More than 100 students crammed into a sweltering room in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall last week to listen to Rollin King, founder of Southwest Airlines, talk about his company's success. The speech, entitled "Creating and Leading a World Class Service Organization," focused on how Southwest delivers value to its customers. King discussed the "Harvard Business School 'A' case of Southwest Airlines," -- a teaching tool used in the Marketing 101 classes at the Wharton School of Business. But King approached the 1973 case, which describes Southwest's battle with Braniff Airlines over Texas air routes, from an entirely different perspective. King described the aspects of Southwest Airlines that make it unique. His presentation included video footage of old advertisements that demonstrated their strategies. While the airline has cut costs in a variety of ways, King noted that superior customer service helped the airline survive the difficult early years. "It's a very tough business," King said of the airline industry. "There's nothing sexy about it." Southwest does not offer frills like meals or assigned seating on its flights, but according to King, it is consistently on time and its employees are renowned for their pleasant attitudes. This reputation for good service has made Southwest notable in the airline industry, King said. Wharton Transportation Association President Neysan Rassekh, a Wharton freshman, noted that Southwest is the fifth largest airline in the nation. "While most airlines have been losing money, Southwest is the most consistently profitable airline in the U.S." said Rassekh, who serves as the Wharton Management Club's chairperson for speakers and special events. The Wharton Management Club and the Wharton Transportation Association co-sponsored Tuesday's events. Wharton Management Club co-Presidents Jason Kirschner and Ed Zane said they were pleased with the large turnout for the event. "Overall, the event went extremely well," said Zane, a Wharton junior. "There was a strong turnout and people seemed interested." The speech provided an opportunity for several students to contrast what they had learned in their Wharton classes about Southwest with King's actual experiences. "He had a different perspective on how timing is important," said Kirschner, a Wharton junior. "Knowing he's done this many times before, the speech seemed structured and coincided to the Harvard Business School version," Wharton sophomore Erik Metzroth said. "But he brought other things to the table from different angles as well." King spoke as a part of the Wharton Management Club's Distinguished Speaker Series. The club arranges to have several speakers throughout the school year.
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