Southwest Airlines’ Seven Secrets for Success What’s the airline-industry jargon for unconventional wisdom? Southwest Airlines. By some estimates‚ the country’s major carriers have consumed perhaps $100 billion in capital during the past decade‚ but Southwest Airlines continues to be profitable. It’s been in the black for 33 consecutive years and‚ last week‚ for the 127th consecutive quarter‚ it paid a modest dividend. Its balance sheet‚ with about $3 billion in cash on hand and $600 million
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Southwest Airlines Executive Summary “The U.S. airline industry had lost money in 14 of the 28 years from 1980 through 2007‚ with combined annual losses exceeding combined annual profits by $15 billion. Yet in July 2008‚ Southwest reported record quarterly revenues‚ its 69th consecutive quarter of profitability‚ rising passenger traffic on its flights‚ and a record load factor.”5 With a brilliant strategy of ‘low cost/low fare/no frills’ Rollin King‚ along with Herb Kelleher‚ launched the
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TB00417 The Southwest Spirit Customer service far beyond the norm in the airline industry was not unexpected at Southwest and hadits own name—Positively Outrageous Service. Some examples of this service included: a gate agentvolunteering to watch a dog (a Chihuahua) for two weeks when an Acapulco-bound passenger showedup at the last minute without the required dog crate; an Austin passenger who missed a connection toHouston‚ where he was to have a kidney transplant operation‚ was flown there by a
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History Southwest Airlines has been a model of admiration for the airline industry and businesses from around the world combined. Southwest Airlines is a rag to riches story that has had to fight for everything it has become. Before Southwest was able to take on its first passengers‚ they had to fight competitors in the court system for nearly three and a half years. In 1966‚ Fortune Magazine states‚ “A San Antonio lawyer‚ Herb Kelleher‚ founded Southwest with one of his clients (now a Board member)
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Southwest Airlines Fuel Hedging and Relations to Profitability Abstract In order to stay airborne‚ a passenger airline has to consistently generate profits. Profits come only from paying passengers‚ hence all stratagems must be customer oriented. In a scenario where there are many airlines competing with each other‚ one way of attracting passengers is to keep the cost of flying low‚ while providing value for money. On the other hand‚ expenses must tightly controlled to reach and stay at the
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CSR practiced by Southwest Airlines To build a reputation as a leader in corporate social responsibility‚ companies should focus on strong governance practices‚ positive working conditions‚ and a commitment to supporting the needs of communities and the environment Southwest airlines has consistently been on top‚ in the American companies that are nominated as the best practitioners of CSR in the country. Southwest divides its social responsibility among three principal categories; Community outreach/volunteerism
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issues and underlying implications of Southwest Airlines with respect to its impact on the airline industry. It will offer meaningful recommendations and plans for implementation. This will be done by looking at Southwest’s pricing strategies‚ costs‚ and competition and putting it in context with the industry as a whole. History‚ Development‚ and Growth Southwest‚ founded by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher‚ began as a small Texan airline almost 35 years ago and has grown to become one of the largest
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Marriage has gone through profound changes over the last five decades‚ but we continue to speak about it as though it’s the same old familiar pattern. To see how much has changed; I am going to look at the shift from the forties‚ to the sixties‚ to today. In 1968‚ less than a year after the famous Summer of Love‚ as they used to say out in the country‚ "The times they were a-changing." The sexual revolution‚ Viet Nam‚ drugs--the youth of the day were convinced the world would never be the same again
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There are several differences between cost-based pricing and value-based pricing. In this essay we will consider a few of them. Value-based pricing is based on the customer’s perception of value rather than the seller’s cost as the key. Cost-based pricing is based on the product. A company comes up with an idea of what they think would be a good product and sets the price after considering all the production costs plus a target profit. (Kotler‚ Armstrong‚ 2008‚ p. 285‚ 286) Instead of starting
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Case Study 1 – Southwest Airlines 1. To what do you attribute the success of Southwest Airlines? The success of Southwest Airlines was mainly attributed to their innovative high-volume‚ low-margin business model‚ which included cutting flight prices dramatically‚ using their fleet at maximum capacity‚ and entertaining marketing gimmicks. Southwest’s flight structure took advantage of low-density airports and underserved areas and was comprised of a two-tiered pricing structure that books
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