{"id":34099,"date":"2018-11-13T17:54:07","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T22:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/"},"modified":"2018-11-13T17:54:07","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T22:54:07","slug":"resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Resurging Queen: Singapore Airlines and Its Open Innovation Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Singapore Airlines (SIA) has long been considered the gold standard of the airline industry. The company\u2019s superior passenger service and well-respected reputation among travellers has earned it numerous awards over the years. With the aggressive expansion of Middle Eastern airlines in recent years, however, SIA seemed to have quietly fallen into the background.<\/p>\n<p>Financially, SIA\u2019s performance had suffered despite the expanding airline industry. Between 2012 and 2017, SIA\u2019s revenue remained flat with slim margins. Operationally, the breakeven load factor (the percentage of seats occupied by passengers) was higher than the actual load factor, suggesting that SIA was making losses on its operations [1]. A boost in profit in December 2017 came not from passengers, but from increased cargo demand to support heightened holiday online shopping towards year-end [2]. While there is no doubt that SIA\u2019s service is still among the best in the industry, competitors have been catching up, making service less of a differentiating factor for the airline.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_33924\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-33924\" style=\"width: 446px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/SIA.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-33924\" src=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/SIA.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"446\" height=\"326\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/SIA.jpg 567w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/SIA-300x219.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 446px) 100vw, 446px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-33924\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Exhibit 1: Singapore Airlines\u2019 \u201cService from the Heart\u201d [3]<\/figcaption><\/figure><strong>Regaining the Crown<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To remain competitive, SIA recognized the need to reinvent its competitive advantage and develop new competencies. Earlier this year, the company announced the <strong><em>Innovation Digital Blueprint<\/em><\/strong> with the goal to become the leading digital airline in the world [4]. In addition to working with governmental agency partners in the next 5-10 years, the blueprint aims to cultivate an open innovation culture through interaction with stakeholders inside and outside of the company in the immediate term.<\/p>\n<p>Firstly, a Digital Innovation Lab is being set up to encourage employees to experiment new ideas that could tackle problems that they observe on the job. The lab offers a platform on which SIA staff can work with external partners such as startups, incubators, and accelerators to reduce maintenance costs and improve the airline&#8217;s service standards [5].<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, the airline launched the AppChallenge for Singaporean university students and the global community at large. The program aims to crowdsource digital ideas to tackle 5 main pressing challenges that SIA is facing: [6]<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Improving mobile application engagement<\/em><\/strong><em> to enhance user experience throughout the travel journey<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Improving experience of offloaded passengers<\/em><\/strong> <em>due to overbooking<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Enabling better inflight shopping experience<\/em><\/strong><em> to integrate e-commerce into travel retail purchases<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Tracking inventory usage<\/em><\/strong><em> to provide insights into usage patterns\/demands and improve forecast accuracy<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Tracking Food and Beverages<\/em><\/strong> consumption to <em>track F&amp;B wastage and collect data about passengers&#8217; consumption patterns onboard more efficiently<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>During the challenges, SIA provides technical support for contestants by granting them access to the company\u2019s APIs (application programming interfaces) related to flight schedule, flight status, baggage check-in, and customer loyalty points, among others. Winning teams would receive monetary awards, mileage, as well as a possibility to collaborate on the proof of concept with SIA.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_33977\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-33977\" style=\"width: 715px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/AppChallenge.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-33977\" src=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/AppChallenge.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"715\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/AppChallenge.jpg 715w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/AppChallenge-300x101.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/AppChallenge-600x201.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 715px) 100vw, 715px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-33977\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Exhibit 2: Five Themes for Singapore Airlines\u2019 2018 AppChallenge [6]<\/figcaption><\/figure><strong>Is Idea Generation Enough? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Involvement of the Singaporean and global communities in the idea generation process is a positive step towards launching SIA into the digital age. To strengthen the ideas\u2019 impact, however, SIA could consider involving the public in the idea selection process as well. Ultimately, passengers are the most important stakeholders in SIA\u2019s business and will be ones who decide what matters most to their travelling experience. Being able to place a duty-free order online 24 hours prior to flight time may not be as important to passengers as a better mechanism to predict the airline\u2019s overbooking. SIA may find itself focusing its effort and allocating resources inefficiently without the customers\u2019 input. Opening up idea selection to the public will also push the company to commit to implementing these ideas and signal to customers that SIA values their involvement in its re-positioning plan.<\/p>\n<p>In the medium term, SIA could aim to tackle more complex problems by dividing them up into smaller components. The more granular and diverse the tasks, the larger the potential pool of participants in the challenge [7]. Offering smaller tasks and designing the competition to better encourage collaboration among participating teams could also enhance the agility and variability of ideas. For instance, a team in the competition thought the idea that they originally planned to pursue was too complex to be done by their own team members and ended up changing their target problem at the eleventh hour. They might have been able to come up with a small, yet brilliant, idea that could contribute to solving a larger, more complex issue had they had an opportunity to team up with people with a different set of background.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Open Innovation as Competitive Advantage? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As SIA grants contestants access to its several APIs, how could the airline determine how open is too open? At what point would open innovation allow other airlines to replicate the ideas? In addition, SIA also owns Scoot, a low-cost sister airline operating medium- and long-haul flights globally. Would open innovation be beneficial for Scoot amidst rising competition in the low-cost aviation segment as well?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Word Count: 799<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[1] Nitin Pangarkar, \u201cWhat Ails Singapore Airlines,\u201d <em>The Business Times<\/em>, May 25, 2018, \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesstimes.com.sg\/opinion\/what-ails-singapore-airlines\">https:\/\/www.businesstimes.com.sg\/opinion\/what-ails-singapore-airlines<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n<p>[2] Kyunghee Park, \u201cSingapore Airlines\u2019 Profit Lifted to 7-Year High by Web Shoppers,\u201d <em>Bloomberg Business<\/em>, February 13, 2018, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2018-02-13\/singapore-air-has-biggest-profit-in-seven-years-boosted-by-cargo\">https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2018-02-13\/singapore-air-has-biggest-profit-in-seven-years-boosted-by-cargo<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n<p>[3] Craig Platt, \u201cSingapore Airlines Named Best for Customer Service by Australian Travellers,\u201d <em>Traveller<\/em>, April 25, 2015, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.traveller.com.au\/singapore-airlines-named-best-for-customer-service-by-australian-travellers-1muti0\">http:\/\/www.traveller.com.au\/singapore-airlines-named-best-for-customer-service-by-australian-travellers-1muti0<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n<p>[4] \u201cSingapore Airlines Forges Ahead With Digital Innovation Blueprint,\u201d <em>Singapore Airlines<\/em>, January 29, 2018, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.singaporeair.com\/en_UK\/us\/media-centre\/press-release\/article\/?q=en_UK\/2018\/January-March\/ne0318-180129\">https:\/\/www.singaporeair.com\/en_UK\/us\/media-centre\/press-release\/article\/?q=en_UK\/2018\/January-March\/ne0318-180129<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n<p>[5] Eileen Yu, \u201cSingapore Airlines Employees Urged to Innovate, Fail Without Fear,\u201d <em>ZDNet<\/em>, November 9, 2018, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/singapore-airlines-employees-urged-to-innovate-fail-without-fear\/\">https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/singapore-airlines-employees-urged-to-innovate-fail-without-fear\/<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n<p>[6] \u201cSingapore Airlines AppChallenge,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/appchallenge.singaporeair.com\">https:\/\/appchallenge.singaporeair.com<\/a>, accessed November 2018.<\/p>\n<p>[7] K. Lakhani and J. Panetta. The principles of distributed innovation. Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization 2, no. 3 (Summer 2007): 97\u2013112.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can crowdsourcing launch Singapore Airlines into the digital age amid competitors closing in? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11360,"featured_media":34100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-34099","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/rc-tom-challenge-2018\/","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Resurging Queen: Singapore Airlines and Its Open Innovation Scheme - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Resurging Queen: Singapore Airlines and Its Open Innovation Scheme - Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Can crowdsourcing launch Singapore Airlines into the digital age amid competitors closing in?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/SQ-A380.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\\\/\",\"name\":\"Resurging Queen: Singapore Airlines and Its Open Innovation Scheme - Technology and Operations Management\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/SQ-A380.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-13T22:54:07+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/SQ-A380.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/SQ-A380.jpg\",\"width\":920,\"height\":520},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Resurging Queen: Singapore Airlines and Its Open Innovation Scheme\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Technology and Operations Management\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"性视界Action\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Resurging Queen: Singapore Airlines and Its Open Innovation Scheme - Technology and Operations Management","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Resurging Queen: Singapore Airlines and Its Open Innovation Scheme - Technology and Operations Management","og_description":"Can crowdsourcing launch Singapore Airlines into the digital age amid competitors closing in?","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/","og_site_name":"Technology and Operations Management","og_image":[{"width":920,"height":520,"url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/SQ-A380.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/","name":"Resurging Queen: Singapore Airlines and Its Open Innovation Scheme - Technology and Operations Management","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/SQ-A380.jpg","datePublished":"2018-11-13T22:54:07+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/SQ-A380.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/11\/SQ-A380.jpg","width":920,"height":520},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/resurging-queen-singapore-airlines-and-its-open-innovation-scheme\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Resurging Queen: Singapore Airlines and Its Open Innovation Scheme"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/","name":"Technology and Operations Management","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"性视界Action","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/34099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/34099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}