United States of America cycling - Essay Example

?The American cyclist team has been in existence for almost a hundred years. Set up in 1920, the initial group was to represent the country in the then Olympics. However, the group has grown to become a national cycling organization mandated with the talent identification and nurturing. Currently the group has a national outlook often soliciting for talented cyclists all over the country and providing them with the best apparatus thereby creating an enabling environment within which they develop their talents in cycling. To succeed in doing this, the group has scouts strewn all over the country searching for the talents and recruiting them into the group. The group capitalizes on the positive attributes of cycling as a sport to generate revenue with which it seeks to develop further and achieve some of its long-term goals. Just like any other, the organization therefore creates social events characterized by cycling competitions as a means of entertaining the society. Such events attract millions of visitors thereby earning the country foreign exchange. Cycling is a sport and a hobby to many within the American society; some people also use the sport a form of exercise. The country therefore has many untapped talents most of which exist idly especially among those who take the sports either as a hobby or an exercise tool. The organization therefore identifies such people and recruit them into the organization from where they do not only become a social group but a league within which they compete for titles and awards. Such competitions bring people together thereby resulting in a more cohesive society. The organization reserves a number of benefits to their recruits in an attempt to making them appreciate the sports and therefore nature their talents. Among the benefits are medical cover, given the understanding that the sport is precarious enough, the organization in partnership with some medical institution arranges for the participants to access subsidized medical packages for their insurance policies. This gives the athletes the peace of mind thereby coercing their intense participation in the sport. Additionally, the organization organizes numerous cycling events most of which it does in collaboration with other international groups. Such social events are effective platforms for exposing their talents thereby creating more opportunities for such people. The organization is actively involved in community oriented and therefore purchases and develops property thereby contributing to the national developments of not only the United States of America but also other international countries where its athletes take part in competition (Heijmans and Bill 23). The international cycling union is a profit generating organization and relies on the creativity of its activities to generate the funds for its operations and management. This implies that the organization must carry out effective SWOT analysis in order to make informed management decisions through which it earns revenues. SWOT analysis is a management tool that researches on the internal structures of the organization and the ability of such structures to earn the organization adequate profits. Additionally, the tool analyses the manner in which the external factors affect the operations of the business. The first two factors of the SWOT analysis are Strengths and weaknesses. The factors are internal implying that the organization can easily manipulate the factors to realize the desired results. The last two factors, which are opportunities and the threats to the business all, originate from the market. The organization cannot easily influence such but its reaction to the factors influences its profitability. Situational analysis-Strengths: The union has numerous strengths, which if managed effectively can secure increased funding for the union. One such strength is its national outlook. Began by the first group that represented the country in the Olympics, the union has a history of presenting a national outlook of the country. This implies that it enjoys a wider market group since the entire country has millions of talented cyclists. With a population of more than a hundred people, the United States therefore offers an effective market within which to identify the talented cyclists and therefore nature them. The national outreach earns the union an inexhaustible resource within which to recruit the talents. These are the union’s assets, which it trades to earn revenues. Such a big market requires effective management to ensure that the group access every part of the country both rural and urban. The effective management ensures effective distribution of resources for the different scouts who hunt for the talents and interests. This results in the appropriate utilization of such resources in profit generating activities. Additionally, the union has diversified its operations thereby targeting an increased market. Incepted to represent the country in the Olympics, the union evolved and became more creative in its products. Currently, the union organizes both local and international cycling events has created a number of titles and awards for its cycling competition. Such actions do not only motivate the talents but also results in a more sustaining financial flow in the union. The organization solicits for financing form advertisers and other philanthropists and fanatics. Coupled with the event entry charges, the union makes adequate profits. Weaknesses : While the union has a national outlook and strives to achieve a nationwide coverage, it lacks effective representation especially at the lower levels in the community. The activities of the union are rife in the cities with the union sending most of its scouts into schools within the urban centers in search of the talents. However, the union lacks an effective national publicity in different parts of the country especially in the rural parts of the United States of America. The American public is unaware of the existence of such an organization. This makes the group an elitist society therefore beneficial to a select group. While such gives the group an opportunity to retain a smaller number of people who are often easier to manage, it shows lack of management competence besides the fact that it denies the organization expansion possibilities. Additionally, while the organization tries to diversify its activities it has remained a cyclist union to this date, a feature that depicts lacks of creativity. Any business venture must always expand. It thus becomes natural for most organizations to expand. There are a number of sports within the society without any centrally managed union such as skating. The union could possibly fuse its operations to include such thereby ensuring continues flow of money through the year round activities. Some of such sports are seasonal and even cycling become boring during winter a time in which skiing and ice-skating becomes rife. Opportunities: The sports market offers a number of opportunities for the union key among which is the chance to monopolize the cycling world and therefore become the sole organization mandated with any cycling related issues. The opportunity arises from the fact that the International Cycling Union is the only body within the country mandated with the organization and supervision of the sport within the country. The union can therefore increase its presence into other region in the country and identify more opportunities that the market offers. The regions without the knowledge of the union offers a great market opportunity, one which the union can possibly expand into without incurring additional costs of management. The government is supportive of the activities of the union and therefore often donate money to sustain the activities of the union. The union has the state support in its activities and endeavors to raise money through the organization of the cycling events. This offers an opportunity for the union to grow and access the international market both in search talent and in search of additional expansion opportunities (Heijmans and Bill 44). Threats : While the market appears ever predictable owing to the monopolistic nature of the organization. Other smaller unions are increasingly arising to address the gap and massive lack of both recognition and opportunities. Different cyclists in different parts of the country therefore form their smaller leagues within which they compete in case of a join event such cyclist compete under the names of their smaller organizations. The increase in the number of smaller leagues and unions threaten the existence of the greater national union which therefore often concentrate more in organizing international event thereby failing to tap into the growing domestic market. Work cited Heijmans, Jeroen, and Bill Mallon. Historical Dictionary of Cycling. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, Inc, 2011. Print. Read More