Southwest Airlines: Using Human Resources for Competitive Advantage Executive Summary Southwest was founded in 1971 with a fleet of three Boeing 737 aircraft. Headquartered at Love Field in Dallas‚ the airline followed a strategy of low fares‚ few frills‚ and excellent customer service. Early on‚ the airline faced many political and regulatory challenges including the Wright Amendment‚ which prohibited the carrier from offering direct service into Love Field from any state other than Texas
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Southwest Airlines 2008 Problem Identification: Will Southwest Airlines able to maintain its top position and level of customer satisfaction whilst expanding its business domain? SWOT Listing: Strength: * Attractive fares and marketing strategies. * Point to Point flights. * Best turnaround time compared to its competitors. * First to sell seats through Internet sites. * Positively Outrageous customer service. * Maintained Co-operative labor relations. * They always
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Introduction: Southwest Airlines path towards earning the right to fly was a long and stressful process for everyone involved. However‚ the staff’s ability to overcome all odds truly began the formation of Southwest’s distinct character‚ which makes the company so successful today. Founders Rollin King and Herb Kelleher who founded the company in 1967‚ among others were attacked by Texas airlines such as Braniff‚ and Continental‚ claiming the market was already saturated. After three years of
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of Southwest’s competitive advantage? Southwest Airlines’ successful and profitable business model has been driven by several strategies: high aircraft utilization; standard fleet; charismatic leadership; low fare carrier; excellent customer service practice; attractive frequent flier program; innovative and creative marketing program; performance focused organizational culture; strategic human resources management and a lean operations. Southwest fleet is made up of mainly Boeing 737 fuel
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effectiveness of this structure for the organization." Southwest Airlines is part of an oligopoly. An oligopoly is defined as an instance where there are only a small number of producers in a market; due to the small numbers‚ if one company changes their prices of their goods or services‚ the others will do the same in order to keep it competitive. Running as an oligopoly can be both helpful and painful for the consumer. For instance‚ Southwest Airlines has set prices they have for certain flights to
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SOUTWEST AIRLINES ANALYSIS The U.S. airline industry has proven to be one of the least profitable in the entire world. It has been plagued by fierce competition and destructive price wars‚ extraordinary fixed costs‚ and heated labor relations. Despite these numerous challenges‚ Southwest Airlines has been able to stand out from the competition and has established itself as one of the only consistently profitable airlines‚ with a record of twenty-one straight profitable years and stock earnings
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Southwest Airlines Leadership at Southwest has grown the company. The leader has a strong personality and led the company to a great position. Herb Kelleher ’s business decisions and out of the ordinary and have had success beyond belief. Employee empowerment is needed to make any successful company. At Southwest Airlines‚ the empowerment has led the employees to lead themselves. They take pride in the actions. It allows them to get other involved and makes them more successful in the tasks
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Marcio Cesar dos Santos Southwest Airlines 1) CQ: What are the key motivational strategies used by Southwest? Investing in People: As argued by Ann Rodes‚ Southwest’s competitive advantage come from people‚ so they has invested time and money to build a cohesively team work‚ developing in each one a strong sense of esteem and self-actualization. “Recognizing that our people are the competitive advantage‚ we deliver the resources and services to prepare our people to be winners‚ to support
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At the onset of the airline industry in the United States‚ major network airlines were the sole providers of air travel. This multifaceted industry was a difficult industry to break into as a consequence of “sophisticated customer segmentation‚ hub-and spoke models and costly information systems for reservations‚ fare wars and intense competition” (Thompson 2008). Shrinkage in airline ticket prices augmented the demand for airline travel. Many markets were simply deserted or over-looked by major
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Southwest Airlines Motivational Profile A motivational profile can provide insights into whether a company is doing the right thing or requires improvements. Although nearly every company proclaims its goal is to deliver exceptional service‚ research confirms that the service quality of many corporations is below consumer expectations. Southwest Airlines has created a competitive advantage through valuing employees’ needs as a strategy that motivates them to provide better customer service (Hallowell
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