[Solved] SOE11105 Contemporary Issues in Strategic Management

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[Solved] SOE11105 Contemporary Issues in Strategic Management

In the assessment brief below you will find:

• Details of the coursework assessment

• Guidelines to assist you in answering the questions

• The assessment marking criteria

• Information on presentation and the submission date

(Conduct a detailed analysis of the following case study and article:

Southwest Airlines by Andrew Inkpen, in:Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., Hoskisson, R.E. (2016)

Strategic Management: competitiveness and globalization – concepts and cases (12^th edition). Boston: Cengage Learning

OBJECTIVE of the ASSESMENT

Demonstrate your understanding of the competitive environment in the US Airline industry:- Specifically;

• Southwest Airlines’ capabilities and core competencies

• Southwest Airlines’ strategic choices at business and corporate level.

Only use information on Southwest that is contained in the case study. You should not use alternative sources of information on the company.

COURSEWORK ASSESSMENT

Five Forces analysis of the competitive environment in the US airline industry (40%)

From the information provided from the case study, thoroughly analyse the competitive environment in the U.S. Airline industry. Utilising the five forces model give a detailed assessment of its current state.

Analysis of Southwest Airlines` resources, capabilities and core competencies (40%)

Conduct a focussed analysis of Southwest Airlines to identify and evaluate its core competencies. Use identifiable resources and capabilities to underpin arguments. You need to analyse critical linkages/processes in the Value Chain, some of which should be the basis for your choice of core competencies (CCs).

Using this evidence, identify the generic competitive strategy utilised by this organisation and discuss elements which have proved to be successful and which have not. You must clearly identify Southwest’s choice of generic competitive strategy – differentiation, cost leadership or integrated (hybrid). Argument should include capabilities and core competencies derived from a value chain analysis.

 Identification and discussion of Southwest Airlines’ generic competitive strategy (10%)

Drawing from the Value Chain framework, analyse Southwest Airlines’ current capabilities and provide a detailed argument of:

• what it does well (strengths)

• what areas it needs to improve (weaknesses to address).

You must explain the Value Chain linkages as intermediary stages in identifying CCs, and asses which CCs are a potential source of competitive advantage by applying either Barney’s or Grant’s criteria.