Strategic Marketing Plan (Part I) - Assignment Example

Strаtеgiс Маrkеting Рlаn Name: Institutional Affiliation: Date: Qn 1 SportUNE is famous as one of the leading university sporting precincts in Australia. SportUNE offer flexible, variety and range of new services and facilities. The institution runs seven days a week offering a welcoming and tranquil environment to people of fitness and age levels. SportUNE can greatly help an individual to accomplish a more balanced, improved, and more contented lifestyle through variety of services and facilities offered in addition to support from their highly skilled instructors. Strategic planning in sportUNE is the practice of developing strategies, objectives and tactics to help the institution to realize its mission. The short-term and long-term objectives of sportUNE are improved brand awareness, customer satisfaction, profit and revenue objectives as well as market-share targets. The significance of this paper is to analyze strategic plan in sportUNE and its relevance to help the institution achieve its mission. Superior supervision and training of feedback scores is a strategy utilized by sportUNE to attain privileged customer contentment. The company develops actionable tactics and steps. Vision statements are at times confused with the company’s mission. Conversely, sportUNE vision statements offer more of a bearing and include a stance of corporate principles. SportUNE vision provides a course for the corporation for the next five to ten years, whereas also taking note on dedication to veracity, lucidity, honesty and other desired ideals. Personal views reveal that sportUNE’s vision statement takes their mission and considers an aspect of human principles. SportUNE vision statement should inspire employees and given them a sense of purpose.On sportUNE website, the company includes services, client, member of staff and investor welfare in its mission statement. It successfully reveals target to deliver preferred results to every entity. Its vision statement is detailed about the firm's standards and incorporates the phrase "find your balance." This phrase eventually implies that sportUNE makes helping the world with fitness a superior priority than earnings in its managerial strategy. The firm's vision also reveals a yearning to be the best in the leading university sporting grounds in Australia (Kapferer, 2012). Strategies in sportUNE can be formulated in three distinct levels namely business unit level, corporate level, or departmental level. Eventually strategies help a firm to compete and survive in the market. SportUNE will use its product and service differentiation to compete. The rationale of corporation is to control services and business units in sportUNE to ensure that all of them are competitive and so that each add to corporate functions. Corporate strategy in sortUNE ensures that the firm is compatible with others in the portfolio. SportUNE business strategy deals with; positioning the firm strategically against their rivals, influencing competition through lobbying and vertical integration, as well as predicting changes in technology and demand thus adjusting the strategy to accommodate them accordingly. Departmental strategy involves the development and coordination of resources in sportUNE where business level strategies can be effectively implemented. Departmental strategies are crucial since they offer information on resources and competence on which the superior plans can be based (Wilkinson, 2010). Qn 2 Industries differ in the growth potential, competition situation and business composition. This calls for the need of utilizing diverse sports management strategies in various areas. The following factors are vital while assessing an industry; the number of the competitors, the growth rate, and the size of the firm. SportUNE will compete in the sports industry. The following five competitive forces are crucial while analyzing the competitive atmosphere in sportUNE (Marburger, 2012). Rivalry among competing firms: companies compete for customers by quality, price and speed. SportUNE need to predict the plans of their rivals. They also need to be sentient of newer competitors. For example, sportUNE have a value-packed membership with no joining fee. They offer a range of payment options as well as offering services at a discounted price. Probable development of substitute products and services: This takes place when firms from other industries attempt to enter in the market.SportUNE offers diverse fitness to people of all ages. They offer gym, specialized programs, first aid in box, group fitness classes, corporate health and wellness as well as personal training services. SportUNE also offer club competitions in athletics, basketball, badminton, hockey among others. Potential entry of new competitors: SportUNE is not new in the sports industry; thus, it have high competitive advantage. SportUNE has created its brand as the best university sporting ground in Australia. sportUNE is a potential threat to the new companies that are entering sports industry. Bargaining power of suppliers: sportUNE has a high bargaining power over the supplier. As a service provider, sportUNE provides excellent services to clients of all ages thus creating its reputation. The company offers many programs which are made effective through the support from highly skilled tutors. Bargaining power of consumers: satisfied clients are vital for long-term success of sportUNE. Although the company depends on the customers, the customers are loyal to this company. They know it as the best sporting ground in Australia, and thus, they lose their power. SportUNE is in a good position provided that it will go on with the provision of superior fitness services. SportUNE makes analysis of sports industry and their rivals mainly at the corporate stage when they are making up their mind on which lines of industry they should consider enter or exit and how to distribute resources effectively among their line of product. SportUNE is at an advantage not only due to its reputation and well laid strategic plan but also the firm has well-trained instructors and a wide range of programs and services. The company also offers discounted rates, and there is no joining fees which will attract more clients. SportUNE also offers free crèche service and also offers extensive care program for children within the age bracket of 5 to 12 years. The company also holds Annual UNE Sporting Awards to reward outstanding achievers either in their chosen sport, training sport, participation and administration of sport. SportUNE recognize that there are lots of exceptional contributions to the sport on a nationwide and international level in a given year (Grünig & Kühn, 2008). Qn 3 SportUNE just like entrepreneurs wish to serve an attractive market and compete in the sporting industry where most stakeholders are profitable and successful, rather than striving to succeed. SportUNE opt to compete on a sustainable advantage that their rivals do not enjoy. The company must assess their five competitive forces on macro and micro levels. SportUNE should ask several questions regarding the five competitive forces to determine whether the force is appropriate or unsuitable on balance. The more forces that are constructive, the more striking the industry. The opposite also applies which accounts why most industries are not attractive. sportUNE should recognize that serious problem on one of its competitive forces can have an adverse effect on the balance; thus, they must have a good assessment. Identifying such issues in advance will help sportUNE to make plans to solve them appropriately, or ditch the chance if the issues are too severe (Mullins, 2013). Once sportUNE have assessed all five forces of competition, the chief outcome is to make a clear conclusion regarding the attractiveness of sports industry. Assessment of favorable forces is very crucial to the entire assessment of a company opportunity. The macro-level assessment of industry attractiveness is crucial, although the data is not adequate for the assessment. Additional primary data about the industry are necessary to develop a clear understanding about the changes and functions of the industry. An individual might mistake that macro-level appraisal of industry attractiveness is ample if that micro-level industry appraisal indicate that clients opt to purchase goods and services from new entrant. SportUNE is a growth oriented company thus, they must also consider micro-level industry appraisal. Though clients might go for what the probable new entrant provides and nearly all firms in sports industry are flourishing because of constructive industry constitution, a new undertaking is not probable to flourish in the long-term if the primary benefit sportUNE offers to its clients cannot be sustained in spite of succeeding rivals’ entry or if its company representation lacks economic feasibility. Thus, sportUNE should recognize and evaluate the feasibility of the projected new firm’s aggressive advantage in order to fill in the micro-level business piece of the chance assessment conundrum. Appropriate feasibility of the projected venture’s aggressive advantage includes examining the proposed venture, the relationship with their rivals and whether it exists in the industry. The rationale of this feasibility study is to ascertain whether there is any likelihood of a new venture having a competitive advantage over sportUNE. SortUNE should have an economically viable business representation, propriety elements that other firms are not able to copy, as well as superior organizational structure, skills and resources that cannot be easily duplicated by other companies. SportUNE first-hand experience is very vital in addressing the issues that might arise. Micro-level assessment reveals that even in attractive industries not all ventures succeed. Constructive industry conditions at the macro-level are not a solution either. Affirmative outcomes from sportUNE into these micro-level conditions are very important. Qn 4 Marketing research is the methodical and objective exploration for, and examination of crucial data and solution of any quandary in marketing. A good marketing research must state the research problem clearly, relevant data, the method of data collection and analytical techniques to interpret the data. SportUNE management are required to make timely decisions; thus, they must use market research to get answers within the shortest time possible. Market research will help sportUNE to reduce its costs. Market the information obtained is used to define and identify marketing problems and opportunities, to refine, generate and scrutinize marketing actions, improve understanding of the marketing process and monitor marketing performance in SportUNE. It is also fretful with the problem identification, theory application and problem solution in marketing. In order to overcome random consumer conduct, sportUNE should invest in the market research. Product affects sportUNE decision making since they must assess whether their services and products are differentiated to overcome competition from their rivals. The service or product affect decision making since sportUNE must consider the production cost including advertisement costs (Sontakki, 2010). Price also influences decision making because sportUNE must consider closely associated operational strategies. Price will determine whether sporteUNE use comparable pricing strategy, skinning strategy or market penetration strategy in setting their prices. For example, sportUNE can opt to set their prices low if they want to penetrate in the market faster, they can set prices high if their services are differentiated or set prices according to a competitor’s price. Distribution will also affect decision making in sportUNE since the company must decide on the appropriate distribution method to ensure that their services and product get to the customers (Marburger, 2012 ) Promotion will also affect decision making since sportUNE must decide on the appropriate promotion method to sell its product and services. SportUNE will choose the appropriate promotion method since there are several strategies which include corporate advertising, product family advertising, product benefits advertising, and product comparison advertising. Qn 5 Market segmentation in sportUNE involves grouping clients according to their needs. Every segment responds to different marketing mix strategy, with every segment offering alternate profit and growth opportunities to the company. Segmentation strategy in sportUNE occurs differently including behavior, geographical location, demographics and psychographics. SportUNE membership mainly targets the community; however, they offer various programs to people of all ages (Marburger, 2012) After segmenting the market, sportUNE choose their targets since there is no strategy that can suit all groups. Therefore, it is very crucial for sportUNE to develop exact strategies for their target markets. The company should conduct a cost-benefit analysis before selecting an exact target strategy to determine which strategy is appropriate. Positioning is a strategy that sportUNE utilize to develop a brand and product image in consumers’ minds. Positioning also entail improving client’s perception regarding the welfare they will experience if they purchased services from sportUNE. Effective positioning involves clear understanding of the competitor’s products and the returns that are projected by sportUNE target market. Product differentiation is where sportUNE provide a wide range of programs and services. Differentiation offers the client with an opportunity of choosing from the variety, which will increase customer satisfaction (Marburger, 2012). In conclusion, the strategic plan in sportUNE is very vital to keep the company in track so that they can attain their mission and vision. SportUNE mission is to ensure continuous growth of the company as it provides fitness to people of all ages. The company vision explains the bearing of the company in the future as well as the stance of corporate principles. The company is also very concerned with lucidity, honesty, and other desired principles as they provide their services. The five competitive forces are very vital to enable sportUNE determine the sports industry competitive advantage. The more forces that are constructive, the more striking the industry is. Micro and macro assessment of the forces is very crucial since it will enable the company to easily identify random problems and solve them in time. Market research is very crucial since they help sportUNE managers to make decisions in case of problems. Market segmentation, differentiation, positioning and targeting are other crucial strategies that sportUNE should consider to ensure that they gain competitive advantage over other rival companies in sports industry. References Grünig, R., & Kühn, R. (2008). Process-based strategic planning (5. ed.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag. (2010). How to heighten efficiency and combat risk: The value of strategic planning. Strategic Direction, 26(10), 12-15. Kapferer, J. (2012). The new strategic brand management: (5th ed.). London: Kogan Page. Marburger, D. R. (2012). How strong is your firm's competitive advantage?. New York, N.Y.] (222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017): Business Expert Press. Mullins, J. W. (2013). The new business road test what entrepreneurs and executives should do before launching a lean start-up (4th ed.). Harlow, England: Pearson. Mullins, J. W., & Walker, O. C. (2013). Marketing management: a strategic decision-making approach (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Organizational leadership. (2014). S.l.: Intervarsity Press. Sontakki, C. N. (2010). Marketing research (Rev. ed.). Mumbai: Himalaya Pub. House. SportUNE (2014). Sport UNE. Retrieved September 4, 2014, from http://www.sportune.com.au/ Robert N. Lussier and David C. Kimball (2014) five competitive forces in sport business environments.human-kinetics. Retrieved September 4, 2014, from http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/five-competitive-forces-in-sport- business-environments Wilkinson, C. (2011). Strategic navigation: Town Planning Review, 82(5), 595-613. Read More