Case Study > Data Warehousing
Continental Airlines
I. Executive Summary
Table of Contents
I II III IV V Executive Summary The Decision to Invest Implementation New Business Strategies ROI 2 4 6 9 19 20
Technical Appendix A
Continental’s comeback from “Worst to First” is an airline industry legend. Now the company is engaged in a new initiative to move from “First to Favorite.” To support this ambitious initiative, Continental tapped into its Enterprise Data Warehouse and expanded it to enable a real-time business intelligence capability. In the first five years of operations, the EDW achieved an ROI of more than 1000% on a $25 million investment. To do this, Continental has changed the way it does business, transforming its
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Its last profitable year had been 1984. The company had filed twice for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and was headed for a third bankruptcy. Ten CEOs had come and gone in ten years. If Continental was going to compete and stay in business, change was needed. The story of the airline’s transformation “From Worst to First,” under the leadership of CEO Gordon Bethune is a lesson for every struggling business. Today Continental has won accolades and awards for all aspects of its business performance. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Continental is the fifth largest airline in the U.S. and sixth largest in the world, employing about 49,000 people. It carries more than 50 million passengers a year to five continents (North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia), with over 3,045 daily departures to more than 271 destinations, serving more destinations than any other airline in the world.
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Continental Enterprise Case Study
II. The Decision to Invest
From 1994 through the end of 1997, Bethune’s “Worst to First” business strategy relied little on technology. Bethune began by reshaping the company with his “Go Forward Plan,” which still guides the business today. The Go Forward Plan has four interrelated parts, dealing with the airline’s product, finances, market and people: > Fly to Win. Understand what products customers want and what they are willing to pay for. > Fund
Before David Neeleman’s non-compete agreement with Southwest Airlines expired, he envisioned the concept of starting a low-fare airline that would combine common sense, innovation, and technology and bring the humanity back into air travel (Gittel & O’Reilly, 2001). In 1998, JetBlue was born. In order for David to fulfill his goal of a “do-it-right” kind of airline, he needed to recruit superior industry veterans who were willing to start from scratch and place an emphasis on employees and customers. Each of these individuals, from the President, General Counsel, CFO, and the HR director, wanted to create an airline that was fun, had
Business Strategy – BAD 4013 – SUMMER 1999 Case Study Southwest Airlines I. Strategic Profile and Case Analysis Purpose The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit. Twenty-seven years ago, Rolling King, owner of floundering commuter airline, and Herb Kelleher, King’s lawyer, got together and decided to start a different kind of airline that would provide a short-haul, low-fair, high-frequency, point-to-point service in the United States. The company began service on June 18, 1971 with flights between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio (“The Golden Triangle” as Herb called it). Southwest Airlines is the fourth
Southwest Airlines is a major US airline established in 1967 that services a multitude of cities in all 50 states and beyond. The company is known for its outstanding quality in providing services and it 's cost effective ticket prices to its many passengers throughout the nation. This airline is based in the southwestern United States, in the city of Dallas Texas, and due to the tremendous number of airplanes that it has and the timely service that it provides to its passengers, this airline services more US passengers than any other airline. This airline also has the largest fleet of planes of any economical or low-cost airline service in the world and employees more than 45,000.
In 2008, the senior management team at Continental Airlines, commanded by Lawrence Kellner, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, convened a special meeting to discuss the firm’s latest quarterly financial results. A bleak situation lay before them. Continental had incurred an operating loss of $71 million dollars—its second consecutive quarterly earnings decline that year. Likewise, passenger volume was significantly down, dropping by nearly 5 percent from the prior year’s quarter. Continental’s senior management needed to act swiftly to reverse this trend and return to profitability.
The purpose of this memorandum is to address the profitability issues at Continental Airlines and to estimate the costs for 2009 to forecast the future outlook of the company. To address these issues, I used regression analysis to observe what effect the 11% reduction in flying capacity would have on the firm’s future operating costs. I also used the results from the regression analysis to verify the costs that, if reduced, would further comply with the implementation of cost-cutting initiatives and operational efficiencies that the company is striving for. Lastly, I consolidated the data to forecast Continental’s financial outlook for 2009, then provided insight
Gittell, J. (2003). _The Southwest Airlines Way: Using Power of Relationships to Achieve High Performance._ New York: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved June 8, 2014
This report provides an examinaion of the current structure, performance, stragergy and management of Delta Airlines, along with an industry analysis of the airline industry. The report uses current and past financial and statistical data for the company along with other up to date material to determine Delta's current market position and future potential.
Southwest Airlines represents a rather unique organizational force that has driven the company to success since its inception in 1971. One of the most unique features about the organizational structure is that it is largely decentralized and employees are openly welcomed to express their opinions on a wide range of organizational issues. However, despite the "hands off" management strategy, the company consistently ranks as one of the top airlines in regards to customer complaints; in 2008, for example, the company received 0.25 complaints on average for every one hundred thousand passengers who used the aviation services (Triangle Business Journal, 2009). This analysis will look at some of the organizational factors that have contributed to the success of Southwest Airlines over the course of the last few decades.
At the onset of the airline industry in the United States, major network airlines were the sole providers of air travel. This multifaceted industry was a difficult industry to break into as a consequence of “sophisticated customer segmentation, hub-and spoke models and costly information systems for reservations, fare wars and intense competition” (Thompson 2008). Shrinkage in airline ticket prices augmented the demand for airline travel. Many markets were simply deserted or over-looked by major network airlines; this is a region a fresh “second tier of service providers” could enter into. This endeavor proved to provide a consumer savings of billions per year. Thus in June of 1971, after a tumultuous battle with other Texas-based
From the humble financial portfolio as a crop dusting outfit in the mid twentieth century, to the multi-billion dollar portfolio of a major airline in the twenty first century, Delta Air Lines has risen as a successful business. The airline industry is directly affected by outside economic conditions and is also cyclical in nature. These factors make it very difficult for airlines to make predictions to stay financially afloat. Delta has ridden the bumpy path of the last twenty years and managed to survive. In the past twenty years there has been many events that
This short paper is an overview of Southwest Airlines, its strategy, and what role Human
In the past three years the airline industry has faced an unparalleled list of challenges and American Airlines has certainly had more than the others. Year by year AA has tried to recover with a great deal of effort to turn the company around. The strategies they are applying to counteract the status are : Lower costs to compete, give to the customers the service they are expecting
When a small town in rural Maine learns that a company wants to build an eight bed shelter that handles individuals that suffer from substance abuse. The community becomes uneasy with this, feeling that it could bring the town down, we are a tourist town this could drive the tourist away. The town also fears that allowing this shelter would bring trouble to the town, from alcoholics, and drug usage.
Upon review on a profile of a successful company we see Southwest Airlines as a prime example. Their ability to recognize weakness in their management system and adjust strategies has allowed them to emerge as a leader in the US airline industry. Southwest is the largest US low fare carrier with low fare rates, no additional fees and excellent customer service. Southwest Airlines currently has one of the most innovative management practices in the US to date. A review of the critical elements of Southwest Airlines proves to be effective and innovative.
Mood disorder refers to the destruction or disturbance of the mood. Firstly, this paper will explain the causes of mood disorders using psychological and sociocultural factors followed by the arguments of the strengths and limitations for each factor.