Tuesday 23 February 2016

British Airways Revenue Management: Jerry Foran guest speaker

British Airways' Jerry Foran

On the week British Airways was named by the Centre for Brand Analysis as the UK's favourite brand for the third year in a row, MBA Director Justin O'Brien invited one of the world's favourite airlines senior managers, Jerry Foran, to give a prestigious guest lecture to his MA Marketing Services class.  





Students got to see how theory they had already learnt about, concepts such as the Net Promoter Score, were being used as strategic dashboard measures to drive the international airlines service excellence.  

Questions came particularly thick and fast when Jerry shared insights into dynamic pricing and flight inventory management.   The topics of over booking, denied boarding compensation and upgrade policies were enthusiastically discussed, perhaps not surprising given the context of previous class content on service excellence and service guarantees.  



Innovative Flipped Classroom Learning


Royal Holloway's Justin O'Brien, who has been innovating with a flipped classroom strategy this term, has invited students to undertake key theoretical learning using text books and wider reading lists ahead of workshops.  Contact time is  then focussed more on engaging with the material and discussing how they would be applied in the real world, more interactive workshop than knowledge cascading lecture.

Students following this exciting services marketing module have, in addition to guest speakers like BA's Jerry Foran, also been invited to get off campus and attend a tourism experience (Warner Bros. Harry Potter), analyse the servicescape of a traditional English pub and engage with craft beer entrepreneur foundering partners at the Windsor and Eton brewery.