PhD Research Proposal

 

Ph.D. Research Proposal

 

Faculty of Business 

Ph.D./DBA/Doctorate Research Proposal Form

First names
Surname

 

Title of the Project

"Reality and Proposition of Nepali National Airlines: A Study on Overall Management System"

1.  Introduction and Research Significance

        Nepali Airlines is a member of the Oneworld alliance that is the flag carrier of Nepal. It is the largest airline in Nepal (Nepal, 2020). There is a noteworthy experience of Nepali Airlines. Initially, state-owned Air Lanka started its journey in 1979 with the help of different country airlines e.g. Singapore Airlines, Royal Brunei, Air Canada, etc. With the investment by Dubai-based Emirates Group, Air Nepal was partially privatized in 1998 through a signed agreement. In 1998, the Air Nepal re-branded to Nepali Airlines (World, 1990). During that time, it made a profit. 

On 31 March 2008, the agreement between the Nepali Government and Emirates had expired due to the reluctance of Emirates (OAG, 2008). When the government administration operated the Nepali Airlines from 2007 to 2015, it continued to run at a loss for seven years (Staff, 2016). However, Nepali Airlines joined the Oneworld alliance on 1 May 2014 (Staff, Wayback Machine LBO, 2015)…………………….. 

2. Concise Critical Reflection on the Existing Literature 

At present, Nepali Airlines is a member of the Oneworld airline alliance. By the number of aircraft and destinations, it is currently the largest Airline of Nepal. In the past, it was running as Air Nepal in 1979 under the state ownership. Between 1980 and 1997 it was made a profit. Air Nepal was partially privatized in 1998 through a partnership agreement with Dubai based Emirate Group. During that period it was also made a remarkable profit. However, in 2008 Emirates canceled the partnership contract with Nepali Airlines and after that, the airlines have been making billion-dollar losses. However, there are several studies is conducted on Nepali Airlines. 

Merriam Webster defines, “an Airline is an air transportation system that comprises of its equipment, routes, operating personnel, and management system (Merriam, 2020)”. George R. Terry demonstrates, management refers to the process of planning, organizing, directing, stimulating, and controlling to accomplish predetermined goals (George, 2020). Though, Nepali Airlines is the 15th largest international market in the Asia-Pacific region. But globally, it is a small aviation market which is tracked by neighboring India (CAPA, 2014). Therefore, the management of Nepali airlines refers to the process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling all issues regarding its Airlines. 

Nagahawatte Lasitha contends that the government in its policy statements proclaims, aviation as one the pillars of the strategic development of Nepal economic prosperity (Nagahawatte Lasitha, 2016). On the contrary, regarding financial issues, “Nepali Airlines remain to struggle and constantly generating losses. During the period of 2013, it confirmed a net loss of $248 million on revenues of just $932 million (Flightglobal, 2014)”. Accordingly, in 2013, compared to the 30% global industry average, Nepali Airlines lost 50% of the total operating costs as fuel costs (IATA, 2014). 

On the other hand, the other Asian countries have significant progress in their aviation industry like India. During the last three years, the civil aviation industry in India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing industries in the country. It has become the third-largest domestic aviation market in the world through government as well as management Initiatives (India, 2020). 

However, in the past few years, different scholars and authors have extensively written about Nepali Airline’s management, but preliminary literature review shows that the policy objectives of these management efforts are rather fragmented and inconsistent with the principles of Nepali Airlines. Moreover, there is a gap between the previous and present management systems of Nepali Airlines. 

Therefore, there is a desperate need to formulate a clearly-defined and properly integrated management system that takes into consideration the various challenges of Nepali Airlines……………….. 

3. Review of Relevant Theoretical/Conceptual Framework

Dependent Variable (Y):   Management System of Nepal Airlines 

Definition: 

Govt. of Nepal is the parent company of Nepali Airlines. It is a hierarchy based management system. The CEO is responsible for the overall management. There is six board of director with a Chairman who are mainly responsible for the management of Nepali airlines……………… (More) 

Independent Variables (X’s): 

INDEP VAR 1: Service recipient 

Definition: 

Service recipients are those people who seek to service from Nepal Airlines or who have already taken services from NepalAirlines……….(More) 

Moderating Variables: 

MOD VAR 1: Financial Management 

Definition: 

Financial Management refers to the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the financial activities of the enterprise. It is closely related to Nepali Airlines.…. (More)

Relationship among the Variables (Cause-Effect Diagram)

                                               Adopted from (Captain, 2016)

Figure-1 illustrates the cause-effect diagram that includes the dependent, independent, and moderating variables of the research.

4. Research Questions or Hypotheses Based on the Literature Review & Theoretical Framework

a). Does the existing management system of Nepali airlines are responsible for continuous losses?

1. How can be explained the loss of Nepali airlines?
2. Does airline management authority maintain accountability and transparency while providing services?

b). How can be explained the service delivery system of Nepali national airlines?

1. What types of services Nepali airlines do provide?
2. Do the services meet the service seeker’s satisfaction?

c). What are the key challenges of the Nepali airline management system regarding its continuous losses?

1. What are the key challenges of fleet and cost management?
2. Does high cost make the airline industry losses? How?

d). How can the Nepali Airlines authority take measures for overcoming the aforesaid challenges and ensuring the effective management system of Nepali National Airlines?

1. How does consumer/client/service seekers' satisfaction determine the success of airline management?

5. Research objectives

The main objective of this research is to ensure the effective management system of Nepali Airlines for maximizing profit. 

Specific objectives are-

1. To identify the existing management system of Nepali National Airlines regarding its losses. 
2. To demonstrate the service delivery system of Nepali National Airlines.
3. To illustrate the key challenges of Nepali National Airlines.

6. Research Methods

For any research, it is essential to define the process involved in designing a study and to validate how the specific research design that a researcher decides to use helps to arrange the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data (D. Nachmias & Naachmias, 1997). As the aim of this study is to ensure the effective management system of Nepali Airlines for maximizing profit. This research will be exploratory in nature while the mixed-method approach will be employed which incorporates both qualitative and quantitative tools. The qualitative approach seeks to build detail and deep analysis of the empirical situation and at the same time, a quantitative approach (survey) will be used to draw the gross view of current management as well as the service delivery system of Nepali Airline based on service recipient’s perception regarding the research topic. The following part sums up the tools and methods to be used in the research:

Literature Review: Considering the aim of this research, secondary data will be collected from published books, journals, articles, e-book, newspaper, and report of different organizations which are related to this study.

Qualitative tools: As mentioned earlier, as a part of the mixed-method research, data will be collected from both primary and secondary sources. While using qualitative tools, data collection will take place from both individual and group level sources. As individual respondents, a number of face to face interviews will be conducted. Moreover, it's planned to deploy the Case Study method while a total of two cases will be picked for a detailed study from service recipients.

Quantitative tool (Survey): As a part of the quantitative mode of data collection, a sample survey will be conducted, and to serve that purpose, a structured questionnaire will be prepared. As planned, before finalizing the survey questionnaire, a pilot survey will be done in a limited mode. 

7. Sampling plan for the research is as follows

A totality of 250 respondents will be selected from the inhabitants of Nepal who have already taken airline service from Nepali Airlines. Data will be collected based on a structured survey questionnaire as part of the quantitative tool and for qualitative data collection for KII and Case Study purpose a checklist will be prepared and followed.

8. Research Analysis Plan

As the study will conduct based on a mixed-methods approach, collected data will be organized characteristically and the coding activities will be done manually. Prepared data will be analyzed statistically with data analysis software ‘MS Excel’ and ‘Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)’ and will be presented in the report accordingly. In the whole research process, ethical ground and confidentiality will be maintained strictly. 

9. Ethical Considerations 

This study will be maintained by research ethics. Voluntary participation; confidentiality; consent before interviews and survey as well as participant's privacy will be maintained. Besides, the authors of this study adhere to no harm policy where no individuals or groups belonging to any segment will be harmed in any way. Additionally, the team will go through to collect the perception of both service recipients and service providers on airline services to ensure the existing limitations of the management system of Nepali Airlines. The study will be helpful to promote service delivery system and to ensure the effective management system of Nepali Airlines for maximizing profit. Moreover, in this study, personal information, interviews, and opinions of the participants will be hidden for ensuring the participant's sanctuary and protection. 

10. Potential Contribution to Knowledge

Nepal is an island country in South Asia which is located in the Indian Ocean southwest of the Bay of Bengal and southeast of the Arabian Sea. It is officially known as the Democratic Socialist Republic. Nepal aviation industry is plagued by many shortcomings and issues. Some of which are common at a global level but others are inherited to the nation such as inefficient management system, bureaucratic complexity, corruption, rigid hierarchy, nepotism, poor monitoring, accountability, and transparency, etc. However, Nepal airlines have been making losses for the last 15 years. Essentially, after canceling the partnership agreement with the Dubai Emirates in 2008, it has been struggling to recover from losses. Essentially Management inefficiency is the main existing challenge of Nepal airlines. 

On the contrary, different scholars argue that the aviation industry can be played an important role to promote the GDP growth rate of a country. In this regard, Doganis “inaugurates the importance of the direct interrelationship between GDP and air traffic demand (Doganis, 2010), while Cassim contends that in the Asia Pacific region, air transport has a 13 times multiplier effect on the economy with a catalytic and direct impact on tourism and related industries” (Cassim, 2013)………………………(More)

11. Tentative Timeline

The full research will be conducted according to the following Plan. A review of relevant literature will be conducted in 1st two months, data will be collected and prepared in the next three months. Thus, in the 11th and 12th months, the final research report will be written.

12. Bibliography

Bluepoint, L. (2020, August 19). American Airlines - Bluepoint Leadership Development. Retrieved from Bluepoint Leadership Development: https://www.bluepointleadership.com/client/american-airlines/.

Brian, R. (2006). Nepal: Introduction. Urbanization and Sustainability in Asia: Case Studies of Good Practice. Journal of Social Science.

CAPA. (2014, May 8). Napali Airlines raise a global profile and expand its Oneworld presence in South Asia. Retrieved from CAPA - Centre for Aviation: https://centreforaviation.com/analysis/reports/srilankan-airlines-raises-global-profile-and-expands-oneworld-presence-in-south-asia-166654.

Captain, R. S. (2016, May 25). Challenges Ahead: Captain Suren Ratwatte, SriLankan Airlines. Retrieved from Airlines.iata.org: https://airlines.iata.org/ceo-interviews/cooperation-is-key-for-srilankan-airlines.

Cassim, N. (2013). CEO Confident of Napali Airlines. The route to Profitability.

D. Nachmias, & Nachmias, &. F. (1997). Research Methods in the Social Sciences (Fifth ed.). New York: Arnold.

Doganis, R. (2010). Flying Off-Course. Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge,.

Flightglobal. (2014, May 20). Napali Airlines. Retrieved from Flightglobal.com: http://dashboard.flightglobal.com/app/profiles/#/airline/summary/-228.

George, T. R. (2020, August 10). Management Definitions by Great Management Scholars - What is Human Resource? (Defined) Human Resource Management Topics - Labour Laws - High Courts & Supreme Court Citation- Case Laws. Retrieved from Whatishumanresource.com: http://www.whatishumanresource.com/management-definitions-by-great-management-scholars#:~:text=According%20to%20George%20R.,accomplish%20pre%2Ddetermined%20objectives.%22.

IATA. (2014). IATA Fact Sheet: Fuel. Montreal: IATA.