Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines

Introduction:

Having its roots in Dallas, Texas, Southwest Airlines is one of the largest and the most cost-effective airlines of America. Being established in 1967, the founders Rollin King and Herb Kelleher found the loop hole in the airline industry and figured out the actual wants of the customers. Having a mutual aim of providing lowest possible fares complementing it with quality service they founded Southwest Airlines. This airline started business with provision of three Boeing 737 catering three major cities Houston, Dallas and San Antonio but it was not until it met its equilibrium and generated a profit after exceeding billion dollar revenue in 1989 and became one of the major airlines. In 2011 Southwest Airlines was recognized in America for being a profit generating business for consecutive 39 years. Due to its commendable performance and growing trend, Southwest Airlines recently acquired an Orlando based AirTran Airways (www.southwest.com).

Discussion:

Corporate culture varies from business to business depending on the nature of the business and is considered to be an integral feature of any business. It simply represents the norms and behaviors and the way things are done in any organization and is always implicit and not explicit. Corporate culture never remains fixed, as it keeps on changing with the passage of time being influenced by the combined traits of fresh employees a business may hire. It is often represented by certain specific factors of any business for instance the leadership style, employees' turnover, recruitment process and customer satisfaction etc.

Distinctive features of Southwest Airlines corporate culture

Being a highly completive industry, it is important for all the businesses in this industry to have distinctive features, which would outshine them among others (Hall, 2005). Similarly Southwest Airlines has its own corporate culture which makes it one of a kind. One of the main characteristics of its culture is the emphasis on maintaining quality relationship with all its clients and not to compromise on the quality of services. Its low fare scheme and point to point flights with quick arrivals and departures are one of the salient features. Recent studies have also shown that Southwest Airlines adopts fuel hedging policies very strictly, to prevent from sharing the burden of cost with its customers (Cobbs, 2004). To attain customer loyalty is highly prioritized which is not observed in many airlines as they usually aim for profits.

The culture also ensures that Southwest Airlines values the ...