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Case Study

Southwest Airlines: Strategy on trial

By J. Stewart Black

18 pages

December 2012

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Reference: IMD-3-2352

This case examines the history of Southwest Airlines and its 2010 acquisition of AirTran. Given the differences in strategy and tactics between Southwest and AirTran, the acquisition presents the potential opportunity for Southwest to change its strategy. Conversely, it can basically keep its strategy and change aspects of AirTran that do not currently fit Southwest’s traditional strategy.

Learning Objective

Examine nature of competitive strategy and explore conditions when it may be time to change the strategy.

Keywords

Strategy, General Management

Settings

United States of America
Southwest Airlines
1971-2010

Type

Published Sources

Available Languages

English

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Case reference: IMD-2663 ©2025

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Reference IMD-2663

Organization Medacta Group

Industry Healthcare, Medical Device

Available Languages English

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