Center Parcs UK SWOT Presentation - Research Paper Example

?SWOT Presentation: Center Parcs UK (LTD) Center Parcs UK (Ltd) offers accommodation of the highest quality in villas, lodges and apartments that arefully equipped (Center Parcs, 2012). These facilities are village-based and are located in forests and around streams each with a private deck. In 2005, Center Parcs Ltd had four villages, namely Sherwood Forest, Elveden Forest Brandon in Suffolk, Oasis Whinfell Forest Penrith Cumbria and Longleat Forest in Warminster, Wilshire (Center Parcs, 2012). These villages offer a variety of restaurants, bars and retail outlets, outdoor, indoor sports and leisure facilities set up in a natural environment theme with the essential elements as water and woodlands. Each village has a major subtropical swimming paradise that is heart to its activities with a constant temperature of 84 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, the area is filled with wild water rapids, spa pool, solaria and pools for children playing, wave pool, water slides in the midst of luxuriant tropical trees and other plants. The Sherwood Forest village was the first of the Center Parcs villages opened in July 1987; it can accommodate over 4,200 guests per break on a 400 acre facility (Center Parcs, 2012). It also has a range of leisure, outdoor and indoor facilities. The villages offer luxurious but relaxed atmosphere and holidays over short breaks: weekends and midweek breaks all year round as well as increased stays during normal periods of visiting. This strategy has been successful in that each village records occupancy figures of above 90% and repeated bookings in a year that rise above 60% (Center Parcs, 2012). Strategic Business Units at Center Parcs These are the organizational units/villages developed by Center Parcs Ltd. and function independently but under one corporation, Center Parcs. Center Parcs Ltd had four villages, namely Sherwood Forest, Elveden Forest Brandon in Suffolk, Oasis Whinfell Forest Penrith Cumbria and Longleat Forest in Warminster, Wilshire (Center Parcs, 2012). Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire This village boosts a conference centre, the Venue, which has a variety of modern and comfortable air-conditioned rooms of varying sizes. Delegates enjoy this village due to its ideal atmosphere in a peaceful environment. In addition, Center Parcs (2012) reveals that the village has a wide range of leisure activities as well as the Aqua Sana spa to ensure a relaxed mind after meetings. The Venue has rooms that can accommodate up to a maximum of 600 guests while other rooms like at the Major Oak can accommodate 300 guests (Center Parcs, 2012). Other rooms are available at various points at the Sherwood Forest village. Whinfell Forest, Cumbria This village is located on the rim of Lake District that boosts wildlife and is home to few colonies of Red Squirrels still surviving in the UK. This village is the best in providing activities involving energetic building of teams, informal meetings or relaxing retreats. The village’s Green Room can accommodate a maximum of 350 guests (Center Parcs, 2012). Elveden Forest, Suffolk Similar to Sherwood Forest village, this village too has the Venue - a purpose built conference room with a variety of modern and comfortable air-conditioned rooms of varying sizes. Delegates enjoy this village due to its environment. Anglia 1, 2, 3 accommodates a maximum of 450 guests while the least, 8, can be accommodated at Wolsey. Longleat Forest, Wiltshire Longleat Forest is home to the Venue – a conference centre purposefully built for meetings of delegates who come here due to peaceful setting and an environment that enables them to prepare constructively for their meetings and other activities. In addition, the village has a variety of modern rooms well equipped with air conditioners and of varying sizes. The wide variety of leisure activities, including the ward winning spa, Aqua Sana, ensures that the delegates are well refreshed and relaxed before and after their meetings. The Venue can accommodate a maximum of 500 guests while the minimum number of guests (20) can be held at Malmesbury and Avebury. SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses The organization treats its staff as the most important asset and recognizes them by promoting training and other initiatives that enhance their development (World Bank, 2006). The organization is a well known provider of holiday activities in the UK and Europe in general (Center Parcs, 2012). This helps open up more international markets for the organization’s products. It can accommodate guests throughout the year, including short holidays (mid-week and weekends). Weather in the Parcs is no issue due to the presence of the Tropical Swimming Paradise that contains heated water (Center Parcs, 2012). Participation in charity work involving children and the environment. These charities involve provision of holidays to ill children and their families. The four villages are closely surrounded by small communities. The organization is committed to the people and enjoys close relationships with the community. This provides visitors with a chance to mingle with some community members and participate in different local projects. The maintenance of employees and the facilities in the group could be quite costly. The heating of the tropical swimming paradise dome and maintenance of the hundreds of Villas and restaurants in the four villages is quite costly. The organization has a tendency to preserve its activities based on its traditional setup/ laurels or environment and lacks pace with the changing environment. Heavily relies on weather even though the domes can provide heated water for swimming but not for all the guests in the villages. Opportunities Threats Despite the fact that the current economic environment is challenging, the organization intends to increase capital investments in the business in the coming financial year. The accommodation restyling program that intends to convert 300 Villas to a new style will provide further accommodation (Center Parcs, 2012). Large amounts of space to build other spas will ensure continued visits to the Center Parcs. Continued improvement and development of the organization’s shop and restaurants will ensure visitors get quality services and enjoy their stay. Increased prices of inputs could affect the margin of the group. These costs include wages, utilities and overheads. The brand could be affected by a slow decline in the appeal of the brand to the consumers necessitating a need for innovation (Warschauer, 2003). Fraud – the four sites are at great risk of assets being misappropriated as well as theft of cash takings and stock. Through extensive use of business systems, regular reviewing of finance and management structures the group is able to mitigate this risk. Resignation of employees, which are key assets of the organization or the inability of the group to hire new qualified personnel, could have negative impacts on the group. To mitigate this, the group has take into account the bonus of its staff with respect to performance and reward schemes for outstanding staff. Changes in the economic environment will greatly reduce the spending power of guests which will in turn reduce the number of guests and on-site spending UNDESA, 2005). Key Issues i. The group heavily relies on its past laurels, and a lot is changing in the holidays services. The group should develop innovative teams to come up with new methods that will incorporate new technology in their activities to keep pace with the rapid technological world (Atkinson and McKay, 2007). ii. Changes in the economy. Market sectors keep on changing due to various reasons including but not limited to inflation. According to ITU (2007) and UNCTAD (2006), such activities reduce the spending power of guests hence affecting the market of the group. iii. Employees are the most valuable asset of any organization. For an organization to ensure its prosperity, it must first ensure its employees are retained via the use of all available means (World Information, 2006). iv. Motivational activities like bonus schemes can help improve the performance of employees and improve their faith in the organization. This belief in the organization is essential to the success of the organization (World Bank, 2006). Center Parcs UK Ltd has developed into a worldwide holiday facility over the past few years; through its continued development and offering of quality services in the region, it is viewed to be among the top organizations offering the service in the world. References Atkinson, R.D. & McKay, S.A. (2007). Digital prosperity – understanding the economic benefits of the information technology revolution, The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Washington D.C. Center Parcs Annual Review (2011). Retrieved Nov. 15, 2012 . ITU. (2007). International Telecommunications Union and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), World Information Society Report 2007 – Beyond WSIS. Geneva. UNCTAD (2006). United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Information Economy Report 2006 - the development perspective, United Nations, New York and Geneva. UNDESA. (2005). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN Global E-government Readiness Report 2005 – from e-government to e-inclusion, United Nations, New York. Warschauer, M. (2003). Demystifying the digital divide, Scientific American. World Bank. (2006). Information and communications for development 2006: global trends and policies, Washington D.C. World Information Technology and Services Alliance. (2006). Digital planet 2006: the global digital economy, Arlington, VA. Read More