Southwest Airlines Case Study Essay

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).

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

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,

Southwest Airlines (SWA) maintained a low-cost, low-price and no frills strategy. The small Texas carrier began as a concept, its business plan detailed on a cocktail napkin in 1971 and grew into the nation’s fourth largest airline. Known as an innovator with low operating costs, dominating smaller airports, with a humorous customer service, SWA saw its 40th profitable year in 2013. Like all companies, SWA underwent leadership changes in 2001, and said goodbye to the company’s founder in 2008. Unfortunately, the changes in leadership were not the only changes; the organization proceeded to alter their beliefs and activities.

Economic, social-cultural, and technological forces are the external macro-environmental factors Southwest Airlines should be most concerned with. Weak economic growth reduces the purchasing power of an airline’s target market. Southwest, known for being a leader in low cost airline, provides flights at a higher frequency and capacity to attain profit. However, the company experienced increasing overhead through the lapse of long-standing fuel contracts, which previously helped provide a competitive advantage. This factor is also amplified by the growth the company experienced with success. Southwest is the fourth largest airline and has seen fuel cost skyrocket from 29 percent to 35 percent over a seven-year period.

In the opinion of Dr. Grace S. Thomson, “a heterogeneous mix of long and short-haul in very thing segments, passenger, density, and per capita income at end points gives [Southwest Airlines] competitive advantage. The way to establish a company in such a market as the airline industry would be to strategically expand in to airports with less competition. Southwest Airline capitalized on this fact to become a national airline (Keller 2008). Southwest Airlines satisfies what were once negligible markets. Southwest serves “64 cities in 411 non-stop city pairs” (Thompson 2008). Saturating these markets has allowed Southwest Airlines to expand without putting a strain on its pocket book (Keller

Southwest Airlines is a feisty, determined, and zany low-fare airline. Started in 1967, Southwest has always earned a profit. Southwest Airlines preserves its sustained competitive advantage by flying only Boeing aircraft, training its pilots on Boeing aircraft and maintaining their Boeing aircraft in-house. The airline earns additional revenue by promoting Chase Bank Visa card, receiving commissions from financial institutions to the tune of $172 million in 2005. Southwest has a cost-awareness culture. Southwest’s core competency aims to offer the lowest fare for flights among its competition.

The goal of this paper is to explain the prominent success of Southwest Airline in the United States through a single case study analysis making use of the McKinsey’s 7-S framework. Developed in the early 1980s at the McKinsey & Company consulting firm by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, this framework looks at 7 internal factors (Structure, Strategy, Systems, Style, Staff, Skills, Super-ordinate goals) which, according to its authors, need to be aligned for an organization to be successful. In this paper, we will analyse each of its internal elements through the case study “Southwest Airlines in 2008, Culture, Values, and Operating Practices”.

Rollin King and Herb Kelleher originally incorporated southwest Airlines to serve three cities in Texas as Air Southwest on March 15, 1967. According to frequently cited legend, King described the concept to Kelleher over dinner by drawing on a paper napkin a triangle symbolizing the routes. (Dallas, Houston, San Antonio)

Southwest Airlines was originally named Air Southwest. It was started on March 15, 1967, by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher. Southwest Airlines is an American low fare airline based in Dallas, Texas. It is also the largest airline in the United States by number of passengers carried domestically in a year and the third largest airline in the world by number of passengers carried. Southwest is also one the most profitable airlines in the world posting a profit for 34 consecutive years.

This proposal addresses the needed steps to be taken in order for Southwest Airlines to see continued growth in the airline industry. Southwest Airlines has been able to remain one of the most profitable airlines in the industry for an extended period of time. Even with the hindrance of the 2001 terrorist attacks involving airplanes and the U.S recession of 2008, Southwest has continued to see strong revenue growth. Meanwhile, other companies were experiencing major losses and in some cases folding. Southwest Airlines has capitalized on the company’s strength of being the top low cost

Research topic: Southwest Airlines Company is looking to establish a global presence in either Vietnam or Spain. This research paper is to help analyze both countries and to determine which of the two countries Southwest Airlines Company should enter. The second purpose of this research paper is to determine how Southwest Airlines Company should enter the country. This paper proposes to answer four questions: Who is Southwest Airlines Company? What does Southwest Airlines Company do? Which country should Southwest Airlines Company enter; Vietnam, or Spain? How should Southwest enter that country; by investing in a facility, marketing products, or joint venture? The participants are students of Mount Washington College, Global Issues: Business, Government, & Society course BADM364, team B. Team B members are: Kyle Forbes, Adam Paquette, Nina Scarpino, Louie E. Watson, and Cheryl Kessler. Research methods applied include research and discussion to compare and analyze findings to determine which country makes the best fit for Southwest Airlines Co. global business strategy. The data analysis will compare each country’s history, economy, politics, government, culture, demographics, infrastructure, how business is done, and how Southwest has done business in

Southwest was one of the most fuel sophistry airlines, but the continuing uprising fuel costs made the airline improve the fuel efficiency of its fleet by purchasing new Boeing 737-700s. They chose to purchase instead of rent to improve cash reserves and have less debt to total capitalization compared to other

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.

These new comers in the market have provoked Southwest to tweak it’s strategy some. In order to differentiate itself from conventional airlines as well as the up and coming ones, Southwest has adopted strong brand building, customer assurance of its reliability, stability and convenience. This is something they feel will be very important in the near future.