StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Strategic Planning (Southwest Airlines) - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Strategic Planning (Southwest Airlines) Table of Contents Introduction 3 Strategic planning 3 Strategic implementation 5 Strategic control 5 Reference 7 Introduction Southwest Airlines is a low cost airline that mainly targets the local customers. In general, 80 percent of the passengers are local who travels from one destination to another within the same city…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98.3% of users find it useful
Strategic Planning (Southwest Airlines)
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Strategic Planning (Southwest Airlines)"

Download file to see previous pages

Strategic management has been defined by Meyer as “the process by which managers understand organisational goals; examining the future threats to, and opportunities for, an organisation; identifying strategies for dealing with these threats and opportunities; ensure organisational capability to implement these strategies; and continually monitoring the entire process to provide direction and support for accomplishing the strategic management objectives” (Tyndall, et al., 1990, p.9). The strategic management practices of Southwest airline have been discussed in the later part of this project.

Strategic planning Southwest Airline has its unique business model that has been planned after considering the corporate strategy and business environment. The company has a strategic planning committee whose members possess an in-depth understanding of different functional activities. These members are responsible for analysing the business environment in the local market. They also use different business reports to analyse the core competency of the business. On basis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, this committee formulates the business strategy for Southwest Airline.

The activity system formulated by the strategic planning committee is as follows: Figure 1: Southwest Airlines’ Activity system (Source: Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2009, p.104) The above given plan resents the factors like low profit margin, attraction and retention of local passengers, point to point routes and limits customer services. These are some of the core strategies on which whole of the Southwest Airline’s business model is based. Strategic implementation The responsibility of the strategic planning committee does not end only by formulating the strategies; it is also responsible for implementing these strategies.

As for example, to achieve the strategy of limited passenger services, the management under guidance of the planning committee has listed out the process to active this goal. The company decided not to offer free meals, no baggage transfer facility, just 15 minutes for gate turnaround and limited use to travel agents. All these actions assist the company to achieve the objective of low customer service. The company’s vision statement reflects that Southwest Airline is highly focused on its employee base.

The strategic planning committee has planned to enhance productivity of the employees. For this the company is implemented higher play structure for the work force. Flexible union contracts have been developed to meet specific requirement of the employees. The company also offers high level of employee stock ownership. All this is done to motivate the employees as this will not just enhance their performance but will also reduce the employee turnover rate. Again, the company has identified business travellers as the target customer group because this group travels t a higher rate and prefer to go by low cot airline.

With time the size of their customer group will increase and it will assist the airline to expand its market share. Strategic control The process of strategic management often fails in spite of a well developed strategic plan and a successful implementation process. This is because often the company fails to control the change introduced in the business process for long run. As a result, whole of the capital and the managerial time

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Strategic Planning (Southwest Airlines) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/environmental-studies/1406238-strategic-planning-southwest-airlines
(Strategic Planning (Southwest Airlines) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words)
https://studentshare.org/environmental-studies/1406238-strategic-planning-southwest-airlines.
“Strategic Planning (Southwest Airlines) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/environmental-studies/1406238-strategic-planning-southwest-airlines.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Strategic Planning (Southwest Airlines)

South West Airlines

AN ANALYSIS OF CONTROLLERSHIP ISSUES: AN ANALYSIS OF southwest airlines, USA Introduction Controllership issues are the major issues in businesses around the world.... This paper examines controllership in southwest airlines, a major airline service in the United States of America.... The Strategic Systems of southwest airlines southwest airlines is an American airline based in Dallas, Texas and it is the largest airline in the USA (southwest airlines Website, About us)....
10 Pages (2500 words) Research Paper

Southwest Airlines Case Study

southwest airlines Case Study Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Action Required 3 Reason 3 State objectives 3 Market Research 4 Market Segmentation 4 Price 5 Promotion 5 Product 5 Cost 6 Income 6 Reference 6 Executive Summary Action Required The increasing competition in U.... In the mean time, Shuttle by United becomes the biggest threat for southwest airlines.... Since, 1990 till 1994, southwest airlines was the best performer as it significantly enhanced its operating performance and income....
3 Pages (750 words) Case Study

Low cost Airlines (Southwest Airlines)

Financial planning southwest airlines is the only airline in the United States that has been consistently profitable for the past 3 decades, and this is mostly due to proper financial planning by the airline.... This report will investigate the factors that have led to the survival and continuing success of southwest airlines, including the company's financial planning, financial control, costing and the company's efficient decision making process.... This report will investigate the factors that have led to the survival and continuing success of southwest airlines, including the company's financial planning, financial control, costing and the company's efficient decision making process....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Southwest Airlines Case Anaylsis

They lived up to their dreams since southwest airlines now ranks the fourth largest airliner that is operating under the logo LUV on NYSE in the united states of America.... the name by which the southwest airlines was known.... In fact; some competitors were forced to withdraw after southwest airlines entered their markets, allowing the company to expand faster than expected (David 1999).... For instance; when the southwest airlines ventured into California market (1990) it quickly scooped 20% of the intrastate market, sending a number of its competitors out of Los Angeles-San Francisco route, thus dominating the route....
40 Pages (10000 words) Essay

Southwest Airlines Case

With the market crowded with major carriers mainly interested in hub-to spoke destinations due customer densities and in taking advantage of large… Another factor was the strategy to ensure its fleet was fully utilized by ensuring no plane was grounded for more than 10 minutes in southwest airlines Case Questions Follow the instructions provided in your assignment when responding to the following questions To what do you attribute the success of southwest airlines?...
2 Pages (500 words) Case Study

Effective Strategic Planning at Southwest Airlines

The author examines the strategic planning of southwest airlines, a company that has highlighted its passions for three factors, “performance, people and planet”.... nbsp;  College Strategic Measures 11 July Effective strategic planning at Airline When we talk about airline common thing that comes in our minds is traveling where the baseline is to facilitate the passengers....
1 Pages (250 words) Case Study

SouthWest Airline

southwest airlines is run by a Board of Directors and a team of Managers who handle the routine activities of the airline.... According to Buller & Schuler (78), southwest airlines used this mission to create the basic strategy that they use to operate to this day.... southwest airlines from its inception as a local Texan flight company focused on a careful study of the customers' needs.... This paper tries to analyze and evaluate the problems in the strategic planning structures, management control....
11 Pages (2750 words) Research Paper

The Airline Business in the Twenty-First Century

The present essay "The Airline Business in the Twenty-First Century" concerns the factors that have led to the survival and continuing success of southwest airlines, including the company's financial planning, financial control, costing and the company's efficient decision-making process.... southwest airlines is the only airline in the United States that has been consistently profitable for the past 3 decades The company's financial planning model is a major reason why southwest airlines has remained profitable every year since its inception in the 1960s....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us