Southwest Airlines
Essays

Although the airline industry was rocked by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, many carriers have overcome this aftermath to emerge as profitable carriers with numerous opportunities for growth on the horizon. One of the hallmarks of the successful air carriers, though, has been efficient flight operations and scheduling that contributes to passenger satisfaction and brand awareness. To determine how some air carriers have succeeded in this area while others have failed, this paper provides a review of the relevant peer-reviewed literature dated within the last 5 years. A summary of the research and important findings are presented in the conclusion.

Training, developing and retaining employees in the no-frills airline industry

Using Social Media to Optimize Marketing Efforts for Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines is an innovator in enlisting customers to be part of their own service delivery processes. From the extensive reliance on self-service check-in on their website to being one of the first companies to…

¶ … Aviation is an aspect of life for millions of people in America who own aircraft or fly recreationally. According to an article published by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association General Aviation is defined as…

What is employee development and why do we need it?

The disruptive nature of social networks and their effects on marketing are revolutionizing every aspect customer relationships, including the re-ordering of marketing sales and services strategies. In aggregate social networks are bringing an entirely new level of insight and intelligence into how permission marketing, information acquisition and e-commerce strategies can be accomplished. The highest-performing marketing and sales organizations have successfully integrated the intelligence and insight gained from social networks via analytics and customer listening systems to better tailor selling, product and services strategies (Bampo, Ewing, Mather, Stewart, Wallace, 2008). Social networks have emerged as one of the most important and powerful platforms for aligning permission marketing to customer interest, segment and needs than any other development of the last decade. The insights gained from social networks in these areas are also completely revamping e-commerce strategies with much higher levels of personalization and more adept and agile multichannel marketing and selling strategies as well. The intent of this analysis is to analyze and evaluate how social networks are completely re-ordering the nature of customer relationships. The nascent yet very rapid growth of Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM), which is the combining of social networking-based prospect and customer information with the more structured and mature traditional CRM platforms is serving as the basis for many company's strategies in permission marketing, information acquisition and e-commerce strategies (Cooke, Buckley, 2008). The mercurial nature of social networks however has made it difficult for companies to gain greater insights into their customer bases. The reliance on advanced analytics in SCRM and CRM systems has made the task of completing permission marketing achievable. Social networking has however changed the entire dynamic of relationships with prospects, customers and the general public, infusing a much greater level of transparency and authenticity into the process. Ironically the majority of marketers aren't using social networks to listen and respond to customers, creating more effective relationships in the process. Instead the majority of marketers are relying on social networks and their many channels they represent to communicate un-directionally, going so far as to spam prospects and customers alike. What's needed for marketers to drive greater value from social networks is the ability to listen, create trust and sustain strong communication with prospects, customers and stakeholders throughout their spheres of influence. Marketers from both Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) companies have the potential to completely revolutionize their marketing, selling, service and long-term profitability by concentrating on these fundamentals (Doyle, 2007). The best practices of creating a very open, transparent and responsive level of communication throughout social media channels and across social networks permeate the companies getting the best results from these strategies. Consequently, their efforts at permission marketing, customer information acquisition and broader e-commerce strategies are significantly more successful (Harris, Rae, 2009). Companies excelling in this dimension of unifying social networks, permission marketing and customer information acquisition then driving effective e-commerce strategies include Amazon.com, Dell, Southwest Airlines and others who all have integrated social networks into their broader CRM platforms and strategies. Each of these companies have entire staffs dedicated to supporting their social CRM efforts and strategies, while also integrating unique customer data, managing ongoing marketing campaigns and responding to customer service requests that are initiated over social media channels. The net effect of this approach has been to galvanize the effectiveness of these social media channels for these companies (Jones, 2002). The best practices shown by Amazon.com, Dell, Southwest Airlines and others in this area of social networking is also showing that social networks can become a main part of any global, multichannel management selling and service strategy.

This paper is about CSR in the airline industry. The paper outlines a definition of CSR and what it means for business. Some examples from within the airline industry are outlined, along with an assessment of whether or not CSR in the airline industry is usually done for economic motivations or not.

Commercial aviation industry was already struggling at the turn of the 21st century when it was devastated by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In response, the U.S. government has implemented a number of…

¶ … corporate culture at Southwest Airlines. Provide concrete examples of how its culture is displayed.