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

Competitive Structure and Resources of Southwest Airlines - Research Paper Example

Cite this document
Summary
COMPETITIVE STRUCTURE AND RESOURCES OF SOUTHWEST AIRLINES Market structure of Southwest Airlines industry The determination of the market structure of Southwest Airlines is coupled with a number of factors. Some of these factors could be said to include the number of sellers (competitors), number of buyers (air transport travelers), buyer entry barriers, market share and competition…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER92% of users find it useful
Competitive Structure and Resources of Southwest Airlines
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Competitive Structure and Resources of Southwest Airlines"

Download file to see previous pages

Even though it is common knowledge that Southwest Airlines has a very large share of the market, there are also as many buyers or air transport travelers as possible, who use the serves of other airlines within the market region where Southwest Airlines operate (Mazzeo, 2009). As far as buyer entry barriers are concerned, there are no buyer entry barriers for patrons of air transportation and this gives a very strong indication as to why Southwest Airlines is operating a perfect competition. Even more, regardless of all the successes that has been seen by the airline in its market segment, there continues to be fierce competition among other key competitors with no competitor having a market share of more than 30% (Prince and Simon, 2009).

What this means is that market share is low and there are other substitute products in terms of other forms of transportation that consumer may fall on. Macro and international influences on the firm As an international company, the operations of Southwest Airlines are greatly affected by a number of macro and international factors, of which the company barely has no authority or control over. Whereas some of these macro and international influences are political, some are economical, whiles others are social.

As far as political factors are concerned, it is on record that even though the American and Chinese governments have each tried as much as possible to keep taxes on air transport minimal, factors like homeland security, infrastructure enhancement and environmental protection have led to a situation whereby there are huge sums of taxes imposed on the traveling public (Mazzeo, 2009). These taxes are often translated into higher airline tickets, which generally affect the rate at which people choose to travel by air.

The table below represents some of the special commercial aviation taxes that are paid in the United States, where Southwest Airline is very dominant. Type of Tax Rate Passenger ticket tax 7.50% Flight Segment Tax (Domestic) $3.8 Frequent Flyer Tax 7.5% International Departure Tax $16.7 International Arrival Tax %16.7 September 11th Fee $2.5 Customs User Fee $5.5 Federal Security Sub-charge $2.5 Passenger Facility Charge $4.5 Source: Airlines for America By provisions of the government, these are taxes that are inevitable to the airline and those influences its pricing, promotions and marketing style all together.

The economic recession, which has over the years become unpredictable, and growing inflation problems are some macro economic factors that affect the company. What is more, demographics of travelers happens to be a majority macro social factor that influences Southwest Airlines given that air transport is fast becoming the preserve of the elite and that there has to be more of the higher social class emanating from society to get the market really booming. Changes in market structure Over the years, the market structure with which Southwest Airlines competed in has changed significantly.

Most of these changes have actually taken place in terms of the availability of skill, labor and raw materials. For instance, with the advancement of technology, which is dominating almost every type of industrial sector in the global economic regime, the use of highly skilled labor force is no longer an optional choice for the

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Competitive Structure and Resources of Southwest Airlines Research Paper”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/macro-microeconomics/1465349-competitive-structure-and-resources-of-southwest
(Competitive Structure and Resources of Southwest Airlines Research Paper)
https://studentshare.org/macro-microeconomics/1465349-competitive-structure-and-resources-of-southwest.
“Competitive Structure and Resources of Southwest Airlines Research Paper”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/macro-microeconomics/1465349-competitive-structure-and-resources-of-southwest.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Competitive Structure and Resources of Southwest Airlines

Marketing Strategy, SOUTHWEST AIRLINE

The case is defining the problem that many airlines that are facing today like Southwest that is reduction in the sales.... Moreover there has been a fluctuation in the prices of oil and gas which has lead to increase in costs for the airlines.... Due to this the competition has become rigorous as the airlines are forced to cut down cost and jobs and fill the seats.... These are some of the strategies that are used by various airlines....
14 Pages (3500 words) Essay

Southwest Airlines

This case study "southwest airlines" analyzes southwest airlines' success story that was definitely not an easy business venture to accomplish because it had to battle out large and well-established airline companies such as Continental Air.... outhwest Airlines' success story was definitely not an easy business venture to accomplish because, as a new entrant in the airline industry way back in the seventies, they had to battle out large and well-established airline companies such as Continental Air just to be able to gain shares in the market and also, they even have to, unfortunately, adhere on to (unfair) state policies, one of which was the so-called Wright Amendment, whose alleged intention was to slow down Southwest's progress [“southwest airlines (A)” p....
13 Pages (3250 words) Case Study

Southwest Airlines Recruitment and Selection Strategy of Employees

This study "Southwest Airlines – Recruitment and Selection Strategy of Employees" discusses human resources, leadership, and challenges of southwest airlines.... southwest airlines (SWA) is a benchmark in the industry for continuously maintaining the fastest turnarounds, excellent service at lowest fares, on-schedule flights and luggage arrivals, a highly motivated and unionized workforce.... The Wall Street Journal ranked it first among airlines for customer service satisfaction....
10 Pages (2500 words) Case Study

Prospect of Buying Southwest Airlines

The paper "Prospect of Buying southwest airlines" states that driven by the notion that customers can be attracted without forcing them to consider any expensive options has worked wonders for the company and has helped it step the toes of many other bigger airlines.... In contrast, southwest airlines have earned a profit of $178 million in 2008, although this figure is substantially less in comparison to the preceding year (decline by 72.... hellip; The success of southwest is primarily due to their sharp focus on tangible goals and this is evident by their offer of a no-frills service....
8 Pages (2000 words) Case Study

Strategic Positioning of Southwest Airlines

The paper "Strategic Positioning of southwest airlines" describes that for the purpose of gaining a competitive edge in the marketplace, the leading low-cost airline carrier of America in regards to a number of passengers transported had to implement a series of strategies.... As a result, there has been a growing trend which highlighted the fact that the businesses organizations, that are located in both the developing as well as developed economies are aggressively trying to enter into many new markets for the purpose of generating significant competitive advantage as well as solidify their future growth prospects....
12 Pages (3000 words) Assignment

Living the Southwest Way

The purpose of this paper is to examine the human resource (HR) implications of southwest airlines merger with Air Tran Holdings in 2011.... Owing to the operational similarity of southwest airlines to Air Tran, the new organization encourages its workforces to use simple strategies to achieve maximum customer satisfaction and growth.... Southwest focuses principally on point-to-point passenger delivery, as opposed to the more popular hub-and-spoke strategy provided by most American airlines (Wu, 2012)....
5 Pages (1250 words) Case Study

Southwest Airlines

The objective of this capstone project, Southwest Airlines, is to evaluate the standing of southwest airlines comparing the performance of the airline with that of the industry in the United States and to undertake an external and internal evaluation of the organization.... The study about southwest airlines becomes interesting in view of the fact that the airline has been profitable for a continuous period of 36 years.... The remarkable success and innovative ways with that southwest airlines have achieved has made this study interesting....
25 Pages (6250 words) Research Paper

Potential Resource Strengths and Competitive Capabilities of South West Airlines

However to build the airlines company it is today it has taken a lot of resources and sincere and honest efforts from the management and employees of southwest airlines.... In 1971 the ball started rolling with Rollin King teaming up with Herb Kelleher started the operations of southwest airlines.... southwest airlines has made a name for itself in the airline industry and is now one of the leading airlines of the United States of America.... What commenced became the backbone of the southwest airlines when it fought the legal battles and overcame all hurdles to start their operations in June 1971....
24 Pages (6000 words) Research Paper
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