Business Plan
INTRODUCTION
Fairyhouse is a premium Race Course that is situated in County Meath, and it is located 15 minute drive from the airport and 20 minutes from the Dublin city center. This race course is one of the most significant thoroughbred horsing venues in County Meath. This race course is considered as the home of the Irish Grand National, and the first steeplechase was held in this racecourse. There are nearby hotels and guest houses that are important form of business support to the race course. The race course is acquired on a 10 years lease which contains a five year rent review.
The Fairyhouse Racecourse has a race track that is one mile with 6.5 furlong circuit, and has a slight uphill finish and a 2.5 furlong straight. The main product offered by Fairyhouse racecourse is horse racing betting that is traditionally recognized as turf accountancy in Ireland. During the off season, the other source of revenue comes from fees paid on the golf courses, historical sites and site for beautiful countryside.
SUMMARY
This paper attempts to analyze the situation of the Fairyhouse racecourse by evaluating various factors that are affecting the profitability of the business. The Fairyhous have incurred a 14% loss in 2013, and this has raised concern over evaluating the performance of the company. The evaluation is conducted through PEST and SWOT analysis. The paper also evaluates various strategic practices that will increase the profitability of the company through market segmentation and evaluation, and marketing and advertising.
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of Fairyhouse is to advance and promote Ireland as a world center of excellence for horse racing, historical sites and golf course. The racecourse is emphasizing on the international horse racing and the value of the services offered to the race-going events. The mission statement also strives to achieve values that reflect the cultural, economic and asocial environment of the country.
FEASIBLY STUDY
Over the previous years, the Fairyhouse has been making a sustainable profit and has been considered as one of the major source of revenue to the Irish government. Although in 2013 the company has experienced a loss of 14 percent, this race course business is a considerable and a viable business idea that is seem to be profitable if effective management is put into practice.
MARKET SEGMENTATION AND EVALUATION
Market segmentation of Fairyhouse racecourse is very vital and essential for the organization to remain relevant in the competitive market. The company will works towards satisfying the demand within all consumers so that it will remain effective. The target market of Fairyhouse will be divided into four sections: Comfort Creatures, The Celebrators, Soccer Moms and Gourmet Wanna-bes. The aspect that the four areas share homogenous characteristics tells that they are likely to have similar interest in the products and the services that are offered by Fairyhouse.
The Comfort Creatures is made up of individuals form the white collar status, characterized by success and they will find for time to come and enjoy the services that are provided by the company. The Soccer Moms will include the family members who will come and enjoy the services that are provided. Most of the families will love to spend their vacations and holidays here therefore they qualify to be a target market.
Celebrators are the category of the people who mainly visit the place for the purpose of celebrating an occasion. The occasions and events that are celebrated may include birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, weddings and many others.
Gourmet Wanna-bes is the category that concentrates more in watching and doing a bit more research so that they can understand the activities that takes place in horse racing. They will always look for information so that they can analyze the position of games and sports as a leisure activity
MARKETING AND ADVERTISING
Fairyhouse has a competitive edge because of the uniqueness of the products and services that it provides. Although there are other companies that exists in the same field, Fairyhouse provides distinguished services like providing free food and also being a position to allow customers to hire chefs who can cook their delicious meals. All services are provided at friendly prices that attract more customers leading to a large customer base. Fairyhouse marketing strategy will be to create awareness to all target groups so that they can understand the services that are available. The company will work towards the weaknesses that are associated with similar companies so that they can satisfy their clients to the fullest.
The methods of advertisement that will be used include campaigns. The management team will launch campaigns on different parts of the County Merth Ireland. The campaigns will involve creating posters and billboards that will serve the role of making the company popular. The use of Line television and social networks are also effective advertising methods that will be utilized by the company in the bid to popularize its products and services to a large customer base.
PRODUCT OFFER
Fairyhouse promotes the services it provides by giving out product offer to its clients. During the low season, the company ensures that the consumers enjoy the historical sites and the ones interested are allowed to enroll for Golf Courses. There are grants and incentives that are given to the clients who visits the place frequently and this have proved to be successful in searching for customers.
Quality free food is provided in the first few weeks to the clients who seek for the company’s services. The clients are also in a position to hire for chefs who can prepare their meals. They also perform festivals and competitions where the winner is given gifts.
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
• Location: the racecourse is located in a strategic place which is close to the airport and the city. It is therefore accessible due to the good road network between the city and the airport. It is surrounded by hotels and guest houses thus making it favorable to client because accommodation and feeding is accessible.
• Reputation: the racecourse has tracks that are in good condition which has been very popular in the past. This gives the business a good reputation and will attract both the old and new customers who would wish to experience the ride in such beautifully maintained tracks (Bensoussan, 125, 2013).
• Race card: the business produces seasonal race cards which give details of the events that will take place in that particular season. This enables customers to make informed decisions in order to maximize their satisfaction/ utility.
• Extra business: when out of season, the business can extract extra revenue by utilizing the beautiful country side, using the historical site and offering Golf courses to its customer thus ensuring an all-round the year business operation.
Weaknesses
• Lack of experience: the business as a new firm in the racing business lacks adequate experience on how to handle, manage and deliver the right and appropriate services that meet the client’s needs.
• Poor performances: similar businesses are pulling out due to poor performance that has resulted in losses.
• Poor catering: this has been insufficient to cater for the large customer base and therefore require revamping and expanding.
Opportunities
• Expansion opportunities: despite the main racing services provided by the business firm, it has a chance of expanding its services by including golf courses, historical sites and the beautiful country side (Cartwrigh, 107, 2002)..
• Market growth: improved services and the popularity of racing games is increasing which will result in the expansion of the market thus the demand for the business services will increase.
• Availability of hotels and guest house: these two facilities will provide accommodation for the business customers thus making the business attract more customers as there will be no fear of lack of accommodation.
• Marketing strategy: the business has good marketing strategies that include an active R&D department that helps it in enhancing its products to meet customer requirements.
Threats
• Competition: the business firm faces competition from other established businesses in the same field. This poses a major challenge as the firm may not be able to provide viable competition that will enable it yield adequate profits (Bensoussan, 134, 2013).
• Poor economy: the economic situation in the country is performing poorly and the business has recorded a 14% loss in the year 2013. This incapacitates it in achieving its objectives.
• High cost of operation: the business is very expensive to operate as many legal and health requirements have to be met and some like insurance are recurring yet very expensive.
• Price wars: there are price wars and other competitive disadvantages with its competitors in trying to woo more customers. Consequently the business yield minimal profit with maximum costs.
PEST ANALYSIS
Political
• Environmental regulation and protection: the Ireland law requires that the business be responsible for the protection and observation of the various stipulated environmental laws.
• Consumer protection: the regulations of the land require the business to protect its customer by providing safe products.
• Employment law of Ireland requires the business to provide job opportunities to the locals without discrimination of any form whatsoever (Cartwrigh, 156, 2002)..
• Taxation: the business is required by law to meet all the taxation requirements as stipulated by the law.
Economic
• Taxation: the government levy on all business revenue annually.
• Economic growth: the performance of the economy is improving in the whole of Europe.
Social
• Demographic: the population around the business location is high as it is near an urban center.
• Labor/ social mobility: the mobility of labor is efficient.
Technology
• Rate of technology: technological advancement is increasing and many businesses are embracing it.
• Impact of technology: technology has a general positive impact on most business (Cartwrigh, 176, 2002).
• Internet: business uses the internet for advertisement and informing its clients about the available competitions.
Staff profile
1. Peter Roe: Racecourse Manager
2. Noel Fanning: Racecourse Foreman
3. Gillian Carey: Office Administrator
4. Gordon Reilly: Maintenance Caretaker
5. James O’donoghue: Assistance Foreman.
SALES PLAN
- Goals and objectives
- Makes sales of €300000 in a year
- Eliminate the 14% annual decline in sales
- Avail our services and products even to our less active joints
- Award all clients with free lunch and our staff with salary increment if this goal is achieved.
- The business shall provide highly differentiated services that will meet the varying tastes, needs and preferences of our clients. We shall use the social media as well as advertising in the media to market our products. A website shall also be created from where people shall be able learn of the value and quality of our services. Sales personnel shall also be dispatched to various places and given strict standards that they must fulfill to make sure the company attains the projected annual sales (Ainsworth, 2005). Any required inventories shall be ordered ceremoniously from our suppliers to ensure deficiency does not derail the business operations at any point in time.
- Our most profitable clients shall be from county Meath. Since the region is vast and highly populated, several sales persons shall be dispatched to the area on a monthly basis. We shall also venture into markets that our competitors have never ventured into.
- The business shall also partner with other companies to create a large network of businesses that will be promoting our services. Additionally, services shall be provided under a cool, appealing environment with fresh air and water.
- The effectiveness of our sales activities shall be accessed on a weekly basis to identify any flaws and immediate actions taken to remedy the scenario if any faults are identified.
FINANCIAL PLAN
Financial Summary
Below are the summaries of the income and expenditure account and forecast capitals for 2013 and 2014.
The allocations for price money and racecourses for 2013 and consequent year are as shown below.
Below are the budgets for the current year and the two subsequent years.
Though the business shall try as much as possible to cut on expenses, it will still maintain a certain budget that can effectively finance its increased activities as failure to do this will greatly compromise the quality of services offered and the general performance (Ainsworth, 2005).
Schedule of proposed events
References
Ainsworth, J. H. (2005). The CPA's guide to a successful financial planning practice: Selling financial investments and marketing advisory services. New York: Wiley.
Association of Irish Racecourse Executives (1989). The crisis in Irish racing: Submission to the Minister for Finance and to the Minister for Agriculture. S.l: s.n.
Bensoussan, Babette E, and Craig S. Fleisher. Analysis Without Paralysis: 12 Tools to Make Better Strategic Decisions. Upper Saddle River, N.J: FT Press, 2013. Print.
Cartwright, Roger. Mastering Marketing Management. New York: Palgave, 2002. Print.
McDonald, M., & Dunbar, I. (2004). Market segmentation: How to do it, how to profit from it. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann
Mills, T. C. (2002). Forecasting financial markets. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Pub.
Savage, R. (1993). New facilities for Fairyhouse racecourse. Dublin: University College Dublin.
