Southwest Airlines, Inc.

Company Background/Business Model Southwest Airlines, Inc. began in 1966 as an idea of Rollin King, an entrepreneur who owned a small commuter air service. The business model for the airlines was to attract passengers by flying convenient schedules, getting passengers to their destination on time at the lowest possible fares, and making sure they had a good experience. The airlines would service travelers going between Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. During the inception more than 30 …

…to maintain this status. Southwest does not consider its major competition to be other airlines. Instead, their competition is ground transportation like the automobile and the bus. It is against this backdrop that they price and market their service. Southwest is in the still in the entrepreneurial stage of corporate growth. This is evident because Southwest has not vertically integrated their operations. An essential factor for corporations wishing to move on to the functionalization stage