Exploring Marketing Research - Case Study Example

Strategic Marketing Plan Name: Institution: Course: Date:   Introduction SportUNE is a university sporting precincts that is found in Australia. Due to the variety of the facilities and services provided, UNE life has been considered to be the best sport facilities provider in Australia through the sportUNE. At sportUNE, a fitness and strength building gym, regular fitness classes and even a racket court will ensure every time spend at sportUNE is does not go to waste. A part from this facilities and services, well organised sport club will provide a very competitive sports season. The environment at sportUNE is friendly as the instructors are highly qualified and always willing to discuss the fitness goals of any person and help the person achieve their goals. Regular fitness classes section of sportUNE can increase its customers due to very many gaps in the market. Hierarchical Levels of Strategy In order to increase the number of customers, sportUNE must ensure that the regular fitness classes favourably compete and outdo other providers of the same services. SportUNE can achieve this by ensuring the services provided should be of high quality. Since the products are the ones involved in active completion in the market, the product should be well prepared for the completion. (Cohen, 2009)this can be done by setting up a well-defined hierarchy of strategies. 1. Corporate level At this stage, sportUNE must ensure that any developments made in ensuring that the services produced in the market should be well coordinated. Every player in the management and production of these services must be involved in the development. The type of activities to be done to improve the income should be well defined to every person taking part. Since the improvement may require involvement of other departments, it is important to elaborate how the departments will collaborate in order to achieve the set goal. (Wood, 2003) 2. Business Unit Level Strategy Since the main objective of sportUNE is to increase the number of customers, the methods to be used are identified in this level of strategy. Other firms that produce the same services should be well studied to identify their strengths and weaknesses and how they can be outdone. This will help the regular fitness classes in favourably competing in the market. (Wood, 2003) 3. Functional Level Strategy The last stage of strategic plans involves identifying the sources of inputs in the organisation. SportUNE should identify where the inputs used in the classes will be acquired. Since the business involves different departments, inputs can be easily exchanged in the departments. The equipment in the gym can be used if needed in the classes. This will determine the formation of other higher strategies. Porter’s five forces Competition is an evitable part of a business environment. The success or failure of the business however depends on the strategy used in making sure the business withstands any level of competition provided by the competitors. Porter five forces analysis is a framework to analyse the level of competition within an industry and business strategy development. A combination of the porter five forces that result in a reduction in the overall profitability shows that the industry is unattractive. The change in the forces does not necessarily mean that the every firm will experience a decline in its profits. In case sportUNE detects a change in these factors, it can apply some of its strategies in order to achieve a high profit than the average profits in the industry. (Cohen, 2009) 1. Threat of new entrants New firms are attracted to profitable industries with large markets. The sports industry that has the sportUNE as the main player is therefore very attractive. The entry of these new firms will definitely reduce the profitability of the industry. This can be only avoided by trying to ensure other new firms are prevented from entering the industry. SportUNE can avoid new entrance into the regular fitness classes by ensuring the other firms will incur extra costs when they enter the market. This can be done by lowering their prices to levels where the other firms cannot afford. 2. Threat of substitute products or services The existence of products outside of the realm of the common product boundaries increases propensity of customers to switch to alternatives. The gym facility provided at the sportUNE can be substituted by other body fitness activities such as athletics. In order to avoid the switch of customers, sportUNE can consider a number of actions. These include ensuring the price of the new substitute is not favourable to the customer than the price of the original commodity or service. The buyers switching cost may also be a factor as it may be too high to be afforded. SportUNE provide a series of substitutes in the market which makes it hard for new firms to incorporate in the market easily. Quality of the commodities or services provided at will also determine the ease of entry of a new product in the market. (Beri, 2009) 3. Bargaining power of customers The ability of the customers to determine the prices of the commodity depends on a number of factors. One of the main factors is the number of alternatives in the market. High number of alternatives divides the customers therefore reducing the pressure they can have on the firm to reduce the prices. Only one alternative on the other hand may make it easy for customers to affect the general prices of the commodity. SportUNE has countered this problem by introduction of loyalty programs that reduces the bargaining power of customers 4. Bargaining power of suppliers The market of inputs, as it is also called, has a great effect on the firm’s performance. SportUNE has several suppliers ranging from those who supply equipment to those who supply labour. In the case of equipment supply, sportUNE can easily control their effect by ensuring that they have alternative sources of the equipment. 5. Threat of established rivalry In most industries, competition may be between two main established firms or more. This type of completion at sportUNE has been properly countered by the use of well-established methods of advertising, powerful competitive strategies and the degree of transparency in the firm. For most industries the intensity of competitive rivalry is the major determinant of the competitiveness of the industry. This makes the sports industry very competitive as very many established firms are in the industry. In using the porter five forces theory, a number of strategies have to be fully employed in order to address the fundamental business problems. The three main fundamental problems are: operational problems which involve how the firm should implement the solutions that have been found to solve entrepreneurial problems, the second problem are the entrepreneurial problem which includes how a firm should ensure full control of its market. Administrative problems involve the structure of the firm that will ensure easy finding off solutions to the first two problems and implementing them. Prospector, defender, analyser, and reactor are the strategies commonly used (Zikmond, 2004) 1. Prospector organisations These organisations usually locate and exploit new product and market opportunities. They usually have a broad product and service line and will always promote creativity over efficiency, as they will always want to introduce new products. These diverse products aim at reaching a wide range of customers and their changing demands. In order to manage the many products, the firm has a decentralised organisation with a maximum collaboration among the departments. 2. Defender organizations They ensure they acquire and maintain a stable share of the market. This can only be achieved in stable environments. They have centralised organisational structures that solve the administration problems. In order to maintain low costs, specialisation in particular areas and the use of established and standardized technical processes are used. Long term planning is a feature of defender organisation.( Churchill, 2014) 3. Analyser organizations. This is a blend of defender and prospector organisations. They strive to maintain the existing market and also remain flexible to allow dealing in new goods and services. Changes in the market are solved by their ability to produce new commodities. Technical efficiency is employed in maintaining low costs in existing products (Jones, Josey, Rister 2007). 4. Reactor organizations They do not have a systematic strategy or administration structure. The organisations do not take into consideration any change in the market. They make short term plans as the changes in the market to them are too fast to adjust. The managers have a final say on the changes made in the firms. Analyser organisation strategy is the best strategy to be employed by sportUNE as the sport industry experiences changes in market in most cases. This strategy will not only ensure that the already established market of sportUNE is not lost but it will also ensure that new markets are created through new products and services. (Wood, 2003) Micro and Macro level analyses SportUNE can handle the challenges in the industry through two main levels of perspectives. The Micro-level is a level that focuses only on one or small detail of the firm. For instance, sportUNE can improve its profitability by assessing the individual input of every single worker and their interaction with customers. Inversely, sportUNE can handle its challenges by the Macro level perspective. This level assesses the business as a whole. At this stage, sportUNE improve its profitability by assessing the level of employee morale, assessing their performance and assessing the satisfaction of the customers at the same time. Different Micro level perceptions are put together in Macro level. In order to solve the challenges effectively, sportUNE will have to use both the Micro and Macro levels at the same time. Market research SportUNE can prepare a questionnaire that will be answered by different customers who are already using the services about the importance of improving the quality of the services in the regular fitness classes. The prices that can be paid for the services and any other considerations to be made should be included. Product promotion and distribution will be cheap if the market research results are accurate. The targeted market can be easily identified. Market research can be done in different other ways according to the choice made by the firm. The main factor to consider when choosing the method to use is the accuracy of the method. Inaccurate information may lead to wrong strategy use and poor marketing decisions. (McDaniel, Gates, 2006) Market segmentation If according to the market research, the market of sportUNE is too wide to be handled as one, then the market is divided into small subsections on the basis of their needs, priorities and interests. This makes it easy to retain the customers by serving them in the best ways possible. This strategy is used in defining market groups using the finest terms possible. The type of segmentation depends on several factors. They include demography, geographical criteria, knowledge of the customer and cultural origin of the customers.(Cohen, 2009) Product Differentiation strategy In order to produce a product or avail services that will fully satisfy the customers, sportUNE will have to incorporate some attributes such as the price or quality into a product. The price at which the regular fitness classes’ services are provided together with their quality should not be matched by any other in the entire industry. In this case, sportUNE will have differentiated its product from those of the competitors. This will ensure that these products remain to be the best at the market therefore increasing the firm’s profits. The main method to differentiate these services is by its quality improvement. (Hamersveld, Bont, 2007) Product positioning strategy The strategy aims at ensuring that the regular fitness classes are always available in the market when needed. When the service does not miss delivery times as compared to their competitors, then the service has positioned itself in the market. SportUNE can do this by ensuring that every time a customer seeks their services they are available. (Jones, Josey, Rister, 2007). Conclusion In most industries, competition may be between two main established firms or more. This type of completion at sport UNE has been properly countered by the use of well established methods of advertising, powerful competitive strategies and the degree of transparency in the firm. For most industries the intensity of competitive rivalry is the major determinant of the competitiveness of the industry. This makes the sports industry very competitive as very many established firms are in the industry. A combination of the porter five forces that result in a reduction in the overall profitability shows that the industry is unattractive. In case sport UNE detects a change in these factors, it can apply some of its strategies in order to achieve a higher profit than the average profits in the industry (Cohen, 2009). References Cohen, W. A. (2009). The marketing plan. New York: Wiley Wood, M. B. (2003). The marketing plan: A handbook. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Jones, S., McPhee, L., Josey, S., Rister, K., HSTN.,&Primedia Corporate University. (2007). The marketing plan. Carrollton, TX: HSTN. Market Research Society.,& British Overseas Trade Board. (2004). International directory of market research organisations. London: Market Research Society. Hamersveld, M. ., &Bont, C. .(2007). Market research handbook. Chichester, West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons Nancarrow, C., Barker, A., & Wright, L. T. (n.d.).Engaging the right mindset in qualitative marketing research.Nancarrow, C.m Barker, A. and Wright, L. T. (2001) Engaging the Right Mindset in Qualitative Marketing Research. Marketing Intelligence & Planning Journal, 19 (4), Pp. 236 - 243. Churchill, G. A. (2014). Marketing research: Methodological foundations. Chicago: Dryden Press. McDaniel, C., & Gates, R. H. (2006).Marketing research essentials. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley. Market Research Society. (January 01, 2013). MRS conference 2013.International Journal of Market Research, 55. Beri, G. C. (2008). Marketing research. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. Zikmund, W. G. (2004). Exploring marketing research. Chicago: Dryden Press. Read More