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Marketing Audit:
External Analysis
An external analysis is defined as a process which scans and evaluates the various external environmental factors for an organization which may determine negative or positive trends for that organization and its performance. The external analysis is crucial for the marketing plan of any company and it should be closely monitored. Birmingham Boat Trips is a successful leisure boat company for the past 4-5 years in Birmingham. Development of the International Convention Center and its vicinity has enabled the growth of all such businesses.
Porter’s Five Forces
Threat of New Entrant & Intensity of competitive rivalry
In this case, we can highlight a few key external concerns which are likely to have an impact on Birmingham Boat trips. It is mentioned that Birmingham lies in the Midland Canals, which offers access to International Convention Center and a lot of visitor’s attractions which put the business to an advantage of attracting the most traffic.
Corporate Marketing Strategy The network is extended till Manchester which is a location advantage to Birmingham (Pereira, 2013). It is also mentioned that boat trip market is growing and currently 35,000 holidays are taken of overseas waterways and 145,000 holidays for sailing, which means that the overall growth is also supplementing the core business for Birmingham Boat trips. The surrounding areas, according to David, has a huge potential of exploiting more profit through taking advantage of the external forces such as demand from the local areas. London had approximately 2.5 million passengers in 2011 on river Thames, and over 130,000 people took trips in Birmingham during that type.
A major external factor directly impacting the business for Birmingham is the fact that pound is strengthening against US Dollar and Euro, which makes UK an expensive place for visitors and makes the overseas trips to UK less attractive and UK residents find overseas trips more attractive, this lead to a drop in overseas passengers in the last 2-3 years for the business as the nature of the business is directly related to the number of tourists coming in and their spending power.
Bargaining power of customers (buyers) & Bargaining power of suppliers
The needs of the consumers are satisfied through offering unique services around Birmingham and the buying decision process is strictly dependent on the tourists coming in. The perception of the brand in the market is stable and respected which encourages people to take their services for their boating needs. According to the case study, the customers value having different kind of options such as involving other kind of entertainment and services on the boat like combining dinners or a dinner dance activity and the company can use it to make it an advantage for them by working on it more.
Threat of substitute products or services
Corporate Marketing Strategy The nature of competition is also intense in the market, as onboard dining market is growing on a fast pace and they are more attractive than the standard torus and they are making profits. A number of businesses offered Christmas parties on the canal barges and different kind of exotic parties which leads to intense competition between the companies and summarizes the intensity of rivalry. However, the location remains the major strength of the company and major weakness for the competition (Pereira, 2013).
Internal Analysis
Corporate Marketing Strategy Birmingham Boat Trips employs over 30 people which include caterers, cleaners and crew and also hires an additional 20 temporary staff when its peak season. Staffing is an important aspect and the crew gets to interact a lot with the customers. The business has a strong balance sheet partly due to the significant assets of the barges themselves. It has also been reaping in profits as the company has experienced profits in the recent past. Six 70 foot narrowboats are available to the business for their operations.
These boats have more seats and thus accommodate more people for drinks and sometimes even dinner, as compared to holiday boats with bedding and accommodation etc. There also exists a boat which has been fitted to become a floating restaurant and it provides a wider range if food and facility as compared to other available boats. Birmingham Boat Trips has the next 5 years to expand their business and venture into the new field and available options.
The boat coasts £130,000 to buy a boat and fit it out. The floating restaurant boat has had a considerable amount of money spent on it and has attracted a lot of business from a wide range of clients ranging from school children to businessmen. The marketing team does not really include a very structured team. Birmingham Boat Trips as whole markets its various trips and voyages…
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