Southwest Airlines: We Love Bags
Determine how Southwest Airlines' corporate culture differs from other airlines.
Southwest Airlines was founded on the premise that an airline needs to put its customers and their needs at the center of all operations, and further create a customer experience that is highly differentiated, memorable and sought-after by passengers. Southwest has surpassed even its own initial expectations in these areas. The culture of Southwest galvanizes the employees, customers, stakeholders, suppliers and partners into a cohesive value chain all aimed at keeping costs down and increasing lifetime customer value through loyalty (Krames, 2003). Due to its excellent control of costs and aggressive use of fuel hedging, all supported by a very customer-centric, positive culture, Southwest is the only U.S.-based airline to never file for bankruptcy protection, much less ask for a government handout (Rhoades, 2006). Southwest is one of the most unique service businesses in the world due to its ability to translate a core set of values exemplified by a whatever it takes attitude of service to the passenger, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit (Strategic Direction, 2005). Southwest Airlines employees are empowered to take any action that is ethical and legal to ensure customers' satisfaction (Hardage, 2006).
The uniqueness and highly differentiated nature of the Southwest culture is also attributable to the thirteen core values that founder and CEO Herb Kelleher put into place with the company was founded (Freiberg, Freiberg, 1996). He wanted to create a culture...
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
Considering Kelleher's leadership of Southwest, I believe that he falls in the "team leader" quadrant for the simple reason that he emphasized the importance of both task and relationships, led by example and built an organizational culture, which encouraged people to realize their full potential. 4. Southwest believes that employees come first. However, unlike many other organizations, this is not merely a slogan at Southwest that the company pays lip
Executive SummaryThis paper provides an analysis of Herb Kelleher�s leadership of during his tenure as CEO of Southwest Airlines from 1971 to 2001. Under the charismatic Kelleher�s servant-leadership approach which placed a high priority on employee empowerment, Southwest transformed from a small regional carrier into the largest domestic low-cost airline in the U.S. Indeed, Kelleher was a textbook example of a �servant-first� leader that was effective in promoting employee satisfaction
RBV One of the criticisms A resource-based view of the firm: A report on Southwest Airlines to the Board of Directors and CEO We can be proud that Southwest Airlines has been able to weather the ups and downs of the 21st century economy even while other carriers have struggled. Our airline is a budget, regional carrier with an edgy attitude and an almost cult-like following amongst its loyal patrons. However, consistently sustaining a
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