Advanced Marketing - Southwest Airlines

Advanced Marketing - Southwest Airlines
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Advanced Marketing - Southwest Airlines
Question 1
Southwest business approach is a unique one in the aviation industry. The company’s business model focuses on streamlining all the operations towards minimizing the costs of operations in order to transfer the accrued benefits to the consumers, consequently attracting more customers (Kotler & Keller, 2012). The company’s structure is critically designed to adopt strategies that ensure the firm operates cost efficiently but at the same time promoting revenue generation through branding the company as a pocket-friendly airline to the consumers. For instance, operating only Boeing 737s as a way to harmonize and simplify all the operation services such as flight attendants and pilot training is a unique strategy that has differentiated the firm from other close competitors, hence giving the airline a competitive edge that has helped it operate efficiently on low costs. Southwest business model has proven to possess a strong corporate philosophy envisioned to provide the best services at the cheapest price possible to its customers. This has helped the firm create customer loyalty that has manifested through the many customers the airline gets every year irrespective of economic downturns.
For other airlines, copying Southwest may be difficult. For a competing firm to copy what Southwest is doing to nourish in the market, it would require such a firm to get rid of its entire model of business and adopt the manual of operations utilized by Southwest (Kotler & Keller, 2012). This would entail changing the company’s structure and incorporate new equipment, labour relations, customer care services and schedules that resemble that of Southwest. Such an undertaking could prove so expensive and time consuming, scaring away the competitors who might be attracted to Southwest’s model o...