Mission, Objectives and Strategies of SportUNE - Case Study Example

University Name Department Student name & admission number Course name Course code Lecturer Submission date SportUNE mission, objectives and strategies Introduction SportUNE is believed to one of the leading university sporting precincts in Australia, providing diversity, flexibility and a collection of latest sporting facilities and services. It avails a friendly and relaxed atmosphere to individuals of different fitness and age levels throughout the week. The mission for SportUNE has been to engage and support communities through sporting and healthy lifestyle opportunities (sportune, 2014). SportUNE has succeeded in helping people attain a more balanced, healthier and happier lifestyle through qualified fitness professionals. SportUNE objectives have been to support students, staff and community at large to maintain a healthy lifestyle, develop and avail to student programs, resources and tools to encourage and raise involvement in sport, grow its club participation and promote sport participation at grassroots levels (Armstrong, & Gary, 2005).The strategies that have enabled the organization succeed in its mission include; differentiating itself by the quality of their on-campus experience, leading the nation in employing innovative educational programs in distance education. SportUNE Industry The sport industry has been competitive around the world. SportUNE avails one of the Australian premier university sporting complexes which have helped majority of people keep fitness.The sporting activities like exercise and health-related programs offered by SportUNE play a vital role in the educational sporting activities (Acharya, 2007). More importantly, the facilities offered at SportUNE enhance the delivery of UNE’s academic initiatives in sport and health-related programs. SportUNE play a key role in sporting industry by nurturing sportsmen and officials in furthering or upgrading their knowledge in sports and keeping fitness for communities. The flexibility of SportUNE learning methods are tailored to suit the needs of diverse people, which makes it an ideal choice in sport sector. For a comprehensive strategic marketing plan analysis, SportUNE has to take into consideration various factors in coming up with new products, renovating and re-inventing existing products and expanding into new potential markets Chen, J & Kim, S (2013),For this to happen in a systemic and more organized form, hence models and concepts to formulate and organize themselves well. This is where Porter five forces analysis comes in. Macro and micro level analysis SportUNE’s ability to maintain its competitive edge results from its capacity to raise the value of its goods and services availed to customers. A particular industry is illustrated as a set of both internal and external environment, so, external environment like market, government, economy, etc and the internal environment comprising the workers, suppliers etc affect every company. The usage of PEST analysis is vital in strategic planning as it ensures political, economic, socio-cultural, technological factors affecting business are evaluated, and strategy to effective operation of business implemented (Bowman & Narayandas, 2012). These forces are said to be drivers of change that influence the micro-environment. The business external environment of sporting industry is complex as it principally consists of several factors and conditions. The conditions of external environment are not exited in isolation and create completely a new set of influences which are interactive with each other. The factors bring a comprehensive influence to business environment of any industry (SportUNE, 2014) all this factors are considered since environment analysis is complex and rigid and thus very hard to grasp by managers and employees in respective departments of the company. The external environment which is sometimes termed as macro-environment of a firm may be analyzed using PEST analysis which is framework that is primarily used in analyzing the external environment in the industry. In sport industry, the usage of PEST analysis is vital in strategic planning as it ensures political, economic, socio-cultural and technological factors affecting business are evaluated and strategy to effective operation of business implemented. According to Drummond et al (2009, p.155) these forces are said to be drivers of change that influence the micro-environment. The PEST analysis was the early version of macro-environment analysis, but presently it incorporated legal and environmental and now called PESTLE Analysis. It was found out that beside economic and socio-cultural factors, environment was of a fundamental importance, same to legal matters because of the increasing legal issues to settle disputes in business arena. a) Political factors Looking at how Australian federal government has opened up door for new entrants at the sporting sector products and markets. A move that is likely to support the emergence of joint ventures between leading national companies and multinational firms Langlolis, A &Barberio, EJ (2013), The government is committed to building infrastructure like roads, as a way to increase sport literacy levels to stimulate economic growth. In terms of business support, the control of the lending rates of banks by government to help SportUNE and other local and foreign investor’s access funds for business growth and expansion in sport products. b) Economic factors As per Drummond et al (2009) analysis, the economic aspects of macro-environment comprise individuals’ income, Gross Domestic Product state, interest levels, employment and unemployment level. The income level of people determines their purchasing powers. As a result, sport firms are expected to observe wealth distribution of its clients and evaluate different, in which they operate within (Langlolis, A &Barberio, 2013)Economic condition is believed to be a key determinant of profitability of SportUNE as it affects the accessibility to capital and cost of capital or products and services. For example, if demand of goods is high, and the cost of capital is low, SportUNE will be attracted to securing capital and investing it in profitable venture. In the same way, opportunity to venture in a given sports or market will depend on the demand and supply circumstances. Economic prerequisites are influenced by regime’s policies which affect the decisions in business circles. In most cases, government decisions have effect on money matters like currency exchange rates, thus influencing firm’s decision to import or export hair products. Australian’s inflation rate which is a key parameter in the economy may be affected by interest rate and the global economics (Coughlin et al, 2011). The cost of labor is affected by inflation rate, where firms may be forced to raise the wage level or retrench employees to lower cost of production, and this may bring in trade unions to negotiate for their members welfare. The spending power of government and firms will gauge the money supply and demand in the economy. c) Socio-cultural factors The socio-cultural environment of a SportUNE sums up the demand and tastes which might vary with consumer behavior and disposable income in a particular market. In socio-cultural setting, consumer behavior mirrors the inclusion of client’s decisions in terms of purchasing and consumption of sport-related products by decision making units. Perhaps the most challenging concept in the marketing of any business is to deal with understanding the buyer behavior. Therefore, to achieve sustainable long term success and growth, the SportUNE marketers will have to understand how consumers will respond to different goods and services features, price and advertising appeal which may enhance a great advantage over its competitors. Porter’s Five Forces: In regard to Porter’s Five Forces, SportUNE need to use viable strategic options as a strategy to reduce or manage supplier power and buyers’ power. On competitive rivalry, it may be forced to come out on top. Concerning issues of threat of substitution and threat of new entry, SportUNE may reduce or get rid of it all in the industry. SWOT Analysis Strength and weaknesses entails the internal surroundings elements of a firm and how impact on its operation, whereas opportunities and threats are normally external forces. Business environment for any company is a crucial aspect that affects its activities. For SportUNE, business environment (external) has brought both opportunities and threats because of the uncertainties involved Langlolis, A &Barberio, EJ (2013), To any business, external environment is indecisive, complex and dynamic which calls for more flexibility on the side of organization in managing them. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of SportUNE are highlighted below: Strengths: Investment in new manufacturing plants Diversification of perfume products Improved marketing techniques High skilled expatriates/staffs Opportunities: Diversified brands Rising technology Rising urban youth population High growth rate at the market Weaknesses: Maintaining client base Maintaining production Different supply interest Indecisiveness from management Threats: Faulty products Upcoming manufacturers Economic slowdowns Market uncertainties Market research – strategic decision making The strategic issue entails the means of winning the attention and support of important stakeholders in a particular industry. In the sporting industry, the supply chain management is an important factor that any stakeholder in this industry needs to look at (Armstrong, & Gary, 2005). This industry is doing well in Australia markets which are attributed to high purchasing power of residents on sport products, something that has seen the SportUNE in this industry to perform well in terms of sales .In order for SportUNE to continue making profits, it needs to continue offering customers high quality sport products at cheaper price. The firms in the perfume industry need to do a market survey and know how much customers within the Australia markets are ready to spend and the trends they prefer. With a changing marketing environment, it is becoming necessary for SportUNE to make the use of articulate means to engage customers and to attract them towards themselves Acharya, J. (2007), It might be believed that some of the customers are tired of being marketed to and hence need a change; this change has to come from the producers themselves by analyzing the marketing environment through market research while making strategic decisions at the market. SportUNE have positioned itself strategically while entering the new market so as to come at par with their competitors and matching their points of parity far create some type of point of differentiation. Significance of segmentation, targeting, differentiation and positioning strategies SportUNE have used STP marketing strategy in most of its operations. Other strategies that SportUNE has explored in the sport market which may include market timing and pricing. Business leaders at SportUNE recognize that issues of success and sustained growth are only attained via a business strategy that is well designed and articulated. Issues like market forces, competition, business models and industrial changes should be well comprehended if organization is strategically positioning itself in a given market (Bray et al, 2011). In positioning strategy, penetration pricing may be applicable and can be considered another pricing instrument which sets a comparatively low down preliminary entry price which is frequently lesser than the eventual marketplace price so as to attract the potential customers for the products and services. The penetration pricing strategy is mostly based on the assumption that the customers would switch to the new brand entering the market so as to avail the lower price for the products and services (Chintagunta & Desiraju, 2005). Market penetration is one of the product-market growth strategies proposed by Ansoff which indicates the effort of a company to penetrate a market where its products have already been offered in order to attract new customers. Ferrell & Pride (2007) in their book suggested that penetration pricing is one of the pricing strategies in which a relatively low price is set for entering a market which is even lower compared to the eventual market price of the product. Penetration marketing aims at attracting new customers. Market segmentation: SportUNE has segmented its market on basis of demographics and psychographics, lifestyle, beliefs and values, geography, life stages and behavior. On demographics, SportUNE break the combination of facilities and services based on age, gender, income, education, size and marital status. For example, the physical exercise and attires of married women are somehow different from that of young ladies who want to keep shape and fit. Market targeting: the attractiveness of SportUNE’s market target is evaluated on basis of criteria size where the firm has ensured that market is large enough to justify segmenting. Other factors have included measurable differences, accessibility and money (Chintagunta, K., & Desiraju, R. (2005).On issue of money, SportUNE has always anticipated for profits to exceed the costs and other marketing plans. Market positioning: SportUNE has positioned its facilities and services on lifestyle basis, for instance, some fitness exercise and facilities are either for luxury or economy, and some have been clustered as a family or organizational package. Conclusion SportUNE is well-placed to capitalise on its strengths and opportunities it has to enter into the market and build a competitive edge in the sporting industry. For example, the extensively differentiated products are helping the SportUNE to have more global presence. This can also be achieved through entering new markets like China and Africa which is one of the leading emerging markets. SportUNE had in the past concentrated on the Australian and New Zealand markets and it needs to setup sound strategies to go through the other markets as well. SportUNE has now to embrace product diversification as a major strategy in new market penetration. The pricing issue is going to be a vital weapon of fighting competitors in the new market. The cost of production units is likely to be low owing to possible mass production plants, thus making the general cost of production much lower. This means the business will be in position to sell their sport products much cheaply and still stay cost-effective. References Acharya, J. (2007). Profit maximising: pricing strategies North Brunswick : Information Sciences and Systems, CISS '07. 41st Annual Conference. Armstrong, & Gary, A. (2005). Marketing: An Introduction, 7/e (New Edition). South Asia: Pearson Inc. Bray, M., Waring, P. and Cooper, R. (2011), Strategic Marketing: Theory and Practice, McGraw-Hill, Sydney. Bowman, D. & Narayandas, D. (2012). Linking Customer Management Effort to Customer Profit­ability in Business Markets. Journal of Marketing Research, 41 (4), 433–447. Chen, J & Kim, S (2013), ‘A comparison of Chinese consumers’ intentions to purchase luxury fashion brands for self-use and for gifts’, Journal of International Consumer Market, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 29-44. Chintagunta, K., & Desiraju, R. (2005). Strategic Pricing and Detailing Behavior in International Markets. Marketing Science , 24 (1), 67-80. Crabtree, S. (2007). Culture and Gender influence on Social changes on Families in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 38(4), 575-587 Coughlin, C., Mayers, G., Dizard, J., & Bordin, J. (2011). CULTURAL CONTEXT AND CHILDREN'S PERCEPTIONS OF CONFLICT AND PEACE. NURTURE: Journal Of Pakistan Home Economics Association, 5(1), 1-11 Drummond et al (2009). Marketing Strategy. Mason: South Western Cengage Learning Langlolis, A &Barberio, EJ (2013), ‘Luxury goods & China: A case study’, Journal of Applied Business and Economics, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 83-95 Inkpen, A. (2013). Market strategies. Thunderbird School of Global Management Yeoman, I & McMahon-Beattie, U (2006), ‘Luxury market and premium pricing’, Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 319-328 SportUNE ,2014 Retrieved on 11th August 2014 from http://www.sportune.com/what-we- do/nodrugs-custom-sports-wear/ CUSTOM SPORTS WEAR Read More