Verified Document

Southwest Airlines Porter's Five Forces Essay

For short haul routes, customers have the option of driving or even taking the train. There are often low switching costs associated with driving. As the hassles associated with flying have increased, switching has increased as well. While flights on longer routes are faster, there is often a price-performance tradeoff. The longer the flight, the lower the threat of substitutes. The intensity of rivalry is high in the airline industry. There is little to differentiate airlines. Each airline has high fixed costs. Exit costs are high, as each airline has high fixed costs and only operates in the airline industry. In addition, the industry is subject to intermittent overcapacity. In addition, the service is highly perishable -- an empty seat cannot be resold later. This spurs intense competition to fill airplanes. With low switching costs and a low diversity of rivals, there is a high degree of rivalry.

The airline industry is generally an unfavorable one in which to operate. Airlines have a limited degree of pricing power and therefore cannot pass along increases in factor costs to customers. This...

With the constant threat of new entrants and the threat of substitutes on commuter routes, the airline industry must constantly prove itself to the consumer. For firms within the industry, it is difficult to make money under these conditions. Strict cost controls, the ability to not only attract but retain customers and the ability to fend of new entrants are all critical success factors.
Works Cited:

FRBSF. (2002). Competition and regulation in the airline industry. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Retrieved May 1, 2010 from http://www.u.arizona.edu/~gowrisan/pdf_papers/airline_competition.pdf

Grant, R. (2005). Contemporary strategy analysis. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing

McCormick, G. (2010). U.S. airlines more cautious on '10 fuel hedges. Reuters. Retrieved May 1, 2010 from http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61O59Z20100225

Porter, M. (1980). Porter's five forces. QuickMBA. Retrieved May 1, 2010 from http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/porter.shtml

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited:

FRBSF. (2002). Competition and regulation in the airline industry. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Retrieved May 1, 2010 from http://www.u.arizona.edu/~gowrisan/pdf_papers/airline_competition.pdf

Grant, R. (2005). Contemporary strategy analysis. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing

McCormick, G. (2010). U.S. airlines more cautious on '10 fuel hedges. Reuters. Retrieved May 1, 2010 from http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61O59Z20100225

Porter, M. (1980). Porter's five forces. QuickMBA. Retrieved May 1, 2010 from http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/porter.shtml
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Porter's Five Forces Model of Southwest Airline
Words: 682 Length: 1 Document Type: Research Paper

External Audit of Southwest Airlines Co. Opportunities of Southwest Airlines Co 1. There is an expected world tourism growth of up to 4.3% on an annual scale hence the airline must take advantage of this opportunity for growth as well. 2. The accessibility of the Mexico, Cancun and the Caribbean region following the AirTrans merger bring the international opportunities that Southwest Airline can take advantage of. 3. The ATA domestic code-sharing treaty also breaks

Porter's Five Forces Industry Life Cycle Resource-Based View of the...
Words: 587 Length: 2 Document Type: Corporate

Airline Industry Porter's Five Forces Porter's Five Forces: Airline industry Threat of new entrants A number of new, low-cost carriers have entered the airline industry in the wake of deregulation of the airline industries, including Southwest, Jet Blue, and Spirit Airlines. At present, barriers to entry within the industry are higher than, for example, entering a small, local pizza market. But barriers are lower than before and recent "congressional mandates aimed at increasing competition

Southwest Airlines the Airline Industry Has Been
Words: 7548 Length: 25 Document Type: Essay

Southwest Airlines The airline industry has been one that has consistently lost money during the last decade. Even before that, if an airline did not have a good business strategy, they were most likely doomed to failure. Many people do not remember Braniff, TWA or Pan American, but for a long time they were among the largest air carriers in the world. He present model, for airlines as well as other

Southwest Airlines
Words: 2322 Length: 8 Document Type: Article

Southwest Airlines Case Analysis Southwest Airlines is a company that has grown from a small regional carrier in Texas and surrounding states to the largest U.S.-based airline. The primary strategy of the company is to be the low-cost, no frills option for people wanting to travel within the United States. Recently, Southwest acquired another carrier so they will soon begin international flights to the Caribbean and Mexico. This paper discusses the

Porter's 5 Forces Are Threat of New
Words: 1183 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Porter's 5 forces are threat of new entrants, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, substitution threats and rivalry determinants. In my opinion, as a small food retailer, you can count disadvantages vs. major food retailers in all these categories. As such, first of all, entry barriers refer to such things as economies of scale, brand identity or access to necessary input information. As a small food retailer, you are

Southwest Airlines Internal Analysis of the Southwest
Words: 1456 Length: 4 Document Type: SWOT

Southwest Airlines Internal Analysis of the Southwest Airlines RBV Framework Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) has a market cap as of September 12, 2011 of $6.3B, the most profitable and valuable American-based airlines there is today. This is a direct result of the company's ability to consistently take a resource-based view (RBV) of its inherent strengths and develop and execute successful strategies on them over time. The RBV of the airline industry illustrates how

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now