Strategic Analysis for Deep Sea World - Essay Example

Executive Summary Leisure Industry in the UK is increasingly generating revenue at high levels thus making it a potential area for research on strategy and planning. A research on the Deep Sea Water attraction in Edinburgh is conducted to analyse its strategic position in the market and its potential to sustain in the business. A SWOT analysis on the internal factor affecting the business process conducted reveals that the company has a reasonably strong position in the leisure market with potential opportunities to improve their business. It is also clear that the company has certain weaknesses like the lack of hygiene and pricing that should be overcome in order to gain competitive advantage. Alongside, the analysis also revealed that the company has to re-engineer its visitor experience that is over decade old in order to increase the number of visitors and market share in the UK leisure industry. The PEST analysis on the external factors influencing the business revealed that the company has to review its pricing policies and control costs in order to gain competitive advantage in the business. Furthermore, the analysis also revealed that the company meets most of the external factors like health and safety, etc making it evident that the company has a strong position in the target market and has strong future prospects for growth. 1.0: Introduction Attractions for leisure and recreation in the UK are increasing in geometric progression as argued by Isla Gower (2004). The increase in the driving habits of the people in UK with the increasing demand for new attractions has increased the need for an innovative and customer focused approach to this business segment of the leisure industry. In this report a critical Strategic analysis on the Deep Sea World attraction of Edinburgh is presented to the reader. 1.1: Aim: the aim of this report is to enable the organization to identify its current position, trends and future prospects. This is accomplished through the following objectives 1.1.1: Objective 1: The report comprises of the SWOT analysis of the organization identifying the areas where the company should focus for increasing its potential in the business. The SWOT analysis also facilitates the ability to identify the company’s current position in the market, which is essential to accomplish strategic decisions for the organization. 1.1.2: Objective 2: Alongside in order to identify the external factors influencing the business are analysed using the PEST analysis where the Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors external to the business is presented to the reader. In order to accomplish the research effectively, an insight into the organization’s mission statement is analysed prior to the stages of the objectives of the report. 2.0: Mission Statement Analysis An investigation into the company’s policies and business process methods, the mission for the organization that reflects its core strategies is as follows ‘To make the interpretation of nature and art available to all’ The aforementioned mission statement identified from the organization’s core strategies makes it clear that the company strives to accomplish business development through deploying innovation in the way of presenting the leisure attraction experience to the customers. 3.0: SWOT Analysis Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (2003) argue that the SWOT analysis of an organization is the most effective tool to identify its current position in the business with regards to the competition faced by the organization and its current business practices. 3.1: Strengths The location space and accessibility for the organization under debate – Deep Sea World is the major strength for the organization in the leisure market. The argument of the Richard lynch (2003) that the location is a critical element for the success of business especially in leisure attractions segment of the business justifies that this is a flagship element of the strengths of the organization. Furthermore, the availability of space and easy accessibility will facilitate the visit by various segments of the customers thus increasing the market share. The extensive range of collection in the aquarium like the largest collection of san tiger sharks in Europe, longest walkthrough tunnel and the fact that it is the only aquarium in Scotland are the key strengths for the organization with respect to the product lines of an organization. The fact that the attraction features are the products for the organization in the leisure industry makes it clear that the extensiveness in the attraction and the products presented by the organization make it a key strength for the company’s position in the target market. The ability of the organization to retain the visitors all-day with the extensive range of attractions is a key strength for the organization. This is naturally because of the fact that the organization’s ability to enable cross selling in its premises attracts the investment from leading food and drinks retailers which will increase the company’s ability to attract more customers. Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (20030 further argue that cross selling strategy is the key strength for any organization depending upon the public visit in a given business sector. The more number of shops and restaurants in the Deep Sea World justifies this argument. Furthermore, the presence of the wide range of facilities like shops and restaurants strengthens the position of the organization making it a natural choice for family visits. The availability of Shark dive facilities is another strength for the organization since this is a unique feature that is rarely sold by many aquariums. This makes it clear that the organization is striving to increase its market share through the effective use of its space with creative attractions. The availability of venues for birthday parties and other events to the customers is another key element that strengthens the position of the organization in the leisure market of Scotland. Furthermore, the availability of the venues for celebrating events also opens the gates to reach another demography of customers namely those interested in exotic events with the potential to organize wedding and other social events. Other strengths of the organization include the free parking space, classroom facilities and difference range of interpretation presented to the customers. The availability of free parking space is a key element for attracting customers since the lack of parking space or the costs associated with purchasing a parking ticket is one of the factors of concern to visitors who normally drive to leisure attractions. The classroom facility is one of the major elements that strengthen the organization’s position in the target market as a formal presentation or lecture on the sea life is always considered as a benefit by the visitors. 3.2: Weaknesses The rather monotonous presentation of the visitor attraction without any major changes for the last decade is one of the major weaknesses of the organization. This is obviously because of the fact that the company has to increase its dependency on the visitors to Edinburgh rather than the local customers. The fact that the local customers as well as those from outside Edinburgh become increasingly bored if the visitor experience is not continuously updated, as this is the product for the organization. The need for innovation in the product presentation is thus imperative and should be deployed to meet the competition from other attractions in Edinburgh. Electronic commerce becoming an increasingly important method of marketing and sales, the company’s poor website and lack of on-line booking facility is a major weakness for the organization. The increase in the need for electronic commerce and the demand from the customers for an effective online booking facility increases the burden on the company to enable the online booking facility. The fact that the Internet is becoming an increasingly effective method of marketing and sales as argued by Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (2003) justifies this argument. Apart from the lack of online booking, the lack of up-to-date information on the companys website, is another key weakness since accurate information a vital element for successful sales and customer loyalty as argued by Frances Brassington and Stephen Pettit (2003). Another major weakness of the company is the costs associated with the tickets especially the family tickets that are comparatively expensive to that in other attractions in the geography under debate. The competition from attractions like Whiskey Heritage centre makes it clear that the company should re-assess its pricing strategy in order to stay in the competition and eliminate the price as a weakness to hinder the density of customer visits. Alongside, the high price for family tickets especially would affect the number of visitors since the reduction in families will result in multi-folded decrease in the number of visitors to the facility. Although the classroom sessions are a key strength to the organization, the fact that they are targeted only upon the schools and not for children coming with their parents and other private visitors makes it a potential weakness to the organization. Furthermore, the increase in the demand for information from the organizations to effectively communicate the value of the products and services provided by the company are compromised with the limitation of the service to a specific segment of the customers. The lack of hygiene facilities to the visitors and especially the lack of adequate waste disposal systems is another key weakness to the organization. The increasing awareness on hygiene by the general public and the legal requirements for a hygienic environments make it clear that this is a potential weakness and a factor influencing the decrease in the number of visitors to the organization. 3.3: Opportunities The opportunity to increase the use venues and promotions featuring their venues would not only increase the number of visitors but also increase the market share for the organization since the target market addressed is not only the aquarium visitors but also event organizers and people looking for exciting venues to organize parties. The combination of the use of catering and hospitality facilities through using the space available effectively, the organization can also enter the hospitality market thus increasing its target market demography. The cross selling strategy and the method of co-branding through the presence of leading brands in the catering and hospitality in the premises of the Deep Sea World, the company has potential opportunity to increase its market share. The promotion of package deals in pricing the products like the sale of rail and admission price together as a package for family tickets would increase the opportunity to attract more families to the Deep Sea World. The use of innovative methods of promotion and also through introducing subtle changes in the visitor experience like categorising the species in the aquarium would increase the opportunity to attract local customers increasing the sales and market share for the company. The introduction of the education facilities to children as well as the people accompanying them apart from targeting upon schools would increase the customer satisfaction as well as increase the ability of the organization to strengthen customer relationship. 3.4: Threats The increased competition in Edinburgh attraction through the growth of attractions like the Edinburgh Festival is a major threat for the organizations sustainability in the target market. Alongside, the demand of the customers on traditional Scottish attractions like the whisky heritage centre for instance is another potential threat for the organizations growth in the target market. Although these are potential threats to the organization, the category of the Deep Sea World as a family attraction has made it clear that the organization can sustain these threats through innovative methods of marketing and developing customer relationship as argued by Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes (2003) who say that the ability of an organization to face threats is to establish itself as A strong entity in the target market with unique features to its competitors in the business. 4.0: PEST Analysis The external factors affecting a business are essential to be analysed in order to gain a complete picture of the strategic position of the organization under analysis. 4.1: Political Factors The animal welfare supported by the political authorities is a major external element that influences the business of the organization. This is naturally because of the fact that the company not only gains the support in case of protecting endangered species but also the opposition in case of lack of facilities to accommodate the aquatic species is a critical factor to be considered by the organization. The disability and discrimination act that demands the availability of disability access in every public place is another key political element that influences the organization externally. The vast space availability and accessibility facilities provided by the company meet this requirement thus making a positive impression to the politicians involved. The health and safety factors emphasised by the politicians is another critical element that influences the organization mainly because of the fact that the organization has the potential weakness of poor hygiene and waste disposal system. This makes it clear that the company should have effective waste disposal management system as well as accomplish effective health and safety through deploying best practices for health and safety. 4.2: Economic Factors The increase in the cost of living and the decrease in the net disposal income of the people in UK have a direct effect on the number of visitors for the aquarium. It is thus essential for the company to review its pricing policies to meet the increasing demand for cost effective leisure attraction for families. Another element that should be addressed is the increasing tariff in taxes and other related charges by the council and the government making the operating costs of the organization high. This has a direct effect on the performance of the company since the revenue generated predominantly through the sales of tickets is the major source of income for the company to meet the costs. 4.3: Social Factors The social factors include the long working hours of people in the working community making the time for leisure very short and the seasonal nature of the business itself. The increasing visits during the school holidays are a classical example for the aforementioned argument since the company predominantly generates revenue through the visits from families with children. 4.4: Technological Factors The increase in technology intensive attractions like the Alton towers and Blackpool has a direct effect on the number of visitors to the Deep Sea World. The increasing tendency of the people to prefer technological attractions justifies this argument. 5.0: Conclusion From the SWOT analysis it is clear that the organization holds a strong position in the leisure industry for attractions whilst there are many areas for development in the form of potential opportunities. As a whole, the internal factors influencing the business have a positive effect and with the company overcoming the weaknesses identified and concentrating its resources on the development makes it clear that the company can increase its target market and generate revenue. The PEST analysis has also revealed that the external factors influencing the business can be overcome by the organization through innovative methods of business practice and customer relationship thus making it clear that the organization has strong future prospects for successful positioning of the company in the target market. Thus to conclude the analysis it is clear that the Deep Sea Water attraction has a strong position in the target market and has the potential for further development for prospective business opportunities in the target market. Isla Gower (2004), Leisure Industry in UK - Market Review, Key Note Ltd Read More