Network Infrastructure: Due to Emirates explosive growth, Emirates are working together with the IT giant Sun Microsystems to scale their IT infrastructure in order to sustain this rapid growth while simultaneously reducing the operational costs. With the dual objectives of increasing IT capacity while driving down operating costs, a decision has been reached by Emirates’ Management to migrate business applications which were running on Sun EnterpriseTM 10000 servers to the next generation technology from Sun Microsytems - the Sun FireTM (Sun Microsystems, Undated). Keeping abreast with technology is of vital importance since technology is today the main player in global organisations.
Pressure for Global Integration The pressure of global integration is reflected by factors such as: global competition global coordination of value-chain activities technological changes and complexity the need to reduce cost by exploiting global scale scope economies i.e. efficiencies primarily associated with demand-side changes
The major pressures for Global Integration can be categorised into 2 categories, being ‘Globalisation of Markets’ and ‘Globalisation of Production/ Services’. It is worth mentioning that a commodity serves a universal need across countries and cultures and is traded strictly on the basis of price which adds even more pressure to the global strategy. (International Business, 2001) & (University of New South Wales – Sydney, 1999) Enrolment of Global Workforce: Due to global competition one of the major challenges for Emirates Airlines is to find enough skilled staff around the globe for employment. "We are preparing for the future, which will see the airline becoming one of the biggest international carriers," Shaikh Ahmad said. "As we plan for the next decade, our biggest challenges will be to find more pilots, engineers, cabin crew and skilled staff across our various business units," he added. (Gulf News, 2008)
Determining the balance of Global Integration vs. Local Responsiveness Managing the tension between global integration and local responsiveness in order to convert a unique strategy into superior value is all about determining the right balance between global integration and local responsiveness. Global integration helps in managing risks and driving down enterprise costs while local responsiveness facilitates an efficient integration with local economic conditions and partners. Pressures for Global Integration vs. Local Responsiveness can be categorised into 4 categories: Centralised Business Provide global integration but have less need for local responsiveness. Provide consistent product and customer experiences globally, and seek to maximise synergies by centralising assets and capabilities.
Federated Business Parent-led Business Multi-local Business
Global consistent customer service: Since global airlines such as the Emirates Airlines must present the same face and procedures to its customers everywhere they operate in order to provide a consistent service and customer experiences globally, their strategy revolves around a Centralised Business strategy (Information Week, Undated). Emirates strive to provide consistent product and customer experiences globally. An example is in its global e-Ticket system. Emirates continues to lead the way in e-ticketing, recently concluding its 100th interline e-ticketing agreement. This means the airline’s e-ticketing product is now even more widely available, enabling more travellers to enjoy the benefits of e-tickets when flying with Emirates. “Electronic ticketing benefits both the customer and the airline by providing greater convenience, reduced processing time, simplified operations and faster check-in”
(Scoop Business, 2008). | 
