Q1. What is Southwest’s strategy? What is the basis on which Southwest builds its competitive advantage? Q2. How do Southwest’s control systems help execute the firm’s strategy? The Southwest Airlines strategy is best explained by its co-founder Herb Kelleher during a talk at Wharton: “It’s an obsession with keeping costs low and treating employees well and a commitment to managing the company during booms with an eye to the busts that will inevitable follow. Do that and most of the rest takes
Southwest Airlines was founded in “1964, when Rollin King purchased a charter airline company called the Wild Goose Flying Service” (Lauer, 2010). The idea of Southwest Airlines began in “1967, between King and Herb Kelleher” (Lauer, 2010). After winning “legal battles against their rival competitors Southwest was ready for operations in 1971” (Lauer, 2010). The CEO of Southwest Airlines is “Gary Kelly, who was hired to work in 1986” (Lauer, 2010) He started by working in the financial department
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES The Mission of Southwest Airlines The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit. To Our Employees We are committed to provide our Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of Southwest Airlines. Above all, Employees will be provided
ACCIDENT ANALYSIS #1 Executive Summary On December 8, 2005 at approximately 1915 Central Standard Time at Chicago Midway International airport, a Southwest Airlines flight a Boeing 737 flying as SWA 1248 with N471WN tail, ran off the departure end of the runway 31C at Chicago. The aircraft ran over the blast fence, exceeded the airport perimeter fence and stopped at a roadway adjacent to the airport after hitting an automobile in the roadway. This accident killed one child who was in the automobile
Southwest Airlines, Key Facts: Niche strategy. Concept: Concentrate in underutilized airports 1 type of aircraft fuel-efficient 737 (1994 more that 200 planes) Frequent, on-time departures Low cost fares, only 2 types of fares per root No seats assigned, no meals Point-to-point roots Higher equipment initialization, shorter turn-around times Competitive advantage: Cost structure "The workforce is dedicated to the company. They're Moonies basically. That's the way
Southwest Airlines In the airline industry, Southwest Airlines is considered a true innovator. By shaking up the rules of flying and improving upon inefficient industry norms, Southwest has quickly grown by leaps and bounds. From the very start, Southwest Airlines' goals were to make a profit, achieve job security for every employee, and make flying affordable for more people (Southwest,2007). Southwest has not strayed from these goals. It does not buy huge aircrafts, fly international routes
Executive Summary Southwest Airlines is competing with "Shuttle by United" head to head in about 9 routes. United has just announced that it is discontinuing its Oakland - Ontario route and hiking the fares in all the 14 routes by $10, which calculated to be 14.5% increase in the fare. Southwest has to respond effectively to these unexpected developments and has to act accordingly while maintaining their current low fare image and increasing their daily operating profits. We have considered the
Southwest Airlines strategy of focusing on short haul passenger and providing rates as low as one third of their competitors, they have seen tremendous growth in the last decade. Market share for top city pairs on Southwest's schedule has reached 80% to 85%. Maintaining the largest fleet of 737's in the world and utilizing point-to-point versus the hub-and-spoke method of connection philosophy allowed Southwest to provide their service to more people at a lower cost. By putting the employee first
Southwest Airline’s greatest strength is their financial stability. They are able to maintain profits even when the industry is in economic crisis. Their financial success is in large part due to their low operational costs. Short haul, point-to-point trips allow them to save time and money. This not only provides faster trips to customers with shorter wait time, but also increase the amount of customer turnover which provides more profitability. Southwest should continue to operate at low costs
1. Describe the various promotion elements that Southwest Airlines uses in its integrated marketing communications. Southwest Airlines has effectively used a variety of promotional elements in its integrated marketing communications, making it one of America’s largest airlines with 3,300 flights a day to 72 domestic cities. Southwest Airlines has used all four possible elements of the promotion mix: advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion, but has focused primarily
Southwest determines routes and flight schedules to meet their customers’ needs. By having a one-model fleet, they can deliver many operational efficiencies and structural savings. Other airlines spend millions in training techs and stocking parts for multiple aircrafts. In Dallas, Southwest flies out of Love Field rather than the larger Dallas/Ft. Worth airport. Gate fees are less expensive at the regional airports where schedules typically remain more on time than at the larger airports. Plus,
Southwest Airlines This paper evaluates the key financial challenges facing organizations in Risk Management, Managing International Acquisitions, and Managing Working Capital simulations. Secondly, an evaluation of Southwest Airlines (SWA) management of working capital and the optimal financial strategies employed is presented. Also evaluated are the potential improvements in financial performance along with long-term and short-term strategies. Lastly, considered in this paper is whether a
This is the historic background of an American Airline company called the Southwest Airlines Co. based in Dallas which still exists and operates with great success between 57 cities in 26 states of the US, by over 300 airplanes , providing primarily short-haul, high frequency, point to point, low fare service . Through this essay we will see an analysis of the company’s advantages and disadvantages through a SWOT Analysis. We will try to localize the problems of the company at the time and in the
From three Boeing 737 aircraft serving the major Texas airline markets of Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio; Southwest Airlines has grown into to a major carrier boasting nearly 550 planes serving 69 cities (Dess, Lumpkin, Elsner, & McNamara, 2014). What makes Southwest unique is not the success of the Company as much as Southwest’s culture of taking care of its customers and employees. Southwest’s initial strategy was to offer low-cost travel within the Golden Triangle as an alternative to travel
main website, their mission statement is, “The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit.” This reveals Southwest’s true mission: To please their customers. For their loyal customers, Southwest offers a “Rapid Rewards” program which gives the customers free tickets based on the number of times they fly with Southwest. Customers who make 8 round trips or 16 one-way trips receive
Southwest Airlines /Competition Paper Introduction: Air transport is a global industry and as such every airline is a likely challenger for every other. It is contrary to expectation that any airline will be able to contest on a large scale without being associated to other carriers. Traffic feed is the industry's lifeblood and stand-alone carriers will be labored to carry low-revenue point-to-point traffic when front with airlines able to offer manifold route alliances. Southwest Airlines is a major
Southwest Airlines has been in business for more than thirty years. Presently, operating airplanes and flight services is very competitive, and in most cases, is not cost-effective industry; however, Southwest Airlines has been consistently profitable company, which is successfully designed with the intention of achieving high growth. According to an interview of Southwest Airlines former CEO, Herb Kelleher, when he visited Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, despite all airline industry
The History of Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines (SWA) begins in June 18, 1971, when SWA first operated a first airline consul between Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Rollin King and Herb Kelleher are the founders of the company. The end of 1971 SWA immediately began to expand. In 1972 all Houston service is transferred to Houston's Hobby Airport form Houston Intercontinental, that is make more convenient for people to fly. During the first year of operations the customers were the
employee’s right, guess what? Your customers come back, and that makes your shareholders happy. Start with employees and the rest follows from that.” This quote from Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines, embodies the attitude of leadership at the airline. Southwest dares to be different from other airlines because their philosophy revolves around people both internal and external. Communication, culture, and leadership are the cornerstone of their success. This paper explores key leader’s
Southwest Airlines was established in 1967 as a low-cost airline operating just in the state of Texas. Today, Southwest Airlines is the largest domestic carrier in the United States employing more than 46,000 employees and operating 3,600 flights per day (Southwest, 2014). Southwest is also the largest operator of Boeing 737 aircraft in the world with over 680 in service operating an average of six flights per day each (Southwest, 2014). Under its original name, Air Southwest Company, Southwest