Taking a Look at Southwest Airlines

Introduction

Every entrepreneur would have once in for a while had tumbled upon the success story of ‘The Southwest Airlines’. The founder, Herb Kelleher in one of his interviews to CNBC mentions that there were key moments in the history of the airline where things could have gone horribly wrong, but he came up with out-of-the-box solutions that not only saved his business, but made it thrive.

When Southwest started in 1971 they were just a small regional carrier flying from Houston to Dallas. But to make themselves unique, they selected beautiful flight attendants with unique personalities and then put them in hot pants and go-go boots. They made some exceptional non-traditional choices while operating in a very traditional industry. This was how they brought differentiation into the picture.

In their early stages, they realized they needed to get more from less(M4L strategy). They knew if they purchased all the same types of planes — the Boeing 737 — they could save money on maintenance costs. They wouldn’t have to train mechanics and carry parts for multiple different types of planes. They still run a single model of plane today, and this has saved them a great deal of money over the long term.

But when competitors dropped their prices (even below their own costs) it forced Southwest to once again think outside of the box. If they matched those prices, Southwest would go out of business. Instead they decided to give all frequent flyer passengers a free bottle of whiskey each time they flew Southwest. For a few months, Southwest Airlines was the largest whiskey distributor in Texas.

And then there were the peanuts. While every other airline was serving in-flight meals, Southwest chose to be the no-frills airline by offering ju...

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...chedules are followed rigorously to minimise delays &customer complaints & lost baggage. A well defined & distinctive set of people management practises has led to shared goals, knowledge & respect for each other which are useful as the work is highly interdependent, uncertain & time constrained. Some of the strategies which are incorporated so that the business model of south west airlines is sustainable are :

 They maintain & promote people friendly company culture.

 They provide leadership to the constantly changing workforce.

 They hire people who are culturally fit for the job.

 They have incorporated the techniques to eliminate the waste generation through source reduction, recycling & reuse.

 They have optimised the aircrafts so as to have more fuel efficiency and are searching for alternative energy options. Hence their operational model is sustainable.