The reason that this conglomerate approach (ie: The Idea of the Qantas Group) never works is that it asks too much of the Board and CEO. It asks too much because ultimately the Board will have to decide on competing investment priorities and cannot give all their time to understanding just one business. - ie: Jetstar wants this aircraft, Mainline wants that aircraft, regional wants this, etc., etc. ???
Sunfish that's utter crap. There are many examples of successful conglomerate approaches in the business world where corporations own many different areas or facets of business. The key to success is in how you manage the business.
Many people are quick to say that the Qantas Group concept is not working. Well let's see.... some Qantas staff hate Jetstar, some customers hate Jetstar, some Qantas mainline routes and markets have been cannablised by Jetstar. But in the broader picture the strategy has worked better for the past 7 years than any LCC set up by any legacy carriers worldwide.
What these people have forgotten is that in fact the strategy was so successful (and also due to the fact Godfreys had reached the end of his useful life in Virgin Blue) that Virgin Blue had to react (and is doing so now) in its game-changing strategy. The twist? JB has an excellent grasp of Qantas's SWOT (Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats) so he knows how to customise Virgin Blue's strategy against Qantas.
The shareprice do not necessarily only reflect on management incompetence, it actually tells you a lot more about the market (And are we conveniently forgetting about Virgin Blue share prices ($2 to 29c)?)
Overall the aviation industry is volatile (dogs breakfast) and highly susceptible to external shocks. If some investors have only now realised airline shares are worthless they probably shouldn't invest in shares at all. In the scale of share returns I am sure airline shares are right at the bottom of the list.
Current senior Qantas management lack fresh ideas to reinvigorate the company. Everythings about cost but what about customer retention and making customer and employees happy?