EasyJet: Dealing with Flight Shaming

In the fall of 2019, “flight shaming,” a growing environmental movement, was gaining speed. The movement, which was sparked in Sweden and popularized by Greta Thunberg the previous year, sought to express the “unease about flying experienced by environmentally conscious travellers.” As a short-haul airline, EasyJet plc (EasyJet) needed to determine whether this was merely a passing fad that it could ignore or a threat that might damage its reputation and growth ambitions for the future. In the latter case, EasyJet would also need to determine what it should do to mitigate such risks.

This case and teaching note have been developed specifically for non-market strategy or advanced corporate strategy courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. This case may also be relevant for courses in corporate social responsibility and sustainable development; it can also be easily adapted for an undergraduate strategy course, during a session that mobilizes stakeholder theory, for example.<br>This non-market strategy case examines corporate responses to social movement pressures related to climate change. Students are invited to analyze how climate change is likely to affect the pursuit of the firm’s current business model and strategy in both the short and long terms.<br><br\>After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:<ul><li>Choose appropriate tools for analyzing risks associated with or triggered by social movement pressures.</li><li>Evaluate whether concrete, strategic action is required, and if so, determining what action to take.</li><li>Develop a strategy commensurate with the risk posed by the issue identified.</li></ul>

• non-market strategy
• climate change
• activist pressure
• response
• corporate social responsibility
• stakeholder theory
• strategy