SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

Southwest Airlines, Market Research Process

Southwest Airlines, Market Research Process

Introduction

Southwest Airlines is the largest airline company, working in the United States. It has one of the largest domestic flight networks, currently operative in the country. With the fleet of over 522 aircrafts, the company operates over 3400 flights a day. Southwest has a history of making profits and ensuring customer satisfaction. If we analyze the operative structure of the company and its core competencies, there has been a significant increase in its operational networks over the years (Lauer, C, 2010). The company enjoys a prominent position in the industry and grasps a substantial market share. Throughout the progressive and lucrative functionality of the company, the concerns where focused on demanding lower flight fares and providing quality services to its customers. What makes Southwest Airlines different from all the other domestic airlines is 1) the availability of regular flights and a widespread flight network, 2) charging lowest possible fares while ensuring quality services to its customers (Brancatelli, J, 2008).

Problem Identification

However, the company recently observed a noticeable decrease in its profits of about 15%. According to administration and finance department this decrease has been observed lately, which was due to customer preferences in making their decision for their business travels, in particular. In review of primary data for the study, including invoices, tickets and various other sources. Customers including companies and business individuals were reluctant in selecting Southwest Airlines for business trips. Apart from this there has also been a decrease in the lower end, the middle sector of the population curtails air travels and prefer substitutes. In order to study this impression, we'll design a market research process that will identify the causes and provide guidelines in reaching a decision.

Establishing Research Design and Process

Descriptive research should be conducted for the issue at hand, as it will identify the services and its customers, determines the market share of the company among the population and estimates the demand in the market. Through the review of the secondary data, we have identified that the basic problem that results in the decrease of profits. To further understand the issue, we will conduct a primary data analysis. Primary data are normally obtained through either observation or communication. In this case, communication would be most relevant because it includes questioning the respondents and we will have a chance to assess their preferences about their choices. This will include conducting customer surveys and interviews, which may be personal or in a group. Personal or in-depth interviews are conducted to analyze the customer insights about their preferences, behavior and decisions they have made, on the other hand, group interviews or focus groups are conducted to discuss and assess customer perception in a whole. The most relevant tool for primary data collection is developing a questionnaire.

A questionnaire should be developed in a way that it will evaluate and questions the customer in such a manner that it will drag out real customer insight. To understand customer preferences for Southwest ...