Competitor Analysis. American Airlines versus Southwest Airlines

Academic Paper from the year 2017 in the subject Business economics - Market research, grade: 90.0, Cologne Business School Köln, course: Competitive Intelligence, language: English, abstract: Competitive intelligence is the process of monitoring an industry to identify current and future competitors, their activities, how their actions will affect a firm and how the firm should respond to these actions (Business Dictionary, 2017). The scope of this competitor analysis will be on examining a primary competitor for American Airlines, from which the results can help make strategic decisions in the future. Being aware of competition can help a company maintain their competitive advantage or their position in the market. The chosen competitor for American Airlines is Southwest Airlines. Within this paper, the background of both companies will be discussed, with a deep-dive into Southwest strategy as well as other key information. Two competitive intelligence techniques will be applied: Porters Five Forces and Scenario Analysis. Lastly, some predications about the future of the company will be made.