Swot Analysis : Southwest Airlines

There are many different factors that come into play regarding the airline industry. Airlines such as Delta operate in an extremely political environment that requires an abundance of government regulation, especially after incidents like 9/11. As shown in Appendix A, the state of the economy, such as changes in GDP, per capital income, disposable income, and industrial production can also drastically impact the Airline Industry (Teresa Cederholm). In order to remain competitive in the airline industry, companies such as Delta must adopt the latest technology. For a full PESTEL analysis, refer to Appendix

This document will be using Porter’s Five Forces Model and a Political, Economic, Social, and Technological (PEST) analysis to conduct an external analysis on Southwest Airlines.

Southwest Airlines is a company that is known for its low ticket prices and profitability despite the highly risky industry in which it operates. This essay examines the cost behavior, cost volume profit (CVP), activity based costing (ABC), budgeting process, costing and decision making policies of the firm. The essay will discuss how the airline integrates these concepts in its daily operations.

Southwest Airlines is one of the most successful airlines in America today. Although it was established much later than other airlines, the airline experienced numerous challenges, which negatively affected its performance. Established in 1967, Southwest Airlines could not operate for four years. They had a rough start following legal battles that derailed the start of their operation. Since the beginning of their regular operation in 1971, this airline has had the most consistent profitable record in the world. Their success highly depended on the management’s decision to embrace advanced management and operational strategies. Over the years, the airline has come up with various measures that have made them the leading carriers in the United States (Gittell, 2003). Several other companies in the world have since adopted their model of operation to increase their productivity. Their flexibility and willingness to try new methods has transformed the airline into the most popular airline in America today.

The airline industry has been a major factor in the globalization of the world economy. It connects the sellers and the buyers as well as transports goods across countries. It also breaks the time and distance barriers. In the past, air travel was considered a luxury but it is now a common necessity.

Southwest Airline’s low-cost fare structure and customer service has been its primary core-competency and has enabled the airline to maintain its market share while sustaining its competitive advantage over its rivals for over 40 years. This internal analysis will provide a review of the strengths and weaknesses of events that occur within the firm along with a financial analysis assessment and recommendation for future decisions.

People judge the airline company whether is good or not mostly depends on their reputation.

According to Greyhound, it takes a total of sixty-five hours to drive from New York to Los Angeles by bus with no transfer (“Choose your outgoing trip,” 2016). The same trip with Southwest Airlines takes approximately eight hours (“Select Departing Fight,” 2016). In 1971 Southwest Airlines became an official airline company when they won a U.S Supreme Court ruling and purchased three Boeing 737 (Thomas, Peteraf, Gamble &Strickland, 2016, p. c-341). As of 2014 Southwest’s fleet has grown to an astonishing 665 aircraft that recorded 902 thousand flights in 2013 (Thomas, et al., 2016, p. c-341). By evaluating Southwest’s industry maturation, strategies, their success in the sector it will be possible to make recommendations for Southwest 's future growth.

Total Resource Network (TRN) congratulates Southwest Airlines for thirty-eight years of consecutive profitability. This is a major accomplishment that should be applauded especially during this economic recession and recovery period. Southwest’s success has been attributed to their core values and mission that begin with their employees and exceptional customer service. These two attributes along with low airfares have

In this assignment I was assigned the task of comparing 2 different airlines, one being a full service carrier and the other being a lost cost carrier, from United States of America, namely the Delta Airlines and South West Airlines. The points of comparison were market strategies, financial benefits, load factors, contrasting yield, revenues and passenger/cargo loads. The analysis was done on the business model and a long term strategy. Through this it would be known that which airline is performing better than the other. The disruption of air travel through various incidents like the terrorist attacks and global downturn, which can be considered as economic, political and social conditions, effect airlines adversely.

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 challenges, the “low-fare airline has grown into the third largest in the world as measured by the number of passengers carried, and the largest with destinations exclusively in the United States” (2006). To the customers, Southwest

American airline industry is steadily growing at an extremely strong rate. This growth comes with a number economic and social advantage. This contributes a great deal to the international inventory. The US airline industry is a major economic aspect in both the outcome on other related industries like tourism and manufacturing of aircraft and its own terms of operation. The airline industry is receiving massive media attention unlike other industries through participating and making of government policies. As Hoffman and Bateson (2011) show the major competitors include Southwest Airlines, Delta Airline, and United Airline.

The domestic airline industry transports 711 million souls a year. That translates into a staggering $709 billion a year revenue flow (statista.com). One firm, named Southwest Airlines, accounts for 18.3 percent of that market. That 18.3 percent market share places Southwest at the number two spot, behind American Airlines. How does Southwest Airlines successfully compete and thrive in this environment? How do they differentiate themselves from the hoards of legacy carriers? Southwest Airlines encapsulates its strategy in a simple statement: “Meet customers’ short-haul travel needs at fares competitive with the cost of automobile travel (Grant, p.23). As a pioneer in low cost air travel, Southwest has successfully brought down airfares through its short route point-to-point business model, “no-frills” service, single flight strategy, and highly productive employees (Cederholm, 2014). In the following analysis we will investigate Southwest Airlines standing within the industry as a whole and their differentiation models driving success. We will also identify the firm’s competitive advantages as they relate to similar firms in the industry.

Southwest Airlines Company is a well-known low-cost American airline that offers excellent customer and employee service. As of 2009 Southwest is the largest airline company in the world that carries the most number of passengers and it is the third largest passenger fleet of aircraft among the world’s commercial airlines. It also boasts the highest number of customers than any other airlines in the United States. This data come from the U.S. Department of transportation’s Bureau of transportation Statistics. Given the above information, Southwest has been posting profits for the past 37 years [3]. The reason why Southwest has been able to cope

Southwest has based their original strategy on maintaining low fares, high frequency of flights, on-time arrivals and focusing on the customer experience. However, Southwest has altered their strategy, which previously made them unique in the industry, due to a rising amount of competition from larger airlines that have developed alternative low-cost carriers, essentially diminishing that competitive advantage the “Southwest Effect” once had. Kelly notes that there is “new competition from leaner, larger airlines, low-cost carriers as JetBlue Airways Corp. and Spirit Airlines Inc.”7, making the competitive advantages that Southwest offered less and less sustainable.