Penn Foster Strategic Management - Random Thoughts

[UptonSinclair]

I am currently planning my final project for Penn Foster's Strategic Management course. For those unfamiliar, the course consists of 4 multiple choice exams, 4 discussion posts, 3 webinars, and a final project. The final project is a strategic analysis of Southwest Airlines.

In preparation for the final project, I have been reading through many similar projects involving Southwest. Most suggest Southwest expand in ways that contradict the business strategies that made Southwest successful to begin with. Many suggest expanding Southwest's fleet to include alternate models of aircraft, most suggest expanding into overseas flights, and some even suggest taking a confrontational approach to the unions. I can't help but think Herb Kelleher would hate most of these suggestions. But the idea that stands out in my head the most is a CEO that avoided labels and traditional "strategic analysis" would hate the very idea of trying to dissect Southwest using a set of canned analysis tools. When reading an interview with Herb, it is obvious that he sees Southwest as an organic entity rather than a machine.

I know that this post is somewhat off topic, but many people have questions about the course and I believe others might benefit from the discussion.

[LaterBloomer]

I'm getting two books from the library on Southwest, and I think one is by Kelleher. Hope it will put me in the mood for doing the project and getting a better feel for the topic.

[pughsss]

UptonSinclair the project is not that involved. You can gleen all the information for the analysis from the textbook Penn Foster provided and the few YouTube videos linked to the graded project. I basically made an essay around the main questions asked in the project and received a 97 on the project. PM me and I will shared a link to my project in Google Docs to give you an idea of what the grades are looking for.

[michaelfrye1970]

Same here I chopped together answers for the questions based off the reading, expressed a few opinions and got a 100.

[UptonSinclair]

Thanks for the input. I believe I am close to having something together that will work. Since the course is pass/fail, I am not too worried about the grade. I just need to get something written down.

[UptonSinclair]

Answered my own question through site search.

[UptonSinclair]

I just finished my first webinar and wanted to share. The instructor introduced herself and posted a couple of links to articles about technology education initiatives. She then asked for discussion on the effectiveness and potential downfalls of these types of initiatives. There were questions, but no feedback on postings. Overall, it was a benign experience. I will be glad when they are all over, but they look pretty harmless. Everyone in the webinar is at different places in their course, so there were no textbook specific questions. She did say this was the place to ask any questions regarding the course, but I didn't have any. I am just waiting on a grade for my final project.

[LaterBloomer]

As did Upton, I just finished my first webinar. It wasn't a stressful event. There wasn't any sharing of anyone comments, so I was unable to build or play off of anything. That is frequently how my best thoughts develop. Oh, well.

[UptonSinclair]

I have mixed feelings about the lack of student discussion. It limits the benefit of the discussion, but it prevents big mouths like me from dominating the discussion. I really struggled at the community college because I tend to be pretty aggressive in discussions and tended to walk on younger or timid older students. It is a personality trait that I struggle with.

[sanantone]

I have mixed feelings about the lack of student discussion. It limits the benefit of the discussion, but it prevents big mouths like me from dominating the discussion. I really struggled at the community college because I tend to be pretty aggressive in discussions and tended to walk on younger or timid older students. It is a personality trait that I struggle with.

Not to toot my own horn, but I was at a different level of analysis than my fellow community college students. They were shocked at me saying that sex offenders are more likely to live in poorer neighborhoods. To them, it sounded like I was saying that poor people are more likely to be sex offenders. What they couldn't understand, even after multiple times of explaining it, is that landlords in poorer neighborhoods are more likely to rent to people with criminal records. There are hardly any houses to rent in more upscale neighborhoods. Even if there were houses to rent, they would more than likely be outside of the convict's budget. Felons have limited employment options. Also, upscale apartment complexes are not going to rent to felons, especially sex offenders. I even backed up my claims with data from the sex offender registry, but they were still all up in arms. I just had to accept that the discussion was way above their heads. It's much easier for me to have these types of conversations with doctoral students.