Southwest Airlines SWOT
Southwest Airlines SWOT & PEST Analyses
Xavier Quarterman
10/9/2012
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines is an air travel company that was started in 1971 by two men, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher (Russell 2005). Their goal was to combine airline travel with low cost and a sense of fun, today that goal has grown into one of the world’s richest and most profitable airlines today. But as with any business it is necessary to formulate strategies that can help the company stay on track of achieving their goal and staying true to their vision. These strategies are put together with the help of various types of analyses that give an organization an overall view of what they are facing. Two very important and popular analyses that I am familiar with are the SWOT analysis and the PEST analysis. A SWOT analysis is an analysis that helps managers identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that they are facing in their environment. On the other hand there are PEST analyses that help a company get a look at their political, economic, social, and technological environments and how they will affect them and the decisions that they make. I have performed both of these analyses on Southwest Airlines to create a picture of the factors that are facing them and can help them formulate a strategy to promote growth within the company.
Southwest Airlines prides themselves on maintain low fare cost prices while maintaining an excellent level of customer service. That goal may seem easy enough to accomplish but it is not. It takes a lot for a company to provide those two things on a constant basis. With that being said I believe that that is one of their major strengths, the fact that they maintain low cost airfare. They are able to accomplish this through the use of efficient operations and proper treatment when dealing with their employees. They train their crew members appropriately and effectively while maintaining a good relationship. This
Xavier Quarterman
10/9/2012
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines is an air travel company that was started in 1971 by two men, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher (Russell 2005). Their goal was to combine airline travel with low cost and a sense of fun, today that goal has grown into one of the world’s richest and most profitable airlines today. But as with any business it is necessary to formulate strategies that can help the company stay on track of achieving their goal and staying true to their vision. These strategies are put together with the help of various types of analyses that give an organization an overall view of what they are facing. Two very important and popular analyses that I am familiar with are the SWOT analysis and the PEST analysis. A SWOT analysis is an analysis that helps managers identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that they are facing in their environment. On the other hand there are PEST analyses that help a company get a look at their political, economic, social, and technological environments and how they will affect them and the decisions that they make. I have performed both of these analyses on Southwest Airlines to create a picture of the factors that are facing them and can help them formulate a strategy to promote growth within the company.
Southwest Airlines prides themselves on maintain low fare cost prices while maintaining an excellent level of customer service. That goal may seem easy enough to accomplish but it is not. It takes a lot for a company to provide those two things on a constant basis. With that being said I believe that that is one of their major strengths, the fact that they maintain low cost airfare. They are able to accomplish this through the use of efficient operations and proper treatment when dealing with their employees. They train their crew members appropriately and effectively while maintaining a good relationship. This
Cited: Russell, M. (2005). Southwest airlines: An industry leader. Retrieved from voices.yahoo.com/shared/print.shtml?content_type_id=272656 Rapid, B. (2008). A southwest anaylsis. Retrieved from http://www.rapid-business-intelligence-success.com/southwest-airlines-swot-analysis.html Maynard, M. (2005, 16 10). So southwest is mortal. New York Times, (1), Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/business/16southwest.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Southwest Airlines. (2012, 1 7). Southwest airlines fact sheet. Retrieved from http://www.southwest.com/html/about-southwest/history/fact-sheet.html