Background: Southwest Airlines is the largest airline measured by number of passengers carried each year within the United States. It is also known as a ‘discount airline’ compared with its large rivals in the industry. Rollin King and Herb Kelleher founded Southwest Airlines on June 18, 1971. Its first flights were from Love Field in Dallas to Houston and San Antonio, short hops with no-frills service and a simple fare structure. The airline began with one simple strategy: “If you get your passengers
Southwest Airlines Introduction Southwest Airlines represents a rather unique organizational force that has driven the company to success since its inception in 1971. One of the most unique features about the organizational structure is that it is largely decentralized and employees are openly welcomed to express their opinions on a wide range of organizational issues. However, despite the "hands off" management strategy, the company consistently ranks as one of the top airlines in regards to
increase it. Southwest Airlines has become a leader, with regards to ticketed seats, with the simple strategy: low-cost and no-frills combined with a crew that is well groomed in customer satisfaction. Southwest’s business strategy focuses on their record turnaround times at the gate, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction. Along with this focus, their frugal spending habits have built a highly profitable airline. Introduction to the Company Even before their first flight, major airline carriers
The company then builds marketing strategies specifically aimed “to inform, persuade, and remind” (Kolter & Keller, 2012) the core customers of its product and/or service offering. These marketing strategies define the company and become the means for which it begins to build relationships with its core customers. One organization that does an excellent job of communicating its product and/or service offering to its core customers is Southwest Airlines. The airline is beginning its 44th year of operation
Distribution Strategy WS5A4 Southwest Airlines - Case Study Operating under an intensely competitive environment, Southwest Airlines carefully projects its image so customers can differentiate its product from its competitors. Southwest positions itself in all its marketing communications as the only low-fare, short-haul, high-frequency, point-to-point carrier in America that is fun to fly (Cheng, 2010). Its low-priced fares are a brand equity which it "owns" in the mathematical sense of being the
Corporate Strategy Southwest Airlines faced many barriers to entry from the fierce competition of other airlines in the industry. Though competition was fierce, Southwest Airlines managed to succeed by doing things differently. Their mission was to provide affordable air travel to those who would not normally fly. Contradictory to the rest of the airline industry, Southwest maintained a profit while keeping its fares low. Southwest was unique to the industry in two ways. They focused on the short
Southwest Airlines is currently facing a multitude of challenges to its historically successful business strategy that have created concerns about its ability to grow in the future. These challenges are both external and internal. External challenges include leaner competitors. External challenges include leaner competitors, higher gas prices, and limited growth opportunities. Internally the company face challenges such as reducing costs, keeping its unique culture intact, changes in the
Southwest was founded in when a group of Texas investors, including Rollin King, M. Lamar Muse, and Herbert D. Kelleher, pooled $560,000 to form the Air Southwest Company. The fledgling airline began operations on June 18, 1971 (Southwest Airlines). Under the direction of President M. Lamar Muse, the airline offers six flights a day of back and forth between 12 flights of round trips daily between Dallas and Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Tickets for round trip cost $20. So like any company this
The domestic US airline industry has been intensely competitive since it was deregulated in 1978. In a regulated environment, most of the cost increases were passed along to consumers under a fixed rate-of-return based pricing scheme. This allowed labor unions to acquire a lot of power and workers at the major incumbent carriers were overpaid. After deregulation, the incumbent carriers felt the most pain, and the floodgates had opened for newer more nimble carriers with lower cost structures
Business Strategy – BAD 4013 – SUMMER 1999 Case Study Southwest Airlines I. Strategic Profile and Case Analysis Purpose 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. Twenty-seven years ago, Rolling King, owner of floundering commuter airline, and Herb Kelleher, King’s lawyer, got together and decided to start a different kind of airline that would provide a short-haul