![9B21M010
STAR ALLIANCE IN 20201
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Star Alliance Faces Unprecedented Challenge of COVID-19 Pandemic
- 1. 9B21M010 STAR ALLIANCE IN 20201 Professor Benjamin Gomes-Casseres and Jacob Judd wrote this case solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized, or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business School, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, N6G 0N1; (t) 519.661.3208; (e) [email protected]; www.iveycases.com. Our goal is to publish materials of the highest quality; submit any errata to [email protected] i1v2e5y5pubs Copyright © 2021, Ivey Business School Foundation Version: 2021-01-28
- 2. Since its founding in 1997, Star Alliance had developed an expertly organized and managed network of global airlines over the course of 23 years.2 In 2020, however, the airline faced a new and unforeseen challenge: the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. Suddenly, the world’s airline industry had to decide how to respond to a global crisis. Even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Star Alliance was already facing critical issues related to its organization and strategy. Its success had always depended on effective management of the network’s member airlines. That factor would prove even more critical during the pandemic, when airline travel suddenly and unexpectedly dropped to half of its original volume across the world, and was not expected to regain its status for some time. For over 20 years, Star Alliance members had contributed value to the alliance and reaped numerous benefits in return that helped them become strong competitors. Other airlines, recognizing the value and strength of an alliance, had formed their own rival airline networks. Would this strategy help airlines survive the COVID-19 crisis? Was group-based competition needed to thrive during a pandemic? THE GLOBAL AIRLINE INDUSTRY The COVID-19 pandemic started in early 2020 and spread across the globe. In response, severe travel restrictions were introduced in all countries. As demand for travel plummeted, passenger occupancy in planes declined, and health and safety costs mounted. All airlines sought emergency funding wherever they
- 3. could, usually from their home governments. Observers recognized that the future of the industry was being reshaped, although what new form it would take was unclear. Before attempting to accurately predict the airline industry’s future, understanding its history and economic fundamentals was necessary. During the preceding decades, the global airline industry had been transformed by new regulatory policies and company strategies. The United States deregulated pricing and domestic routes in 1978 and the European Union followed suit in 1997. Although regulatory hurdles still prevented cross-border mergers in many countries,3 airlines were able to pursue various new strategies. One strategy global airlines used to extend their global reach was a bilateral and multi-partner alliance, known in the industry as a “constellation.”4 Star Alliance was created in May 1997 by an agreement among five international airlines: Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Lufthansa), United Airlines Inc. (United), Air Canada, Thai Airways International Public Co, and Scandinavian Airways System. The following year, four more airlines joined the alliance: Varig, A ut ho riz ed fo r u se
- 7. ra m et er s is a c op yr ig ht v io la tio n. Page 2 9B21M010 Air New Zealand Limited, Ansett Australia, and All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd.. Expansion continued
- 8. regularly and steadily from that point. The main goal of the founding members was to expand their global network of service and attain many of the synergies that a merger provided, while maintaining their independent identities. Two years later, two new airline alliances emerged with a plan to reap the same benefits that Star Alliance seemed to be enjoying. Oneworld was formed by founding members American Airlines Inc. (American) and British Airways, and SkyTeam was formed the next year by Delta Air Lines Inc. (Delta), Air France, and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.5 The Rise of Airline Constellations Star Alliance was a new type of organizational structure in the airline industry but one that would soon become relatively common. This structure consisted of multiple member airlines enabling collaboration in certain activities, within limits. Antitrust rules did not allow sharing specific types of information, coordinating pricing, or sharing profits.6 However, each member paid a share of the costs of the organization and had specific rights in the governance of joint activities. Historically, airline alliances had been bilateral —that is, between two companies. In 1998, for example, Air France was part of 24 different bilateral alliances with different airlines across the globe—all of them remaining distinct and separate.7 Star Alliance, however, grouped such relationships into one network and coordinated bilateral arrangements between member companies. Multi-partner alliances established common branding and standards for the various member airlines. In some cases, the alliance helped its members aggregate large aircraft purchases.
- 9. Initially, Star Alliance relied mainly on its two largest members—United and Lufthansa. In 1999, these two airlines together served 578 destinations in 106 countries. By 2020, Star Alliance had grown its membership to 26 airlines and served over 1,300 destinations in 195 countries (Exhibit 1). However, multi-partner alliances in the global airline industry were a common practice even before Star Alliance formed its network. In 1989, Delta had formed a network of three airlines with Swissair AG/SA and Singapore Airlines. Star Alliance then formed the first major network several years later, in 1997. Rivalry among large constellations soon flourished when American and British Airways joined Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and Qantas Airways Limited to launch Oneworld in 1999, and the next year Aerovías de México S.A. de C.V. (Aeroméxico), Air France, Delta, and Korean Air Co. Ltd. joined together to form SkyTeam.8 Like Star Alliance, the other two constellations also expanded over the years, adding and replacing members over time (see Exhibit 2). In 2017, the three major airline alliances had built immense networks, accounting for almost 58 per cent of the industry’s total global capacity.9 By 2020, each group had a footing in every major region of the globe. BENEFITS OF STAR ALLIANCE Traditional airline profitability boiled down to only a few key drivers of revenue and cost. The main revenue drivers were passenger capacity, load factor, and yield. Pricing of flights could vary, often in response to the degree of competition in the route. The percentage of seats
- 10. that were occupied on a flight, known as load factor, was an important indicator of profitability. Mileage programs were used to promote customer loyalty, develop future business, and increase liquidity. Credit card partners involved in these programs bought miles for their customers in advance of when they would be used. On the other side of revenue, the main drivers of cost were labour (i.e., flight personnel), fuel, and advertising. A ut ho riz ed fo r u se o nl y by x us ha n li in
- 14. ig ht v io la tio n. Page 3 9B21M010 Star Alliance members sought to gain from the network in many ways. The alliance provided members access to destinations outside of their home base. Coordinating arrival and departure times allowed the group to operate an efficient network with high load and tight connections, which was known as codeshare synchronization. The constellations also promised better customer service by allowing the airlines to share lounges, mileage programs, and various costs in other areas. Members could also take advantage of common standards, combined training programs, and the alliance’s brand identity, while maintaining their own independent status. Network Optimization Star Alliance offered its member airlines an extended hub-and- spoke system, which was considered a key
- 15. competitive advantage. The hub-and-spoke system first became popular in domestic air travel in the United States after deregulation of the route structure. In this system, the main airports in the country served as hubs, through which passengers were channelled to and from various spoke airports that connected the hub to the ultimate destinations.10 For example, Star Alliance made it possible for United passengers to travel to Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and other German cities through the Dusseldorf hub. Similarly, because Lufthansa did not fly to Denver, New Orleans, Honolulu, or Seattle in the United States from Frankfurt, Germany, its passengers could fly to Chicago and United would then take them to their ultimate US destinations. For a given route (e.g., New York, United States to Frankfurt, Germany), one partner would bring passengers to a hub airport from spoke locations and take them to destinations beyond a partner’s hub airport on the other side of the route. This service, which was referred to as using a bridge, was enabled by the network structure of such alliances (see Exhibit 3). In 2016, Star Alliance introduced an additional co-operative relationship called “connecting partners” in an effort to augment its global network. Partner carriers would be able to connect to the Star Alliance network without becoming full alliance members. However, passengers would be offered connections only to the flights of connecting partners according to certain status-based privileges. Juneyao Airlines was announced as the first connecting partner in October 2016.11 With the hub-and-spoke system becoming widespread, most major airports became dominated by a single large carrier. Limited availability of landing slots, gates, and takeoff times made it difficult for other carriers
- 16. to serve new locations. This advantage, combined with other benefits, resulted in increased revenues for Star Alliance members. By 2019, combined Star Alliance member revenues reached over US$200 billion12 (see Exhibit 4).13 The organization also had the largest membership list, the most seats, the highest revenues, and the fastest growth, although other constellations were not far behind (see Exhibit 5). Joint Purchases Another objective of airline alliances was to combine purchases and increase each member’s buyer power, as the chief executive officer (CEO) of United noted: “About one-third of United’s costs involve people. But the other two-thirds represent enormous opportunities for working together, for buying, purchasing, and co-operating among the group.”14 Potential economies of scale were available to members through joint purchasing in several areas. The annual combined amount of Star Alliance member purchases of goods and services was approximatel y $15 billion. This amount included expenses for office equipment, fuel, catering, and maintenance, but excluded aircraft purchases.15 In 1998, United claimed to have saved $20 million due to a total $1.5 billion in combined purchased services. In 2014, all Star Alliance carriers serving London’s Heathrow Airport migrated into the new A ut ho riz
- 21. Terminal 2, which allowed them to share many common ground costs. Similar initiatives of alliance members sharing locations and resources also led to savings and improved passenger service in various other international hubs.16 Passenger Benefits The formation of Star Alliance provided customers with an integrated worldwide airline network with global recognition. By 2020, Star Alliance had maintained the largest network, covering 195 countries (98 per cent of the world) and serving over 1,300 airports. In 2017, Star Alliance’s CEO Jeffrey Goh was asked if the constellation had reached its full size or if it had plans to continue to expand, to which Goh replied, “We will never say no, but we are pretty comprehensive in our network today.”17 Focusing on customer relations, the alliance aimed to enhance global travel, making it more convenient and simple for its customers, while meeting their needs in ways that individual airlines could not. Whenever possible, the member airlines tried to use gates in the same terminal, with neighbouring gates allowing for convenient transfers and passenger connections. When delays occurred, the connections were protected, monitored, and proactively re-accommodated on a proactive basis. Most passengers were offered “through check-in” service that led them through their final destination. The simplicity and consistency of quality in member services helped customers feel that they were travelling with the same standard of service
- 22. throughout the entire trip.18 Loyalty Programs Based on extensive marketing research, Star Alliance made various changes to meet the expectations and needs of its frequent international flyers. Customers could earn mileage points whenever they travelled on any Star Alliance member airline. The points would accumulate and could be credited toward different frequent flyer programs of Star Alliance carriers. This allowed customers to use every point earned to reach elite status within the various programs sooner, as well as to redeem their reward miles throughout the alliance network.19 Star Alliance also added two status tiers—silver and gold—in the loyalty programs of member carriers to recognize and reward loyal customers across the entire alliance. Gold status allowed customers access to the highest level of service at airports around the world and priority treatment, from check-in to baggage claim. Elite customers enjoyed a seamless travel experience and tangible benefits. Upon presentation of their card or status, customers were directed to the lounges of Star Alliance carriers, which provided fine cuisine, beverages, access to global news, Internet access, and other business amenities. Gold status customers also had clearance to more efficiently pass through airport security in more than 130 airports around the world.20 Star Alliance travellers enjoyed various other benefits, including Internet tools for smart phones and tablets, and the latest technology services. All airlines sold tickets and
- 23. tracked reservations, but Star Alliance’s website featured online tools that allowed customers to plan their travels at all times. The site was integrated with the booking systems of member airlines and was linked to a main computer reservation system. Corporate clients were a key profitability factor for all major airlines and especially those with long-haul routes. Star Alliance offered various incentives specifically for corporate clients, including discounts across the network of its member carriers. It was also the first alliance to feature global conventions and events services that allowed delegates from all over the world to enjoy discounts across the entire Star Alliance network.21 A ut ho riz ed fo r u se o nl y by x us
- 27. a c op yr ig ht v io la tio n. Page 5 9B21M010 OTHER FORMS OF AIRLINE CO-OPERATION Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam provided a range of benefits to both their member airlines and passengers. However, the various other forms of co-operation among airlines were also effective. For example, interline and codeshare arrangements allowed airlines to sell seats on connecting airlines and sometimes share a flight’s code information. All members of an alliance agreed to interline agreements, which served passengers travelling with two or more airlines on the same itinerary.22 Even airlines across different alliances often shared interline agreements. Code sharing allowed two partner airlines to list one
- 28. specific flight as their own and carry two different reservation codes. Like interline agreements, code sharing had been a common practice in the industry before alliances became popular. For example, Star Alliance member Air Canada was maintaining 25 codeshare agreements in 2013, including one with Etihad Airways, a non-aligned Middle Eastern airline.23 Star Alliance, and similar networks, occupied the space between codeshare agreements and more substantial forms of business co-operation, such as joint ventures and mergers. Alliance members shared flight code, airport lounges, loyalty programs, and an umbrella brand. However, revenue and pricing sharing was forbidden, unless specific members formed their own bilateral joint venture agreement. Alliances were therefore able to avoid many of the antitrust issues associated with typical joint ventures and similar strict forms of business co-operation. A special type of joint venture for specific routes granted airlines antitrust immunity. The partner airlines essentially acted as one on these specific routes, coordinating their pricing and schedules and even sharing their revenues. By 2012, these special joint ventures were one of the most common forms of co-operation in the airline industry, accounting for 87 per cent of traffic carried across the North Atlantic. Most of them were agreements between large carriers, who were also part of a major global alliance.24 In 2018, 60 per cent of American’s international capacity was included in some form of joint venture agreement. In the same year, joint venture partnerships included 58 per cent of Delta’s and 46 per cent of United’s international capacity.25
- 29. In 2018, Delta anticipated that it would earn $500–600 million in incremental revenues by 2020, resulting from its joint venture partnerships. Much of that revenue was expected to be passed along to customers, but despite the benefits that airlines claimed they were passing on to passengers, governments were reluctant to extend antitrust immunity through these joint venture partnerships, except for routes that had no significant impact on competition. Regardless, in 2015 the United States Department of Justice conversely found that joint venture partnerships often increased, rather than lowered, ticket prices.26 The most involved form of business co-operation, short of a complete merger, was an equity investment agreement. Delta took this approach during the 2000s when it acquired stakes in China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited, Air France-KLM S.A., Korean Air Co. Ltd., Virgin Atlantic, and LATAM Airlines. Delta invested a 49 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic, which proved to be its most successful outcome in this type of strategy. Virgin Atlantic provided Delta greater access to several transatlantic routes, while Delta opened access to several popular US destinations previously unavailable to Virgin Atlantic. This type of strategy, however, could be risky for the investor, who was also exposed to severe potential losses. In early 2020, for example, Delta invested $1.9 billion for a 20 per cent stake in LATAM; a few months later, this investment was worth less than one-tenth of that amount, at approximately $150 million, after the airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 26, 2020.27 MANAGING STAR ALLIANCE
- 30. The combined management of Star Alliance was a challenge, with a large number of global airlines that included United and Lufthansa, two of the largest and most powerful airlines in the world. United’s A ut ho riz ed fo r u se o nl y by x us ha n li in B U
- 34. v io la tio n. Page 6 9B21M010 chairman, Gerard Greenwald, noted that Star Alliance was “bound together only by four pages of governance, with no formal ownership ties.”28 In fact, no formal structure was created to manage the alliance at the time of its creation. This situation changed the following year, however, when a new focused management team was charged with implementing a five-year business plan to be approved by Star Alliance’s member airlines. From then on, strategic decisions would be directed by a core group of executives chosen by the alliance’s member airlines. The new management board reported to the chief executive board, which dealt with issues of strategic importance. Star Alliance also formed several committees that were comprised of experts from member carriers and from the alliance itself. In 2019, Star Alliance became a corporation under German law (i.e., a GmbH), with a limited staff and offices in Frankfurt Airport, in Germany (see Exhibit 6).
- 35. Quality Control Providing customers with a consistent quality of service, regardless of which airline they travelled with, was a key success factor for Star Alliance. The five founding members therefore set rigorous standards that were expected to be met by any new member. While members did not maintain a completely homogeneous product, Star did have a set of standards with regard to the quality of basic amenities and services that were met by all incoming member airlines.29 A new member typically had previous partnerships with each of the other member carriers individually. This precaution ensured that code sharing could be implemented right away. No other requirements for partnerships outside of the alliance were needed. However, when airlines joined Star Alliance they often abandoned their previous partnerships or integrated them into the constellation.30 Brand Management31 In founding Star Alliance, the members created a brand name that would become known internationally but would not become a substitute for their existing brands. Members did not lose the individual airlines’ differentiation by brands, identities, customs, and service styles. The main advantage of the alliance network was its ability to give passengers access to a single global network that was as seamless as possible, along with the established status and recognition of the member airlines. Star Alliance managers used an umbrella brand that allowed each airline to keep the original logo, complemented by the Star Alliance logo,
- 36. on the plane’s forward fuselage and on ticket jackets, promotional items, and signs. By 2020, the three major alliance umbrella brands—Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam—served as a signal for the level of service and the breadth of network that customers could expect. However, the individual performance of each member airline still mattered. If a customer had a poor experience on a flight, both the reputation of that airline and the reputation of the alliance could be harmed. Over the early years of Star’s existence, the absence of core values, service styles, and products within the alliance did not pose an issue for member performance. Passengers seemed unconcerned about differences in travel experience with separate airlines, perhaps because all members were well respected airlines in their own right. Since 2017, the alliance had developed a digital transformation strategy aimed at delivering a distinct and seamless travel experience. A ut ho riz ed fo r u se
- 40. ra m et er s is a c op yr ig ht v io la tio n. Page 7 9B21M010 Alliance Organizational Costs32 Star Alliance’s costs were mainly related to information technology and human resources. Making member reservations and inventory systems compatible with each
- 41. another was the main challenge. After nearly two decades of efforts and investments in new technology and training, Star Alliance had built and was maintaining an advanced technology infrastructure to support the operations of its carriers and the seamless transition of passengers between member carriers. Star Alliance continued to spend resources and effort to help members deliver consistent services across the alliance. Similarly, Oneworld developed an intensive training program for its members. At the heart of that program was a set of core messages agreed to by the partners, including “recognizing people as individuals and respect for individuals, while celebrating the different cultures and atmospheres between the airlines.”33 FUTURE OF AIRLINE CONSTELLATIONS Industry Consolidation Despite a complex web of regulations, the global airline industry had steadily moved toward long-term consolidation, as airline constellations continued to expand by adding members to their networks. With additional airlines joining existing alliances, the overlap in route structures of member airlines kept increasing. This factor was a key consideration for incumbent members in their assessment of new applicants for membership. Entry and exit from an airline constellation depended on the terms of the membership. For example, at Star Alliance, an airline that wanted to enter the network had to show that it could meet the alliance’s standards. Existing members voted on accepting a new member, with
- 42. voting shares based on the size of each airline. By 2020, Star Alliance had become a mature alliance organization that had developed a stable membership base, a standard set of rules, and efficient processes. The three major alliances had reached a comparable level of market share in the industry. Airline mergers and co-operation had also reached a saturation point. Further consolidation of airline organizations would likely face strong opposition due to antitrust regulations. Potential Changes in the Hub-and-Spoke Model Since its inception, the main focus of Star Alliance had been to optimize the hub-and-spoke network of the airline industry, which it saw as a key benefit. However, beginning in 2015, point-to-point flights seemed to be increasingly popular, especially ultra long-haul flights (LHF).34 With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the advantages of LHFs became increasingly evident for two reasons. First, unlike with the hub-and-spoke system, point- to-point networks allowed airlines the choice of flying only the most economically viable routes, without health and safety concerns from layovers. Second, by the late 2010s, new planes were being developed for non-stop ultra LHFs. However, despite these advantages, LHFs still had two major limitations. First, due to the long-distance nature of their routes, the profitability for airlines was even more vulnerable to extreme fuel price fluctuations. Second, fatigue posed a serious health threat to passengers, flight crews, and pilots on these routes.35
- 47. la tio n. Page 8 9B21M010 THE PANDEMIC The greatest challenge for the airline industry, however, was the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis was expected to reach a total loss of $84.3 billion for the industry in 2020, with passenger demand falling to 54 per cent globally (see Exhibit 7). During the early months of the pandemic, from January to July 2020, over 7.5 million flights were cancelled. In April 2020, 64 per cent of all planes around the world were grounded.36 The drop in demand and required social distancing in seat assignment led to a decline in passenger load for those flights that were not cancelled. In addition, new safety and health compliance costs promised to have a serious impact on the cost structure of all airlines. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the airline industry was projected to continue on its course of consistent growth. In most emerging markets and developed countries, trips per capita were expected to increase steadily from 2019 to 2038. Popular regional routes were also expected to see strong passenger growth. The highest rate of growth was expected between the Middle East and the United States, with a projected passenger traffic increase of 5.5 per cent annually from 2019 to 2038.37
- 48. In response to the new COVID-19 travel restrictions, airlines designated new routes between certain countries that were labelled “corridors.” Many national governments also expanded investments in their country’s airlines, or provided other forms of support such as unemployment benefits. There was great uncertainty about how the pandemic would evolve and how businesses worldwide would respond. Travel projections from organizations such as the International Air Transport Association changed often with new information related to the COVID-19 virus. In June 2020, passenger levels were forecasted to not recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2025, and the global fleet in service might not recover until 2022.38 The crisis affected all global airlines and had a major impact on the world’s two main aircraft manufacturers, Boeing Company and Airbus SE. Major airlines were expected to significantly reduce their purchase of new aircraft during the 2020–2025 period by as much as 6,000 fewer products than had been projected—an annual reduction in purchases of 66 per cent.39 Individual Airline Responses The first major response by the world’s airlines was to lobby for increased government support and funding. By August 2020, governments around the world had provided over $125 billion in financing for domestic airlines, with an additional $30 billion expected in the coming months. The US government, in particular, had provided $58 billion through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act in March 2020, with an additional $25 billion expected before the end of the year. Of this aid, $25 billion was given in the form of
- 49. loans for general expenses and an additional $25 billion was provided in the form of grants to cover payroll expenses. These loans were extended with rather severe conditions placed on executive pay and dividends.40 This aid was not extensive enough to prevent massive airline layoffs after the support period was over, as passenger demand continued to falter throughout 2020. The three largest airlines in the United States— each one a founding member of Star Alliance, Oneworld, or SkyTeam—announced record layoffs as the government’s financial support ran out. In the summer of 2020, American Airlines Inc. released over 19,000 employees, representing almost 20 per cent of the company’s workforce, and Delta planned to lay off almost 2,000 pilots. United announced that it expected to lay off up to 36,000 employees by October 2020.41 The airline industry was clearly retrenching, which presented a major challenge for alliance members: could they reduce capacity in a co-operative manner? Another consideration was the uneven governmental support for global airlines during the pandemic, with different governments having different levels of interest in their national airlines. Some national airlines were expected to survive the crisis, others would A ut ho riz ed fo
- 53. e pa ra m et er s is a c op yr ig ht v io la tio n. Page 9 9B21M010 probably reduce the reach of their network, and most airlines would undoubtedly be indebted to their
- 54. respective government. How would these trends affect the management and membership of global constellations such as Star Alliance? Star Alliance’s Response Alliances played a key role in the industry’s response to the pandemic. For example, Star Alliance created a travel information hub that provided health precautions and general information about COVID-19 to all passengers. The alliance also created a set of health and safety procedures for its member airlines to follow that included regulations for passenger use of face masks, cleaning and disinfecting requirements, and operating steps to follow if a passenger developed COVID-19 symptoms.42 These actions were intended to increase the level of comfort of passengers. However, the normal rate of air travel was not expected to recover for several years after the eventual end of the pandemic. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, Star Alliance had been facing various questions about its future.43 For example, the constellation had to determine whether it should continue to grow by introducing new services to extend offerings to its loyal passengers, or maybe allow individual airlines to operate more freely as separate entities under the umbrella brand. Within its network, the alliance had to determine if joint venture partnerships should continue to grow or if the benefits were no longer relevant. However, all questions about structure and strategy had been set aside as the world faced its worst health crisis in over a century. The main question for Star Alliance now became one of survival. What could the alliance
- 55. do to help its members weather the COVID-19 crisis? It clearly did not have the funds to provide support, like governments could. But it could help rebuild the trust of customers and promote safe travel arrangements. Beyond that level of assistance, what would Star Alliance’s role be at the end of the pandemic? Benjamin Gomes-Casseres is the Peter A. Petri Professor of Business and Society at Brandeis University. A ut ho riz ed fo r u se o nl y by x us ha n
- 101. pe ci al -e di tio n/ 13 06 92 .a rt ic le . Authorized for use only by xushan li in BUAD 301 – Spring 2022 Coursepack at California State University - Fullerton from 1/22/2022 to 5/21/2022. Use outside these parameters is a copyright violation. P ag e
- 111. -a irl in e- al lia nc es /1 23 97 9. ar tic le . Authorized for use only by xushan li in BUAD 301 – Spring 2022 Coursepack at California State University - Fullerton from 1/22/2022 to 5/21/2022. Use outside these parameters is a copyright violation. Page 12 9B21M010 EXHIBIT 3: SAMPLE OF CONNECTIONS MADE FOR FLIGHTS BETWEEN FRANKFURT, GERMANY
- 112. AND NEW YORK, UNITED STATES Airline for Cross-Atlantic Leg—Frankfurt to New York Connecting Flights by Leg Type Number of Passengers (in 000s) Number of Flights Number of Unique Final Destination Airports Number of Connecting Airlines Delta Air Lines Inc. Note: Behind = domestic flight into a hub (e.g., Warsaw to Frankfurt on the way to New York); Beyond = domestic flight out of
- 113. a hub (e.g., New York to Cincinnati, after originating in Frankfurt); Bridge = flight that starts behind a hub and continues beyond the connecting hub (e.g., Warsaw to Frankfurt, to New York, and then to Cincinnati). Source: Prepared by case authors with information from the Sabre Market Intelligence database of SABRE GLBL Inc., searching with the Origin and Destinations function for final data on routing shown on tickets for flights from Jan 1, 2019 to Dec 31, 2019 between JFK and CDG, GRA, and LHR. Tables shows tickets sold by Delta Air Lines Inc., Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Singapore Airlines, accessed on July 14, 2020. EXHIBIT 4: FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF AIRLINES BY ALLIANCE AFFILIATION, 2008–2018 Results Aggregated by Membership in Alliance Groupings 2008 2018 Change over the period 2008-2018 Change for 2008-2018 including only members present for the full period 2018 Market
- 114. Share Revenue Star $154,346 $203,570 32% 20% 27% Oneworld 100,930 140,491 39% 21% 18% SkyTeam 99,886 134,431 35% -6% 18% Non-Aligned 185,072 288,578 56% - 38% Operating Result Star (4,244) 13,807 - - 29% Oneworld (2,105) 10,139 - - 16% SkyTeam (9,244) 9,245 - - 19% Non-Aligned 287 14,671 5012% - 31% Net Result Star (9,360) 7,051 - - 30% Oneworld (3,263) 4,186 - - 18% SkyTeam (12,752) 4,577 - - 20% Non-Aligned (7,101) 7,611 - - 32% Return on Sales Star -2.7% 4.4% - - - Oneworld -0.2% 6.3% - - - SkyTeam -1.8% 3.6% - - - Non-Aligned -1.0% 3.5% 3402% - - Source: “Free Download: Airline Business 2018–2019 Digital Special Edition,” FlightGlobal, accessed December 14, 2020, www.flightglobal.com/strategy/free-download-airline-business- 2018-2019-digital-special-edition/130692.article. Behind 1,598 159 1 4 Beyond 24,517 353 192 17
- 115. Bridge 913 251 65 9 Deutsche Lufthansa AG Behind 169,820 839 1 6 Beyond 1,3260 264 136 25 Bridge 3,941 1,407 182 32 Singapore Airlines Behind 35,201 322 1 2 Beyond 4,715 170 91 12 Bridge 5,298 849 113 22 A ut ho riz ed fo r u se o nl y by x us ha n
- 119. op yr ig ht v io la tio n. Page 13 9B21M010 EXHIBIT 5: TRAFFIC PERFORMANCE OF AIRLINES BY ALLIANCE AFFILIATION, 2008–2018 Results Aggregated by Membership in Alliance Groupings 2008 2018 Change over the Period 2008–2018 Change for 2008–2018 Including Only Members
- 120. Present for the Full Period 2018 Market Share RPK Star 974,991 1,792,884 84% 58% 25% Oneworld 704,956 1,184,244 68% 32% 17% SkyTeam 928,210 1,470,212 58% 22% 21% Non-Aligned 1,483,701 2,707,064 82% - 38% ASK Star 1,267,902 2,215,516 75% 49% 26% Oneworld 913,177 1,484,113 63% 24% 17% SkyTeam 1,180,172 1,677,225 42% 14% 19% Non-Aligned 1,932,450 3,232,377 67% — 38% Load Factor Star 74.7% 79.7% 7% 7% — Oneworld 76.7% 80.2% 5% 8% — SkyTeam 75.9% 80.5% 6% 8% — Non-Aligned 76.6% 83.9% 10% — — Passengers (in 000) Star 442 798 81% 49% 23% Oneworld 287 449 56% 42% 13% SkyTeam 439 588 34% 15% 17% Non-Aligned 849 1,575 86% — 46% Note: RPK = revenue passenger kilometres; ASK = available seat kilometres Source: “Free Download: Airline Business 2018–2019 Digital Special Edition,” FlightGlobal, accessed December 14, 2020, www.flightglobal.com/strategy/free-download-airline-business-
- 121. 2018-2019-digital-special-edition/130692.article. EXHIBIT 6: STAR ALLIANCE MEMBERSHIP AND STRUCTURE, 2019 Membership x New members are accepted into the alliance by a vote of the chief executive board. x In addition to an entry fee based on size, new members are required to complete the integration process by fulfilling membership standards. x A member may withdraw voluntarily from the alliance, but membership may be terminated in certain events such as bankruptcy or loss of operating licence. An exit fee may apply. x Each member must comply with the standards of membership and is subject to annual audits for compliance. Structure x The two governing boards are the chief executive board and the alliance management board. x The boards are supported by various committees and expert groups. x The alliance is managed by a management team. Source: From author’s personal conversation with Star Alliance staff. Reproduced with company permission.
- 126. n. Page 14 9B21M010 EXHIBIT 7: GLOBAL AIR TRAVEL PASSENGERS FORECAST 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
- 128. Passengers Source: Prepared by the case authors with information from IATA [International Air Transport Association], Air Passenger Market Analysis: Domestic Air Travel Continues to Drive the Recovery in June, June 2020, accessed December 14, 2020, www.iata.org/en/iata-repository/publications/economic- reports/air-passenger-monthly-analysis---june-20202. A ut ho riz ed fo r u se o nl y by x us ha n
- 132. op yr ig ht v io la tio n. Page 15 9B21M010 ENDNOTES 1 This case study has been written on the basis of published sources only. Consequently, the interpretation and perspectives presented in this case are not necessarily those of Star Alliance or any of its employees. This case study revises the 2000 Brandeis University case by Sarah Marchand, Star Alliance, 2000, Brandeis University: International Business School, February 23, 2004, accessed December 14, 2020, https://alliancestrategy.com/wp-content/uploads/BGC-Star- IBSCase04.pdf. The separate publication, Note on the Global Airline Industry in 2020, is intended to be taught in conjunction with this case study and serves as additional background. 2 “About Star Alliance: Star Alliance Leads the Way,” Star Alliance, accessed November 15, 2020, www.staralliance.com/en/about. 3 “Deregulation: A Watershed Event,” Smithsonian National Air
- 133. and Space Museum, accessed November 15, 2020, https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/america-by- air/online/jetage/jetage08.cfm. 4 A relevant definition and discussion of constellation as a form of multi-organizational networks is featured in Benjamin Gomes-Casseres, Remix Strategy: The Three Laws of Business Combination (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2015), 89–93. 5 Chris McGinnis. “A Guide to Global Airline Alliances,” BBC Travel, accessed November 16, 2020, www.bbc.com/travel/story/20111130-a-guide-to-global-airline- alliances. 6 Bruce McDonald “Antitrust for Airlines,” The United States Department of Justice, July 3, 2005, transcript of remarks, accessed December 14, 2020, www.justice.gov/atr/speech/antitrust-airlines. 7 Graham Dunn and Linda Moore, “Alliances, Codeshares and Beyond,” Airlines Business 32, no. 7 (2016). 8 McGinnis, op. cit. 9 Graham Dunn, “ANALYSIS: The 20-Year History of Global Airline Alliances,” FlightGlobal, May 15, 2017, accessed December 14, 2020, www.flightglobal.com/analysis/analysis- the-20-year-history-of-global-airline-alliances/123979.article. 10 Mihiro Sasaki, Atsuo Suzuki, and Zvi Drezner, “On the Selection of Hub Airports for an Airline Hub-and-Spoke System,” Computers and Operations Research 26, no. 14 (1999): 1411– 1422. 11 “About Connecting Partners,” Star Alliance, accessed November 14, 2020, www.staralliance.com/en/cp-overview. 12 All currency amounts are in US$ unless otherwise specified. 13 “About Star Alliance,” op. cit. 14 FlightGlobal, “Airline Alliance Survey,” Airline Business, June, 1999. 15 Chris Jasper, “Rising Star,” FlightGlobal, May 18, 1999, accessed November 16, 2020, www.flightglobal.com/rising-
- 134. star/26260.article. 16 “We Move under One Roof, so You Move Less,” Star Alliance, accessed November 15, 2020, www.staralliance.com/en/connectingyou. 17 Dunn, op. cit. 18 “Star Alliance Connection Service,” Star Alliance, 2020, accessed November 15, 2020. www.staralliance.com/en/connection-service 19 “Frequent Flyers,” Star Alliance, accessed November 16, 2020, www.staralliance.com/en/frequent-flyers. 20 Ibid. 21 Ibid. 22 Ben Schlappig, “Interline Agreements Vs. Codeshare Agreements Vs. Alliances Vs. Joint Ventures,” One Mile at a Time, October 12, 2017, accessed December 14, 2020, https://onemileatatime.com/interline-codeshare-alliances-joint- ventures. 23 Max Kingsley-Jones, “ANALYSIS: Why Etihad's James Hogan Is Empire Building,” October 21, 2013, accessed December 14, 2020, www.flightglobal.com/analysis-why-etihads-james- hogan-is-empire-building/111357.article. 24 FlightGlobal, “Airline Alliance Survey”, Airline Business, 2012. 25 FlightGlobal, “Airline Alliance Survey”, Airline Business, 2018. 26 William Gillespie and Oliver M. Richard, Antitrust Immunity and International Airline Alliances, The United States Department of Justice, economic analysis group discussion paper, February 1, 2011, accessed December 14, 2020, www.justice.gov/atr/antitrust-immunity-and-international- airline-alliances. 27 Ben Schlappig, “Is Delta Air Lines’ Global Strategy Backfiring?” One Mile at a Time, April 2, 2020, accessed
- 135. December 14, 2020, https://onemileatatime.com/delta-air-lines-global- strategy-backfiring. 28 Chris Jasper, “Rising Star,” May 18, 1999, accessed December 14, 2020, www.flightglobal.com/rising- star/26260.article?adredir=1. 29 “About Star Alliance: Star Alliance Leads The Way”, Star Alliance, 2020, accessed December 21, 2020, www.staralliance.com/en/about. 30 Simon Mills, “Airline Alliance Survey”, Airline Business, September, 2011, 1-42. 31 “Products & Services. Creating the Star Alliance Travel Experience,” Star Alliance, 2020, accessed December 21, 2020, https://portal.staralliance.com/stardesk/publications/P_S_Broch ure.pdf. 32 “Star Alliance and NEC Corporation Sign Partnership Agreement to Enhance Passenger Experience through Biometric Data Recognition Technology,” NEC Corporation, 2019, accessed December 22, 2020, www.nec.com/en/press/201907/global_20190726_01.html. 33 FlightGlobal, “Airline Alliance Survey,” Airline Business, January 1999. 34 “The Rise of the Ultra-Long-Haul Flight,” The Economist, March 27, 2018, accessed November 16, 2020, www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/03/27/the-rise-of-the- ultra-long-haul-flight. A ut ho riz ed
- 140. 35 Bloch Bauer and Rico Merkert, “Ultra Long-Haul: An Emerging Business Model Accelerated by COVID-19,” Journal of Air Transport Management 89 (2020): 1–8. 36 “Industry Losses to Top $84 Billion in 2020,” IATA [International Air Transport Association], June 9, 2020, accessed December 14, 2020, www.iata.org/en/pressroom/pr/2020-06-09- 01/. 37 “Global Market Forecast 2019–2038,” Airbus, accessed December 14, 2020, www.airbus.com/aircraft/market/global - market-forecast.html. 38 Matt Driskill, “Updated: IATA Says 2020 Losses Will Be Biggest in Aviation History as COVID-19 Lays Waste to Travel,” Asian Aviation, June 9, 2020, accessed December 14, 2020, https://asianaviation.com/iata-says-2020-losses-will-be-biggest- in-aviation-history. 39 “Industry Losses to Top $84 Billion in 2020,” IATA [International Air Transport Association], press release, June 9, 2020, accessed November 14, 2020, www.iata.org/en/pressroom/pr/2020-06-09-01. 40 Eduardo Mariz, “Covid-19 Bailouts: Seven Carriers Get $2.8bn in New and Additional Aid,” Ishka, August 20, 2020, accessed December 14, 2020, www.ishkaglobal.com/News/Article/6264/Covid-19-bailouts- Seven-carriers-get-2-8bn-in-new-and- additional-aid. 41 Jack Kelly, “Two Major Airlines Have Announced Massive Layoffs,” Forbes, August 26, 2020, accessed December 14, 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2020/08/26/two-major-airlines- have-announced-massive-layoffs/?sh=3e94a48b235f.
- 141. 42 “26 Member Airlines. All Committed to Keeping You Safe,” Star Alliance, accessed December 14, 2020, www.staralliance.com/en/commitments. 43 Antonio Tugores-Garcia, Analysis of Global Airline Alliances as a Strategy for International Network Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, thesis paper, May 14, 2012, accessed December 14, 2020, https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/10127599.pdf. A ut ho riz ed fo r u se o nl y by x us ha n li in
- 145. ig ht v io la tio n. 1 Chapter 1: Purpose of Research My Other Brother (MOB)
- 146. The purpose of MOB is to empower Black men and provide them with a counter space and sense of community that will allow students to utilize each other as systems of support to aid in on their success. The core values of MOB are unity, Black culture, culturally validating identity development and K-12 outreach in urban, hood’ communities. Rooted in these core values, MOB objective is to develop students into scholars/leaders. Furthermore, to establish a sense of belonging for urban Black youth rooted in mentorship, culture and identity. At the college level, California State University, East Bay (CSUEB) being the first college partnership via student club on campus; MOB is a cohort of 12 Black men students at CSUEB. It is a community of individuals that support, validate, challenge and grow together. Components are regular intragroup dialogue sessions on Black identity through forms of Hip Hop cultural expression, historical and contemporary racism
- 147. including internalized racism and contemporary issues in the community at the collegiate level. Furthermore, components include graduate/professional school workshops, financial literacy, leadership development, study sessions and “talk shit” sessions of which students have the space to talk more loosely on contemporary cultural trends that they see in the community that impact them on and off campus. These sessions on campus have been critical in engaging Black men and women and establishing a sense of belonging for them at the college campus, transpiring to their work and engagement with their K-12 youth. In accomplishing this goal, MOB partners with Castlemont Hi gh School in East Oakland, West Oakland Middle School in West Oakland, and McClymonds High School
- 148. 2 in West Oakland in developing a higher education access pipeline of which College MOB student mentors work with K-12 student mentees. At Castlemont High School and McClymonds High School in particular, MOB conducts college readiness programming via weekly A-G requirement meetings, one on one and group academic check ins, after school tutoring and personal check ins with students that focus on student core values and identity development. In addition, MOB K-12 mentor program
- 149. consists of leadership and research work via weekly Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) and community engagement. As part of this, K-12 MOB youth partake in community-based research projects where students analyze the existing issues and strengths that they see in their surrounding Oakland community to impact practice based on how they construct knowledge. Most critically, MOB mentors develop close connections with K-12 mentees and their families to support students along their experiences in school, and their life experiences outside of school to impact the holistic development of the student. These grassroots, community- oriented approaches to our MOB work sets foundation for my passion to write this dissertation. Furthermore, this dissertation is grounded in the experiences of myself, student participants, and the larger Black community that we are members of.
- 150. 3 Introduction This is not your average dissertation. This dissertation is guided and grounded in solidarity with its population of study. It is a dissertation that is not concerned with receiving legitimization from those that may or may not confer it. It is a dissertation that’s principal concern is interrupting processes of power that have created Black deficit frameworks that are described, investigated and contested within pages of this dissertation. Most critically, this is a dissertation that privileges the San Francisco State University Educational Leadership Doctoral Program’s mission of social justice and
- 151. equity over the sole purpose of simply obtaining a doctorate degree. The work of MOB is not just “the work.” It is my life and commitment to justice via fighting for the humanization of hood ‘Black males and working to create and sustain life-thriving realities for the Black community overall. MOB, the sample of 12 students featured in this study, is a small mirror of practice that we hope can inform the larger Black masses and society. Eurocentrism, Knowledge Production and The Myth of Objectivity This work is rooted in the critical Ethnic Studies tradition. As such, it questions the underlying and foundational assumption that knowledge is produced independent of geopolitical contexts. Critical Ethnic studies scholars call for a recognition and critique of Eurocentrism. For these scholars, the historical processes of colonialism affirmed Europe and its forms of knowledge as the center of the world while simultaneously
- 152. ‘subalternizing’ the forms of knowledge found in its periphery (Dussel 1995, Grosfoguel 2007, Maldanodo-Torres 2008, Brown and Barganier, 2018). For these scholars, the social sciences are founded on the Eurocentric myth that knowledge can be produced 4 objectively. Instead, Ethnic Studies scholars argue for an acknowledgement of the social, political context of the researcher and for a critique from the perspective of the oppressed (Tuhiwai-Smith 1999). This dissertation is guided by these principles. By acknowledging
- 153. the relationship of the production of knowledge to relations of power, I decenter traditional methods of research and engage the research subjects as active participants in the construction of knowledge. In other words, I have sought to utilize a method and theoretical framing that allows students to participate in meaning making. In this sense, this dissertation is a collaborative effort between myself and other MOB members. Given that this work follows this tradition, my dissertation differs from traditional works in several key ways: (1). Conceptually: I take a fundamentally different approach to concepts such as “success.” Traditionally, success is defined in educational research as educational performance or achievement gap aspirations such as supporting the social and emotional development of Black boys to succeed academically (Harper, 2016). Instead, I understand success by means of students gaining a sense of pride and confidence to resist and interrupt forms of coloniality (which may show up differently
- 154. from student to student). We view success this way given that this definition of success is rooted in a Black community-cultural framework of resistance that places the historical and contemporary struggle of Black oppression against White colonialism at the forefront of our meaning making systems for success. In connection, we understand that Black male deficit experiences within the school system is just a function of the larger society/system that is anti-Black. As such, on an individual level, a student saying that they felt more encouraged to speak up/assert themselves more in their classes or in life in general based on confidence built through their MOB experiences is an example of
- 155. 5 success when centering MOB outcomes through our historical rebellion lens against racial oppression. (2). Methodologically: In order to meet these stated ends, we utilized a Black Emancipatory Action Research Approach (BEAR) to allow both myself and students to make meaning of their interviews and data in a Black cultural way experienced by people of African descent (Akom, 2011). (3). In other words, I have attempted to construct a methodology that privileges the knowledge production of my participants. Theoretically: Even further, my work is concerned with highlighting the people’s knowledge which is the consciousness of Black students in alignment with the urban Black communities that they come from. To this end, I have sought to construct a theoretical framework that
- 156. moves beyond those which tend to pathologize many of these groups. Therefore, Tupac Shakur serves as a theoretician that can illuminate the experiences of my subjects with more clarity than traditional education research. (4). Analytically: My data analysis is grounded in the experience of my research participants and how the participants and I constructed meaning making of data together in connection to how we analyzed certain Tupac Shakur lyrics in connection to the data. (5). Accessibility: This work is intended to serve as a lens that is for the community and by the community. There are existing frameworks in academia that appeal to the consciousness of non-Black educators that are looking for “manuals” and “guides” on how to work with urban Black youth; for example, “For White Folks That Teach in The Hood”-Christopher Emdin, who is a brilliant scholar that you will see in my literature review section of this dissertation. This work, in contrast, is for Blacks of the
- 157. 6 community overall to tap into their very own community cultural power to liberate themselves. Groundings with My Brothers: A Long Tradition of Radical Resistance Revolutionary historian Walter Rodney conveyed the meaning of Black power through his scholarly work “The Groundings with My
- 158. Brothers.” The Groundings with My brothers is a call for unity amongst the downtrodden members of the Black diaspora (from Black America to the Black Caribbean etc) to build unity amongst each other based on our shared racialized experiences. In connection with The Groundings with My Brothers, Rodney expressed that Black Power is a doctrine about Black people, for Black people, preached by Black people (Rodney, 1969). The concept of “grounding” refers to a collective process and space where Black people could critically engage with each other. In these meetings, Black people determined the confines of the dialogue and came to a political consensus on how to best address their issues. Reflecting on these meetings, Rodney argued, Black people needed, to 'ground together.' There was all this furor about whites being present in the Black Writers Congress which most whites did not understand. They did not understand that our historical experience has been speaking to white people,
- 159. whether it be begging white people, justifying ourselves against white people or even vilifying white people. Our whole context has been, 'that is the man to talk to.' Now the new understanding is that Black Brothers must talk to each other. That is a very simple understanding which any reasonable person outside of a particular 'in-group' would understand. That is why we talk about our family discussions.
- 160. 7 Rodney’s work here is useful in three central ways: First, Rodney acknowledges the entanglement of knowledge production and politics and grounds his scholarship within his larger political project-Black Power. Secondly, Rodney turns the Eurocentric myth of objectivity on its head by privileging subaltern knowledge. That is to say, Rodney demonstrates that while dominate forms of knowledge tend to disguise social reality, the knowledge created by the masses illuminates the true nature of social relations. For Rodney, “the groundings” were the worldviews of the oppressed and their collective critiques and analyses of relations of power. Lastly, and perhaps even more important, these analyses are rooted in the experiences of the masses. The groundings were a collective process. This is a major departure from traditional academic research
- 161. that views the people as objects to be studied, rather than actual moral subjects. These themes are key to the theoretical framing, methodology, and data analysis of this work. This work specifies the importance of making meaning of data, lived experience, and construction of knowledge grounded through a Black power lens given that our Blackness (in a White world) has the biggest impact on our lives. In connecting Groundings with My Brothers to this dissertation, I used Tupac Shakur as an analytical tool given that Tupac best conveys the struggle and Black empowerment in ways that best resonate with the low-income, hood’ Black young men featured in this study. Tupac Shakur’s construct of Thug Life serves as a contemporary form of people’s knowledge, along a radical tradition of Black power. Thus, in tradition of Walter Rodney, Tupac both resonates with the ethos of MOB and stands as an exceptionally useful lens to analyze how MOB students navigate their experiences with alienation.
- 162. 8 The Significance of Tupac Shakur Tupac Shakur had a triple consciousness of love, street survival/thugism, and a revolutionary identity of resistance grounded in the duality of his pre-birth and post birth experiences along the struggles of the oppressed Black masses. To unpack this a little more, we should start with examining his pre-birth experience of being in the belly of his
- 163. pregnant Black Panther Party mother, Afeni Shakur, while she was in a New York Prison fighting a conspiracy case against the United States government. Tupac being born one month after Afeni Shakur was acquitted of those charges in 1971, was born into an indigenous, revolutionary world culture of resistance grounded in the practices of the Black Panther Party (Shakur, 2019). Like Afeni, Tupac’s Godfather Jeronimo Pratt and Stepfather Mutulu Shakur were very important figures in the Black Liberation Movement. Moreover, Tupac was named after “Tupac Amaru II,” an 18th century Inca Peruvian revolutionary who lead an Indigenous uprising against European/Spanish rule. When connecting the circumstances surrounding Tupac’s name and being born into a Black Panther Party family, one could see the shaping of Tupac Shakur as a freedom fighter for justice. Revolutionary practices of the Black Panther Party fueled the consciousness of
- 164. the Black masses in predominate inner-city communities of the 1960s and 70s (Shakur, 2019). As Tupac was born in, and in alignment with the inner- city Black masses, his post-birth experiences continued to reflect the radical resistance teachings of his Black Panther/Liberation Army family. This was also intertwined with the collective struggles of the inner-city Black community of the 1970s-90s of which Tupac grew up in. In connection, the urban Black community was not just a place of radical resistance, but it
- 165. 9 was also a place of high poverty rates, drug dealing, drug abuse, prostitution, gangs and violence due to systematic racism. Through Tupac’s experience growing up in East Harlem/New York, Baltimore, and his relocation to Marin City Jungles/Oakland and then LA; his influences were Black revolutionaries, street thugs, gangsters, pimps, drug dealers, prostitutes, dope fiends and hustlers collectively as these people were part of his day to day reality as a Black man in the urban ghettos that he grew up in. Also, his mother Afeni who at one point was on drugs (crack cocaine) during aspects of Tupac’s upbringing, remained a symbol of strength and love for Tupac that he would also embrace within his consciousness and music. As you can see, much of the framing that I am discussing here are experiences of
- 166. Tupac prior to him being the artist that we would come to know today as a legend. These experiences of love, thugism/street life, and political revolution are grounded in Tupac. Most important, these experiences help us understand the duality of Tupac’s lifestyle and work that impacts generations of Black youth that also witness a duality of experiences in their inner-city Black struggle. Tupac has many rap songs that focus on revolution solely, love solely, and street life/thugism solely. He also has music that blends all these themes together. The below Tupac lyrics are an example of the duality within Tupac’s work. “Born thuggin and lovin the way I came up Big money clutchin', bustin" while evadin' cocaine busts My pulse rushin, send my pulse into insanity they shot at my cousin now we bustin' at they whole' family The coppers want to see me buried, I ain't worried I got a line on the D.A. 'cause I'm fuckin his secretary
- 167. 10 I black out and start cussin, bust 'em and touch 'em all They panic and bitches duckin, I rush 'em and fuck 'em all I'll probably be an old man before I understand Why I had to live my life with pistols close at hand they kidnapped my homey's sister, cut her face up bad They even raped her, so we blazed they pad Automatic shots rang out, on every block They puttin hits out on politicians, even cops” (Shakur, 2001).
- 168. In these lyrics, you can see Tupac’s expression of love and concern for the cousin and sister that was brutalized, a sense of street life/violence via “bustin while evading cocaine busts,” and revolution in the form of “putting hits out on politicians, even cops.” This duality found in his lyrics is the reason Tupac is so relatable to the Black masses as these experiences represent a duality found in the oppressed Black Mass communities. In this case, Tupac is not important despite of his contradictions and duality. Rather, Tupac is important because of his contradictions and duality. Tupac was the center of much controversy throughout his legacy and his messages of Black unity, solidarity, love, street life/thugism and revolution were prevalent through the many brush ins with the law that he encountered. Furthermore, the context surrounding Tupac’s death. Tupac’s many issues were connected to his fight for liberation. Understanding the meaning of Blackness in a White world, is to understand
- 169. oppressive forces targeting anything that is Black and powerful. To speak to this: The White controlled media in the U.S. painted Tupac’s image in a light that is different than that of the people. Centering Tupac’s legacy and impact through the people’s knowledge, 11 is to pay closer attention to how the Black masses in the community are impacted by
- 170. Tupac Shakur opposed to how the media portrays him. WTupac Shakur continues to have an impact on a young generation of Black youth along their racialized experiences as a source of empowerment. Positionality as Founding Director of MOB To have a deep and correct understanding of what Thug Life means, it is important to understand how Tupac Shakur (the person that diagnosed the Thug Life Framework) made meaning of his very own concept which is connected to Tupac’s life experiences. This collective understanding is important to building empathy amongst the larger community that strives to be empowered by the said frameworks which insures successful implementation of the practice. If a generation misunderstands and misappropriates a culture of practice, the next generation can always get it right by going back to the direct source to examine what the original goals and intentions of the culture of practice was set for.
- 171. For example, there are some inner-city Black youth that steal from, and kill other Blacks for the purpose of personal and street disputes between each other. Some of these individuals think they are real thugs and claim to “live a thug life.” Yet, this is an example of when a generation has the idea and cultural practice of Thug Life all wrong. In understanding the true meaning of Thug Life via the framework and practice that was documented by Tupac Shakur: One would understand that Thug Life would be the process of those inner-city Black youth organizing systematically to spark revolution against colonial powers, instead of harming one another.
- 172. 12 In connection to MOB, I want to be sure to lay a narrative for the audience to understand my lived experiences that set foundation for my construction and creation of the My Other Brother (MOB) program. This is for the goal of future generations to come, to at least understand what I was/am trying to accomplish with this work. This study is the first attempt to see if MOB study participants make meaning of their experiences in the program in the way that the author had hoped to impact. Through a letter that I wrote to Tupac Shakur to center the Statement of Problem, I take you on a narrative of experiences of oppression that I have encountered and witnessed within my community and higher education experiences that sparked the creation of the MOB program. Most
- 173. important, this experience reflects how I was able to overcome through a narrative of Thug Life that set the foundation for my MOB work. Statement of Problem: Letter Narrative to Tupac Shakur Black males in America are being systematically oppressed with respect to health, education, employment, income, and overall well-being. The most reliable data consistently indicate that Black males constitute a segment of the population that is distinguished by hardships, disadvantages, and vulnerability (Noguera, 2008). This especially connects to how Black males are treated in schools. Black people represent five percent of California’s K-12 student population, yet account for 18% of all the state’s K-12 suspensions (Harris III & Wood, 2013). Moreover, Black males still have the highest suspension rate, are at the bottom of academic achievement, and are disproportionately to this day, still pushed out of school at alarming rates (Duncan, 2002; Duncan-Andrade & Morrell, 2008; Noguera, 2003, 2012). To be
- 174. clear, the problem is anti-Black racism and structural racialization and how it impacts young Black males in 13 and outside of educational experiences. MOB aims to reverse this trend by improving educational and cultural content knowledge while fostering Black male student agency to resist oppression. In alignment with community strengths,
- 175. Tupac’s life work highlights resistance, agency, and political contestation against structural racialization. Dear Tupac Amaru Shakur, I have always been inspired by your bravery that you have displayed in your life. It has been your legacy, spirit, and strength that keep me pushing forward throughout my struggles and accomplishments as a hood Black man in this “White man’s World.” In this world, I have shifting moments of happiness in my life, similar to a roller coaster ride riddled with highs and lows. I am happy when I am building with my Brothas in the MOB, engaging students in my role as a College Instructor, and interacting with peers at work, school or in the hood in West Oakland. These experiences are typically when I smile. Outside of these experiences, I carry a burden of str ess, yet pride and good energy along this game of life that I am living. I try my best to keep good energy, although I must admit that sometimes my economic and racialized experiences keep a stern look on
- 176. my face even though I yearn to smile. Below are some of my personal experiences growing up in my community that provides a foundation for the strengths that are part of my community that have helped me be successful. These experiences provided me with validation of who I am as a Black man and a source of capital that helped me navigate through the k-12 system that was set up for me to fail in the first place. I want to thank you Pac because Thug Life came to be something that I understand and resonated with as a youth. I never knew who Paulo Freire and “Pedagogy of the oppressed” was. But I, the Black masses overall from the hood, knew who Tupac and Thug life was/is.
- 177. 14 In terms of my background in connection to Thug Life, I grew up in the Real West Oakland (not the gentrified West Oakland) with a culture of being tough, real, and unified with a sense of community. Sometimes we took that toughness out on each other (which is not a good thing), but the overarching, unconscious understanding was that being a Black man meant that you had to be family oriented and tough-at least within the inner-city hood Black struggle. During this time, the message was that you are a Black man in this world and the system is against you. “You don’t need to be fighting one
- 178. another, you are brothers”---this was the first unifying message that I understood for what being a Black man represented in 1999 when I got into a fight with one of my best friends in elementary school. This was after myself and my patna (the other man behind me in the elementary school picture below) got into a fist fight in the streets. When we came home and Uncle Greg, my patnas father, found out; he explained that we should not be fighting with one another because we are family and shoul d have each other’s back. Uncle Greg said that “yall are brothers.” I now understand that these implications of Blackness in my childhood were embedded in your Thug Life framework from the streets Tupac. I did not understand the Black Panther party connection to thug Life just yet during this time. However, the foundation of “family,” “toughness,” and “community” via Thug Life was understood by me as a young West Oakland kid in the hood. I remember the police kicking Uncle Greg’s door in, in West Oakland. Myself,
- 179. my best friend that I got into a fight with and the rest of the family were in the house when this happened. The police shot and killed our dog and vandalized the entire house and pointed guns at all of us. They were looking for Uncle Greg and looking for drugs in the house. Uncle Greg was not there during this time though. We were all about 9 and 10 15 years old when we saw this. I knew from this experience and
- 180. many other encounters with the police, including witnessing my mom deal with the police and the police putting my mom in hand cuffs (taking her from our home and to jail right before my own eyes), that the police were not in my community to help us. I felt that they were the “bad guys” against us. In contrast, I always felt affirmed when I was running around in the streets of West Oakland with my friends, my “family” from the hood/community. I unconsciously grew to look to my own community as a sense of “protecting and serving ourselves,” as the police appeared to be in my hood community to bring pain and terror against us. This is critical Pac because your Thug Life framework was also birthed out of the inner-city hood Black struggle, with police brutality and rebellion against this type of oppression being a critical focus of Thug Life. As a result of Black oppression from racist law enforcement as well as Black on Black crime, being tough/strong and also having a sense of family with your people in the
- 181. hood and standing up for yourself is what street Black culture represented during this time to me. This street Black culture, I would grow up to recognize this as Thug Life. While this type of community education and knowledge was in alignment with our racialized lived experiences as Black males of the hood (extending outside of the classroom), this Thug Life identity was threatening to White colonial systems. In school, many students that got suspended and kicked out of schools were of this perceived mentality/identity. Students were perceived as “thuggish,” “aggressive or disruptive” in the classroom as many teachers perceived us based on how we chose to express ourselves and our values/behaviors within the class. Pac I know that you talked about these types of issues in “Words of Wisdom.”
- 182. 16 “In one way or another America will find a way to eliminate the problem, one by one. The problem is the troublesome Black youth of the ghettos And, one by one, we are being wiped off the face of this Earth At an extremely alarming rate” (Shakur, 1991). Our expressions as young Black males in school were connected to our racialized experiences outside of school in our communities and larger society dealing with racial oppressions. Especially racist encounters with White police in our community, poverty, family drug abuse and drug selling for survival, prostitution and sexual violence against Black women, and Black on Black turf/neighborhood and personal violence against one
- 183. another. This was aspects of our reality outside of school. These were the deficits of Black males and the community overall. As a result, a sense of community, love, resiliency, resistance, affirmation, and family was the strength- based counter to the negative struggles that we faced. These positive experiences of community, love, and family were also prevalent in the midst of the pain and toxicity within our community. Still though, we were stuck with the reality of being in schools that could only address the problems that they saw in us Black males, but not the root cause for these larger issues that we faced. Pac, you discussed this dual reality of anti-Blackness in the community via the police and other internal inner-city Black struggles. Yet, in your lyrics, you always followed up with some source of empowerment in spite of your circumstances, -rooted in education and affirmation of our struggles and racialized experiences to serve our community. “These are lies that we all accepted
- 184. Say no to drugs but the governments' kept it The Police Running through our community, killing the unity, The war on drugs is a war on you and me And yet, they say this is the Home of The Free 17 But if you ask me, it's all about hypocrisy The constitution, yo, it don't apply to me And Lady Liberty? Stupid bitch lied to me This made me strong, and no one's gonna like what I'm pumpin' But its wrong to keep someone from learning something So get up, its time to start nation building I'm fed up, we gotta start teaching children That they can be all that they wanna be There's much more to life than just poverty” (Shakur, 1991). Photo 1: Spring 1998, (9 year old Ish, with close Patnas that I grew up with in West Oakland): Hoover Elementary School graduation, Ghost Town Neighborhood in West
- 185. Oakland. Uncle Greg wrapping his arms around myself and my brothers/friends The transition to middle school and then high school is when I began to see stages of anti-urban Black male identity take fold within educational spaces via policies and selective practices from teachers. What I witnessed and experienced growing up serves as a qualitative narrative behind the much existing quantitative data that highlight Black male deficits via not being engaged in K-12 and being criminalized, pushed out due to urban Black male identity. From a quantitative standpoint, only 41 percent of Black males graduate from high school. Black males are 3.6 times more likely to be suspended
- 186. 18 from school than the state average; subsequently, connecting to school to prison pipeline and prison industrial complex (Fryer, Heaton, Levitt, & Murphy, 2006). Black males are still the highest incarcerated group in America despite Black Americans comprising less than 13% of all citizens (Fryer, Heaton, Levitt, & Murphy, 2006). And in in higher education, Black males continue to have low retention and graduation rates on a national level (Harper, 2013). In qualifying the above quantitative data: As I transitioned to middle School and then high School as a student athlete at McClymonds High School, my friends that are in the above Hoover elementary picture with me had begun the beginning stages of the school to prison pipeline and started being written off as thugs, kicked out of schools and
- 187. getting more into street politics. I, on the other hand, -who was deemed “thuggish” right along with them up until I became a football player, started receiving different treatment from teachers and began to be socialized as a “good student with potential.” I essentially started to be socially tracked and separated from my friends who I had rolled with in elementary and middle school as I became a standout McClymonds football player and pushed into more leadership and college-access programs at McClymonds. The larger problem in connection to this narrative is: What about the rest of the Black males that were not athletes in west Oakland or inner city Black America in general? Why were they not affirmed, judged and essentially pushed out of the K-12 system? “June 16th, 1971 Mama gave birth to a hell-raisin' heavenly son See, the doctor tried to smack me, but I smacked him back
- 188. 19 My first words was, "Thug for life!" and "Papa, pass the MAC!" (Shakur, 1994) Having a mentality that would say “the doctor tried to smack me, but I smacked him back” as Tupac mentioned (rebellion/resistance) played out differently for me as an athlete in comparison to my friends that did not get socialized into athletics in high school. My peers were pushed out of K-12 because of this “thug” mentality of rebellion/resistance. Meanwhile, as an athlete I was able to be engaged in a way that allowed me to bring my community and racialized experiences
- 189. to the team and be developed and channeled in a way that allowed me to grow. Sports, and many aspects like the military, are always spaces that “allow” the type of Black male expression of resistance that we hood Black males possess. However, what was out there for Black males, for my patnas in the picture that I grew up with that are not athletes? What could engage them in a way that provides them with a sense of brotherhood and structure allowing them to still be the tough/rebellious men that they are? How do we nurture this in a successful way as strength given that young Black males find these strengths and validation in the streets/gangs and the larger community outside of the school when the school does not engage them? Photo 2: 16 year old Ish in the Hallways of McClymonds high school, part of the killa 20’s hood in West Oakland.
- 190. 20 Photo 3: National signing Day, 2007: Myself and 4 of my peers sign our letter of intents to the Universities that we would attend, that we received full ride football scholarships to. UC Davis, Boise State University, San Jose State University, South East Missouri State, University of Washington. One of my friends in the picture wound up catching a case and doing 7 years in federal prison before he could make it to South East Missouri State. Aside from us few students that received athletic scholarships and the students that went to college in general for academics, where did the rest of the Black males at McClymonds end up? And Why?
- 191. 21 Letter to Tupac: Narrative continued: In connecting back to you Pac, I studied your life and how you lived a life of pain and happiness based on your hood’ Black male identity. Your Black power, your strength and resiliency proved to be capital. You utilized your racialized experiences in an art form that turned you into the rose that grew from the concrete in becoming a millionaire and the most influential person that my generation has ever
- 192. seen. Furthermore, you lived out Thug Life and put the teachings of your Black Panther parents to practice, by shooting two “crooked” and racist White police officers that were beating up an unarmed Black man on the streets in order to protect that Black person. Yet, these same racialized experiences that you encountered were the source of your persecution. You were unlawfully beaten up by racist White cops in Oakland. Furthermore, the target for FBI counter intelligence just as the Black Panther Party was due to your revolutionary background and rebellion against the system (Newton, 1980). You were shot 5 times in an elevator by Black men, members of your very own Black race, and had falsified rape allegations against you by a Black woman. This was an attempt to slander and assassinate your name and character before the eyes of the world. Through all of these struggles, you showed strength and resiliency in continuing to speak truth to power and continuing to show love and education to our community
- 193. with your rap music, poetry, and community engagement. Your artistry was and is educational to the Black mases Tupac. This is critical because your scholarship is different from those of the formal academy. I could not write a letter to someone in the academy that informs my research because I only know his or her research. However, Pac, it is your life style and how you lived out the very work that you produced in your
- 194. 22 artistry that affects me and informs my work. Through your own actions, you taught me that my resiliency, authenticity and racial pride/education of self is a source of empowerment. It is a source of my bravery, persistence, and belief in my own self and my aspirations. “Words of Wisdom Based upon the strength of a nation Conquer the enemy armed with education Protect yourself, reach for what you want to do Know thyself, teach about what we’ve been through Armed with the knowledge of the place we've been No one will ever oppress this race again” (Shakur, 1991). I navigated a predominately White and Asian UC Davis campus with gold teeth in my mouth, a fitted hat and a Black beanie in being outspoken and proactive in seeking out professors, administrators and anyone necessary to reach my goals. The sacrifice was
- 195. worth it as I do not owe a dime to UC Davis due to being on full ride football scholarship my entire 4 years. Yet, I was still very poor and struggled at UC Davis and many people questioned if I would be able to persist at UC Davis. In addition to UC Davis being a foreign environment to me, as a student athlete I had to sleep on various friends couches and lived a life of highs and lows as I would go back and forth from UC Davis to Oakland to deal with family/community issues while still navigating UC Davis throughout my 4 years there. Still during these experiences, I excelled on campus both as an athlete and within Black cultural programs such as Africans/African Americans Cultivating Education
- 196. 23 (ACE) and Black Student Union (BSU). The BSU and ACE was critical in giving me that space on campus to build community with other Black students and take part in various cultural programs that educated us in our history and culture. This, along with the relationships that I built within the UC Davis Football program, definitely gave me a sense of belonging at UC Davis and contributed to my persistence. In addition, leadership experiences such as my time as a Student Outreach Assistant with Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP) contributed to my engagement on campus. These experiences not only kept me grounded with a sense of family and community on campus, essentially a home away from my home
- 197. from West Oakland. It connected me to the necessary staff and faculty on campus that affirmed me and pushed me to be the best that I could as an upcoming professional. In connection to the community and racialized culture that serves as street capital from West Oakland, which is a function of Thug Life: When I found these elements at the college institution via programs like EAOP, BSU and ACE, I wound up persisting to graduate from UC Davis in 4 years. While I would say that my leadership experiences and the relationships that I made across all cultures and racial lines at UC Davis impacted my success, it was my Black community and cultural expression from West Oakland that served as a foundation for my confidence in building those necessary relationships to seek out various experiences on campus. Photo 4: After beating Sacramento State University in our Causeway Classic, 2010 or 2011. Amongst diverse peers on the football team, I was known for representing West
- 198. Oakland and receiving respect for my authenticity amongst my teammates throughout my career. In the middle kneeling, blue head band wrapped around my shaved head, 24 representing West Oakland with my hand gesture. This street cultural and Black pride helped me out a lot while I was at UC Davis. Throughout all of my struggles, these strengths helped me survive. Photo 5: Graduated from UC Davis in 2011.
- 199. 25 Letter to Tupac: Continued Pac, it is interesting because after graduating UC Davis I went on to earn a Master’s degree from UCLA in 2013 and dove right into a career in Higher Education, Student Affairs. My goal was to impact my community just like you. Similar to your culture and identity being a strength and yet the subject for your persecution, I began a similar experience once I got into the professional world as a working professional. In my professional experiences as an EOP Counselor (Black woman Director), Academic Advisor at SFSU (White woman Director), Scholar Match College Advisor (White woman director), and Program Coordinator for MESA (Black male director), I have been judged based on my Black hood’ cultural dress attire, Black male image, Black
- 200. language/voice and overall energy. Pac, you were judged by these things from racist White law enforcement and judicial system, record company executives, misguided Black street gangsters, the media and the bourgeois Blacks in the world who could not 26 resonate with your racialized and community cultural experiences. This set foundation for your rebellious identity and the code of Thug Life. And in this same token, your cultural
- 201. expression was celebrated and praised amongst the people that matter; which is the masses and the real community and youth that could identify. And in spite of my judgments and negative experiences from the power structure in the education system, I have always been celebrated and praised for my work by the people that matter; the underrepresented students and students from marginalized communities that I serve. As I am coming to the end of this letter Tupac, I have one last protest and something that I wanted to run by you. I want to articulate that the leadership amongst the higher education administrators in my experience have all been like robots, pushing a seemingly trained and rehearsed message of the importance of “code switching,” “playing the game,” “get to the dinner table,” and “dress professional.” Of which all of their advice has been to tone down my Blackness in some context. This is a form of respectability politics, whether these individuals want to admit it or not. The individuals
- 202. that are in power (the directors and Vice chancellors etc) are considered to be “educational leaders” and I am considered to be a talented individual that does great work but needs to be “refined.” This is the false construct and the larger problem of practice here. This is why I created my own leadership and power for myself and Black males alike with the MOB. 27
- 203. 28 Thug Life: Foundation for MOB Community Based Programming Letter to Tupac Continued: Pac, based on all of the madness that I have dealt with in my education, life and professional career, I started an organization called My Other Brother (MOB) that works with First Generation College Black students to mentor Black youth of the hood. Black males make up the majority of students in this organization. Students in my organization have expressed that the organization means community, authenticity (being able to express who they are in respect to race and culture) and militancy to them. Last week we had a MOB meeting of which we compared what students are saying about MOB, to the codes of the Thug Life that you, Mopreme and Mutulu