Strategic Management in Tourism - Event and Sport

Question: Discuss about theStrategic Management in Tourism, Event and Sport. Answer: Situation Audit Situation audit helps to choose several methods for analysing the present internal and external business environment of an organisation. According to Drut Raballand (2012), situation audit provides a clear and transparent view of the capabilities, business environment and the customer base within a particular marketplace. Arsenal Football Club, a famous English football club, which is based in London. Arsenal Football Club holds the tag of professional football club, which joined the Football Leagues in 1893 and plays the top flight of the English football Premier League (Arsenal.com. 2016). CSR Initiatives Moore Levermore (2012) have mentioned that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) suggests a broad term in order to elaborate the fundamental efforts of an organisation to develop the society. The management of Arsenal Football Club incorporates policies and procedures, which are environment friendly for maintaining the CSR. Even the CSR initiatives of Arsenal Football Club involve donating money for stadium development in London in order to support football. The employability programme of Arsenal Football Club also belongs to the CSR initiative. Even Arsenal Football Club receives awards for this successful employability programme, which illustrates a smooth recruitment and selection process. Hognestad (2012) has stated that CSR helps to improve the present public image and the media coverage, which boosts the employee engagement as well. Market Position Market position of Arsenal Football Club suggests an effective effort for influencing the perception of the football supporters to the perceptions of the other existing competing football clubs across the world (refer to Appendix). Church Penny (2013) have referred that the basic objective of the market position involves of occupying a unique, advantageous and clear position in the customers mind. However, the brand name of Arsenal Football Club helps to retain its existing position in the sports industry of England. Figure 1: Annual profit or loss trend of Arsenal Football Club (Source: Markham, 2013)) From this above chart, it has been clear that during 2010-2012, the financial condition of Arsenal Football Club was increasing, however, in the present year; the graph is reducing only because of the position of this particular English club in the ranking of the football leagues across the world. The management of Arsenal Football Club employs effective marketing strategies in order to hold its present market position. However, with incorporation of effective and potential strategies, Arsenal Football Club enjoys a strong position in the Football market of Europe after providing a tough competition to its competitor companies like Chelsea, Barcelona Football Club, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Liverpool (Arsenal.com. 2016). External Analysis The growth of football market in Asia Pacific region forces the international clubs to compete with the competitor football clubs in this particular region. The great potentiality of Asia Pacific region suggests the possibilities of obtaining new fan base in this region (Markham, 2013). Therefore, the management of Arsenal Football Club targets the Asian market for increasing the sales revenue of the club with the process of merchandise sales and television rights. Arsenal Football Club is characterised by few particular values, which can attract the basic interest of the fan in Asia Pacific region. The management of Arsenal Football Club prepare both the short term and long term objectives in order to attract the new generation fan, who prefers to watch international football league of European football clubs (Arsenal.com. 2016). This is closely interlinked with the situation analysis of Arsenal Football Club. SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis of an organisation provides a detailed view of the external environment of a particular marketplace (Cox, 2012). The management of Arsenal Football Club will understand the necessity of the impact of SWOT analysis before making the corporate strategy, financial and business structure for appropriate business operation and management in the football market across the world. Strengths Weaknesses Arsenal Football Club possesses a strong and stable brand name both in England and across the world. There is a perfect seating capacity of 60,000 spectators in the Emirates stadium. Arsenal Football Club employs high quality merchandising, global brand presence and suitable marketing strategies (Arsenal.com. 2016). The sponsors of Arsenal Football Club involve famous companies like Nike, Fly Emirates, EA Sports ad O2. Arsenal Football Club enjoys an excellent loyal fan base across the world. The traditional weakness of Arsenal Football Club involves its defences and it remains shaky in this continuing season. The commercial revenue of Arsenal Football Club is not in good position in order to give a tough fight to United. The form of this particular club in not in excellent state as this club holds 15th position in the league (Arsenal.com. 2016). The constant injuries of the players are another major weakness of arsenal Football Club. Arsenal Football Club is saturated only in the English Football Market. Opportunities Threats The fan base is gradually increasing in USA, China and India. The management have understood the necessity of employing social media platform, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blog and other sports website for attracting the football supporter throughout the world. More brand visibility and advertising will help to build proper brand equity. The ability to develop and spot the youth talent is the major opportunity of Arsenal Football Club (Arsenal.com. 2016). The constant growing economy of England will provide a perfect opportunity to Arsenal Football Club for enhancing the financial condition of the club. Szymanski (2013) has mentioned that cash flow possesses the capability of affect the business operation. Another potential threat of Arsenal Football Club involves the gradual increment in the labour costs. The lower profitability and constant growing competition in the football market is another major threat of Arsenal Football Club. An external business risk of this particular club is high because of the competitor, such as Chelsea, Manchester United, Barcelona Football Club, Liverpool, AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. Due to a large number of transfers of the players, there are incur of the financial debts, which can influence the business operations of Arsenal Football Club. Table 1: SWOT Analysis (Source: Cox, 2012) References Arsenal.com. (2016).The Official Website of Arsenal Football Club | Arsenal.com. Retrieved 15 October 2016, from https://www.arsenal.com/home Church, A., Penny, S. (2013). Power, space and the new stadium: the example of Arsenal Football Club.Sport in Society,16(6), 819-834. Cox, A. (2012). Live broadcasting, gate revenue, and football club performance: Some evidence.International Journal of the Economics of Business,19(1), 75-98. Drut, B., Raballand, G. (2012). Why does financial regulation matter for European professional football clubs?.International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing 2,11(1-2), 73-88. Hognestad, H. K. (2012). Split loyalties: football is a community business.Soccer Society,13(3), 377-391. Markham, T. (2013). What is the optimal method to value a football club?.Available at SSRN 2238265. Moore, N., Levermore, R. (2012). English professional football clubs: can business parameters of small and medium-sized enterprises be applied?.Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal,2(3), 196-209. Szymanski, S. (2013). Wages, transfers and the variation of team performance in the English Premier League.The Econometrics of Sport, 53-62.