Southwest Airlines, Key Facts: Niche Strategy. Concept:• Focus on underutilized airports• 1 type of aircraft – fuel-efficient 737 (1994 – more than 200 aircraft)• Frequent and on-time departures• Low-cost fares, only 2 types of fares per root• No assigned seats, no meals • Point-to-point roots • Increased equipment initialization, shorter lead times Competitive advantage: • Cost structure • “The workforce is dedicated to the company. They're basically Moonies. That's the way they operate.”Problem : new competition. Other US airlines began to imitate Southwest Airlines and created their own low-cost airlines (for example: Continental Lite and United's Shuttle). How has Southwest used OB ideas to secure a competitive advantage? In the past, when Southwest was unique in its approach to airline service, the company didn't really have any competitors in the airline industry (of course, Southwest had rivals, but the company managed to find its place in the market). As one of the managers said, they competed more with ground transportation (such as buses and trains) rather than other airlines. Starting in the 1980s the situation in the airline industry began to become more unfavorable with companies losing money and going bankrupt. At that time American airlines realized that they could probably address these problems by copying the concept of Southwest airline (since Southwest has been profitable in all years of its operations). In the early part of the 1990s two airlines, Continental and United, launched their own low-cost airlines, and Southwest became concerned about new competition. In fact these companies had plenty of time to analyze Southwest's model and were able to copy their... middle of the paper... or that position. (since employees of other airlines complained that pilots and flight attendants were housed in hotels of different levels, and pilots were always fighting with mechanics). If teamwork is so important to the company, providing teamwork training and building the team (what Southwest did) is also really important. There are many other things to talk about, but I would like to conclude that the people at Southwest have been the most important people in the resource company. And Southwest, having all operations and processes set up to be transported at low cost, would never have succeeded without the contributions of its employees and managers. Therefore, as long as Southwest's competitors copy the company's cost-cutting methods (1 plane, point-to-point destination, etc.) without having a strong corporate culture and committed employees, Southwest has little to worry about..