The Marketing Strategy Of Southwest Airlines

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, low-fair, high-frequency, point-to-point service in the United States. The company began service on June 18, 1971 with flights between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio (“The Golden Triangle” as Herb called it). Southwest Airlines is the fourth

Southwest Airlines Co., established in 1971 by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher, began its operations with only three Boeing 737 aircrafts. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas(Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012). Southwest is well known as one of the largest low-cost carriers. With this strategy, the company has dramatically grown up and deeply rooted in the US airline industry. Now, Southwest Airlines Co. operates 633 aircrafts to 93 domestic cities and the highest number of passengers used Southwest Airlines to fly around U.S in Jan 2014 (Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012). To accomplish more than 40th consecutive years of both profitability and competitiveness, Southwest Airlines Company is constantly trying to find the routes to differentiate itself from other domestic carriers (Hawkins, Misra, & Tang, 2012).

People – One of the many things good about Southwest Airlines is that the kinds of people who are heroes of the organization are people who care and go out of their way to help the customers. They’re the ones who are celebrated and held up as shining examples. Additionally, high levels of satisfaction among employees can be attributed to Southwest employee policy. Happy employees can provide high quality service and bring more customers back. To reinforce the culture of hard work, high-energy, fun, local autonomy, and creativity, the company provided continuous education program to employees. If you can help someone out or brighten someone’s day, be it a co-worker or a passenger, you’re doing your job well.

Southwest Airlines was formed in 1967 by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher and started service in June of 1971. The airline is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and originally operated flights within the state of Texas. The company has since expanded and now operates flights from Dallas to almost all major cities in the United States and is considered the largest low-cost carrier in the country. “Southwest seeks to offer a travel product that is built around flights targeted to specific demographics and ticket pricing that is simplified so that passengers know

Southwest Airlines is a major US airline established in 1967 that services a multitude of cities in all 50 states and beyond. The company is known for its outstanding quality in providing services and it 's cost effective ticket prices to its many passengers throughout the nation. This airline is based in the southwestern United States, in the city of Dallas Texas, and due to the tremendous number of airplanes that it has and the timely service that it provides to its passengers, this airline services more US passengers than any other airline. This airline also has the largest fleet of planes of any economical or low-cost airline service in the world and employees more than 45,000.

The five universal competitive plans include overall low-cost provider strategy, broad differentiation strategy, focused low-cost strategy, focused differentiation strategy and best cost provider strategy (Bethel, 2017). Southwest Airlines popular competitive strategy is keeping customers happy by being low cost, employee driven, future-minded, and differentiated. The overall low-cost provider strategy that is being used at Southwest is a low-cost airline that focuses on no-frills service (Investopedia, 2015). Southwest Airlines diligently follows the strategy of a differentiated low-cost carrier. [They do this by providing the lowest possible fare in the industry, and do so by focusing on consistent service, reliable operations,

Southwest Airlines original name was Air Southwest in 1967 in Dallas, Texas, before the change of the name to Southwest Airlines in 1971. They were faced with battles due to legal issues with Dallas and Love field, because of the Wright Amendment, but the come to an agreement to allow 4 states to connect to Texas. Southwest bought 129 new planes, because of the expansion of the company growth, which currently have 141 planes that enhance the growth of the company because of shorter flights (Gimbel, 2005). Southwest was started in 1971, by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher, which released it first flight from Dallas Love Field that is located in Houston and San Antonio Texas. The passengers look for an airline services that can get them to their destination at a cheap price. Majority of the passenger are looking for an airline service that will eliminate layovers and multiple stops as possible.

At Southwest Airlines, the company’s business strategy has a positive effect on the training they provide to their employees. Southwest Airlines is a Texas based airline that started up in 1971 (Corporate Fact Sheet). Over the years the airline has been recognized for its outstanding customer service and its low airfare fees. Due to their excellent customer service, the company has been ranked number one in customer satisfaction in 2013 by the U.S Department of Transportation. In. 2015, Southwest airlines was recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in the Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award. The reason that Southwest airlines is recognized for all these great things is because they obtain a good organizational control over the airline.

Southwest Airlines is a passenger airline company that arranges and provides scheduled flights for passenger and transportation freight services. The company mainly provides, low-fare, point-to-point services all over the US and near-international markets. The headquarters is located in Dallas, Texas and as of December 2014, the company employed over 46,278 people. The company was founded by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher in 1971. Southwest was the first airline to introduce the frequent mile program. This took place in the mid 1980’s. This type of program allowed passengers to add up traveled miles to use later as credit on a future airline ticket. The traveled miles would add up and would also reduce the price of a ticket. Southwest created the idea of senior discount, fun fares and the fun packs. These were perks that attracted people from different age groups. When Southwest originally was incorporated, the idea was to operate in three cities in Texas, but after taking over Morris Air and TranStar in 1987, this gave them a cutting advantage in the airline industry.

Southwest Airlines' strong organizational culture is reflected in its mission statement "dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit" (Southwest, 2012). Southwest serves not only as a prime example of a company that excels in customer service and profitability, but as one that has utilized employee development as a means to meet these ends. Southwest makes a strong commitment to foster ongoing relationships with human resources. They demand that their employees are responsible members, however

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 on advertising and public relations to add value to the product offered to customers. Its focus on advertising and public relations is directly related to its large size and it’s nationwide reach. Also, advertising and public relations are the

Management highly believes that treating their employees well and making them loved their job will naturally lead them to treat customers warmly and courteously in return. In this regard, Southwest looks for fun loving and spirited people whose natural warmth and compassion contributes to superior customer service. This is the reason why Southwest particularly takes the pledge of hiring employees for “attitude” prior to “skills” as corroborates this quote from the former C.E.O Kelleher “At Southwest, our People are our greatest assets, which is why we devote so much time and energy to

Southwest Airlines was incorporated in 1967 and founded by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher. However, due to lawsuits, Southwest was unable to fly their first commercial flight until 1971. Southwest founded their business on the quote: "If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly yourairline5." Southwest focused on a point-to- point operational system and a low cost pricing strategy that is currently used today. The organization is very centralized due to its point to point emphasis. The centralization of the company requires very strategic route utilization. The company for instance, selects routes to airports with low competition and overall traffic. This allows the company to be more price competitive as competitors are reluctant to venture into less travelled routes. In order to make decisions regarding these routes a centralized organizational structure is warranted. In addition to the centralized organizational structure of Southwest, many committees, teams, and task forces are designed with the sole purpose of reducing waste and cost control. The airline industry is predicated on cost containment, particular those related to fuel and other commodity prices. Task forces are designed with the purpose of providing a sustainable means of reducing costs without a corresponding decline in customer experience. The centralized

Southwest Airlines incorporates a team orientated culture by cross training its employees so they are capable of helping each other if necessary. The company place a strong emphasis on training work teams and cultivating employee citizenship behavior. Employees participate in twice daily meetings where they can discuss any issues and determine a course of action. Job applicants who are not viewed as team players are not hired. This team oriented organizational culture offers more positive relationships with managers and coworkers thus providing a quality workplace.

Southwest Airlines was created in the late 1960’s by a businessperson Rolling King, and law school graduate Herb Kelleher, who sought a faster travel time between Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, Texas (Dess, et al., 2014, p. C137). After overcoming all of the antagonism and legal problems of many major airlines, Southwest was able to take its first flight in 1971 (Dess, et al., 2014, p.C137). With a dedication and will power to grow the company, King and Kelleher sought out ways to increase growth.