ABSTRACT
Thousands of people travel by air; Dicta Travels provides low-fare air transportation service among 38 cities in Nigeria. Although the industry suffered a major blow since the terrorist attack of September 11th, the company is still holding strong; while other travel agency companies are in debt.
According to the acquired knowledge of Dicta, the company maintains steady sales. The major success to their continued success is due to their low-cost model and competitors are aware that they cannot match Dicta Travels low prices therefore, by dropping the price even lower; Dicta Travels can force a company to go bankrupt.
INTRODUCTION
In 2006, I (Kenneth Nwagboso), started a travel agency service with one simple notion: “If you can give your passengers airlines that can get them to their destinations when they want to get there and on time, at the lowest possible fares, and very sure they had a good time flying, people will fly through your travel agency frequently.” he was right about that, now Dicta Travel agency is now a major travel agency, in fact, the third largest travel agency in Nigeria and its reputable for its low fare airlines and customer vacation ideas. Dicta travels have then decided to improve their services by introducing e-business as their strategy to gain competitive advantage over other agencies and so that the company can grow internationally.
THE MISSION
Dicta Travels mission is to deliver the highest quality of customer service with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit. It primarily provides short haul, high-frequency, point-to-point, low-fare air transportation service among 38 cities (38 airports) in the Nigeria.
Here are some numbers that will give a brief idea how the company is operating: Net income: =N=241 million Total passengers carried: 63 million Total RPMs: 45.4 billion Passenger load factor: 65.9 percent Total operating revenue: =N=5.5 billion. There is a 13% insurance raise for the travel agencies and the government is enforcing fees regarding security problems. The operation cost increases dramatically and there are less people traveling by air. Most of the travel agencies are losing money except a few and Dicta travels is one of those travel agencies which have remained profitable.
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The organization of Dicta Travels is described as an upside-down pyramid. The upper management is at the bottom and supports the front line employees, who are the experts. This is Herb Kelleher’s unorthodox leadership style, in which management decisions are made by everyone in the organization, not just the head executives. The company is described to not have much emphasis on structure; instead employees are encouraged to think freely without constraints such as titles. Kelleher, for example, is said to know the names of virtually all his employees.
Dicta Travels is characterized as a C-corporation with duration distinguished as a normal perpetual existence. The shareholders are not normally liable for debts of the corporation and they preserve an operation that is normally more structured, requiring more meetings and (in some states) more reporting requirements. Management is very centralized through the board of directors (elected by the shareholders) and the officers (elected by the directors). The corporation is taxable entity, although the income which would normally be taxed at the corporate level can normally be paid out in salaries (and in other deductible ways) so that there is in fact no tax at the corporate level. As far as transferability of interest, it is normally fully transferable and raising capital is in the choice of public companies.
Dicta Travels values employees, initiating the first profit-sharing plan in the southafrica travel agency industry in 2008 and offered it ever since. “In 2008, Dicta offered its employees a record-setting =N=138M in profit sharing. This tax-deferred compensation represented an additional 14.1 percent of each employee’s annual salary.
PROBLEM DEFINITION.
A travel agency company only accepts bookings from authorized travel agencies, situated in towns throughout Nigeria. There is a computerized central booking system at the company’s head office in Abuja. However, all transactions at the travel agencies are currently hand-written on special forms.
Travel agents, working in the travel agencies, use printed timetables to answer customer enquiries. These timetables are updated by regular distributions from the company head office, sent by courier. Customers enquire about the availability of bookings, which are checked by a travel agent telephoning Abuja. Customers may make a provisional booking, which is valid for three days, and they will be given a written quotation for this. A customer making a firm booking must pay a deposit at which time they receive a booking confirmation slip. Provisional and firm bookings are made by travel agents over the telephone to Nigeria. Full payment must be made by the customer at least one week before the date of the journey. Tickets are only issued when full payment has been made; these are printed at the head office and sent by first-class post to the travel agency. The management of the company has decided that it would be more efficient to have on-line systems in the larger travel agencies, directly connected to the central booking system.
These agency systems will allow: provisional and firm bookings to be made directly; tickets to be printed at the travel agencies; and the central timetable to be accessed directly by travel agents, avoiding the need for distribution of timetable updates. The managers of travel agency branches have expressed concern that yet another booking system will cause them major problems unless it runs on hardware that they already have for airline bookings and other tour operators.
The systems in the travel agencies will have to be simple to use and robust, providing guidance at every stage of use and on-line help. High reliability of the communications between a travel agency and the head office is of vital importance to the business. Since the information transmitted from the head office for ticketing contains special booking codes, security of data transfer is an important consideration.
This led to the concept and conclusion of designing a website that will provide all these functions, reduce paper based booking and enable bookings and confirmations to be done from anywhere and everywhere to satisfy their customers and ensure an increase in their customer base.
METHODOLOGY OF DICTA TRAVEL AGENCY.
In order to explore Dicta Travel agency’s corporate structure, the method in which we obtain our information is a critical component in our mission. Therefore, this analysis describes a methodology that utilizes Dicta Travel agency’s official website to attain background history, company particulars and financial statistics. In addition, the library’s electronic journals, business research databases (Wall Street Journal, Business Week) and accredited search engines on the Internet such as Yahoo! are also major resources for our investigation in conducting a fundamental SWOT analysis and acquiring information regarding the company’s main competitors and customers.
Our research will not be limited to just Dicta Travel agency, our research involves Boeing 737 as well as a few of the opposing companies. Research on these additional topics will be specific, material that pertains or assists in elaborating our recommendations for the company of Dicta.
Results According to the attached figure covering the past four years of Dicta Travels’ financial progress, they have maintained steady net sales. In 1999, they had total net sales of =N=4,735 million which had risen to =N=5,585 million. Their slight drop in 2002 to =N=5,521 million was due to the September 11th incident. However, this is nothing compared to other major travel agency industries where they have lost so much more. Many have even gone bankrupt and been forced to close down. In fact, Dicta Travels was the only major US air carrier to remain profitable since then; albeit Dicta Travels were affected by the poor economic conditions. Few of their main competitors are Continental Travel agencies and American Travel agencies. Substitute products include the train (Amtrak) and bus (Greyhound) which cover long distances. While these alternates cannot offer the speed of travel, most of Dicta Travels’ customers are attracted to the low price.
Suppliers include those who provide service/products necessary for Dicta Travels to their business function. For Dicta Travels, suppliers include mechanics (and other maintenance people), providers of fuel, food (the snacks that are offered). The suppliers do not have much bargaining power.
Customers include both residential and commercial sectors. There is no bargaining power for customers, as there is no threat of backward integration; it is unlikely that customers of Dicta Travels are going to build their own airplanes and fly themselves.
Rivalry among competitors sets the price-Dicta Travels is a discount travel agency. Rivalry is increasing, as the market decreases, and competitors downsize, the competitors become more or less equal in size and capacity. This means that as economic conditions worsen, competitors downsize and then compete for the same remaining market.
The threat of new entrants is low, the demand is not high. On top of that, there are hurdles, not necessarily the greatest; the Federal airport authority. Government regulations and restrictions imposed on those involved in this industry. Such would be government sanctions consequent of international issues.
At a glance, the company’s source of competitive advantage is its low price tickets. Most of its customers are people who are willing to forego in-flight meals, direct routes and fancy seats if that would mean for a cheaper ticket. Not to imply that Dicta doesn’t provide direct flights, but that is offered at a higher price. Dicta Travels was in better shape than its competitors after recent attacks on September 11 for a simple reason: their low-cost model.
Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center had a devastating effect on the travel agency industry, particularly because the instrument of destruction of these attacks was hijacked airplanes. The public lost faith in the travel agency industry immediately following September 11th, and for many travel agency companies this meant going into severe debt or even declaring bankruptcy. Even after some time, the majority of the travel agency industry experienced lower profits and massive downsizing. However, for smaller companies like Dicta, they were able to turn a profit and were in a more enviable position than the larger counterparts.
INTERFACE DESIGN.
(INDEX PAGE)
SOURCE CODE.
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Dicta Travels – Home
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Our recruitment Policy:
Unfortunately we don’t accept any CVs through recruitment agencies, no matter how much you ask. we have nothing against recruitment agencies, in fact some of our best friends are recruitment consultants but don’t be sneaky and start mailshotting us or begging over the phone. It’s soooo undignified.
Dicta travels is committed to being an equal opportunities employer and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion or belief, colour, sex or sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, nationality, ethnic or national origin. All matters related to employment are decided on the basis of qualifications, merit and business need.
>
Seniors
Connections
Our recruitment Policy:
Unfortunately we don’t accept any CVs through recruitment agencies, no matter how much you ask. we have nothing against recruitment agencies, in fact some of our best friends are recruitment consultants but don’t be sneaky and start mailshotting us or begging over the phone. It’s soooo undignified.
Dicta travels is committed to being an equal opportunities employer and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion or belief, colour, sex or sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, nationality, ethnic or national origin. All matters related to employment are decided on the basis of qualifications, merit and business need.
Dicta Travels is the largest, most innovative and most successful supplier of air travel services in the Middle East. Whether we’re dealing with a travel or cargo agency, an airline principal or the leisure traveler, emphasis is constantly placed on innovation, quality products and service excellence. Dicta Travels is defined as expansion, innovation, commitment to the customer and the pursuit of excellence
Paris, France
Agia Napa, Cyprus
Maldives
Dicta Travels is the largest, most innovative and most successful supplier of air travel services in the Middle East. Whether we’re dealing with a travel or cargo agency, an airline principal or the leisure traveler, emphasis is constantly placed on innovation, quality products and service excellence. Dicta Travels is defined as expansion, innovation, commitment to the customer and the pursuit of excellence
Dicta Travels is the largest, most innovative and most successful supplier of air travel services in the Middle East. Whether we’re dealing with a travel or cargo agency, an airline principal or the leisure traveler, emphasis is constantly placed on innovation, quality products and service excellence. Dicta Travels is defined as expansion, innovation, commitment to the customer and the pursuit of excellence
Paris, France
Agia Napa, Cyprus
Maldives
Paris, France
Paris, France
Agia Napa, Cyprus
Agia Napa, Cyprus
Maldives
