Diversification Strategies
Diversification Strategies
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Introduction
When Kelleher Herb and King Rollin founded Southwest Airlines in 1971, they wanted to offer airline services which were low-cost, in busy markets of not more than 500 miles. The first flights were between Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Today Southwest is one of the largest airlines in United States for its local passenger miles flown. Southwest has executed business models in an effective manner that distinguishes it from other US airlines which use the same models though executed differently. Its main methods used are in providing low cost service to customers, and through identifying customers, it wants to serve (Chang, 2001).
Southwest Airline’s success can be said to be derived from its corporate culture which aims at fulfilling the purpose for its existence. The mission statement “dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of friendliness, warmth, company spirit and individual pride, is the guiding principle to achievement of its goals and objectives.
Herb Kelleher and his management team focus on people and regard them as valuable assets of the organization. In this regard, he gives emphasis to an easy going relaxed corporate approach that provides employees with extensive autonomy. Southwest Airlines highlights employees as the first customers while passengers as the second customers. The airline is committed to providing a stable work environment for its employees with equal opportunity for personal growth and learning and an environment that is free of inflexible rules (Lauer, 2010). Employees are given the same respect and concern with a caring attitude within the organization, that they are expected to deal with externally with every customer. Southwest also dedicates considerable amount of monies to training and development. Each major working region has its own training department, customer service, mechanics,
YourFirstName YourLastName
University title
Introduction
When Kelleher Herb and King Rollin founded Southwest Airlines in 1971, they wanted to offer airline services which were low-cost, in busy markets of not more than 500 miles. The first flights were between Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Today Southwest is one of the largest airlines in United States for its local passenger miles flown. Southwest has executed business models in an effective manner that distinguishes it from other US airlines which use the same models though executed differently. Its main methods used are in providing low cost service to customers, and through identifying customers, it wants to serve (Chang, 2001).
Southwest Airline’s success can be said to be derived from its corporate culture which aims at fulfilling the purpose for its existence. The mission statement “dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of friendliness, warmth, company spirit and individual pride, is the guiding principle to achievement of its goals and objectives.
Herb Kelleher and his management team focus on people and regard them as valuable assets of the organization. In this regard, he gives emphasis to an easy going relaxed corporate approach that provides employees with extensive autonomy. Southwest Airlines highlights employees as the first customers while passengers as the second customers. The airline is committed to providing a stable work environment for its employees with equal opportunity for personal growth and learning and an environment that is free of inflexible rules (Lauer, 2010). Employees are given the same respect and concern with a caring attitude within the organization, that they are expected to deal with externally with every customer. Southwest also dedicates considerable amount of monies to training and development. Each major working region has its own training department, customer service, mechanics,
References: Chang, Y. R. (2001). The passion plan at work: Building a passion-driven organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. George, H. (2003). Authentic leadership: Discovering the secrets to lasting value. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Gittell, H. J. (2005). The Southwest Airlines: Using power of relationships to achieve high performance. New York: McGraw-Hill. Lauer, G. (2010). Southwest Airlines. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood. Rushing, H. & Spence, R. (2009). It 's not what you sell, it 's what you stand for: Is every extraordinary business driven by purpose. New York: Portfolio.