Southwest Airlines Case Study Essay Example
Case 21 Southwest Airlines
Contents Introduction 1 The Problem 1 The Analyses 2 The Alternatives 3 The Recommendations 4 Conclusions 4 References 4
Introduction
Millions of people fly everyday. Southwest airlines provide low-fare travel among 58 cities in the United States. Although the airline industry suffered greatly in the aftermath of September 11, Southwest was able to continue to hold strong. Southwest airline continues to maintain steady sales as much of the industry was affected by changes in laws/regulations and competition entering the market. In the following report there is a brief introduction to Southwest Airlines and their strategy and then what, if anything, they need to do or not do to remain at the top and competitive in the airline industry.
The Problem
The major problem of the company is whether they can continue growing and at the same time keep offering the same services to their clients. To continue growing, Southwest Airlines needs to analyze the external environment in order to ensure their success.
The Analyses
Six elements of external environment
The Alternatives
The solutions that will be presented for Southwest airlines have to attack two main issues: 1. How will they be able to keep their “Southwest airlines LUV” 2. How to keep their expansion and not affect the image of the airline. Southwest Airlines has a list of infinite options, many will hinder their image from the inside out (employees to costumers) while providing a set of services that will keep their customers happy for a while, others will make the once homey airline seem like a cold and big magnate and making their image of LUV to fall, so in order to avoid this and help the company keep both goals these are the solutions that will be presented for their dilemma. 1. "Freemium”: What's free: Web software and services, some content. Free to whom: users of the basic version.” (Chris Anderson, Why $0.00 Is the Future of
Contents Introduction 1 The Problem 1 The Analyses 2 The Alternatives 3 The Recommendations 4 Conclusions 4 References 4
Introduction
Millions of people fly everyday. Southwest airlines provide low-fare travel among 58 cities in the United States. Although the airline industry suffered greatly in the aftermath of September 11, Southwest was able to continue to hold strong. Southwest airline continues to maintain steady sales as much of the industry was affected by changes in laws/regulations and competition entering the market. In the following report there is a brief introduction to Southwest Airlines and their strategy and then what, if anything, they need to do or not do to remain at the top and competitive in the airline industry.
The Problem
The major problem of the company is whether they can continue growing and at the same time keep offering the same services to their clients. To continue growing, Southwest Airlines needs to analyze the external environment in order to ensure their success.
The Analyses
Six elements of external environment
The Alternatives
The solutions that will be presented for Southwest airlines have to attack two main issues: 1. How will they be able to keep their “Southwest airlines LUV” 2. How to keep their expansion and not affect the image of the airline. Southwest Airlines has a list of infinite options, many will hinder their image from the inside out (employees to costumers) while providing a set of services that will keep their customers happy for a while, others will make the once homey airline seem like a cold and big magnate and making their image of LUV to fall, so in order to avoid this and help the company keep both goals these are the solutions that will be presented for their dilemma. 1. "Freemium”: What's free: Web software and services, some content. Free to whom: users of the basic version.” (Chris Anderson, Why $0.00 Is the Future of