IV. Internal Environment: Strengths and Weaknesses (SWOT) C. Corporate Resources

4 The company is currently in a process of re-structuring its operations in order to remain competitive. This process is a clear objective of the organization, as they are under new leadership. The company’s route structure has seen changes under the re- structuring initiative, mainly as a vehicle to decommission low- profit routes. The airline appears to have managed purchasing effectively throughout its short life, as evidenced by the lack of major aircraft order changes. A new terminal was built at JFK, which opened more than 20 new gates for its operations.

4 The operation, as all other air carriers, is extremely sensitive to natural disasters, weather events, and outside interference, such as terrorism. The organization has utilized workforce management and labor savings as a key component of cost reducing technique, as evidenced by examples such as having pilots help with cleaning up aircraft between take offs. The company’s cost structure was short of brilliant at first. A fleet of new aircraft (all A320s), labor rationing, etc. Some long term planning was lacking, and certain costs increases were unanticipated, such as aging aircraft maintenance. The company operations strategy has been its sole competitive advantage provider.

5 These employees utilized some of the early VOIP systems to complete their assignments, denoting a tendency to innovate in technical fields. At some point it was mentioned that employee raises were being issued. Based on this we can deduce that turnover rate is low. This reflects high levels of employee satisfaction.

5 The company relies heavily on employee dedication and attitude. We can assume that these are organizational values that are being passed down from higher management. The organization is open to new ideas in order to promote a better work environment and cost savings, as practiced by allowing telephone representatives to work from home.

6 The information within the case study suggests that the company IT culture can be reactive in nature. Many of the advances they have achieved have been a direct product of operational need. This strategy to IT implementation can be extremely cost effective, as it eliminates superfluous projects that have no operational value. The study outlines recent database overhauls and utilization of proprietary data to improve efficiency.

6 The company’s heavy reliance on their website to execute sales and ticket re-issuing has been an important contributor of efficiency, and costs savings consequently. Airlines are generally in a positive position to utilize their information systems to creatively develop competitive advantage. Their operations require detailed data gathering, which, under the proper database management, can provide invaluable insights into its customer base and their needs and behavior patterns. The company’s online presence is well establish, as evidenced by their customers heavy use of this resource to conduct their transactions.