Managing Sport Venues and Facilities - Assignment Example

1. What are the design factors taken into consideration from an architectural point of view during design of the gym Five areas of concern will be handled by the architect regarding the design of the facility. The first area, the floor plan, is the scale drawing of the entire facility. This design will look at traffic flow and crowd control for the facility, entrances and exits, city codes, storage, and ways in which space in the facility can be utilized. These plans will be looked at closely, because this is the basis from which the facility will take shape. The specific elements of this plan include actual floor plans and the basic architecture and elevation of the building itself. Furniture and equipment arrangements are also planned during the design period. These decisions are made by the architect based on the price of the furniture and the style that we want for the facility. 2. What are the basic features of the Average Pim's Gym, Health and Fitness Centre that are planned during initial phase This facility will offer the following: - Weight room, including both free weights and Nautilus equipment. - Squash courts - Gymnasium for basketball and exercise programs - Running track - Additional exercise program rooms - Swimming pool, including whirlpool - Men's and women's locker rooms - Administrative offices - Snack bar. Also as a concession there is a plan to implement a juice bar for members so they can purchase a refreshing drink, and thereby some additional income will be generated. 3. What are the evaluation methods they are planning to implement for their gym after a year of constructions A year after the official opening day, they will check to see if they reached their goal of establishing a customer base of 3,750. At least 2,000 of the memberships should be those people ranging from 29 to 45 years of age. They also plan to monitor the changing demographics of their consumers by means of the marketing surveys and membership forms they plan to distribute. 4. What are the marketing strategies they plan to implement during initial phase The marketing strategy that will be implemented to accomplish their objectives is a market-penetration strategy. In the marketing setting of this facility, they are trying to penetrate an existing market with an existing product. Initially, their strategy will take on the sole dimension of attracting customers and then become more of a repeat-purchase strategy; however, they will continually give effort toward increasing the consumer base. The most difficult aspect of this marketing strategy will be to attract customers to their first visit. In order to establish a consumer base, they plan to initiate a promotional campaign during the first month of operation. This campaign will be geared toward the entire target market with the incentive that if someone brings a friend, he or she can buy two, one-year memberships for the price of one. They will also facilitate this promotion by launching an advertisement campaign using a large banner on the front of the Average Pim's Gym Health and Fitness Club to introduce the idea and local advertising in the newspaper to broadcast it. This campaign will foster word-of- mouth and bring-a-friend types of advertising, which is very cost-efficient. To meet the challenge of establishing a consumer base of 2,000 from the baby boomers' segment of the market, they will target them specifically with some promotions and programs. They plan to initiate exercise and aerobic programs geared only toward them because people enjoy exercising with people their own age. There are also plans to promote social gatherings like holiday parties on their behalf to foster friendships. Finally, they plan to conduct a market research survey targeted at customers. The aim of these surveys will be specific to their needs and wants, in order to help generate ideas and solutions to increase the consumer base and service level. 5. Do you think that they have missed anything important in their marketing strategies If we examine the whole of their marketing strategies we can see that element of 'innovation' is somewhat lacking. This thinking arose due to the fact that, they have already admitted that they are entering an existing market with an existing product!! So their primary goal should have been "What difference this product can make" They should have thought of" gym with a difference". People are always in the lookout for new things. So instead of the normal things which prevail in almost all gyms and health clubsthey should have added impact on "Exercise for a Stress Free life", or more innovative methods of exercise like artistic yoga,Reiki or dancing and also laughing clubs which would have attracted people both youth and old alike. 6. Their goal for the initial year is that a year after the official opening day, they will check to see if they reached their goal of establishing a customer base of 3,750. Demographic data of the area is: From this demographic data define how they are going to obtain 3,750 customers (their goal) and the risks and challenges they are going to face, after a thorough examination of the economic conditions and general attitude that is prevalent in the area they are going to set up the gym. Obtaining 3,750 clients in the opening era is a major challenge taking into account the fact that there are three competitive sport clubs within two kilometers of their location. Also there are 75,000 potential customers in a drawing radius of the facility that can be targeted and attracted to the sport club. The main strength regarding the locality is that the facility is geographically located within a two kilometer radius of the target market base of 75,000 consumers. - The construction of the facility is approximately two kilometers from a major thoroughfare, for easy access to and from the club. - The location of the facility is adjacent to a popular shopping centre and clearly visible from the street. - The average traffic flow in front of the facility is approximately 2,000 cars every two hours and 4,000 cars during the peak hours of 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. - There is a traffic light located in front of the shopping centre, causing cars to stop every 90 seconds in front of the facility and the shopping centre. To exploit this factor they can set up large hoardings of their gym and at the time of inauguration they can send separate invitation cards to all individual homes nearby and even invite a celebrity for inauguration that may attract another crowd to the gym on the opening day itself. Although from the age group of 45-65, the number of people attending the gym is likely to be less, and also if there are more influencing and entertaining factors people are more likely to attend the gym. Another factor is that people from 16-28 more likely will be having attendance in the existing gyms and health clubs nearby. The challenge will be to how to persuade them to attend the new facility by tactics. The strategies they are already thinking are" In order to establish a consumer base, we will initiate a promotional campaign during the first month of operation. This campaign will be geared toward the entire target market with the incentive that if someone brings a friend, he or she can buy two, one-year memberships for the price of one. " Also the demographic data available is very vague as it shows only the entire population in that area. A more specific survey in the area between the age group 16-28,29-45,46-65 will reveal much more informative data on how many of them are already frequenting the health clubs, how many of them are concerned about their health and do self exercises like walking, jogging etc. Do they have any factors which draws them back from going to gym etc Such a survey will give much clearer picture regarding the effectiveness of marketing strategies to be adopted. 7. Looking at the data below which shows the position and salary of the employees in the gym why do u think that executive director is paid the highest compared to other employees Executive Director Fitness Supervisor Dietician Marketing and Sales Director Operations Manager $45,000. $28,000 $18,000 $22,500 $22,500 Duties of the executive director include handling financial operations of the faculty, including budgets and financial reviews, Oversees all parts of hiring and staff selection, Conducts job performance evaluations for employees and follows Board of Directors' wishes when considering major projects, such as expansion of the facility. The executive director will have to identify each job in the facility with a budget unit, then rank each job in that unit from least important to most important and he is also expected to run a zero-based budget for the fitness budget unit is below and run it to success .His qualifications are - Must have significant experience in the health and fitness field as a director. - Should have at least a master's degree in physical education or management. - Has strong financial background to oversee financial reports and budgets. 8. From the case study what do you feel as the basic criteria to choose a location to open a gym or health club Low cost of living, which makes the construction of the facility less expensive. Larger number of markets to choose from. Working population of the area with an above average house hold income. A great number of suburbs within a 10 kilometer radius of the central business district. A college or University with obviously an enormous student crowd ,with little health club facilities in the vicinity. The desire for healthier, stimulating exercise was compounded with the urgency to watch what one eats and take care of oneself. Factors that help fitness craze to accelerate, to spread into every phase of the society. Frequent fitness shows on television to the Health and Fitness programs hosted by celebrities. Also the phenomenal increase of the social trend to stay fit and feel good. 9. In the Financial Budgets for Average Pim's Gym, Health and Fitness Club Year 2 Income Statement what additional expense can be taken care of The operational and Fixed Expenses section from the budget is shown below. Operational Expenses Salary and wages ................................................................... $ 300,000 Utilities .............................................................................................. 80,000 Maintenance ............................................................................... 70,000 Marketing & Advertising ...................................................... 50,000 Equipment & Supplies ......................................................... 60,000 Other ............................................................................................... 40000 Total Operating Expense .................................................. $ 300,000 Fixed Expenses Debt ................................................................................................ $ 140,000 Taxes .................................................................................................. 30,000 Insurance ......................................................................................... 30,000 Depreciation ................................................................................... 90,000 Other .................................................................................................. 110,000 Total Fixed Expense ............................................................... $ 400,000 TOTAL EXPENSES ......................................................... $1,000,000 NET INCOME ...................................................................... $ 200,000 The risk management session emphasizes on training personnel to avoid the dangers that may arise during exercises or weight training. By going through the proper steps of hiring and training personnel, including background checks and an intensive interview, personnel risk will be limited to a minimum. The employees of a company make the company what it is, so hiring good people is a necessity. So in that case recruitment and training expenses should also be taken care in the budget. Also to recruit experienced people higher salary offerings may be required which may change the proposed budget above, depending on the employees joining the health club. The budget also does not cover the hospital expenses in case of accidents or other unlikely events which may happen during danger times. It will also be good to have a hospital nearby in case of emergency. Read More