Introduction
SWOT analysis is very important in an organization because it helps one understand the products attributes, competition and sales opportunities (Ferrell & Hartline 2008). This article will give the SWOT analysis of Manor House Country Club Hotel in order to know the strengths and weaknesses of the hotel. The article will also explain how the hotel can have a competitive edge by using its strengths and also adapting a good marketing mix.
SWOT analysis
SWOT Analysis summary
The aim of conducting a SWOT analysis is to identify the most important attributes of products and services of the hotel (Klein 2007). The hotel marketers should focus on the strengths of their services and products which include meals, drinks, accommodation services and salon services. The marketers should focus and concentrate on their strengths in order to gain a competitive edge. It is also strategically positioned and should thus take advantage of that in order to reach the tourists. Its good management style, trained workers and promotion by the National Tourism Board can also help the hotel to have an edge in the market.
The company should at the same time try to do away with its weaknesses. The goal of examining weaknesses is to determine the obstacles or problems that the product or services provided by the hotel poses. One of the weaknesses experienced by the hotel is that one of the management partners retired and thus it faces the problem of making decisions on how to expand. The management should look come up of with a marketing strategic plan which will give it the right direction to follow.
The third part of the SWOT analysis is looking for ideas for the most effective marketing opportunities (Cravens & Piercy 2009). The focus should be on the best place to invest and generate the largest return in the shortest time possible. The hotel has several opportunities to achieve a competitive advantage. Tourism and domestic travel market has grown up to 90% and thus the hotel should take advantage of this and attract the potential customers. National Tourism Board is also performing aggressive campaign which will result to more tourists visiting the country and thus the hotel should invest in capturing these tourists.
The hotel should work towards overcoming its threats and strengthening its opportunities. The hotel industry is experiencing a stiff competition and the management should concentrate on having a competitive edge by differentiating its products. This differentiation will also help the company to target a certain niche of the market and thus gain a competitive advantage.
Objectives
- To be the leading hotel in the industry by the end of two years through differentiating its products and by satisfying different customer’s needs effectively
- To increase its market share by targeting the increasing number of tourists visiting the country and also the rising number of customers spending on sit down meals
- To increase the profits of the hotel by increasing its sales through market and product diversification
Marketing strategy
Marketing strategy will help the hotel to create and maintain a fit between its objectives and resources and the evolving market opportunities. The goal of the marketing strategy is long run profitability and growth. A good marketing strategy will help protect and grow the firm’s resources. A marketing strategy will help the hotel to create a competitive advantage, by creating more value for customer than its competitors. The hotel can use Porters grid in order to achieve a competitive advantage.
Porter’s grid
Michael Porters grid which is based on three generic strategies can help the hotel to achieve a competitive advantage by closely identifying the various competitive options open to the hotel (Bohm 2009). Porter’s three competitive strategies include;
Cost leadership
The hotel can achieve competitive advantage in the market through cost leadership. The operations of the hotel should ensure that the costs are kept at the minimum level as much as possible. The hotel should work towards achieving economies of scale by increasing its production. The hotel can achieve cost leadership through economy of scale. Economy of scale will help the hotel to offer its products and services at fair price compared to that of the competitors (Klein 2007).
Differentiation
The hotel should offer products and services with unique features, characteristics and benefits (Worsam 2003). Differentiation will enable the hotel to achieve a degree of customer loyalty and should ultimately be a competitive response that cannot be challenged directly by any competitor. Since most hotels in Singapore have standard facilities and do not compete by differentiating their facilities, the management should grab that opportunity. It should also provide honey moon facilities to target a certain niche of the market. It follows that as a result of differentiation, the hotelwill command a premium price that will essentially reflect the quality of the brand, design, product and high service levels.
Focus
This strategy combines both cost leadership and differentiation strategies and applies then in a niche market. The hotel should compete in a smaller or narrowly defined area of the market (Proctor 2000). In particular the focus will be on attractive segments or niche markets. The hotel should provide differentiated facilities designed to meet the needs of a certain niche market. Facilities to meets the needs of those customers going for honeymoon, holidays and breaks should be designed to meet their needs.
Ansoff’s matrix
When coming up with market strategy, Ansoff’s matrix can be used to gain a competitive advantage (Walker 2008). Ansoff’s matrix includes the following strategies;
Market penetration
Market penetration strategy can be used in order to achieve more sales of the hotel’s products in its market. The hotel can achieve this through price competition and executing hard hitting advertising campaign in order to encourage the existing customers to continue using the hotel products and services. The broader scope of this strategy is to win customers from other competitors.
Market development
The hotel can sell its existing products and services to new customers and segments in order to increase its market share. The hotel should attract new market for its accommodation facilities, drinks, meals and even salon services.
Product development
In this strategy, the hotel should develop new products to serve the existing market. The hotel should introduce new meals, drinks, special accommodation facilities, honeymoon facilities and holiday facilities and target the existing customers (Cravens & Piercy 2009). This will increase the sales of the hotel because the existing customers will use the new products and services introduced.
Diversification
In this strategy, the hotel should develop new products and services to serve new markets. This will help in increasing the hotels market share and thus the sales.
7ps of marketing
Product/ service
This is what an organization offers to cater for the customers wants and thus an organization should provide the best (Bohm 2009). The hotel therefore should come up with the products and services that meet the needs of the customers effectively.
Price
The hotel should offer fair prices for the products and the services offered. The prices should be competitive and the customers should see value for the products or services they get after paying a certain price.
Place
Place involves the distribution channels that an organization should use in order to make the products and services available to the final customer when and where he needs them. The hotel should therefore come up with a convenient channel of distribution (Worsam 2003).
Promotion
Promotion encompasses the activities of making customers aware of the existence of a certain product or services. This can be achieved through advertisement, sales promotion, and direct sales among others in order to attract customers to buy the hotels services and products.
Physical evidence
This is the physical appearance of the organization offering a service. The hotel should ensure that the building is good and classic and the employees should be presentable. This is because the customers will associate the quality of the services with physical appearance of the organization..
Process
Process involves the process adopted by a service provider to deliver the service to the customers. The process of serving the guests should be effective one in order to satisfy the needs of the customers satisfactorily.
People
The employees in the hotel should be competent while serving the customers. This will help the customers to perceive the services provided by the hotel to be of high quality.
Conclusion
A marketing strategic plan helps a business to prosper and thrive. It also helps an organization to have a competitive edge in the market. The hotel should carry out environmental analysis in order to concentrate on its strengths and opportunities and at the same time do away with the threats and weaknesses in the environment. It should then come up with strategies to help it have it an edge in the market. The 7p’s are also important because the hotel can create a competitive advantage in the market by offering the best marketing mix compared to that of the competitors.
References
Bohm, A. (2009) The SWOT Analysis. Chicago. GRIN Verlag.
Cravens, D., & Piercy, N. (2009) Strategic marketing. Chicago. McGraw-Hill Irwin
Ferrell, O., & Hartline, M. (2008) Marketing Strategy. London. Cengage Learning.
Klein, G. (2007) Strategic Marketing. Chicago. GRIN Verlag.
Proctor, T. (2000) Strategic marketing: an introduction. Chicago. Routledge.
Walker, J. (2008) Marketing strategy: a decision-focused approach. Chicago. McGraw-Hill.
Worsam, M. (2003) Effective Management for Marketing. New York. Elsevier.