Taking A Look At Southwest Airlines

Real time analysis of Southwest Airline’s strategic perspective can be summed up in a name, Herbert Kelleher. Though not currently the CEO, from its beginning in 1971 to stepping down in 2008, Herbert Kelleher started an organization that defied odds and has continued to compete with a low-cost strategy in one of the most expensive markets, the airline business. Southwest’s company website has a page dedicated to Kelleher and the awards and accolades he and Southwest achieved during his tenure and the page is overflowing with awards. One of Southwest’s most prestigious notorieties was “the Fall 2002 edition of Money magazine revealed that, during the 30-year period 1972-2002, Southwest produced the highest return to shareholders of any company

Kelly in 2008 and the commendations continued as “Southwest Airlines is celebrating 42 years of consecutive profitability and was named "Airline of the Year" by Air Transport World in 2015. Southwest (NYSE: LUV) was the number one stock performer of the S&P 500 in 2014, and the nation's leading low-cost carrier has consistently received the lowest ratio of Customer Complaints to the Department of Transportation (DOT) since they began tracking Customer Satisfaction (Southwest, 2015, p.1). The article goes on to express the level of investment Southwest has been able to garner since there has never been a single layoff in their 44 year history and Kelly was instrumental in the 2014 acquisition of AirTran. Kelly remains the CEO today and Southwest continues to create growth, with Kelly eyeing several very different strategic perspectives that will most likely take Southwest down a much different path, and the outcomes will test the cultural perspectives created for some time now at

When management began shaping the culture at Southwest, quality customer service with a smile was an attribute Kelleher and management found to be very important. Management at Southwest has been very successful in identifying themselves as valuing great customer service and hiring staff that complement those strategic goals and objectives. Many of their rivals thrive on the differentiation strategy of first class and frequent flyer programs designed to increase revenues, since those seats and programs come with higher prices, but also come with several perks not afforded to coach class flyers. Customer service experinces such as “In one example, a lady describes taking her husband (a soldier being deployed to Kuwait) to the airport. A Southwest employee gave her and her two children clearance to accompany him to the gate. After goodbyes were said and the soldier boarded the plane, another employee asked how he could assist the family at this difficult time and secured special permission for the three of them to embark the plane a few minutes before departure to say one final goodbye in front of cheering passengers, creating a valuable memory for the whole family” (Sadri, 2014, p. 18). This form of customer service definitely sets Southwest employees apart from others in their industry. Southwest