I am all for change and innovation. But today's move by Southwest Airlines is basically ending one of their primary differentiated value propositions--open seating---in favor of what? Yes, 'me too'. So lets see --love it or hate it---we built into our business model over 50 years a novel capability and we are changing it to 'let's do what everyone else does'. Yeah, that should work. Does anyone understand strategy, marketing, or differentiation? Oh, and they asked customers what they wanted. In the words of Justin Wilcox: "Customers are great at telling you how they solve problems today, but terrible at predicting how they’ll solve problems tomorrow." So of course they told them how it works with other airlines as the solution. https://lnkd.in/eJd6S7DQ #innovation #badidea #copycat #letsjustdowhateveryoneelsedoes
great post professor Greg. Southwest is suddenly struggling with leadership and their *RELATIONSHIPS* to the customers.
Seems like Elliott Management told them to make these changes...
Unfortunately, the "think/act different" is long gone, replaced by the "me too" "patch". One world, one voice. Sad.
I agree Greg Coticchia. Ditching one of their main differentiators doesn't make me want to fly Southwest next time.
It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Margins have shrunk by 51% recently and the number one complaint from passengers is their open seating policy. Isolated cases of children getting separated from parents because of the seating policy and bad things happening.
As Stephen Shapiro says, "innovate where you differentiate."
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