Creating Parks as a Service for People - Research Paper Example

Running Head: Market Analysis for Skating Service Park Market Analysis Academia Academia Research The service that is being provided is nota new one in terms that there are almost around 30 parks providing the service for skate board, however it has been tried to the level best to introduce a park which provides both the services such as roller blade skating and skate board, first of all we have to conduct a research to identify whether there is a need in the target audience or not, few basic things that should be kept in mind are the target audience, their age range, their gender and the level of consumption, and also we need to keep in mind the location which is of course important as we need to facilitate the customers as much as we could without compromising on the profitability, the best location that is suitable for such service is the area near Sugar Land because it is central and easily approached by the entire city, but the real result would be concluded after the research as there might be other areas where people have more willingness to use such an entertaining service, for this purpose we have to start from the first step that is the existing problem and than its solution. Management decision problem “Should the park service providing skate board and roller skating be introduced?” Marketing Research Problem “To determine level of interest the audience has in them in using such entertaining service” The first problem is to conduct the research so that we can get as much of information as we could, we should do park intercepts and we can ask people numerous of questions regarding their outing, we can also find young boys and girls and also men aging from 10 to 35 in so many places such as markets, malls, and also the other skate board parks in Houston which are nearly thirty, we can provide them with questionnaires and ask their advice on their level of liking or disliking the idea of a new park. Research Hypothesis Young people are really interested in passing there evenings while skating. People love to have such spacious parks providing all services at a single place. The research should be conducted through a proper questionnaire and the target audience or the respondents should be majority of males looking young and energetic and also people who are quite fit because the service would be used mostly by people who are fit, for the purpose of conducing research the best possible solution is to look for people in the near by parks such as parks in Bellaire and other areas, the other places would be malls and entertainment places such as game zones, and also the people on road skating can be questioned, the service is having few qualities and strengths that should be clearly mentioned in the questionnaire and also the questionnaire should not be prepared in a way that can give the audience a hint for the desired answer, there are also few things that should be noted without questioning them in the question paper such as the gender and area where the research is conducted or park name can also be used to identify the responses from people of that particular park, it has been said by Bassett in 1992, “Service must be found at or near the customer. Decentralization is indispensable. Corner grocery stores, once a feature of every city, are returning in the form of "convenience" stores. Personal Service from hairdressers or barbers has always been dispersed into local neighborhoods”(p. 28). and also the ratio of research from male to female should be 70 to 30 respectively, because we have more to find out in the male users which are far more than female in the service offered. Questionnaire What’s your age group? a. 8 - 14 b. 15 - 21 c. 22 - 28 d. 29 - 35 Do you like skating? a. Yes b. No (proceed if Yes) Where do you like to skate? a. Parks b. Roads c. other Which is your current park for skating? _____________ Which area can you reach easily for skating? ____________ What do you think about the services the park (for skating) is providing you? a. Excellent b. Good c. Fair d. Average e. Poor f. Very poor Which sort of skating do you like? a. Roller Blade b. Skate board c. Other How many times in a week do you go out for skating? a. Once a week b. Twice a week c. Thrice a week d. Daily d. other(plz mention) Would you like to use a park service providing every type of skating service? a. Yes b. No What if we say to you that there is a new park in your area providing every skating facility? a. That’s Wonderful b. That’s good c. That’s Ok The previously-mentioned questions would easily give the entire information about the research and it would be very much easy to identify the correct decision of the park opening, our target audience are located in the entire Houston, Texas but in order to get the correct information we have to reach all the parks and have to look for their views, there must be so many areas where the people are happy with the services such as people living just very near the park and also people who have made the park their permanent place to visit, such people would of course not be willing to leave the park for a new one no matter how good service would be provided in the new park, “Customers buy solutions, not products. Every firm needs to understand what it is providing the customer in terms of customer value, not by focusing on the product but by focusing on the customer. In doing so, the firm is able to assess whether it is providing superior customer value and whether it has a sustainable competitive advantage. Competitive advantage cannot be sustained unless it can be protected from competitor matching”(John, 19: 2003). After the research would be conducted and the decision for the service is finalized the marketing strategy should be decided, the marketing of such service would be a problem as the market is not wide spread and we only have a specific target audience, however we can also attract other people from different parks by hiring a sales force and asking them to give the printed pamphlets to the people skating in different parks of the state and also we can use the same strategy used for questionnaire filling, that is by going at various malls and also various parks and asking people that do they like skating?, if the answer is yes than just giving them the pamphlet by saying, “we have got something for you”, it is a different style of marketing but since the service is also unique so therefore the marketing should also be very much unique and it would surely attract a number of users, and also other services can be used as sales promotion such as providing special safety equipments for the beginners and stuff like that. “A company selling performances can only be as good as its performers is as sound today as when originally proposed. Service companies cannot compete effectively without effective service, which to one degree or another is performed by people. To create value for customers, service companies must invest in attracting, developing, motivating, and retaining quality people to perform the service. Stated differently, to excel in external marketing, service companies must first excel in internal marketing”(Lewis, Varey, 173: 2000). Another important line that shows the importance of marketing in sports is mentioned here which means that sports is overlooked in marketing, it should also be marketed and this does not only promote the organization providing some service in sports but also this brings sports at some high level. “Marketing is a key area of operation for all modern-day businesses. It must be seen as a process, not a theoretical concept, and must be a shared concept for every one of the staff. Marketing should be seen as the responsibility not of one individual but of every person working in the business of sport. It is often believed that marketing is the weakest part of some sports operations. This may well be due to the fact that the term is not understood by many and so is not implemented by everyone, as it needs to be”(Watt, 166: 2003). Work Cited & Other Sources Basset G, “Operations Management for Service Industry”, Westport, CT: Quorum, 1992. John J, “Fundamentals of Customer Focused Management”, Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003. Lewis B.R, R. Varey, “Internal Marketing: D.O.M”, London: Routledge, 2000. Watt D.C, “Sports Management and Administration”, New York: Routledge, 2003. Malhotra N.K., “Marketing Research”, (n.p): Pearson, 2004. Bartol, K.M., D. Martin, “Management”, New York: McGraw Hill, 1998. Read More