Conflicting Agendas and Incompetence
John Ward and Bill Dix were against the privatisation of Qantas.They left as a result.Enter James Strong.It was supposed to be Qantas taking over TAA.Wrong!.It became the submerger with TAA and its managment taking over QF.They had no skillset to run an international airline.They met with a lot of resistance.Out of frustration and a cardiac event Strong left.Enter the unremarkable 52 year old Geoff Dixon.He too met with resistance.Consultants began running the show.Operations were put under marketing.Silos created and the staff became the enemy.The culmination of all this was the failed takeover bid which would have netted Dixon $60 mill.Not bad bickies for an employee selling out the firm he is employed by.Jackson becomes the scapegoat for the bid's failure.Oldmeadow was always in the shadows.Impulse was purchased and turned into Australian Airlines.It failed but morphed into Jetstar.Management soon realized it was a great way to threaten the unions in the main business by driving down wages and conditions.The war against employees starts in earnest.Any remants of the old Qantas guard were either forced out or retired and replaced by compliant inexperienced children.
Against its own corporate constitution Strong finds his way back as a Director.Clifford takes on the role of Chairman.Two self charecterized alpha males cant share the same space so Dixon exits.Dixon has mentored a successor with Alan Joyce.Joyce is Dixons earpiece which does not sit well with Clifford.Joyce is compliant and the new chairman calls the shots.Clifford stays in the background but his agenda of union busting is evidenced by the grounding of the airline.
Qantas mainline cedes more and more so called unprofitable routes to Jetstar.Cost apportioning sees mainline loaded up with Jetstar costs making the Orange cancer seem incredibly profitable.The whole Qantas Group depends on mainline for its existence.It is also in the most competitive environment.QF management still have no skillset to run an international airline.They need an experienced partner.Many doors are knocked on.None are opened.Clarke of emirates sees an opportunity in the crippled Kangaroo.The rest is history.
The whole debacle is a combination of agendas(Strong,Dixon and Clifford)and management ineptitude.There has been no long term plan save for maximising Exco remuneration.The greed in the mix.Joyce has no clue where Qantas is going.That is now in the hands of Clarke the experienced airline campaigner
The name Qantas will survive.The international operation most probably will not
Last edited by Ace Wasabe; 8th Sep 2012 at 06:32.