Role of Planning Manager in the Realization of Business Idea - Case Study Example

role of planning manager al Affiliation) Key words: Planning Manager, Business Plan Introduction The L-W-F gym business idea is aimed at providing the best fulltime gym services to the clients to their satisfaction. The L-W-F gym has set its goals at providing exceptional quality services at affordable costs, and to set environment, which is comfortable to both the clients and the staff members, with an aim of attaining a strong market position, and at the same time meet the demands existing in the region. It has a mission of supplying products and services, which will be able to ensure the physical fitness, and mental relaxation of clients so as to promote positive living in the society, which is currently being faced with challenges of overweight, obesity and other health matters. The location of this business is in South Wales, although there is a vision of expanding the operation beyond this location. This business plan has an aim of providing services, which are able to satisfy the customers within their affordability. The staff and the management of L-W-F gym have an objective of providing an atmosphere which is customer friendly, so as to retain them and attract new ones. This business idea was reached at after a research was carried out and discovered that many people in Wales suffer from obesity and overweight. The planning manager has several duties, which he needs to carry out so as to develop a business idea, which will be able to provide a sustainable competitive advantage over the competitors. The first duty to be carried out by the planning manager is strategic analysis, which is one of the basic tools for a strategic business planning. The second duty of the planning manager is positioning, which is a very important activity in establishing the gym products and services in the eyes of the consumers. The planning manager also has a duty of carrying out planning, which involves formulation of ideas and plans so as to achieve a balance of demand with the resources available in the gym. The forth duty is market research, a process which uses information to link the end users, customers and consumers to the marketer. It also helps in understanding the competition. The planning manager has a final duty of coming up with a market strategy for this gym business plan, which will combine the marketing goals of L-W-F gym into a comprehensive plan for the purpose of profit potential maximization and sustaining the business. Main Body One of the major functions that are performed by the planning manager is strategic analysis of a business. This is a very useful and most basic tool for strategic business planning for the gym business. Strategic analysis deals with the process of researching about the business and the environment where the business operates, so as to develop a strategy for the business. The Planning Manager in strategic analysis has to carry out industry analysis, business strategy analysis, strategic evaluation, and identification of critical issues and recommendations. In industry analysis, the planning manager has a role of defining the products and markets, and also defining the skills and competitors that are contained within the organization. In this analysis, the planning manager then does the structural analysis of the industry and then identifies the key factors of success for the industry. Business strategy analysis starts with describing the strategic goals and business strategy that the firm has. The implementation is then examined from the firm’s operational and functional capabilities and also the resulting competitive and financial performance. SWOT model is an important tool to be used for the strategic evaluation. SWOT is an acronym, which represents the major categories of the analysis, where S represents Strengths, W for Weaknesses, and O for Opportunities and T for Threats. (SWOT analysis: a tool for making better business decisions. 2012). SWOT analysis is used for strategic planning, business planning, marketing, competitor evaluation, research reports and business and product development (Zanoni, 2012). Another model, which applies during the strategy analysis the PEST analysis. PEST is used in measuring a business potential and market. The business potential and market are measured considering the P (Political), E (Economic), S (Social) and T (Technological) factors. The factors, which could be, analyzed using the PEST model may include the legislations and government policies, the grants, funding and initiatives, the economy situation, market and trade cycles, customer or end user drivers, lifestyle trends, advertising and publicity, competing technology development, innovation potentials among others. Porter’s Five Forces Model can also be used in strategic analysis of the gym business plan, majorly in analyzing the competitive position. It is used for analyzing the position of the business organization and the competitive strength. The Porter’s five forces include the existing competition rivalry between the suppliers, threats of new entrants to the market, the power of bargaining of the buyers, the suppliers’ powers and the threats of substitute products and the technology change. All the above models can be used by the planning manager in the strategic evaluation of the business. The planning manager of the gym then has a role of identifying the critical issues, which the gym business needs to address. He then needs to give the recommendations pertaining the addressing of the issues, and the effects in product-market strategy. Strategic analysis aims at developing a strategy for the business and therefore looks at what could be done to obtain a competitive market share. This is done with the aim of improving the efficiency of competitive strategies and effectiveness in implementation. Image building is an important factor in strategic analysis. Methods that can be used so as to attain image building are sought. It also looks at how the logistics, operation systems and production can be refined. The main objective of strategic analysis by the planning manager of the gym is to study the gym business position in relation to the operation environment and the competition and return productive results at the department levels of the business. The planning manager of the gym has a duty of setting up measures that will maximize the use of the strengths, provide remedy for the weaknesses, provide optimization of the opportunities and counter the perceived threats. Some of the measures that will be taken might require the use of Game theory, which requires some actions to be taken according to what the others like competitors and suppliers choose to do or to avoid to do. The measures might include improved safety measures and first aid services in cases of accidents, insurance of registered members against health and issues related to fitness and pursuance of strict legal adherence so as to keep the set requirements and the customer expectations, the recruitment and training of staff so as to improve the quality of service offered to a competitive level, to expand the workforce and establish the business in the market and improvement and increase of the equipment required resources in the gym. Loans can also be used as a method of sourcing funds required in the business. In the case of SWOT strategy, the planning manager will formulate a team of players who will be able to gather the information required for assessing the weaknesses and the strength of the gym business. This team will employ methods like observations and interviews in the collection of this information. This information will be collected at several places including the consumers and the competitors. This team will also be given a task of identifying the threats, which may face the firm’s efforts, both from within the firm and the external competitive environment and the opportunities, which are available. Apart from this, the planning manager will also give the team a task of analyzing other models like the PEST model and Porter’s five forces. The results of the analysis from the research will then be reviewed and measures taken according to the findings with an aim of improving the quality of service offered by the gym firm and to make it command greater market share as it grows. This is also done with an objective of providing affordable physical health and fitness for the people of Wales, become competitive and realizes greater profits, and improves the public image portrayed. The planning manager of L-W-F gym has a role of positioning the firm to obtain a high market preference. Positioning is a strategy, which has an aim of making a brand to occupy a position, which is distinct as compared to the other competing brands. It is a method that is used to differentiate the service offered by a firm from that of the competitors and then a determination of the market niche to be filled. It helps in the establishment of the services’ identity in the eyes of the customers (Hooley, Saunders, & Piercy, 2012). The positioning strategy of a firm is affected by several variables, which are related to the requirements and motivation of the customers, and the competitors’ actions. Revisiting of various factors helps in positioning. In the L-W-F gym, the factors to be revisited include: What services are the customers really getting from L-W-F gym? How do the services of L-W-F gym differ from the services offered by the competitors? How are the services of L-W-F gym unique? (Hooley, & Saunders, 2013). From the analysis of the above strategic questions, the planning manager is able to come up with positioning measures, which will differentiate L-W-F gym from other gym services in South Wales. A mission statement is an important aspect, which helps in positioning of a firm. The planning manager should come up with a mission statement, which will capture and appeal to the market. Other positioning factors could be used including one of the strategies from Porter’s Three Generic Strategies called The Cost Leadership. This strategy should be applied in this gym business because of the low cost of similar services offered by competing firms. The differentiation strategy is not the best strategy since the competing firms are also offering high quality services with low costs thereby attracting more customers. The improvement of the services to maintain high prices may therefore not be effective in this business plan. The Contingency theory has it that before a manager comes up with a decision; he must consider the situations at hand and act on those aspects, which are key to the current situation. Positioning helps in marketing of the firm and builds the image of the firm (Sengupta, 2011). The planning manager of L-W-F gym will include the staff of the gym in coming up with a mission statement which will help in positioning of the firm. This will help to give the staff a sense of ownership and responsibility. The Systems theory requires that all systems and members of the organization take responsibility in decision-making. The use of this theory helps managers to look at the organization from a wider perspective. The planning manager has a role of identifying the market of L-W-F gym and measuring its size and other characteristics in market research. Market research is important in giving a business a clear picture of the kind of new services or products, which may bring profit. Market research helps in determination of whether a business idea would work well in the selected area. It also helps in determination of the customers and whether the business will meet the customers’ needs. Market research is important in the creation of a market plan (Aaker, 2013). The planning has to identify the target market and the potential buyers of the products and services offered in this gym facility. The Dow Theory can be used in identification of the trend in the market. The market scanning research and forecasting should also be done by the planning manager. In market research, the customer base and prospects are defined and methods through which they can be achieved, the target market demographics and possible demographic shifts are given and the details of the target market including the size, stability, accessibility, buying power and the volatility are given. The planning manager should also give out the plans to protect the market. The planning manager should put into place the two types of market research, i.e. the primary research and the secondary research. The primary research has a goal of analyzing the effectiveness of the practices currently, and the current sales. It also puts into account the competitors’ plans and gives all required information about the competition. This research employs methods such as the use of questionnaires, interviews, surveys etc. (Bradley, 2012). This method will be helpful and important in extraction of the required information from the competitors and even the target market. The secondary research has a goal of analyzing data, which is already published. Using this research, it is possible to identify the competitors, to establish benchmarks and to identify the target segments (Bradley, 2012). There are two methods of collecting data: the quantitative method and the qualitative method. The quantitative method involves a lot of analysis done mathematically (Statistical sources for market research. 2011). The qualitative method is a method, which involves the use of interviews, questionnaires, observations etc. (Kurtz, & Boone, 2011). The planning manager should set up a market research in order to determine whether the gym business activity would work in Wales. This research will help to identify the customers and determine whether the business will be able to meet the customer needs. The planning manager is also able to create a market plan through this research. He will set up both the primary and secondary research to identify the demand gap. The researchers will use interviews and observation methods in primary research. They shall use quantitative method shall be used in calculation of the people in Wales suffering from obesity and the fraction suffering from overweight so as to identify and characterize the market. Careful and critical market analysis brings about market strategies. The planning manager through market analysis is able to understand the aspects of the market, to ensure that the target market can be stated and the firm positioned to garner its sales shares. Through market analysis, there is a possibility of establishing promotional, distribution and pricing strategies, which will allow, within a competitive environment, the gym company to be profitable. The market analysis will also provide a growth potential indication within the gym industry. This will help in the development of estimates for the future of the business (Gutek, & Welsh, 2011). The planning manager should determine the target market after the determination of the market size, in terms of structure, size, sales potential, growth aspects and trends, so as to narrow down the total market through concentration on the factors of segmentation, and thereby determining the total addressable market. These segmentation factors may be product-oriented, customer attributes or geographic. For example, if the distribution of services or products is in a specific geographic zone, the target market may be designed so as to reflect the number of sales or users of the product or service within that particular geographic section. After detailing of the target market, further definition should be done for the determination of the total feasible market. This is the part of the market, which could be captured when all the conditions within the environment were kept perfect, and there being very little competition. It is much of a subjective estimate to arrive at a market share projection. This is based on pricing, promotional strategies, distribution and also market analysis. The effectiveness of achieving the promotional goals, distribution and pricing will determine the extent of garnering the market share. For a good business plan, the market share should be able to be estimated over a time period that the business plan will cover. Two factors should be considered so as to project the market share over period for the business plan: Growth of the firm, which will eventually lead to increased number of users and the conversion of users from total feasible market. The planning manager will define the strategic focus and the marketing vision of the gym business. He will then develop a marketing communication plan, which integrates and incorporates the key strategies for marketing, advertising and public relations. After this is done, he will define the target market and the marketing strategies and objectives. During positioning, he will put forward a positioning statement, which will then be offered, to the target market. He will then afterwards come up with a system of evaluation of the marketing efforts and then ensure that they are well implemented. Read More