《Southwest Airlines (A)》.pdf

CASE : HR-1A DATE : 1995 (REV ’D. 04/05/06) SOUTHWEST AIRLINES (A) “The workforce is dedicated to the company. They’re Moonies basically. That’s the way they 1 operate.” —Edward J. Starkman, Airline Analyst, PaineWebber Ann Rhoades, vice president of people for Southwest Airlines, was packing her briefcase at the end of a 17-hour day. Tomorrow was an off-site meeting with the top nine executives of Southwest Airlines. The agenda for the meeting was to review Southwest’s competitive position in light of recent actions by United and Continental, both of whom had entered Southwest’s low fare market. That day’s New York Times (September 16, 1994) had an article that characterized the situation as a major showdown in airline industry: This is a battle royal that has implications for the industry, said Kevin C. Murphy, an airline stock analyst at Morgan Stanley. The battle will, after all, be as much a test of strategy as a contest between two airlines. United and other big carriers like USAir and Continental have decided that they can lower their costs by creating a so-called airline-within-an-airline that offers low fares, few flights, and frequent service. The new operations are unabashedly modeled after Southwest, the pioneer of this strategy and keeper of the healthiest balance sheet in the industry.2 The reasons for this competition were easy to understand. Over 45 percent of United’s revenues came from passengers who