Strategic Choices Mgt599 Case



Executive Summary

Southwest Airlines was established in the year 1967 and is known for one of the largest lost-cost carrier in the United States. Considering external and internal environment of the company, the major problem is that Southwest Airline has limited destinations. According to the SWOT analysis of the company, there are many untapped business sectors in the U.S. that are looking for the operations of Southwest. According to Porter's Generic Strategies, Cost leadership is aimed at achieving success on the basis of reducing costs and become a leader on this indicator in the industry. Accordingly, the company is striving to become a leader in cost needs to the best possible quality staff who will do their jobs faster and better. To have lower costs, the company will have to serve a lot of different market segments. This, according to Michael Porter, is the most important aspect of this strategy. According to opportunities and threats of the company, the industry analysis reveals that technological changes require huge investment in adopting technologies especially those technologies which come under telecommunication. By analyzing strengths and weaknesses, the company can cater the urban communities and other destinations by utilizing its strength of cost leadership and gain more market share among rivals in global airline industry. The current mission and vision are the same as what the competitors are offering, as a matter of fact that every airline company is striving to achieve customers' attention by offering them comfort and premium quality services, Southwest does not standout among rivals. Therefore, mission and vision must be based on its core competencies that involve both low cost fares and premium quality services.

Strategic Choices Mgt599 Case

Introduction

Southwest Airlines was established in the year 1967 and is known for one of the largest lost-cost carrier in the United States. It is operating in 39 states serving more than 97 destinations. As per day schedule, 3400 flights are being operated and has currently more than 46000 employees working in Southwest Airline (http://www.southwest.com, 2012).

Considering external and internal environment of the company, the major problem is that Southwest Airline has limited destinations. According to the SWOT analysis of the company, there are many untapped business sectors in the U.S. that are looking for the operations of Southwest. Also, analysis of external analysis reveals that more competitors are coming in the international market offering low cost fares with large number of destinations.

The report incorporate the strategic decision strategy of Southwest Airlines, strategic choice process and strategic options available for the company to adapt to competitive environment by minimizing weaknesses and threats with available opportunities and company's strengths.

Discussion

Cost-leadership Strategy

Southwest has adopted cost-leadership strategy to gain more market share in the airline industry of United States. The company strives to achieve large chunk of target market and offers low cost fares by providing premium customer service. The company is also focusing on uniqueness in staff services by offering different discounts on fares and accommodations ...