Marketing strategy deals with product and its distribution, pricing, and selling. Bayu
Buana product, in the case of this research, is international connecting tickets (from Denpasar,
Singapore, and Darwin). It sells the tickets to people going out from and coming in to Timor
Leste. PT Bayu Buaya Tbk (Bayu Buana) Head Office is based in Jakarta, and it is accreditated
by IATA (International Air Transport Association). Bayu Buana since 2007 formaly penetrates
Timor Leste market through appointing several travel agents in Dili, including VIP Travel
Agent, Lda (VIP Travel Agent).
As UNMIT (United Nations’ Mission Integration in Timor Leste) will be completed in
2012, and likely will other UN (United Nations’s) Agencies – as the country working toward its
self administration, Bayu Buana will be exposed to a declining demand for the tickets. Another
threat comes from the government who will approach IATA to promote its domestic travel agents
to get IATA accreditation, when it happens, local travel agents would be able to directly issue
international air tickets, thus no longer need to partner with Bayu Buana. On the other hand, the
good news is, Timor Leste promissing economic development, which will attract expatriates
foreign investors coming to Timor Leste, and create market opportunity for Bayu Buana to sell
international flights.
Applying SWOT analysis, this case study has scanned external industrial factors, and
observed Bayu Buana strengths and weaknesses (internal factors) – including its vision and
mission, to look for some feasible strategies. Overall, the internal and external factors analysis
has included IFE, EFE, CPM, SWOT, SPACE, IE, and Grand Strategy Matrixs. The study then
continued by using QSPM to analyse which approaches can best represent the opted marketing
strategy.
This study has formulated acquisition strategy for local travel agent by aquiring some
shares in VIP Travel Agent. This is in anticipation of greater competition from local travel
agents when they can get the accreditation from IATA.
Keywords: SWOT analyis, marketing strategy, pricing, product distribution, services.