Case Study of Southwest Airlines

[Strategic Management]

Case Study “Southwest Airlines (A)”

1. What is Southwest’s strategy? How would it answer the question, “what business are we in?” Why has it been successful for so long?

We can say the Southwest’s strategy with 3 short words, Low Fare, Lower cost, Customer Service. They Find the lowest-cost provider for cost advantage. And they concentrate on flying to airports that are underutilized and close to a metropolitan area. And the company also began to use the fuel efficient 737s, and now has over 200of them, the only type of aircraft it flies. Southwest service involves frequent on-time departures as well as low cost fares. And it is able to avoid the delays often associated with connecting flights. This makes short-haul trips more attractive to travelers who might otherwise consider driving.

2. Can its success be replicated by a competitor? Why or why not?

The cause of imitation failure is that airlines which imitated southwest didn’t understand their competitive advantage, or Just imitated southwest’s tool which has good profitability. They borrowed low-cost strategy which is easy to utilize, but it brought temporary profit. Finally, they made a financial loss.

3. Analyze Southwest’s human capital management system. How does this system link to the implementation of its strategy?

Ann Rhoades, vice president of people for Southwest Airlines, first threw away the 300 page corporate handbook and brought in new people with marketing backgrounds.

Southwest places a great deal of importance on the hiring process to identify people with relational competence. Southwest’s HR system promotes good working relationship. As a result, turnover is far less than it is at other airlines. Training