Marketing Strategy for Southwest Airlines (Case Study Sample)

Topic: Marketing Strategy for Southwest Airlines
Pages: 4, Double spaced
Sources: 1
Order type: Case Study
Subject: Marketing
Academic level: Not specified
Style: APA
Language: English (U.S.)
Order Description
Read the case assigned to your team carefully. Analyze the materials presented in the case. You may use the questions asked at the end of the case to guide you in this analysis.
You should be able to identify all the major issues or problems in the case as a result of this analysis. Seldom, a case will contain all the information you would like to have to conduct a full analysis. Hence, sometimes you may need to make a few assumptions. If you do so, you need to convince the reader that the assumptions are reasonable ones. You are not strictly confined to the facts presented in the case.
You may conduct additional research for information about the company and the products/services outside the case to support your assertions. If you do so, please make sure to cite the sources and include them in a separate reference list at the end of your report. You need to include the sources as notes in the body of the report. Cite the sources as well as the year in which it is published in the body of your report. For example, according to Smith and John (2006) or "It has been reported that consumers will be irritated by misleading advertising (Smith and John 2006)”.
It is your responsibility to identify the issue(s)/problems in the case and suggest possible alternative solutions, if any which can be implemented to address the issue(s). Please provide any marketing strategy theories, which may either clarify the issue(s) better or correct applications of these MS theories may be helpful to resolves the issue(s) discussed. You must be prepared to thoroughly explore all possible factors which may influence your considerations of all issue(s) involved in the case.
Please suggest which alternative actions should be considered in order to address the issue(s). Pros and cons of each alternative should be discussed. A recommendation should be made as to which alternative is the best according to your team’s best judgment and the reason(s) why you believe so. An action plan must also be recommended, which must be specific in terms of its implementation. For instance, do not just say that your team feels that the firm should do more advertising. Instead, if you suggest that the firm or the organization should do more advertising, your implementation plan should include descriptions on how, where and if possible how much should the firm spend on this campaign. It would be great if you can produce an ad copy to illustrate how this ad campaign you are suggesting may look like.
Your case should be submitted and typed in double space using a 12 point font with proper page numbers. The normal professional standards for a written report are expected. You must pay attention to grammar and writing style, etc. No plagiarism will be tolerated.
The length of your case report should be commensurate with the number and nature of issues involved. You may include as many appendices including any creative works as you wish.
Professional appearance of the paper is important. Correct any grammatical mistakes and typos before submitting the paper.
It’s your responsibility to prepare, develop and submit a strategic marketing plan based on the information presented in this case. Additionally, please feel free to bring this analysis to 2013—since, it’s somewhat dated.
Your paper should include the following:
Cover page with the title of the case
An Executive Summary providing a brief statement of the problems/issues in the case and your suggested alternatives and implementation plans (one page or less)
A brief introduction about the company and the issues to be addressed in this case
Conduct an analysis of these issues and discuss all relevant Marketing Strategy concepts which can be applied in this analysis
Discuss various alternative actions which can be taken to resolve the issues. Discuss pros & cons of each alternative
Select the best alternative and explain clearly why your team thinks that this alternative is the best
Provide a detailed plan for implementation of this alternative and how you may goabout evaluating the effectiveness of the plan after implementation
Where appropriate, introduce appropriate financial measurements and how they will be used to determine the appropriate strategic approach and recommendations. And, how will you measure the overall success?
Marketing Strategy for Southwest Airlines
Name:
Course:
Professor:
Date:
Executive Summary
The case explores Southwest Airlines a leading player in the industry that is characterized by intense competition with the leading competitor being United Airlines. It covers a period when the executives of Southwest Airlines are in a Tuesday meeting mainly to discuss operational issues for the company. Unexpected news however come in that United Airlines under the ‘Shuttle by United Plan’ which was aimed at replicating operational features of Airlines, intended to discontinue some services and increase prices. This meant that the company had to come up with strategies to reach to these changes. Southwest Airlines should however not increase fares but rather continue with its own pricing and service strategy. The company should take advantage of this move by the competitor to increase its market share. The company should undertake extensive marketing through advertising to inform the customers of the pricing advantages and services they are to get through using Southwest Airlines which will help to attract customers who are price sensitive.
Introduction
Southwest Airlines is a company that is operating in a competitive airline industry with United Airlines being the main competitor. The company has been able to establish a competitive position in the market through its quality service offering as well as competitive prices that it offers as compared to those of competitors. This paper will explore the strategies that Southwest Airlines needs to take with consideration of the changes that have been made by United Airlines by increasing fares under the Shuttle by United Plan and also discontinuing some of its services. Different strategies that the company can undertake will be identified as well as recommendation for the best strategy and its implementation plan. Case study analysis
The case covers a period when the top executives are held in the routine Tuesday meetings discussing the operational needs of the company. At this point news come in that United Airlines was making changes to ‘Shuttle by United Plan’ where the company would be increasing prices as well as discontinuing some services. Shuttle by United Plan has been introduced by United Airlines with the aim of replicating the operational features of Southwest Airlines which was viewed as giving the company a competitive advantage. The agenda of the Tuesday meeting as such changes immediately as the executives focused on the move they were going to take in reaction to the changes made by United Airlines. The executives of Southwest Airlines have to decide whether Southwest Airlines should react by also increasing its fares or if it should maintain its fares and service offering. Some of the key marketing concepts that can be applied in this case include pricing, promotion, advertising as well as differentiation.
Alternative actions
The current situation that Southwest Airlines faces means that it has to come up with effective marketing strategies to increase its market share against United Airlines. The fact that United Airlines has opted to increase its fares and lower services under the ‘Shuttle by United Plan’ means that it has a pricing advantage over the competitor. One of the key strategies would be for the company to undertake extensive marketing to increase awareness of the pricing differences between the players. This will be done through advertising through the different media channels such as television and print media as well as well as on the internet and social media platforms where most of the customers are spending their time. The main advantage with this strategy is that it will help to increase the awareness of the price variances between Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. Another advantage is that it will help to make Southwest Airlines more visible in the market and more customers will consider using its services. The strategy however has a disadvantage in that it will come with additional cost of advertising which lowers profitability (Bell, 2006).
With the new changes, the company can come up with a promotion strategy t...