Companies use business strategy to gain a competitive advantage in the industry by leveraging their core competencies. These rare resources and capabilities provide customers with unique, premium value. Ryanair is using a targeted cost leadership strategy. They are reducing operating costs to formulate the lowest possible unit cost and provide low-priced products and services for a specific customer segment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original EssayRyanair has tried to stand out in the competitive market by providing low-cost transportation services for the target customer segment. While other airlines competed to attract competitors' customers, Ryanair focused on meeting customers' specific needs. With their low prices they target price-conscious travelers, whose priority is to get the cheapest flights between destinations and who don't care as much about traditional customer services, such as meals, assigned seats and other travel amenities. Ryanair has adopted many cost-conscious strategies that can be considered innovative in the airline industry, to gain its competitive advantage in the market. They strategically invested in new, larger aircraft in times of economic crisis and adapted interior design to meet their needs. This contributed to economies of scale, reduced maintenance costs, larger inventories, and any other unnecessary costs. They only spent money on businesses and assets, which would be beneficial to their revenue stream and crucial to their business operations. One of their key economic decisions was the selection of destinations and the choice of airports. Since this represented a major source of costs, agreements were made with secondary airports. These airports are usually located in suburban areas of metropolitan cities with lower landing fees, in line with Ryanair's strategy of minimizing costs. Ryanair has also focused on point-to-point service to eliminate baggage transfer costs or unintentional delays. Their marketing budget is extremely low, as they do not try to advertise their services but try to focus on comparing their low prices with those of the competition. They outsource many of their operational services from contracted service providers to reduce additional costs. Ryanair uses the reverse cost approach and offers other airlines to pay for advertising on the exterior design of their planes. Food service companies that had a contract with them had to share a portion of their sales with Ryanair in exchange for information and data to analyze demand trends. By eliminating traditional in-flight food service, they reduced food waste and related costs, thus being able to expand seat capacity and increase the volume of duty-free products, which are important for sales revenue. Modern technology and changing customer needs have forced Ryanair to move to the online system. They created a company website through which customers can book a flight or other accommodations. With this change they eliminated middleman costs, such as those of travel agencies, and were able to initiate real-time demand-based pricing. Ryanair has used many practices to reduce operating costs and provide its customers with low-cost services, but many of them can be perceived as unethical. They decided to cut the salary base of their employees and developed a more salary-based approach/