Strategic Management in Tourism Event and Sport - Case Study Example

Running Head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN TOURISM, EVENT AND SPORT Strategic Management in Tourism, Event and Sport [Writer’s name] [Institution’s name] Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Analysis 4 Company background 4 Strategy for Growth 4 The Marketing environment 5 Ethics and Social Responsibility 7 Best options for the company 9 Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage 11 Conclusion 14 References 15 Executive Summary This report is based on the critical evaluation of a business situation of an actual organization and presents a business case for a strategic growth option to the Chief Executive Officer. This is part of the scenario planning approach adopted by the organization. The report will evaluate strategic options based on different future scenarios. For this purpose Manchester United has been selected for the organization which is to be evaluated. The strategic options shall be provided in the analysis section which three options are evaluated i.e 1. Merge with the International Management Group (IMG), 2. Acquire IMG, 3. Acquire Village Road Show., the most appropriate one seemed to be the second one which is acquiring IMG. SWOT analysis was carried out regarding the selected option. The repot concluded that to ensure success the club should implement the strategy of acquiring IMG Strategic Management in Tourism, Event and Sport Introduction This report is based on the critical evaluation of a business situation of an actual organisation and presents a business case for a strategic growth option to the Chief Executive Officer. This is part of the scenario planning approach adopted by the organisation. The report will evaluate strategic options based on different future scenarios. For this purpose Manchester United has been selected for the organisation which is too be evaluated. The strategic options shall be provided in the analysis section given below. Analysis Company background Manchester United is one hundred and thirty four years old team, with a remarkable number of fans i.e. 659 million along with many potential fans as well. The foot ball club n the Premier League. It came into origin as Heath LYR Football Club in 1878 (White 2010). The name was changed to Manchester United and still well known by this name. Strategy for Growth Retaining teams playing success The organization has a special academy which trains players from a very small age to play for the team. Using the varied benefits of media rights Manchester United owns a personal televised program from which the community may be provided news regarding the progress of the team only by selecting the team by a button. Leveraging the global brand In the summer， the team can visit different countries in the time of the pre-season. Of the teams have pre-season in a different nation this may provide them with numerous strong opportunities. As this is the best strategy to enhance global fan base. (Moutinho 2011) The most important opportunity may be the successful and global promotion of their global brand name, arranging friendly matches with their die heart friends in the local stadium. Every year the club should go to different countries to play with their teams like a few years back they went to Africa. Converting more fans to customers Developing a strong communication channel with customers is an extremely important step for the club. The club provides an excellent fan service in which fans easily convert into loyal customers. After an individual becomes a fan, he /she may desire to purchase the products. This also makes the individual a live brand promotion campaign as most of the products are like shirts, mugs ect. These things are usually utilized on daily bases by people when they are even with friends. The Marketing environment When considering developing a marketing environment, it must consider the important demographic factors which have an intense effect on target marketing. The major cause of their success is due to their strong marketing mix. It is designed with the intention to attract to a particular group of probable customers (Yilmaz etal 2008). In the club’s case their possible clientele are individuals who take pleasure in the sport of soccer. As the game is the number one sport in the globe and Manchester United has proved to be the most admired teams, Manchester United in the near future may go towards potential success. It may be noted that only recently Manchester United has shown due regard for the Asian market so that they can successfully increase fan rate they hired Park Ji Sung, who is a South Korean player, he was very successful in Manchester as well a through this means the club gained a strong position the Asian market, they gained the most number of fans in the market in question. This strategy helped them gain a strong target market in Asia, as they had taken an Asian in their team. This attracted the market in question. After the before mentioned player left them, they hired Shinji Kagawa, he was a Japanese player, he gained ample popularity in Germany after which he was hired by the club this in turn helped them further grow their Asian conquest. It has been noted that gaining advantages from Manchester United from quality players and even their nation become apart of this fame. Currently Manchester United has declared a new 3 years partnership with Yanmar This may assist United to exploit Yanmar's proficiency in their important markets globally and develop their profile in Japan. By means of this opportunity, the club may be able to utilize Kagawa's link to start Promotions in Japan assisting them to communicate with four million Japanese fans in Japan. Since the club has a huge number of fans, they gain a lot of benefits from their stores. They vend uniforms, clothes, accessories, souvenirs and also pet products intended for every age group and for both males and females. By selling such products in stores the club may gain a maple amount of fame in a larger community (Gammon & Robinson 2003). Ethics and Social Responsibility As per Manchester United's mission statement, “to be the best football club in the world, both on and off the pitch” (Schwartz, 2012), it has a strong sense of civic feeling which makes them want to be a part of the community in the entire sense of the word. This means that their success must not just be based on the quantity of trophies they win but they should also have an impact on the development of the community as a whole as well. The club is dedicated to having an influential impact on environmental and social problems at a local, state and global level (Gibson 1998). They hope to achieve this via utilizing the Manchester United brand, by this strategy the club desires to support as well as create global awareness of the before mentioned concerns. Their corporate social responsibility policy statements are based on the following: Active Social Engagement This policy states that the club is devoted to making an optimistic change in the communities they work in. They have introduced a multitude of different community programs that are committed to keep busy as well as provide a better quality change to the lives of the youth in the community. Environmental Policy Statement This policy states that the club is conscious of their responsibility to guarantee a safe and healthy environment. Struggle to stop polluting the land, air or water and take rational precautions to avoid pollution at its cause. Supply Chain Engagement This policy states that the club may work in a partnership with their suppliers as well as giving ample attention to operating their supply chain sincerely and fairly. The club also supports the Envirowise Supply Chain Partnership Programme this aids them in attaining both their financial as well as environmental targets (Tomlinson 2010). Sustainable Events Policy This policy states that the club realizes the fact their event management activities as well as operations may be likely have positive and negative effects of the environmental, social and economic kind. Safeguarding Adults Policy This policy states that the club realizes and completely acknowledges its liability for the safely and wellbeing of susceptible adults who come within the concern of the club and its staff. Community and Environmental Sustainability This policy states that the club assign themselves to the health and security of their staff, clientele, service providers and the entire community (Tomlinson 2010). Equal Opportunities Policy This policy states that they are an equal opportunities employer. This policy of the club is not to discriminate against present employee of persons looking for jobs on the basis of age, gender, disability, racial origin, ethnic group, religious conviction, belief, race, color, sexual class, gender relocation, matrimonial or civil affiliation status or family conditions. Safeguarding Children Policy This policy states that the club believes that it is never acceptable for a child or young person to experience abuse of any kind and recognizes its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all children and young people by a commitment to practice which protects them. Best options for the company The best option after analyzing the information of the three companies i.e. the International Management Group( IMG), The GPT Hotel Group and the village road show, the options which Manchester United has is to 1.merge with IMG, 2. Acquire IMG, 3. Acquire Village Road Show Sustainability As per sustainability the first option i.e. merger with IMG on a scale of 1-5, sustainability in achieving the objective it may be rated as 2.5. This means it has an average sustainability of achieving the objective. As for enhancing competitive advantage it may be rated as 3 on a scale of 1-5. This means it has above average sustainability of enhancing the competitive advantage. As for maximizing on a scale of 1-5 it may be rated as 4 while minimizing may be rated as 1 which means it may provide maximum sustainability for United Manchester. Usability on scale of 1-5 may be rated as 2, which means below average sustainability of the practical usage of this option . Advance may be rated as 4 on a scale of 1-5 which means excellent sustainability. As per the second option, i.e. acquiring IMG the sustainability of achieving the objective on a scale of 1-5 may be rated as 3. This means that the sustainability of chaining objective of this option is above average. As for enhancing competitive advantage it may be rated as 3 on a scale of 1-5. This means it has above average sustainability of enhancing the competitive advantage. As for maximizing on a scale of 1-5 it may be rated as 5 while minimizing may be rated as 5 which means it may provide maximum sustainability for United Manchester. Advance may be rated as 5 on a scale of 1-5 which means excellent sustainability may be expected. Use is even rated as 5 on a scale of 1-5 which also mean the practicality of this option has excellent sustainability. As per the third option, i.e. acquiring the Village Road Show the sustainability of achieving the objective on a scale of 1-5 may be rated as 2.5. This means that the sustainability of chaining objective of this option is in middle range of having poor sustainability and average sustainability. As for enhancing competitive advantage it may be rated as 1 on a scale of 1-5. This means it has below average sustainability of enhancing the competitive advantage. As for maximizing on a scale of 1-5 it may be rated as 1 while minimizing may be rated as 2. This means it may provide poor maximum sustainability for United Manchester and even sustainability at a minimized level may be below average. Use may be rated as 2 on a scale of 1-5 which means practicality of this option has poor sustainability may be expected. Advance is even rated as 4 on a scale of 1-5 which means excellent sustainability. Feasibility As per feasibility it may be noted that according to the internal environment the first option was rated as 3, external environment as 4 and analysis turned out to be 5 which meant this was an option which is average when feasibility is calculated. As per the second option it may be noted that internal environment and analysis both are 5 and external is 4. Here one may note that the second option is extremely feasible for the organization. As per the third option all three the internal and external environment as well as the analysis was rated as 2 which meant that it was a poor option. And thus not at all feasible. Acceptability It may be noted that first option as per rating may be acceptable, however compared to the rating of the second option it is les acceptable. The second one is highly acceptable and adjustable to the market. The third option according to ratings seem to be rated as an average As per the analysis of all three tables it may be said that the second option i.e. to merge with IMG is the most, feasible, acceptability and sustainable one. In every aspect it has rated above 2 and thus, has tendency of providing United Manchester with opportunities and success in the sports market. Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage . To analyze the selected option in accordance to the present and possible environment a situation analysis is required (Kirovska,2011). This is due to the fact that identifying the internal strengths and weaknesses as well as analyzing the external opportunities and threats before implementing the option is extremely important. Strengths Weakness The fact that the club has a strong history of attaining 19 league titles, audiences are expecting them to also arrange the best events. Keeping this in mind IMG is so global with so many tentacles in event management, and thus may serve this purpose well if it is acquired by Manchester United The fact that Manchester United has a strong global fan base of 659 million fans makes the option to acquire IMG even more logical, as just recently IMG have undertaken a strategy to further diversify its interests on a global basis (Tomlinson 2010) . Keeping in mind that the club is quite aware of it’s social corporate responsibility, the option to acquire IMG may be a wise one as IMG has a history of being exceptionally risk averse and follow legalities to the letter of the law. In selecting the most appropriate option with such huge companies, the club may be competent enough to develop into a global brand. Both the selected company and the club can promote together as well a along with share their clientele at a global level. In selecting the most appropriate option with such huge companies, the club may be competent enough to develop into a global brand. Both the selected company and the club can promote together as well a along with share their clientele at a global level. They are not just a soccer club but even a company as well. It may be noted as per the above given tables that the best option is to acquire IMG. Business activities the club is associated with It is also very important to highlight the business activities which the club is associated with are as follows: their own team itself, must perform good in their league along with other tournaments in which they participate (Premier League 2012) IMG may help in highlighting this in through their promotions They have their own souvenir shop. This may help them in promoting IMG ‘s efforts as well. After an individual becomes a fan, he /she may desire to purchase the products. This also makes the individual a live brand promotion campaign as most of the products are like shirts, mugs ect. These things are usually utilized on daily bases by people when they are even with friend The one and only weakness in acquiring IMG is the current performance of the club has become quite weak as they were not winners but runners up in the 2011-12 campaign, they were disqualified in the preliminary stage of the 2011-12 European Cup where as they used always be one of the top notch teams. This may serve as a weakness as IMG is famous for promoting top notch players and if the company is used to promote players with a bad current record the reputation and Image of IMG may also suffer. Opportunities Threats Manchester United, an extremely flourishing and well-off club, as it is an extremely well known name in the soccer domain it has a very huge international fan base. By merging with IMG it may be able to increase it’s international fame By implementing the option to acquire IMG the club may be successful in using the transfer market wisely as it handles the commercial activities of high profile international sports events. It may even help in creating a bigger fan base especially in Asia as just recently IMG have undertaken a strategy to further diversify its interests on a global basis. The merger may also help the club in upward movement in the market as IMG ahs the ability to promote sports events quite effectively. Here one may note that the merger will be double win situation as IMG will also get positive publicity due to the fact that they have own their personal cable television channel , which is named MUTV may make the above given option more worth while. The merger with IMG may provide a platform for developing a strong communication channel with customers is an extremely important step for the club Since United Manchester has a special academy which trains players from a very small age to play for the team IMG may be helpful in it’s promotion. The one and only threat which the option of acquiring IMG faces is that if they do acquire it then the past clients may want the company to carry on managing their events and the club is only proficient in soccer and no other activity. . Conclusion To conclude it may be said that after evaluating all three options for United Manchester i.e. merge with IMG, 2. Acquire IMG, 3. Acquire Village Road Show., the most appropriate one seems to be the second one which is acquiring IMG. The SWOT analysis given above provides further support to this assumption. Thus, to ensure success the club should implement the strategy of acquiring IMG. References Gammon, Sean & Robinson, Tom (2003), Sport and Tourism: A Conceptual Framework. Journal of Sport Tourism, 8(1):21-26. Gibson, Heather J. (1998), Active Sport Tourism: Who Participates? Leisure Studies, 17 :155-170 Kirovska, Zanina (2011), Strategic management within the tourism and the world globalization. UTMS. Journal of Economics, 2 (1): 69–76 Moutinho Luiz (2011), Strategic management in tourism Wallingford, Oxfordshire ; Cambridge, MA : Cabi Premier League (2012), “Manchester United Football Club". Retrieved from premierleague.com May 14, 2013 Schwartz, Peter J. (2012), "Manchester United Again The World's Most Valuable Soccer Team". Forbes Magazine. Retrieved from ww.forbes.com/pictures/mlm45edfgm/1-manchester-united/ on May 14, 2013 Tomlinson Alan (2010), Dictionary of Sports Studies. Oxford university press White Jim (2010); Manchester United: The Biography: The Complete Story of the World's Greatest Football Club. Little, Brown Book Group Yilmaz, Burcu Selin and Gunel, Ozgur Devrim (2008); The Importance of Strategic Stakeholder Management in Tourism Sector: Research on Probable Applications. An International Multidisciplinary Journal of Tourism , 4 (1).:97-108. Appendix Sustainability 1 2 3 Achieve objective 2.5 3 2.5 Enhance competitive advantage 3 3 2 Maximize 4 5 1 Minimize 1 5 2 Use 0 Advance T 2 4 5 5 2 4 Feasibility 1 2 3 Internal 3 5 2 External 4 4 2 Analysis 5 5 2 Acceptability 1 2 3 Internal 4 5 2 External 4 4 3 Analysis 5 5 3 Read More