Cover page
Contents page
MAIN BODY
INTRODUCTION (150 WORDS)
Purpose of the report
What does Southwest Airlines do?
What is the background to the organisation?
What industry does it operate in?
What are its geographical markets?
What products and services does it offer and what are the market segments?
What are Southwest Airlines’ mission, vision and values?
What generic strategy is it following? (E.g. cost leadership or differentiation?)
Who are the key stakeholders?
These questions are indicative – you don’t need to answer every part in detail or to create sub-headings; just provide a short succinct summary; that is the challenge!
Draw your information directly from the case
PART ONE – EXTERNAL ANALYSIS (600 WORDS)
OVERVIEW
Briefly state the purpose of the analysis.
MACRO – ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS
Refer to your PESTEL model (appendix?)
Discuss the main points it reveals
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
Refer to your PORTER’S FIVE FORCES model (appendix?)
Discuss the main points it reveals and draw conclusions regarding the competitiveness within the industry. You may like to highlight who the main competitors are (you may need to carry out a little additional research on the web)
Southwest Airlines and its competitors are continually aiming to win customer loyalty. So, the next task in this section is to Identify and list the CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS valued by customers in this industry
OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS
Finally, discuss the overall opportunities and threats to Southwest Airlines. Derive these points from your PESTEL and Five Forces models.
NOTE: There is some information in the case study relating to external factors but not much. Therefore, you will need to carry out some additional research (online) in order to find the information to build your models