Business Analysis

Palepu et al (2010) states the purpose of a business analysis is to identify the key profit drivers and the risks associated to the business, by conducting an assessment of the company’s potential profits at a qualitative level. Law (2014) similarly suggests that business analysis is “a means by which the current performance of a firm is evaluated as part of the strategic planning process”. Therefore, business analysis involves assessing a company’s external environment. Using a PESTAL analysis to assess what can affect the organisation at a macro level, which can influence the future performance of the company. While also conducting an internal analysis that can be achieved via a SWOT analysis, which identifies micro factors affecting the current performance of the company and how it correlates to market share, within the service industry (Law, 2014).

Conducting business analysis is a vital component of any company,to plan and predict any changes within the business environment that could affect the organisation financially or operationally. For example, changes within the macro environment regarding political agenda can influence sport organisations but also the wider business community, such as issues surrounding minimum wage (BBC, 2014). Due to increases within living costs and the minimum wage failing to rise with this correlation, political parties are basing future election campaigns upon this current issue to win votes. However, this change within the macro factor that is increasingly likely to occur due public popularity. Can have massive implications towards business owners, because of the increase within expenditure for wages and the taxation associated with having a work force such as, PAYEE and pensions. Leading to organisations having to cut jobs that will affect the company operationally due to a drop in efficiency, which could potentially lead to bankruptcy.

By conducting a STEEPLE analysis that identifies both the micro and macro factors affecting the future organisation. Can have massive implications towards operations and financial decisions that contribute towards the potential performance. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the influences surrounding the organisation, in order to make a more informed decision that could lead to organisational success.               

	Strengths	Weakness	Opportunity	Threat
Political	Aspiring more people through Olympic legacy.	Change in government	Linking in with government policy of increasing more volunteers	Minimum wage increased
Economical	Sponsorship, opportunities	Increased living costs, affordability for the average individual	Increase the sports awareness	Colliding with other international events, such as Wimbledon.
Social	Increasing participation, improving health	Equipment to get started is expensive	To use and promote a volunteer system	Niche market
Technology	Use of video technology, to broadcast via YouTube	Potentially lose control of marketing	Using social media to talk directly to target audience	The actions of the athletes could damage brand
Ethics	Values, ideologies	Risks associated with extreme sports	To be taught more frequently with mainstream schools	Increase dependence upon government\education system
Legal	Rights and association to sell	Permission needed to use venues	To increase number of locations available (e.g. a tour)	Events can be contested by local residents

References

BBC. (2014) BBC website. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29299230 (Accessed 10th December 2014.

Law, J. (2009) A Dictionary of Business and Management. 5^th edn. Oxford University Press.

Palepu, K. Healy, P and Peek, E. (2010) Business analysis and valuation. 2^nd edn. Andover : South-Western Cengage Learning.

Marketing Strategy and Development

Mullins et al (2000, pp.22) defines strategy by the “setting of long-term goals and developing plans to achieve those goals”. Therefore, “marketing pays attention to the development of a product, its pricing, promotion and distribution” (Smith, 2008, pp.2), which links to the marketing mix also referred to as the 4 P’s of:

·       Product- Physical good.

·       Price- the cost to the consumer.

·       Place- where the sport can be accessed.

·       Promotion- communicating to the market place.

In order to gain an exchange with the consumer (usually monitory value) for the service delivered. By combining Mullins et al (2000, pp.22) definition of strategy and Smith’s (2008, pp.2) definition of marketing, Marketing strategy can be defined by Beech and Chadwick (2007, 400) as “a process of planning, implementing and controlling marketing efforts to meet the goals of an organisation while at the same time satisfying consumer needs”.

During the 2010 South African FIFA World Cup the beer sponsor was Budweiser, blocking all other alcoholic (Beer/Larger) merchandise sold and advertised to captivate the greatest audience possible. However, the Dutch brewers Bavaria used marketing strategies consisting of ambush marketing in order to confuse audiences and gain wide publicity. Through the use of 36 women in orange mini dresses modelled by the wife of famous Dutch footballer Rafael van der Vaart, carrying a label with the brand, which prior to the tournament was campaigned greatly within Holland. Therefore, when images were captured of a group of fans in these minis dresses supporting and being thrown out of the stadium during a Holland match, the dresses that were instantly recognisable due to previous campaigns sparking media attention for the brewery who otherwise wouldn’t of been noticed due to the large sponsorship fees required for FIFA (Kelly, 2010). 

I am going to use the marketing mix to identify and target the largest possible audience.

Product- the sports I have decided to pick are canoeing/kayaking, running/mountaineering and downhill mountain biking to capture the largest possible audience, as statistically shown by sport England’s active survey (Appendix A), due to the already niche market tri extreme operates within.

Price- The price to the consumers will consist of an entry fee to cover the cost operations to the event, whilst each participant is being a charitable fundraiser as demonstrated by the Great North Run (GNR, 2014). The commercial aspects are seen through sponsorship, creating a tier bracket like the Olympic sales rights (IOC, 2014).

Place- The destination requires all three sports to be accessible, such as Fort William where all three physical environments are a lake, mountain range and downhill bike track exists.

Promotion- Tri Extreme will try to communicate to adventure lovers, but also offering an alternative to the tradition triathlon with the potential to gain a market share, elite athletes from each sporting discipline can also compete to make the idea more commercially viable. For example setting off the elite athletes at the front of the race before letting the mass participants start.  

References

Beech, J and Chadwick, S. (2007) The Marketing of Sport. New York: Prentice Hall/Financial Times.

GNR. (2014) GNR website. Available at: http://www.greatrun.org/Events/Charities.aspx?id=1 (Accessed: 3^rd December 2014).

IOC. (2014) IOC website. Available at: http://www.olympic.org/sponsors (Accessed: 3rd December 2014)

Kelly, J. (2010) How ambush marketing ambushed sport. Available At: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8743881.stm (Accessed: 3rd December 2014).

Mullins, B. Hardy, S and Sutton, W. (2000) Sport Marketing. 2^nd edn. Human Champaign, IL : Human Kinetics.

Smith, A. (2008) introduction to Sport marketing. London: Butterworth-Heinemann. 

Appendices

Appendix A