Seah M2 CS Southwest
1 Why has Southwest been so much more successful than its competitors? From the start, Southwest had the advantage of cheaper startup cost of aircraft due to Boeing overproducing its Boeing 737. Southwest’s key strategy was cheapest ticket pricing. Their goal was to charge fares at all times that were below the cost of driving a car. Another key strategy was the 10 minute turnaround time which enabled the airline to generate higher revenue. The airline then later adopted the airline with the fun personality and this would carry on till today, making the brand very recognizable.
2 How has the original strategy been altered in recent years? How, if at all, have these changes affected Southwest’s key success factors?
Southwest added longer routes to its flights and its fun employees outweighed other service factors. Aside from more flights to more distant locations, there were many opportunities to add shorter flights to schedules connecting existing stations in the network.
Expanding to Baltimore was a cautious move that proved fruitful. The airline did not lose its “LUV” culture by operating there. Thus, the Southwest culture was brought to the East Coast. They later expanded northeastward successfully.
Other than the afore-mentioned changes, Southwest also agreed to code share with another airline, changed the boarding process and introduced new fares, products, services and policies. All of these changes helped propel the airline even higher than its competitors.
3 What kinds of things over which Southwest’s leadership has some control could go wrong? What should be done to make sure they don’t happen?
Decisions to institute service in an airport leading could go wrong. Since there was a risk of traffic delays at Philadelphia, Southwest’s leadership should have made better evaluations. Ample careful planning and consultation should have been made prior to major decisions such as this.
4 Based on your response to question 3, what further changes, if
2 How has the original strategy been altered in recent years? How, if at all, have these changes affected Southwest’s key success factors?
Southwest added longer routes to its flights and its fun employees outweighed other service factors. Aside from more flights to more distant locations, there were many opportunities to add shorter flights to schedules connecting existing stations in the network.
Expanding to Baltimore was a cautious move that proved fruitful. The airline did not lose its “LUV” culture by operating there. Thus, the Southwest culture was brought to the East Coast. They later expanded northeastward successfully.
Other than the afore-mentioned changes, Southwest also agreed to code share with another airline, changed the boarding process and introduced new fares, products, services and policies. All of these changes helped propel the airline even higher than its competitors.
3 What kinds of things over which Southwest’s leadership has some control could go wrong? What should be done to make sure they don’t happen?
Decisions to institute service in an airport leading could go wrong. Since there was a risk of traffic delays at Philadelphia, Southwest’s leadership should have made better evaluations. Ample careful planning and consultation should have been made prior to major decisions such as this.
4 Based on your response to question 3, what further changes, if