Case Study:
Southwest Airlines
Generally cases follow this format:
(1) a summary of the relevant situation in the case,
(2) Internal analysis of the firm, including current corporate and business level strategies,
(3) external analysis,
(4) SWOT analysis culminating in identification of a problem (which may be in fact an opportunity),
(5) proposal of two or more alternative courses of action that will help solve the problem or exploit the opportunity,
(6) evaluation of all alternatives,
(7) recommendation of best alternative and
(8) implementation issues that need to be considered.
You also need to answer the following questions in a separate section.
1. Is there anything that you find particularly impressive about Southwest Airlines?
2. What grade would you give Southwest management for the job it has done in crafting the company's strategy? What is it that you like or dislike about the strategy? Does Southwest have a winning strategy?
3. What are the key policies, procedures, operating practices, and core values underlying Southwest's efforts to implement and execute its low-cost/no frills strategy?
4. What are the key elements of Southwest's culture? Is Southwest a strong culture company? Why or why not?
5. What weaknesses or problems do you see at Southwest Airlines as of mid-2014?
6. Do you approve of the AirTran acquisition and the way that Southwest has gone about integrating AirTran into its operations? Is the integration taking too long? Why go so slow?