Individual Case Analysis- 

Southwest Airlines

For this assignment, you will research and analyze a company in the transportation industry (an industry with a large impact on the Florida economy).  

Answers the following questions in your analysis (15 points):

• Give a brief history of the company (no more than one page).  Include their major lines of business.
• Describe the leadership at Southwest Airlines and how it impacts the company (1-2 pages).
• Do a SWOT analysis of Southwest Airlines (their Annual Report  is a good starting point; articles from periodicals will supplement). (Approximately 2 pages)
• Who are Southwest's major competitors? (The library's business sites list will be useful here, although that page is allergic to Netscape- try Internet Explorer).  (approximately 1/2 page)
  • Do a Porter's Five Forces analysis of the airline industry. (approximately 1 1/2 pages)
• Identify Southwest's functional level, business level, global, and corporate level strategies.  Justify how you determined that the company fit into the strategy type you chose. (approximately 3 pages)
  • Functional Level-Issues you might explore include:  Is the company pursuing any efficiency-enhancing, quality enhancing, innovations, or customer responsiveness?  How is it implemented in the company?  How are they utilizing human resources, information technology, finance/accounting, marketing, or other functional areas to gain a competitive advantage?
  • Business Level- Is the company pursuing a cost leadership, differentiation, or focus strategy (or some combination of strategies?)
  • Corporate- Is the company a single business, integrated, or diversified?  To what extent is it integrated or diversified? 
  • Global- What strategy is Southwest using for its international operations:  international, multidomestic, global, or transnational?  Justify your choice.  
  • How do their strategies work together to create a competitive advantage for Southwest?
• Financial Analysis: (approximately 3 pages)
  • Find (or calculate) the following categories of financial ratios (see pages C9-C13 in the text, plus print or Internet resources), then examine Southwest's financial health based on your analysis of the results. 
    • Be sure to include either comparisons with at least two major competitors and the industry OR a five year trend analysis.
  • Profit Ratios:  How efficiently is Southwest using its resources?
  • Liquidity Ratios:  Is the company able to meet its short-term obligations?
  • Activity Ratios:  How effectively is Southwest managing its assets?
  • Leverage Ratios:  Evaluate the company's capital structure.
  • Stockholder- Return Ratios:  For this set of financials, do at least a five year history to determine the trend.
• Given all this analysis, what do you see happening to the company in the future?  Base your analysis/predictions on the material and analysis you have conducted (approximately 2 pages).  
  • This section is the most important part of the assignment, as it will demonstrate your ability to take all this information you have gathered, summarize key points succinctly, and analyze the company's situation based on your prior analysis.  The previous sections demonstrate that you can use the tools individually as ends in themselves.  This final section demonstrates that you can use the tools together to create a cohesive whole.

 Important Notes:

• This is an Individual Case Analysis.  Prior to sitting down to write the paper, you may share information resources with others in the class, but the write-up is to be done completely on your own.  If there are too many similarities in papers (the same examples, justifications, analyses, etc.), it will appear that the papers were not done individually.  Be sure to include enough unique information, analyses, and justifications that your individual effort is not questioned.
• You do not have to address the issues/questions in the order I have listed them on this page.  Feel free to organize the sections however you feel best supports your analysis.
• You may add additional sections/material beyond what is required.  For example, you may want to discuss distinctive competencies, strategic alliances, or other pertinent issues that support your analysis.  For example, you may wish to add material on your functional area in a bit more depth, showing how marketing, MIS, HR, accounting, finance, or another area contributes to Southwest's success.  If you include additional material or sections, be sure that it adds to the overall analysis.  In other words, don't just do extra work for the sole purpose of adding pages or material- focus your efforts on those areas that will enhance your analysis.
• You may use company information provided by the company (e.g., their annual reports, information off the investor section on their website, information from the many sources on the web to which Anjana Bhatt (the reference librarian) introduced us, articles about the companies from newspapers and periodicals (e.g., Wall Street Journal, Business Week, etc.), or other reliable & reputable sources..
• Although the content will be counted much more heavily than in position papers, grammar and spelling will be counted.
• It is important to properly and consistently cite any and all outside reference sources, whether print or electronic.  Although I prefer APA style citations, I will accept other standardized reference styles (MLA, Chicago, Turabian), as long as they are properly and consistently used.  Do not mix reference styles within the paper.  Be sure to cite the source within the text of the paper, as well as providing a reference list of all sources at the end.
• All quotes must be properly identified and referenced.
• The approximate length for the paper is 12-15 pages, double spaced.  Any appendices, charts, graphs, reference lists, etc. will be in addition to the written section.  These numbers are guidelines.  If you address all issues adequately in less than the minimum, or find you need a few extra pages to emphasize ideas/issues you found important, that is all right.  
• The paper is due no later than 6:30 p.m. on April 30th.

Updated 3/21/01