Southwest Airlines SWOT Analysis

This assignment requires a SWOT analysis of Southwest Airlines. You need to identify the airline's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within the context of the aviation industry. Consider Porter's Five Forces framework, mergers and acquisitions in the sector, sustainable tourism development, and ethical considerations in business practices. Use relevant academic sources from your provided bibliography to support your analysis.

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Executive summary
The report was prepared to analyse the competitive business environment by using the
Porter’s five forces model to determine the threats of new entrants, substitutes, competitive
rivalries, bargaining power of suppliers and customers. The differentiation strategies were
chosen as effective for sustaining in the competitive environment and with the acquisition of
AirTran airways, the organization gained a sustainable position. The value chain analysis model
was also used to understand the core competencies, capabilities, which further strengthened the
ability of the company to sustain in the marketplace. The maintenance of a flexible and string
culture and by acquiring AirTran Airways, the company entered new markets and gained more
profit in business too.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Question 1: Porter’s five forces model used by Southwest Airlines...............................................4
Question 2: Internal analysis by Value chain framework................................................................8
Question 3: Impact of organizational culture on the strategic choices..........................................13
Question 4: Benefits and drawbacks of acquisition of AirTran Airways......................................15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................18
References......................................................................................................................................20

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Introduction
The main aim of preparing this report is to analyse the competitive environment where
the business organization named Southwest Airlines has been operating. It will help in
identifying the capabilities, core competencies and other factors that can contribute to the making
of strategic choices and decisions at both corporate and business levels. The information about
the company has been derived from various external sources and is being assessed to determine
the efficiency of the business processes managed by the company to become successful and
profitable all throughout. Porter’s five forces model will be used to understand the level of
competition and determine how strategies can be formulated by the organization to sustain in the
business. The company to analyse the strengths, capabilities, core competencies and the weak
areas where improvements will be needed to be done also utilizes the Value chain framework.
The choice of competitive strategy will be based on the differentiation, hybrid or cost leadership
procedures (Allio & Fahey, 2012). The culture of the organization will be focused on as well for
identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the company and furthermore discuss the positive
effects created by the acquisition of AirTran Airways (southwest.com, 2017).

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Question 1: Porter’s five forces model used by Southwest Airlines
The Airlines industry in United States change from time to time and this enabled the
Aeronautics board to regulate the airlines routes and set proper prices of the services delivered to
the customers. There are mergers and acquisitions too, which has resulted in enhancing the
market share by attracting more customers and this created a sustainable place in the market. Due
to the inappropriate management of airlines rules and regulations, the fares of services were not
set properly and this created scopes for other companies to enter the market and target market
segments (Antràs & Chor, 2013). Nowadays, with the failing of air fares and high level of
competition, the demands for airlines travel have also increased. To conduct the external
analysis, the Porter’s five forces framework is used to understand the level of competition in the
market and examine the structural factors that have acted as major forces in driving the business
processes (Berchicci, 2013).
Southwest Airlines is one of the most popular airlines company that has been operating in
both domestic and international areas by providing airlines services at a relatively lower cost
compared to the competitors in business. The Porter’s five forces model is used by the company
to analyse its competitive position in the market and understand the effects created by the
external forces such as threat of new entrants, competitive rivalries, threats of substitutes,
bargaining power of suppliers and the consumers (Bock et al., 2012).
Threat of new entrants
The business organization has gained high economies of scale that has created enough
opportunities for the company to obtain greater market share. Huge amounts of investments are
done, which has enhanced its brand name and image and furthermore allowed the company to

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enter the new markets with ease and effectiveness. The business organization is known for its
delivery of good quality services provided at a lower cost (southwest.com, 2017). The threat of
new entrants is a major factor that makes it difficult for Southwest Airlines to sustain in the
competitive business environment. The company has though been true to its customers in terms
of the safety and quality, because of which, it has created difficulties for the other companies to
gain their trust and loyalty and make them shift t their airlines company (Claver-Cortés, Pertusa-
Ortega & Molina-Azorín, 2012). Moreover, the quality of services is excellent and is available at
lower prices, which has kept the customers satisfied too. Thus, it could be understood that the
threat of new entrants in the market is quite low and with the huge amounts of investments and
establishment of costs, it had prevented the new entrants to pose any threat to Southwest Airlines
(Dobbs, 2012).
Threat of substitute products or services
People always want to move from one place to another by availing proper transportation
facilities and there are a lot of options to choose from for the service users. These various options
have different kinds of benefits based on the actual needs and requirements of the service users.
The service users carry out a cost benefit analysis while choosing the mode of transportation that
will be suitable for them while moving from one place to another. Southwest Airlines offers
good quality transportation services at very lower cost that gives the company a competitive edge
over its competitors. In case the service users look for convenient and time saving airlines
services, then they can switch on to some other airlines company and thus the threats of
substitutes are quite high for Southwest Airlines (E. Dobbs, 2014).
Bargaining power of the purchasers

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The business organization has two different kinds of purchasers including the passengers
who travel alone and the others who travel in groups. Because of the wide range of options
available, they tend for look for the airlines services that are available at lower costs. The travel
agents possess high power to bargain because for the customers, switching to another company
poses very little threat. The individuals who travel alone experience lower cost of switching to
services of another airlines company. Due to this, the bargaining power is moderate for the
buyers of Southwest Airlines (Eccles, Ioannou & Serafeim, 2012).
Bargaining power of the suppliers
The suppliers have the roles of delivering good quality raw materials and resources that
are required to make the processes of manufacturing and production successful. The
manufacturers of the aeroplanes are termed as major suppliers and they has developed long
lasting relationships and formed contracts with the company owners to keep the business
function properly. They require huge amounts of investments for the production of aeroplanes
and make sure that the business grows consistently. The suppliers have low bargaining power,
because they need to accept the terms and conditions of the airlines company and then deliver the
best quality services to the customers for keeping them satisfied as a whole too (Espinoza &
Ukleja, 2016). The organization is dependent on the rise and fall in prices of oil, which also
creates high bargaining power for the suppliers. The increase in prices of oil can even make
changes to the cost of fuel of Southwest Airlines and to tackle this kind of issue, Southwest
Airlines has utilized the regional airports to deliver the services rather than using any expensive
international airports (Estampe et al., 2013).
Intense competition by the rivalries

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There is presence of high competition in the market due to the presence of other local as
well as international airlines companies. The competition is strong and so it is important for
Southwest Airlines to maintain a positive brand name and image for improving the quality of
services and furthermore allow the company to gain competitive advantage in business. The
mergers and acquisition of other small companies have increased the competitive rivalry. Delta
Airlines is a major competitor, because it has acquired United Airlines and Continental to deliver
services covering multiple cities and other continents. The market share of Southwest Airlines
has also been threatened because of the competitors and so it is necessary to implement
immediate measures for managing the low price trade activities and customers’ services at the
same time (Evans, Stonehouse & Campbell, 2012).
From the analysis of these aspects, it could be understood that the airlines industry had
been quite attractive according to the high profit margin, which had been experienced due to
these competitive forces illustrated above. The most important forces that should be considered
by the US Airlines industry included the threats of substitute products or services and threats of
rivalries in business. These two forces have posed high threats for Southwest Airlines and so it is
important for the company to analyse the competition in the market and create something better
and innovative through the formulation of new strategies to keep the customers inclined towards
the company (Fearne, Garcia Martinez & Dent, 2012). This would also influence their buying
behaviours and make them gain a positive mindset to purchase the services of the company
rather than from any other companies in the competitive business environment.

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Question 2: Internal analysis by Value chain framework
The internal analysis is used by Southwest Airlines to evaluate the strengths, capabilities
and core competencies that can help the company to gain competitive edge over its competitors
in business. The company’s ability to focus on the price and time sensitive consumers has
brought fruitful results, because it has allowed for analyzing the present market scenario and take
necessary measures for improving the quality of services and keep the customers satisfied as a
whole too. There are various strengths and weaknesses of the company, which have been
assessed by using the Porter’s value chain framework. The weak areas are addressed to formulate
strategies and resolve those issues and furthermore make suitable choices based on the core
competencies of the organization (Gamble & Thompson, 2014). The strategic abilities of the
organization have helped to obtain competitive edge over its competitors based on the resources
and core competencies. The resources are tangible and intangible assets whereas the core
competencies of the organization have helped the company to utilize its assets properly and
respond to the external environment with convenience (Gereffi & Fernandez-Stark, 2016).
SWOT analysis
Strengths
The company has experienced a good profit margin for the past few years consistently,
because of which, the company has gained a secure financial position and remained profitable
after the global financial crisis too. It is a popular brand and through effective advertising and
promotion al activities, the company has maintained a good brand image identity, thus emerging
as one of the major travel brand according to the American Brand Excellence Awards. This has
allowed for differentiating its services quite easily, which has not only facilitated the process of

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gaining high levels of profit but also has gained a competitive edge over its competitors with
ease and effectiveness (Gobble, 2012). The maintenance of a robust domestic network is another
strength of the company, because of which, it has a strong demand for services within the market
place.
Weaknesses
Few weaknesses of the organization are fewer opportunities to generate revenue, outdated
products and services. The balance sheet showed that it is important for the company to leverage
new products to appeal the service users and make good profit in business consistently
(southwest.com, 2017).
Opportunities
The repeal of Wright Amendment has allowed the company to expand its services by
operating in more countries and there is inclusion of new services including flights to Los
Angeles, Nigeria, Atlanta, San Diego and Washington National. The new and innovative
international operations and processes have also made the organization gain a favorable position
in the market and it made huge contribution to the business outcomes derived by the company
(Haucap et al., 2013). The new international operations had helped in the diversification of
networks and penetrated the different market segments to foster better production and greater
satisfaction among the customers based on the good quality of products that were available at
lower prices. Southwest Airlines has developed partnership with the international airlines
companies to enhance the flow of traffic as well as attract and retain new and existing service
users (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014).
Threats

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Southwest Airlines has faced massive competition in the market, because there are many
other companies that have provided airlines services at very low cost to enhance the air travel
facilities. The average fare increased to seven percent, which had increased the demands for the
low cost airlines, furthermore made the company face difficulties to survive in the competitive
business environment (Vazirani, 2012). The costs have increased and it has created issues during
the formation of new contracts after the terms and conditions are fulfilled. Due to this, it has
become one of the highest pay structures within the airlines industry. The culture maintained
within the workplace is deteriorating, which has not hampered the company’s image but also has
degraded the brand name and image, furthermore posed major threats for the organization
(Hollensen, 2015).
Porter’s Value Chain framework
The Value Chain Framework proposed by Porter has helped the organization to analyse
the internal environment and provide a strategic direction to become successful in business.
Southwest Airlines has remained profitable for the past few years, which had increased the
customer base largely and even delivered the customers with good quality services at low cost.
The low cost air tickets have attracted many customers, furthermore made them inclined towards
the company and the existing service users were also retained. The company’s financial
condition is stable and the employees have been working hard to develop a healthy culture and
make it easy and convenient for the passengers to fly from one place to another (Jones & George,
2015). The manager of the organization is dedicated to his roles and responsibilities, which has
also motivated the employees to perform their best for the benefit of the employees and enhance
the customers’ services. The major norms are personalized letters, effective problem resolution
techniques and friendly staffs.

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The Resource Based View was proposed by Barney and had been utilized as an effective
economic tool for identifying the strategic resources of the company. The strategic resources
could be beneficial for the airlines firm to gain competitive advantage in business and position
itself as a successful company within the competitive business environment. The strategic
resources are accessibility to regional and secondary airports, presence of motivated staffs and
pilots and reliable customers’ services (Keupp, Palmié & Gassmann, 2012). Southwest Airlines
holds a reputable brand image and identity that has helped to keep the prices of airlines services
lower. The transformational leadership has further facilitated the business functioning by keeping
the staffs encouraged to perform better and integrate the corporate culture with the organizational
goals and objectives (Lee, Kim & Park, 2012).
Southwest Airlines’ core competencies
The competencies of the organization are classified into both threshold and core
competencies. The threshold competencies are availability of online booking, point to point
routing, business operations available at lower costs, timely landing and taking off of flights and
no additional charges for the management of baggage and other services. The core competencies
of the organization included the ways by which Southwest Airlines had managed to become
successful during the implementation of low price strategy. The cost conscious culture and
providing of both monetary and non-monetary rewards have motivated the employees and
influenced their behaviours to perform to their potential with ease and effectiveness (Li, 2012).
To identify the strategic direction of the organization, Southwest Airlines has used the strategic
clock tool to position itself within the competitive business environment by maintaining low
costs for the operations managed and services provided to the customers with the help of no-frill
strategy (Weber, Drori & Tarba, 2012).

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Generic competitive strategies
Among the different types of generic strategies implemented by the organization to gain
competitive advantage in business, the cost leadership strategy has been the most effective one
because the company is focused on the delivery of good quality services at lower cost to attract
more customers and retain the existing customers too. Though differentiating the services
provided by the airlines firm could also attract customers and make them understand the
differences between the services offered by other companies, still cost leadership had been
suitable for the organization to obtain a competitive edge over its competitors in most of the
cases (Marshall, 2013). According to Southwest Airlines, the low cost of services and
differentiation have fostered the provision of best quality services and thus are considered as the
most effective generic competitive strategic options available. By adhering to the mission,
vision, goals and objectives, the airlines company has successfully developed strategic plans to
set competitive prices for the services and ensure that the customers’ buying behaviours are
influenced and they become more inclined towards the company, rather than availing the
services of any other company within the business environment (Merkert & Morrell, 2012). The
airline industry is the only sector where profit mainly comes from the charges obtained from the
ticket prices. Southwest Airlines has emerged as a leader within the competitive business
environment by applying the cost leadership strategy to provide the services at the lowest prices
and at the same time reduce the time that the airplanes spend on the airports for keeping the
generation of profit consistent (Priem & Swink, 2012).

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Question 3: Impact of organizational culture on the strategic choices
The maintenance of a good culture represents managing the shared values, beliefs, norms,
rules and regulations within the organization and develop strategies by aligning with the business
goals and objectives effectively. The goals and initiatives must be established for supporting and
developing the culture, furthermore adopt the most effective strategies to represent the
professional values and interact the vendors, employees, customers and business partners. The
aim of Southwest Airlines is to check out how the organization has perceived its roles and
responsibilities, beliefs to achieve the goals and objectives and drive the business efficiency. By
representing a good culture, the company has maintained long lasting relationships with its
customers and even focused on the health and safety f the passengers. The values and beliefs
were maintained by providing enough flexibility to the employees and made them accustomed
with the new working environment (Reihanian et al., 2012). The organisation’s corporate culture
has created excellent employee relationships and managed the costs, at the same time reduced
the costs of business operations largely.
The corporate culture enables changes at Southwest Airlines, which has enhanced the
flexibility and adaptability to adapt changes and remain open to the production and
communication. The cultural diversity has been enabled to facilitate the implementation of
strategies and furthermore set various common norms, rules and regulations that are followed by
the organisation’s employees. The stable culture has also promoted good partnership among the
businesses and facilitated the collaborative working to improve the production level and make
them resistance to changes and ensure successful business outcomes with ease and effectiveness.
Southwest Airlines maintains a flexible, strong and unified culture that can help in implementing
the most suitable strategies and focus on the productivity level by accomplishing the man

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mission. The setting of goals is done by aligning with the actual aims and objectives and has
been supported by systems, policies, procedures and organizational processes (Sevkli et al.,
2012). This has not only achieved the implementation of strategies but also has maintained
cultural integrity within the workplace by driving the performances of workers and made them
accomplish the business processes properly.
The alignment with the organizational culture has helped in implementing the business
processes perfectly and allowed the organization to operate within the global business
marketplace with convenience to develop business partnerships and deliver the best quality
services to the people. The leadership aspects of Kelleher, which focused on fun, love and
efficacy, develop the culture at Southwest Airlines. The employees of the organization are
treated as families and the charismatic leadership skills and style has helped in keeping the staffs
motivated and encouraged to perform to their potential with commitment and dedication. The
good behaviors and familiarity also helped in developing relationships with the customers and
created a positive mindset among them regarding the services offered by Southwest Airlines
(southwest.com, 2017). Southwest Airlines being one of the major carriers of the airlines
industry has promoted family like culture to develop intimacy and informality among the
workers and encouraged them to conduct business effectively through management of the
strategic decisions.
The organizational culture is so impacting that it has enabled the organization to make
strategic decisions and managed shared values, beliefs, norms, rules and regulations, furthermore
prevent negative aspects like demoralizing, de-motivation or discouragement of employees. It
has not only created positive influences but gas also contributed to the organizational efficiency
largely. The implementation of strategies is based on what kind of culture is maintained and this

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has helped Southwest Airlines to obtain information from the employees regarding their needs
and requirements and then fulfill those to make them feel valued for the organization. With the
presence of a good culture, the company has managed to attract new employees and retained the
existing ones (Srivastava, Franklin & Martinette, 2013). They were provided with training and
developmental sessions for enhancing their skills, knowledge and expertise and made them
perform to their potential; furthermore deliver the best quality customers’ services to ensure
satisfaction of the customers. Southwest Airlines has taken risks while managing the research
and developmental activities and invested in new machineries and equipments for promoting
environmental responsibility and develop new products and services too. The good corporate
culture has helped the company to create good working conditions that can make the employees
work efficiently and deliver services that will be able to live up to the expectations of the
customers (Tanwar, 2013).
Question 4: Benefits and drawbacks of acquisition of AirTran Airways
The main motive behind the mergers and acquisition is to conduct business as a single
entity by enabling two organizations to work as a team and provide the shareholders or investors
some benefits in exchange of the compliance of the shares. The acquisition of AirTran Airways
by Southwest Airlines has not only enabled union of the two organizations but also has managed
shared resources and corporate objectives for ensuring mutual benefits through management of
obtained synergy to increase organizational structure and business operations. This has enhanced
the power and control over the markets, save costs and managed shape of return enrichment. The
risks are reduced and innovative solutions have been managed as well to handle the financial
risks and remain competitive within the business environment (Teeratansirikool et al., 2013).
One of the major benefits obtained by acquiring the airlines company is the tax related benefits,

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which has helped in creating monetary leverage and allowed the company to use the alternative
tax benefits too. The drawbacks of acquisition are lack of skilled employees and few staffs of
AirTrans might not be accustomed with the new culture and surroundings. They need to be
trained again, which can incur significant amounts of investments as well. The increased costs
might also result in making some modifications to the management and this could delay the
process of acquisition as well. The return of share for the organization might create buyouts of
the other company, furthermore reduce the market share largely (Weiss, 2014).
By acquiring AirTran Airways for $1.4 billion, the company has managed to gain
accessibility to more than 30 markets. This has not only enhanced the efficiency of
organizational structure and culture, but also has integrated the company with the business
operations and processes easily. It has also resulted in offering international routes and first class
seats, which has enhanced the level of satisfaction along the customers and even predicted the
pre tax annual synergies from the deal of $400 million during the present fiscal year. With the
acquisition of AirTran Airlines, Southwest Airlines has focused on the bity city business
destinations including Boston, New York, Newark, Philly, etc. to enhance its customer base and
achieve higher level of profit in business (Wu & Chen, 2012). The Atlanta hub of AirTran has
become one of the major assets of the Southwest Airlines system too and this has promoted
international expansion as well as convenience for the passengers to select more destinations.
The acquisition of AirTran Airways has helped in establishing good connection with other
businesses, furthermore improved the international services, sharing of codes and improved the
structure and system of reservation technology. Nowadays, the business is expanding and this
has allowed the company to put 137 seats on most of the 737 flights today, which has lived up to

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the expectations of the customers and created enough opportunities to sustain within the business
environment too (Yuan, 2013).
There has been very less overlapping of networks between Southwest Airlines and
AirTran Airways, because of which, Southwest Airlines has combined its position and improved
the entire system, furthermore strengthened the business operations and processes. It was seen
that Southwest Airlines maintained certain policies and procedures related to no bag fees, no
change fees, lack of assigned seats and single class of service. The company is not much
specialized in its customers’ services, though with the acquisition, Southwest Airlines has
managed to perform as a leader in customers’ services (Allio & Fahey, 2012). This has opened
new scopes and opportunities for the company and even helped to manage an effective
Information technology system to making it convenient for the passengers to make bookings and
avail the services of the organization perfectly (Berchicci, 2013).
By acquiring AirTran Airways, the right opportunities were grabbed, which had made it
easy for the organisation to enter the major markets of US including New York LaGuardia and
Washington National. Therefore, it could be understood that Southwest Airlines had been
benefited with the acquisition and it had allowed the company to maintain a sustainable position,
generated more revenue and gained competitive advantage in business as well. Southwest
Airlines has faced several challenges, which has hindered the achievement of successful
outcomes as well as led to several integration risks in var6ious areas. The integration of
technology resulted in issues and the deal with AirTran Airways was not part of the union
approval, which showed that the labour was not cooperative. The integration of pilot seniority
lists affected the future pay and hindered the promotion of several staffs, furthermore created
other acquisition issues too (Bock et al., 2012).

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The technology integration also created issues with the airlines acquisition and it was
quite problematic for the company, because it had planned to move to a new platform for
reservation at the middle of integration of AirTran. The staffs and pilots of Southwest Airlines
were more senior and skilled than the staffs of AirTran Airways, which could create friction and
lack of understanding among the individuals who were needed to work as an unit after the
acquisition (Dobbs, 2012).
Conclusion
The report was developed with the focus on various contemporary issues within the
management of strategies by analysing the competitive business environment. The company had
managed various policies, procedures, business operations and processes to increase the flow of
traffic and maintain good load factors for enhancing the organizational effectiveness. With the
acquisition, the company gained a sustainable position by generating more revenue in business
and even gained competitive advantage in business. The Five Forces Model proposed by Porter
helped in determining the degree of risks related to the threat of substitutes, threats of new
entrants in the market, competitive rivalries, the power of suppliers and purchasers. The value
chain analysis helped in identifying the strengths and core competencies of the organisation
including the low price strategy, timely taking off and no charges for managing the baggage. The
generic strategies of the company were cost leadership strategy, adherence to the business goals
and objectives and proper differentiation of the services offered. A flexible, string culture was
maintained at Southwest Airlines, which not only created good working conditions for the
employees, but also managed to keep the customers satisfied as a whole. The acquisition of
AirTran Airways further improved the traffic flow for Southwest Airlines and made the company

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generate good amounts of revenue in business and attained the competitive edge over its
competitors with convenience.

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Vazirani, N. (2012). Mergers and Acquisitions Performance Evaluation-A Literature
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Weber, Y., Drori, I., & Tarba, S. Y. (2012). Culture-performance relationships in mergers and
acquisition: The role of trust. European Journal of Cross-Cultural Competence and
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Weiss, J. W. (2014). Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-
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MBA ASSIGNMENT
Yuan, H. (2013). A SWOT analysis of successful construction waste management. Journal of
Cleaner Production, 39, 1-8.