External Environment of Double View Club - Case Study Example

Client Brief 1.0 Introduction Double View Club was founded in 1958 and has remained one of the most successful clubs after being voted the “club of the year” in 1991. The club’s success has been pushed a notch higher with their men’s team winning premier league division 6 times out of the last 9 metropolitan premierships. In their ranks the club boasts of various athletes who have represented Australia and WA in international and interstate games. These include Dennis Katunarich and Beryl Godfrey who received hall of fame from WA Bowling Association. The club has various facilities like three turf greens bowling fields, all weather synthetic/ carpet bowling field, bar, TAB services, well equipped kitchen/ dinning and relaxed serene environment1. Moreover, the club is a venue for hire for those who have weddings, parties and meetings. The club’s dining facility can host 220 people seated, BBQ area with capacity of 70 and meeting room which can cater for 25 to 30 people2. The club has numerous commercial sponsors who discounted prices to members and are allowed to advertise in the club grounds3. 2.0 Internal Analysis The strength of the organisation lies in its vast year of experience that gives them first mover advantage and the brand name they have built over the period as result of being associated with best players, winning men’s title 6 times out of 9 and being voted the best club of the year in 1991. In addition, the long years they have taken in the market means they have market knowledge and this allows them to know how to formulate winning corporate and business strategy in their industry while being aided with capable management. The third is that the firm has been able to attract corporate sponsors who offer subsidised rates to members while advertising in their field. This gives them leverage to attract new members who wish to enjoy the services of corporate sponsors at discounted rates. Lastly, the firm has numerous facilities that enable them to diversify and differentiate the services offered apart from bowling. One of their weaknesses is sticking to club membership instead of adopting new approaches like pay per demand so as to increase turnover. The other is that they have not been innovative enough to attract the younger generation leading to reduced membership as result of ageing. The opportunity they have is that people have become conscious about physical fitness and are likely to enrol in sports club. Moreover, they can tap into market segment of the elderly since the sport does not require much physical energy. Thus, they can incorporate physical fitness exercise on top of bowling. Moreover, they could expand the scope of the operations so that they have wing that caters for non members, who would wish to access a social joint while having nice time watching bowling. The threats that this firm faces include intense competition for membership by bowling clubs and other sporting clubs like golf among others. Decrease in membership and under utilisation of the halls. 3.0 External Environment 3.1 Stakeholders Apart from the ownership structure, the greatest stakeholders in any commercial organisation are the customer or prospective customers. Customers are likely to purchase product/ service from a producer if only that product meets ones need and creates value. To attain this then it means a firm has to employ various key success factors to give it layers of advantages over it competitors. Therefore the greatest stakeholders are residents of Perth in Western Australia who are likely to attend the club. In addition, the most critical stakeholders are lovers and players of bowling. On the other hand, competitors can be seen from two perspectives. The first is other sports clubs who compete for prospective sports lovers. The next are sports clubs that operate within the same industry of bowling. There are various sports clubs who compete for membership in Perth Australia. They include Golf clubs, polo clubs and fitness gyms among others. On the other hand, there are numerous bowling clubs who compete for the same prospective customers in Perth Australia. These include Mosman Park Bowling Club, Mt. Lawley Bowling Club, Leederville Sporting Club and South Perth Bowling Club among others. 3.2 PESTEL Analysis Factor Issue Political Australia has a stable and democratic political environment. This means it is easier for businesses to operate. Moreover, the country has various legislations that protect all investors and ensure level playing ground. In addition, government has invested in sports as result of its contribution to economic growth and development4. Economic Australia has relatively stable economy and was not affected by global recession. In addition, the unemployment only rose moderately during global downturn. This means it has optimum environment for doing business without worry about huge price inflation 5. Moreover, as the economy continues to prosper there is hope that people will have some disposal incomes to spend on luxuries. This is good news to Doubleview Bowling Club as membership will increase translating to improved sales. Social People are becoming more conscious of their health and thus, likely to enrol in sports clubs. Technological Technology is a two edged sword. One it allows for ease of doing business through online technology. On the other hand, emergence of computer technology such as games are eating into the market share of sports clubs as people can be entertained comfortably at their homes. Legal There are various legal constructs aimed at creating level playing field for all businesses. The fundamental all of them is Australia sports commission which is empowered by Australian sport commission Act 19896. Environmental Globally, there are undergoing strategies aimed at ensuring production of environmentally-friendly products. This means the club has to be environmentally conscious. 4.0 Summary of the Organisation’s Vision, Mission, Goals and Strategies Vision, mission, goals and objectives act as guiding statements of how to achieve market leadership. The vice president and the secretary of the bowling club observe that currently they don’t have any mission statements or goals. It is only in their recent executive meeting that they came up with a list of objectives. The objectives that were outlined are listed below. Their first objective of how to rejuvenate the club is to make the place more attractive to all of their members. The second one is to increase female membership. The other is to increase the bowling membership of new bowlers. The fourth is to integrate men’s and women’s events whether social or bowling. The fifth is to increase membership participation in the running of events/programs at the club and lastly they seek to convert corporate bowlers into full bowling members. 5.0 Key Issues and Challenges Facing the Organisation The first challenge facing the organisation is the reduction in the number of members. The vice chairman notes that the club is around 55 years old. The club used to have a lot of bowlers but like all clubs the numbers have slowly decreased over time. Our ladies are also now mostly older than 70 and there is only around 20 bowling ladies. Their men’s side has around 120 bowlers and is much stronger and younger. Apart from ageing, the reduction in number of women in the club is also affected with the scheduling of games where most women games are done on weekdays making it unattractive to working women. The next problem that is facing the organisation is under utilisation of their facilities. The vice chairman notes that they have a small seminar room that can seat up to 26 people with a large plasma TV with laptop connection etc that they hire out for full day function. They hire it out for $250 a day and can provide catering. However, the challenge is that there are a few groups that use the hall regularly. The most who utilise the facility are dancing group who use it on Thursday mornings and Tuesday afternoons. The others are several Probus groups. Closely related to the above is the under utilisation of the facilities as a whole during day time. This then means that they don’t get maximum revenue out of their initial investment. The last challenge that the organisation is facing is that they have over relied on one sector as the main source of revenue for the club. It seems that most of other investments are not giving the required returns. Vice chairman indicates that their revenue is basically driven from the bar takings. So for an average party we are going to take around $2000 and this equates to around $1000 profit once all overheads are taken into account. This means they should strengthen other sectors within the club so that they can improve their overall returns. The other key concern that affects this organisation is strategy formulation. The essence of highlighting this problem is from the Vice Chairman observation that currently they don’t have any mission statements or goals. An organisation that wishes to be competitive in their area of operations must have the above three as they define and influence strategy formulation and organisation culture. The three creates that path that an organisation wants to follow. In a nutshell, the problem facing the club is marketing concerns since all other aspects are streamlined yet they are not able to attract clients to utilise their facilities. 6.0 Approaches to Working Relations Strategy formulation is not an easy process. For an organisation to realise the effect of their strategic plan, there is need for internal collaborative effort between the consultant, corporate management, shareholders, directors and other employees. This means that as a consultant one has to work with all of the above. According to Goldratt’s theory, organisation is strong as its weakest link (Dettmer, 1997, p.7). This means that all players who are critical to the success of the organisation should be included and aligned to the new strategic plan. The first group to work with is the executive committee. The reason for this is that it is this top level management who offers leadership, vision and allocate resources. The other is the shareholders who are the principal and provides resources for the organisation. The last is the employees who will actualise the plan. The reporting would be done in two formats. The first is daily briefing on the progress of the process. The second is weekly meeting with executive committee so that they can take updates to be disbursed to other employees. Reporting Structure during Engagement with Double View Club The reporting format will be hierarchical. From a bottom-up perspective, the starting point would be that research assistants will be responsible for data collection from employees, club members and prospective clients. This will take three months. The firm will use survey research design through focus group discussion, interviews and questionnaires. This is the critical process and will take 2 months. The research assistants will forward their analysis to research director/ senior analyst for review and fine tuning. This would be on daily basis. The next would be the senior analyst to report to general manager update him on the findings that would be turned into strategic plan. This will be on daily basis and also a weekly meeting with the whole team. To keep the contracting firm abreast, general manager with the help of senior analyst shall update the chairman and his executive committee on weekly basis and as need arises. 7.0 Budget and Initial Ideas for Strategies 7.1 Initial Ideas for Strategies As noted in section six, the key issue affecting the club is marketing. This is because they are not able to attract numbers as desired so as to increase returns. The first solution would be to increase those who utilise the place during day time. The strategy here would be for the club to introduce new services like full time restaurant and conferencing services. To attract younger generation, the company should invest in new technological trends that give them opportunity to bowl and also enjoy the same. These would include having hot spots and big television screens. These can be achieved if they employee full time facility manager who will be answerable to the executive committee. His/her mandate would be to increase numbers and sales. 7.2 Marketing Budget Quarter 4 Marketing Expenditures in Australian $ Online 500 Catalogues 400 Conventions 600 Trade shows 500 Print 400 TV 900 Radio 200 Promotions 400 Sales training 900 Magazines 200 Total 5,000 References Australian Trade Commission. (2012). Democratically and politically stable. [online] Available at: [Accessed on 7 August 2012]. Dettmer, H. William. (1997). Goldratt’s theory of constraints: a systems approach to continuous improvement. Wisconsin: ASQ Quality Press. Doubleview Bowling Club. (2012a). Our history. [online] Available at: [Accessed on 7 August 2012]. Doubleview Bowling Club. (2012a). Venue hire. [online] Available at: [Accessed on 7 August 2012]. Doubleview Bowling Club. (2012c) Our sponsors. [online] Available at: [Accessed on 7 August 2012]. Edey, M. (2011). General economic and financial environment in Australia. [online] Available at: [Accessed on 7 August 2012]. Read More