Explain how the organization operationalizes the strategy

Assignment Help Operation Management

Reference no: EM13785268

Please read the following short essay and respond with short analysis and atleast one question or concern.

Chapter 5 of Mastering Strategic Management, four generic strategies are outlined! Research a company that exercises one of the four strategies. Explain how the organization operationalizes the strategy.

I picked Southwest Airlines for this week’s topic since I flew their ABQ to LAX route so many times over the past 4 years and really enjoyed my experience. Before I started researching this week’s topic, I was sure I would be writing about “Focused Cost Leadership” strategy. The assumption was that they were a small, low-cost airline, catering to the southwest United States. Prior to 2010, this may have been true, but in 2010 Southwest announced a new 5-year strategic plan (Southwest Airlines, 2015) that would transform them to operate more with a generic strategy of “Cost Leader.”

In 2010, Southwest announced that they were acquiring AirTran Airways (Southwest Airlines, 2015). This significantly expanded their operations and enabled them to offer international destinations; their first international flight took flight in 2014 (Southwest Airlines, 2015). Prior to 2014, they were significantly restricted on where they could fly, according to a piece of legislation called the “Wright Amendment,” which was fully repealed in Oct 2014 (Southwest Airlines, 2015). The repeal of Wright Amendment enabled Southwest Airlines to add non-stop destinations to 15 new airports – some of which they were previously unable to reach such as JFK in New York (Southwest Airlines, 2015). According to Strategic Management (2014), one of the key factors for a “focused” strategy is to have a narrow target market. By offering international destinations and expanding service nation-wide, in my opinion, they had broken out of their “focused cost leader“ strategy shell.

According to Strategic Management (2014), one of the key characteristics of a “Cost Leader” is that they use leverage efficiency in order to be able to offer customers lower prices. One example of their efficiency is that they only operate Boing 737 aircraft – 665 of them (Southwest Airlines, 2015). This increases efficiency because it is easy to train pilots and mechanics on the subtle differences in the 737 variants. Additionally, maintaining one basic airframe reduced costs associated with parts / supplies. Other major airlines fly many different aircraft, from several different manufacturers. This is a competitive advantage that a Southwest airline has over their competition.

Reference no: EM13785268

Questions Cloud

What words phrases or dialects are you familiar with region : What words, phrases or dialects are you familiar with that are based on a specific geographic region? In what context, is it appropriate to use this vocabulary?

Choice to work for either a globally integrated enterprise : Assume you have a choice to work for either a globally integrated enterprise, a met national, a glorecalized MNE, a micro-multinational, or a cyber corp. Which would you choose? Why? Based on the material presented in the chapter, what sort of enviro..

Draw the next building in the sequence : Draw the next building in the sequence and how many white squares do you think will be in the figure with 100 black squares? Explain how you decided this.

Resolving ethical business challenges : Resolving Ethical Business Challenges

Explain how the organization operationalizes the strategy : Mastering Strategic Management, four generic strategies are outlined! Research a company that exercises one of the four strategies. Explain how the organization operationalizes the strategy.

Identify and plan it solutions that meet business objectives : Analyze internal and external business processes to identify information systems requirements. Identify and plan IT solutions that meet business objectives.

Budget planning relation with risk management for the rfp : Explain how budget planning is related risk management for the RFP you have selected.

Ethnicity of whites differ from visible ethnic differences : How does the ethnicity of Whites differ from visible ethnic differences in its effect on a person's experiences and opportunities?

Short-term versus long-term memory : This article will define memory, including the different types of memory. We will explain the different between short-term and long-term memory. The theories behind motivation will be explored as well as the theories behind emotions.

User Account

All Pages