Topic: Case Study - Southwest - Business

Questions/instructions -

1. Select ONE MAIN problem Southwest is facing.

2. Provide a Company Analysis.

3. Provide a quantitative analysis using information from the case, or financial statements you find online or like how you did last time is fine.

4. Provide 3 solutions to the ONE MAIN problem in number one.

5. Pick the best solution and state why it is the best.

6. How will the plan be implemented by Southwest?

Case Study Analysis Outline & Assignment Guidelines -

Below is an outline and some key points for you when you prepare your case study analyses. Be sure to submit your papers using the outline order and flow as these are necessary for a coherent paper and to earn full credit as per the grading rubric provided in the Official Syllabus

I. Executive Summary/Problem Statement

Provide a brief summary (1-2 paragraphs, maximum) of the key points of the case and clearly state the crucial / main problem facing the company in the case.

• You may include more than one problem, but you must clearly state the problem that you feel is most crucial to the management team of the company.
• Bring the situation up to the current time.

II. Provide a detailed analysis of the company in the case using tools and concepts of strategic management.

• Leverage tools explained and provided in your text (from bsg-online.com)
• Such tools include SWOT analysis, functional strategies discussion, discussion of the competitive positioning strategy the company is pursuing as well as cooperative strategies the company may engage in. Clearly label each category of your SWOT analysis.
• Be specific in your analysis and bring the analysis up to the current day (for Winter 2017, this means data from 4Q2017).
• This will require you to conduct online research about the company.

III. Provide a quantitative analysis of the company using information provided in the case as well as what you may find through your own research.

• Be sure to explain the quantitative data you include - do not just post data without analysis.
• Data can be financial and non-financial.

IV. Proposed solutions to the company's crucial problem.

• Generate at least three potential strategies that could be implemented that would help remedy the challenges caused by the crucial problem you stated in your Executive Summary/Problem Statement section.
• Each alternative must be explained and justified as to how it might help ameliorate the main problem facing the company.

V. Optimal Solution & Evaluation.

• Select the optimal solution from the potential strategies from section IV above.
• Provide detailed justification as to why this solution is the best for the company and how it will fix the issues presented by the main problem.

VI. Implementation Plan

• Include a short plan about how the company should implement your recommended solution. Include specifics about the major factors.