cautious planning with a focus on profitability. In 2004, Dnata entered the Singapore market, which boasts one of the world's busiest and largest airports, and acquired Changi International Airport Services, called Dnata Singapore after the acquisition. Dnata Singapore offers a comprehensive range of ground-handling services to more than 30 scheduled airlines in Singapore. Over the past few years, Dnata has acquired stakes and/or established a number of joint ventures in Australia, China, Pakistan, Philippines, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Iraq. Among them, the most important joint ventures are Toll Dnata Airport Services (TDAS), a joint venture between Toll Holdings (Australia) and Dnata, and Xi'an Dnata Aviation Services Co. Ltd., a joint venture between Dnata and China West Airport Group that provides airport ground-handling services at Xi'an Xianyang mInternational Airport.

In addition to expanding its business internationally through a number of strategic acquisitions outside the UAE, Dnata has entered strategic alliances with many travel agencies globally and established an extensive global network of sales offices. These strategic alliances expand Dnata's international reach and create win-win business opportunities without involving significant financial investment.

Following its success worldwide, Dnata has most recently developed a new company logo and a mission statement in line with its brand strategy and brand architecture that are seen as an indication for further growth. The new mission statement emphasizes its global value and unifies its 20,000 employees around the world. When asked about how Dnata protects itself from an increasingly competitive and volatile aviation industry, the president of Dnata said, that making the business less Dubai-centric and more global has helped the company grow and sustain.

Questions:

a) Discuss the internationalization strategy of DNATA.

b) What were the market entry strategies adopted by DNATA and why?