Business analysis is a process by which a business can identify various opportunities, problem areas, understanding the roles and responsibilities and business requirements. For every type of analysis, there are some sets of tools based on the needs and requirements of the business. This report focuses on the use of some tools i.e. SWOT analysis, resource audit and stakeholder mapping framework in the specific industry (Kalkan, 2013). For the discussion in the report, travel industry is selected. The report explains the benefits of these tools on individual as the travel agent. Today’s unpredictable and highly competitive environment has strong impact on the travel industry. The travel agents needs to continuously conduct environmental scanning and analysis on the critical factors that may impact on the business operations. The strategic tools are helpful in analyzing the business environment in the travel industry.
Use of various tools
Variety of tools and techniques are developed to help the managers and agents in order to identify and deal with the business decisions. These tools are helpful for me as a travel agent to capture the information which is suitable for the decision making process. These tools are beneficial and useful for me as the travel agent in terms of increasing awareness about business environment, dealing with the strategic issues, identifying opportunities and threats and providing framework for different business portfolios.
SWOT Analysis
Travel industry is the highly lucrative market for the growth of the economy. Strength of the industry is considered as the ability of the market to respond on time and provide custom designed travel excursions to travelers. The SWOT analysis of travel industry is as follows:
Strength is the current factor that analyzes the outstanding performance of the organization. Strength in the particular organization is the qualities that enable the organization to achieve the goals and objectives. Strengths are beneficial factor
of the organization which includes human competencies, process capabilities, products and services, financial resources, brand loyalty and customer goodwill. As the travel agent, I found that the analyses of strength aspect are useful for them to understand the traits and qualities of the business which are important for the organization consistency. For instance, famous travel organization Thomas Cook has some strength in its business. The organization has strong brand name. It is also listed on the stock exchange of the country. Along with this, organization has international collaboration with hotels and various airlines in order to provide various services to the customers. By the analysis of strengths of the industry, I observed that travel companies are able to complete the needs of the consumers (Gretzky, 2010).
Weakness
Weakness is the organizational factor that increases the operational costs and reduces the quality of travel industry. Weakness can be broken down by identifying the causes of the poor performance. I have observed that there are some common weaknesses in the travel industry i.e. lack of financial resources, insufficient management training and limited collaborations with the other travel organizations. For example, I observed that the travel industry has lack of infrastructure and it impacts on the demands of the customers. Further, the travel industry sometimes is not aware the presence of some restaurants, hotels and other tourists facilities which people like to ask from them. As a travel agent, for me it is important for individual to provide relevant information to the customers. Travel agent need to identify the weakness in order to help the tourists (Yuan, 2015).
Opportunities
Opportunities are presented by the environment within an organization is operating. By identifying opportunities, I have realized that an organization can take advantage of various conditions in the environment to plan and implement the strategies in order to become more profitable. In case of travel industry, it is observed by me as a travel agent that it can flourish if it has strong partnership with other travel agencies. The travel industry has proper knowledge about the leading hotels and public places in the region and provides necessary information to the tourists (Weaver, 2009).
Threats
There are some uncontrolled factors in the business and they need to be addressed to find relevant solutions. In case of travel industry, I as a travel agents have faceed great threat for any travel agency. In UK, there is the economic crisis which has affected the business of travel industry. Along with this, lack of facilities in tourism areas can discourage the people.
Resource
Resource analysis is the strategy by analyzing the internal competence of the organization. This analysis believes that the organization has bundle of resources and the resources are the main sources of the strength and weakness and competitive advantage of the organization. The resource audit is helpful for me in analyzing the tangible (human capital) or intangible (innovation) resources of the travel industry. There are some resources which are helpful for me in analyzing the strengths of a particular industry i.e.
Physical resources- Structures, the equipments or the innovation of the travel organization are included in the physical resources. The age, condition, limit and areas of every asset decide usefulness of the resources in the industry.
Financial resources- Financial resources of the travel industry can be included money, capital, debtor and creditors and suppliers of the cash etc.
Human resources- This type of resource in the travel industry can include the combination like demographic profiles, learning and aptitudes of representatives and other individuals in the network of the organization (Kilika & Kabue, 2016).
Skills
In the travel industry, as the travel agent I realized that there should be some skills in order to fulfill the needs of the customers. The resource audit is helpful for me as the travel agent in identifying the self skills of the travel agent. As a travel agent, there should be excellent customer service skills along with strong communication and sales skills in me. Further, by the resource audit, my ability as the travel agent to cope up with the pressure can be analyzed (Helfat & Peteraf, 2003).
Capabilities
Dynamic capabilities are helpful for me in the industry to deal in the dynamic and competitive market environment. The concept of capabilities framework includes identifying, exploring and integrating the internal and external competences to face dynamic environment. Strategic capabilities of travel industry can be characterized as the assets and abilities of the organization required to survive. Capabilities of the travel industry include the changes so that critical success factors can be identified. As a travel agent, I have realized that travel industry basically has some strategic capabilities adding and evolving capabilities, extending capabilities, stretching capabilities, and external capability development. By identifying these capabilities, I am now able to implement strategic planning in the business organization to satisfy the customers. There are some capabilities factors which must have the organization i.e. leadership, collaboration, adaptability, creativity and innovation.
Core competencies
Competencies are the attributes which are useful for me in the travel industry to make the organization competitive within the industry. The competencies are valuable for me as the travel agents as it allows me to support my organization for achieving the competitive advantage. I observed that core competency of the travel industry will basically include capacity to diversify the services, perceived benefits by the customers and difficult to replace.Stakeholder mapping framework
Stakeholder mapping is the relevant framework in order to manage various stakeholders in the industry. Based on the study, I have observed that the concept of the stakeholder mapping depends upon the mechanism by how the organization in the particular industry understand and respond of the stakeholders. For the stakeholder mapping, there is the need of management team to have the understanding of stakeholders and their interest. Various things can be mapped in the travel industry but most obvious is to map stakeholder against their interest their interest a program, portfolio or project (Anuar et al, 2012).
Being a travel agent, I observed that stakeholders in the travel industry includes suppliers and supporting industries, marketing facilitators and intermediaries and the members of the public and local as well as foreign customers. As the tourism agent, my role is to inform tourists about the activities, and spaces provided by the suppliers at the travel destination. The stakeholder mapping framework is helpful for me in promoting the tourism destination and satisfying the customers (Gunel & Yilmaz, 2008). Along with this, this framework is useful for me by the positive value in terms of developing traveling packages at the reasonable rates, hospitality and the distribution of development like accommodation, facilities and transportation. So, I have realized that stakeholder mapping framework is useful and beneficial for me to identify the requirements of key stakeholders in the travel industry and satisfy them with their requirements (Peri?, ?urkin & Lamot, 2014).
References
Anuar, A. N. A., Ahmad, H., Jusoh, H., & Hussain, M. Y., (2012), Understanding the factors influencing formation of tourist friendly destination concept: Journal of Management and Sustainability, 2(1), 106-114
Gretzky, W., (2010), STRATEGIC PLANNING AND SWOT ANALYSIS, Health Administration Press
Gunel, O. D., & Yilmaz, B. S., (2008), The Importance of Strategic Stakeholder Management in Tourism Sector: Research on Probable Applications, accessed on 9th January 2018 from.
Helfat, C.E. & Peteraf, M.A., (2003), The Dynamic Resource-Based View: Capability Lifecycles: Strategic Management Journal, 24, pp. 997-1010
Kalkan, A., (2013), The choice and use of strategic planning tools and techniques in Turkish SMEs according to attitudes of executives, Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, accessed on 9th January 2018 from.
Kilika, J. M., & Kabue, L. W., (2016), Firm Resources, Core Competencies and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: An Integrative Theoretical Framework: Journal of Management and Strategy, 7
Peri?, M., ?urkin, J., & Lamot, I., (2014), IMPORTANCE OF STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT IN TOURISM PROJECT: CASE STUDY OF THE ISTRA INSPIRIT PROJECT, accessed on 9th January 2018 from .
Weaver, D. B., (2009), Travel Agency Threats and Opportunities: The Perspective of Successful Owners, accessed on 9th January 2018 from
Yuan, Z., (2015), STRATEGIC DIAGNOSES OF NEXTRAVEL: A SWOT ANALYSIS, accessed on 9th January 2018 from .
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