A Quantitative and Qualitative Look at Southwest Airlines and British Airways In today's competitive marketplace, all firms are seeking ways to improve their overall performance. One such method of improvement, recently adopted by many firms, is benchmarking. Benchmarking is a technique used to evaluate internal business processes. "In this analysis, managers determine the firm's critical processes and outputs, baseline those processes, then compare the performance of each process against a standard outside the industry" (Bounds, Yorks, Adams, & Ranney 1994). To effectively improve a business process to world-class quality, managers must find a firm that is recognized as a global leader, not just the industry standard. Successful benchmarking requires tailor-made solutions, not just blind copying of another organization. Measurement and interpretation of data collected is the key to creating business process solutions. "Benchmarking's real role has to be seen in the context of the organization that is continuously implementing improvement" (Bendell, Boulter, & Goodstadt 1998). Organizations implementing the benchmarking process are continuously looking to improve, and planning improvement. Improvements can be made by looking at the firm both internally and externally. Internal improvements are implemented by analyzing processes and setting targets for performance. However, output performance measures are not able to help management understand why a practice is effective. This understanding is a result of personal interpretation of the process. Organizations must look to other firms for ideas to borrow from global leaders, regardless of the scope of the necessary improvement. Equally important as data collection is the actual implementation of the newly acquired business practice. The most important aspect of benchmarking is to enable companies to employ the best business practices. This fundamental theory cannot be overstated. Global competition is growing due to the technological boom. The expansion of the Internet and digital communication has forced once domestic firms to consider foreign competitors. To remain ahead, companies are realizing they must match or exceed the business practices of the best in the world. "The only way that we can drive our organizations to excellence is to ensure that we keep our eyes on our competitors and world best practice in all aspects of business" (Bendell, Boulter, & Goodstadt 1998). Benchmarking should not be considered simply a tool of management, but rather an integral part of the business strategy of a firm. When implementing benchmarking, management must consider the overall issues of performance and process re-engineering.
The objective of this research report is to provide a thorough analysis of Alaska Airlines. In order to do this we chose to compare a similar company against them. The company in comparison is Spirit Airlines. Both companies compete in the same type of business through airline transportation. Many of their services include; security, safety, transportation of passengers as well as luggage, ensuring vehicle safety while in transit, concierge services, providing entertainment aboard plane, checking weather conditions prior to flight, and much more. All of the data gathered for this report was obtained from the company’s 10-k filings with the SEC.
Southwest Airlines: A Case Analysis. ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS It is evident that the greatest strength Southwest Airlines has is its financial stability. As known in the US airline industry, Southwest is one of those airlines who are consistently earning profits despite the problems the industry is facing. With such stability, the corporation is able to make decisions and adjust policies, which other heavily burdened airlines may not be able to imitate.
The balanced score card (BSC) is tool that is widely implemented by the various strategic levels of management of organizations with the aim of aligning business activities with the vision, mission, and values of the organization (Averson, 1998). BSC is used to provide a frame work that enables the strategic management to measure the performance of the organization involved. It also helps the management to identify the necessary courses of action needed to implement its strategies. BSC has four quadrants namely; the financial perspective, the customer perspective, the internal business processes, and the organizational learning and growth perspective. The priority given to these quadrants when mapping a BSC is different between
Since the beginning of time, companies are striving and working very hard, under a lot of stress, in order to survive and overcome the challenges they face day in and day out. For Managers, it can become even more challenging to execute tasks or make the most effective decisions for their teams as the competition increases. It requires the development of excellent business strategies and effective operations to deliver exceptional products and services. An original framework created by Drs. Robert Kaplan (Harvard Business School) and David Norton has helped managers and executives achieve a more 'balanced' view of organizational performance with the Balanced Scorecard. “The balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that is used extensively in business and industry, government, and nonprofit organizations worldwide to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor organization performance against strategic goals.”
A company develops good performance measures by ensuring they are well balanced, they should include both financial and nonfinancial measures. Good performance measures should be associated with the organization’s overall strategies, in addition, good performance measures should be flexible, this way they are able to be changed with ease. Furthermore, good performance measures are typically timely and accurate, simple to understand, and focus on constant improvement. Lastly, a company with good performance measures, align with the acronym SMART. SMART performance measures have a Specific purpose, are Measureable, are Achievable, Relevant, and Time based. Companies have found creating performance measures utilizing these key focal points have improved the company’s overall effectiveness. (Matthews,
President Lincoln once remarked that all men are prompted by selfishness in doing good. (Rachels, 54) Mr Lincoln is not the first man to believe in this phenomena. Throughout history, countless individuals have argued that humans are always inherently motivated by self interest. (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy) But is there any evidence to support the argument and is it strong enough? This research paper will aim to examine the veracity of the claim that humans are invariably motivated by self interest. In the philosophy there have been numerous debates concerning whether this theory is true. Intellectuals who propose this theory are known as psychological egoists. Psychological egoism argues that we are driven to pursue our own self interests by nature and we cannot do otherwise (Chaffee 443). Many opponents of psychological egoism believe in psychological altruism which states that sometimes humans can have truly altruistic motives, altruism being the selfless principle of the concern of the welfare for others (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy). In order to examine the claim, a philosophical analysis will be conducted on the two philosophical approaches.
Benchmarking is the process of using external and internal comparisons in order to create a plan for the future. In order for Lands’ End to have a unique customer service the following companies, Halperns, McCarthys, H&M, and Tip Top Tailors will be used to benchmark because we believe the concept of these businesses are similar. Land’s End aspires to implement plans to make purchases more personal with customers, relate to a variety of demographics, highlight brand promise, and attract our customers. Furthermore, the way the business is running will be used to incorporate their ideas into Lands’ End’s operation in order to search for best practices.
Murby, L., Gould, S., (2005). Effective Performance Management with the Balanced Scorecard. Technical Report, CIMA, London.
Tapinos, E., Dyson, R.G. & Meadows, M. (2005). The impact of performance measurement in strategic planning. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 54(5/6), 370-384.
My interest was sparked by something all six year olds love- farts. In the first grade, I read that cow flatulence contained methane, a greenhouse gas, and that said methane contributed to six times the environmental harm than all cars combined. Later, in the seventh grade, I experienced another peak in my interest in the environment. I was disgusted with the way animals were treated in the meat and dairy industries, and decided to make a change in my own life by becoming a vegetarian after reading such books as Eating Animals by Jonathan Foer and watching documentaries such as Cowspiracy and Food
Benchmarking is the process of establishing a standard of excellence and comparing an organization function or activity, a product, or an enterprise as a whole with that standard. Healthcare institutions may use benchmarking to reduce expenses and at the same time improve product and service quality. Benchmarking in the healthcare industry is a quality management issue that is a continuous process by which an organization can measure and compare its own processes with those of organizations that are leaders in a particular area. Benchmarking should be viewed as a part of quality management programs, not as a replacement. There are four kinds of benchmarking: internal, competitive, functional and generic. With internal benchmarking,
Three different kinds of ethical egoisms describe the different ideas that each depict. First there is “personal ethical egoism is the belief that only I should act from the motive of self-interest, nothing is stated about what motivates others should act from” (Ethical Egoism, 2010). An example of the personal ethical egoism is when a person creates a goal and decides that it does not matter how it has to happen as long as it happens” (Ethical Egoism, 2010). For instance, when a person is determined to be the captain of the football team hee will all that is required to be the best. In order to be the best it may require being aggressive to those that stand in the way of the position that are in the same level of wanting the position of being captain of the football team. The next is “individual ethical egoism is the prescriptive doctrine that all persons should serve my self-interest” (Ethical Egoism, 2010). For example, when one person requires something be done because it will benefit him or her. When thinking about individual ethical egoism, it is …….. The third is “Universal ethical egoism is the universal doctrine that all persons should pursue their own interests exclusively” (Ethical Egoism, 2010). An example for this is an individual is creates a goal and does everything in
Result benchmarking, or in other words performance or competitive benchmarking, involves a comparison of the organisational key processes, products and services to their competitors, that enables the managers to access their competitive positions through the comparisons that has been...
First, “ Utilitarians believe moral decisions should be decided by calculating a burden/benefit ratio from a societal viewpoint. This perspective promotes the good of society over that of individual”(Fulda, Lykens). If a patient gets genetically tested, the utilitarian perspective says that we should take into account the multiple people involved with the patient, thus letting them know about the results of the test. When family is told about certain risks that have been identified through genetic testing, there are many aspects that could be mitigated better. The Journal of Medical Ethics also expresses that when family members are told about genetic testing and how they are affected, the intensity of pain is minimized through medical intervention. Utilitarian view also backs up the idea that when individuals are tested, it gives them a way to decide and make decisions on issues that affects their family. It also can help two people on bringing a child to the world that could potentially ruin them in a financial sense since money would need to be allocated for the child’s care. This view allows for more testing on chronic diseases and potentially fatal
Genetic testing on children is a very controversial discussion with parents. Some parents do not think that it is appropriate to test children because their kids are not the ones making the decisions for them the parent is. Well others like me feel that genetic testing should be done for our children. I think is should be done because if there is cancer or some other kind of hereditary disease or disorder on either side of the family you can try to prevent it from happening before it become severe or even happens. A couple of examples are, one of my friends grandchild went to the hospital and was not feeling very well turns out that he had cancer and it was out of the blue because no one had cancer of that type. Maybe if they had tested