Mission, Vision, Social Responsibility, Strategic Planning - Term Paper Example

Mission, Vision, Social Responsibility, Strategic Planning Affiliation: Part I-Southwest Airlines and JetBlue AirwaysPrepare a well–reasoned analysis of the similarities and differences of the two organizations based on the mission statement.The mission statement of Southwest Airlines is “…is dedication to the highest quality of customer service that is delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride and also company spirit (Lauer, 2010).” This is different from the mission statement of JetBlue Airlines which is “…to provide superior service in every aspect of customer’s air travel experience (Wynbrandt, 2010).

” In both mission statements, the sole focus is on the customers and their satisfaction by the services that will be offered. However, that of JetBlue Airlines is vague, generalized and hence seemingly ambiguous while in Southwest Airlines is specific to the customer services they aim to provide. Discuss the quality of each mission statement based on concepts from the textbook.The quality of JetBlue Airlines’ mission statement is low compared to that of Southwest Airlines because it does not provide how the business will operate or what exact services will be offered or why exactly the airline does its business which will make it unique in its own way and attract the customers.

The mission statement of Southwest Airlines in contrast fits the qualities of a mission statement which require it to elaborate a bit about its business in a way that will convince the customers of its values and assure them of their services.Assess whether the mission statement clearly defines the organization and drives strategic decisions?The mission statement of Southwest Airlines with its specific focus clearly drives the strategic decisions that will be made in that they will always aim to provide warmth and friendliness to its customers and extend the company spirit (Lauer, 2010).

This is however not the case in JetBlue Airlines whose vague mission does not provide its employees with exact issues to focus on in its customer service which portrays the organization as mediocre and hence not even good in strategic decision making. Provide recommendations to the leadership team for improving the quality of the current mission statement.The quality of the mission statement of Southwest Airlines does not need recommendations. This however is not the case with JetBlue Airlines whose leadership should review and reword the mission statement to make it more specific to its exact services that it aims to provide hence ensuring that it will make strategic decisions in future.

Discuss the “vision” for each company. Do the companies appear to be heading in the same direction? Explain your rationale and provide support for your position.The vision of both companies is to be the best airline in their category of airlines that are cheap and hence can be said to be headed in the same direction though using different approaches to ensure that.Part II-JetBlue AirlinesHow does the company respond to the issue of social responsibility? In what kinds of activities does the organization participate?

Do you think its activities are appropriate? Explain you answer.The company is involved deeply in issues of corporate social responsibility with its areas being in environment, youth and education and even the community. It engages in tree planting and environment cleaning exercises, holding partnerships with other charity organizations like KaBOOM to provide charities and education of children and youth who are unable to educated themselves. These activities and especially the cleaning of the environment and tree planting are appropriate in this era of erratic climate change.

The trees being planted will help the future generation with absorption of the carbon dioxide from the industries (Wynbrandt, 2010).Prepare a SWOT analysis of the selected company, including at least two strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats each.One of its strengths is that according to the Zagat Airline Survey in 2009, it is the most eco-friendly airline; it also has a very productive workforce and new an efficient aircrafts. Among its weaknesses are that as of 2009, it had a debt of around $3 billion and it also has limited shares in stock.

In its opportunities, it has the capacity to expand its market through promotion and marketing and also opportunity to add more amenities to beat the competition (Wynbrandt, 2010). The threats are from the larger airlines which have been reducing their cost hence limiting competitive advantage and also threat form terrorism and the price of fuel.Based on the concepts learned so far, provide your recommendation for turning the weaknesses into strengths and the threats into opportunities.It can bring in more investors on board to reduce their debt burden by selling part of the company shares to the public.

With reduced debt burden, it can be able to afford to reduce its prices even further. Capitalizing on the weaknesses of their opponents and competitors can turn the threat to an opportunity.ReferencesLauer, C. (2010). Southwest Airlines. New York: ABC-CLIO.Wynbrandt, J. (2010). Flying High: How JetBlue Founder and CEO David Neeleman Beats the Competition. Even in the Worlds Most Turbulent Industry. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.