Factors influencing a firm's decision-making on the introduction of new services: a case study of Airbus Industrie

The main objective of this paper is to explore the various factors that have had a major influence upon Airbus Industrie's decision making concerning the introduction of a direct dispatch support service. A project was conducted by the company to assess its feasibility. This dispatch support service is essential for the daily flight operations which was until recently left to big airlines and specialised computer companies. The data were acquired through extensive interviews with and company documents from the project team members and the director of customer support services of Airbus Industrie in France. Case studies analysis regarding the company and the project are presented. Among the strategic environmental and operational factors identified in this research, a firm's commitment to a long-term relationship with customers has been found to be the most important influential factor upon the firm's decision-making.