Southwest Airlines

Baltimore Station - Strategic Solutions

Group 4. |
Names: Sai Bharadwaj Badda ( PGP35337) | Vishal Goyal ( PGP35384) | Prudvi Kr. Kokalla (PGP35321)

S Bharath (PGP35087) | Arindam Das (PGP35202) 10/08/20 SM - II

Contents
Strategy Map ……………………………………………………………………….. 1

Balanced Scorecard ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2-3

Action Strategy ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3-4

Strategy Map

In the strategic map, the main objective of the company has been identified. In this case, the main
challenge is to make BWI profitable or make the BWI standard the same or above the standard of
the other facility of the firm. To achieve the goal four different areas are taken into financial
consideration, customer, internal process, and learning & growth. Under each of these areas, a few
objectives have been chosen which are reinforcing each other to attain our ultimate goal.


Balanced Scorecard:
After identification of the objectives, metrics have been identified to measure the progress of
development in each of these objectives. Based on the analysis, an achievable target has been set up
for each objective. The target is modified from time to time depending on the progress of work.

Perspective Objective Metric Target

Financial Sales Volume Growth in sales quantity 10%

Margin Per Cost Increase customer share of wallet
Improve Asset Increase in sales to asset ratio
Utilization Growth in capacity utilization
Cost Reduction Reduction in operation cost per route
Customer Efficient Handling On-boarding time of passengers from one 20%
of Lot Passenger connecting flight to other
Improve Customer Improve in customer feedback
Relationship Improve customer satisfaction by better
contingency plans and minimum delays
Internal Efficient & Improve baggage handling per person ratio 20%
Process Automated
Baggage Handling
Reduction Delays Better monitoring of arrival and departure
in Interconnected timings
Flights
Learning & Improve cross- Increase the count of cross-functional teams 30%
Growth functional Development of Central Data Repository
communication
Improve IT & Application of data analytics and usage of
Analytics new and advanced systems
Training & Employee re-skilling on regular time frames
Retention Subsidized training facilities for pilots
Overall Baltimore station Weighted average score system for each of 30%
Grade of Southwest their facilities
Airlines should
match or exceed
the firm’s standard
in other location

( Percentage targets are taken based on conservative approach and according to industry rate).

Action Strategy:

To achieve these goals measures have been identified and implemented. These measures are
interconnected and reinforce each other.

Objective Action Plan

Sales Volume To differentiate from the other low-cost carriers Southwest
airlines should focus on the better customer experience which
can be achieved through improved customer relationship
management.
Margin per seat Provide facilities like paid wi-fi during flight. There can be
facilities like small auto-dispensing utility kits behind each seat,
online gaming facility on mobile, and pay per content facility in
Netflix. All these in-flight facilities can be availed by the person
by paying charges. A new scheme like ‘customize your seat’ can
be launched where through the airline’s website the customer
can convey what are the paid facilities he/she want to avail
during flight. These will help the company to increase the share
of the wallet of a particular customer.
Improve asset utilisation To increase sales to asset ratio sales ratio reduction in
cancellation rate and minimize loss per cancellation can be done.
To do this company should build a new ‘Cancellation policy’
where the cancellation charges will be decided depending on the
metrics of customer previous cancellation history and no. of days
before the journey the person has canceled the ticket. This also
helps in growth in capacity utilization. Also, the company can
move to a low asset ownership model where the company will
take most of its assets on lease including office equipment and
office spaces that help to reduce debt from the balance sheet. The
balance sheet will look much cleaner.
Cost reduction Automation of the Onboarding process ( tie-up with SITA) and
automation of the luggage handling process will make the
system efficient and reduce the HR cost.
Efficient handling of hot To do this a separate channel can be kept. Technology like
passenger beacon system ( tie-up with SITA) which indicates the
approximate time a passenger will need to onboard.
Improve customer relationship Data analytics can be used to build a loyal program where a
customer will be offered different benefits in terms of paid in-
flight facilities as well as a discount on the ticket prices. In the
case of the inflight facility, a loyal customer can get discount
ranges from accessing free Netflix content to free online gaming
facilities during flight.
Efficient and automated Automated baggage handling procedure can be implemented
baggage handling
Reduce delay in the Beacon system will help the efficient handling of interconnected
interconnected flight passengers which leads to a reduction in delay of the
interconnected flight.
Improve cross-functional Established a separate team and building a central data
communication repository system that can be accessed from any department
employees can help to achieve this goal
Improve IT and analytics Data analytics can help Southwest airlines to achieve its goal and
for that an in house efficient It and analytics team is necessary.
This team will also responsible for the maintenance of the
automated Onboarding and language handling process.
Training and retention Trained the employees to build synergy in automated and
manual processes to attain maximum efficiency. A subsidized
training facility by a tie-up with a trying institute can be
provided to the pilots to reduce attrition and cost behind pilot
salary.
Baltimore facility should A robust score assignment system by given weightage on the
match or exceed the firm’s above-mentioned parameter can be developed and measure the
standard of the other location performance based on that score. It also helps to analyze which
parameter of a particular facility needs to be improved.