Feasibility Analysis of Western Australia - Case Study Example

Feasibility Analysis Student’s Name: Institution: Instructor’s Name: Date: 1.0 Executive summary A feasibility study is an activity conducted by a person who has discovered a business opportunity. It is a process whereby the future business person will study the area where he or she will conduct his business. I have decided to venture into tour operator as my business and, therefore, will conduct a feasibility study in Western Australia. The discussion on the services, operations and description of the business will help in understanding the appearance of my proposed business. Table of Contents 1.0 Executive summary 2 Feasibility analysis 4 2.0 Introduction 4 3.0 Description of a specific industry 4 4.0 Key driving forces to this business 5 5.0 Description of products and services 7 6.0 Operations plans proposed Western Australia accessible tour operators 9 7.0 Conclusion 16 8.0 Recommendation 17 Reference 18 Feasibility analysis 2.0 Introduction Feasibility test is a process undertaken by a business person who has never been to any business activity and has a business idea; therefore he will conduct a feasibility analysis to measure whether there is an opportunity of starting a business and whether the existing opportunity is promising in the future. The purpose of feasibility analysis is to enable the business person to be able to aspire on starting their own business. It includes some of the important details that a business person will have to consider in order to start and implement a business idea. The discussion below will help to understand the feasibility analysis. It is a discussion about my idea of venturing into a tourism business. I, therefore, intend to invest in a business that will serve the tourist and, therefore, I will establish a hotel in Sydney because it has some tourist attraction sites. 3.0 Description of a specific industry Conducting a feasibility study enables one to determine the type of business they want to specialize on it. The fact that it is a tourism industry gives one a range of choices on which business to choose. Therefore, before one chooses the types of business one must consider whether the key driving forces that will dictate the future demand are able to meet the objectives of the business. In my case, I have conducted a feasibility study, and I have decided to narrow in being a tourist operator (Barney, 1991). This is a business opportunity that I intend to specialize in it. Being a tourist operator means providing accessibility services to the tourists, whereby the main duty is to provide a means through which the tourists will be able to reach and enjoy the attraction sites. My tourism operator job will also entail providing transport to the tourists; this will be in a quite range whereby I will have different modes of transport such as using roads, using rail, air transport and water transport. Providing accessibility as a tourist operator means I will venture into more of service provision than product because it will be under my responsibility to provide a set of services in this case accessibility and facilities that will enable the tourist with their specific desires to have a peaceful holiday and spend their leisure time without any problems. 4.0 Key driving forces to this business Before venturing into any business, there are some factors influencing the entrepreneur towards developing the idea. These factors always arise from the external environment whereby the business person will be influenced since they are the driving factors for a business idea. These factors will dictate whether the business will make a profit or not. Most of these factors are the key drivers of demand. For my intended business, the following factors are the drivers towards identification of the business idea. Increased household income; in Australia, there is a rising population of people who earn high incomes; this is a result of the increase in population and also the economic stability of the country. Due to high incomes there is a lot of money at disposal; people are willing to spend a lot of money on leisure activities. Some travel with their families outside the country to have fun. This case applies to other countries worldwide, whereby their economic activities are geared towards economic stability and enabling people to enjoy high incomes. Rising number of retired baby boomers with time and money to spend; this factor has always been a key driving factor that results to people spending money. This implies the rising number of people who are retired, and they do not have small children to take care of. These people will spend their money because they have plenty, they will visit places all over the world to explore and enjoy their time. This is one of the factors that enabled me to identify an opportunity that will serve these retired baby boomers. Reducing cost of air travel; if you travel through an airline, you will notice some changes that have taken place, for example, the use of reservation systems and the adoption of the use of computers in the booking offices. There is also an expected reduction in the costs of traveling that has encouraged people to spend their money on airbus because it is cheap and fastest means of transport. This factor of reduced prices of airbus and also the use of reservation systems influences people to travel all over since they do not have to queue and wait for long hours to get the air tickets. Reducing costs of air travel also influence people around the world to travel with their families. The desire to travel worldwide; as people grow, they desire to travel and explore the world; their desire to travel creates a business opportunity for businessmen because these travelling people will need some services when they are enjoying their touring time. People move out of their counties to spend the summer elsewhere. They move to spend their holidays far away from their homes. As a tourism student, when there is a desire to travel, there is an opportunity in tourism and travel sector. This desire, therefore, is the driving force towards my identification of a business idea (Lucas, 2004.pg 64). 5.0 Description of products and services My business will major on more of service provision for the tourist; I intend to provide my clients the best accessibility service and, therefore, I will specialize in developing programs that are intended to provide satisfactory service. I will integrate the use of technology and human resource so as to form a team of sufficient service provision. 5.1 Tourism operation services; tour operation services are a characteristic of enabling accessibility to the tourists. In my business, I will venture on providing the following services as a tourist operator; Adventure tours; this is where I will organize adventure visits for those tourists who want to explore and experience an adventure in Australia. It will involve selecting most adventurous places and providing accessibility means whereby the tourist will have time to explore and adventure. Cultural tours; my business will provide cultural tours by taking the tourist through the cultural activities of Australia, there is a cultural event that show exhibitions of any cultural diversities and the tourist will enjoy it. Wine tours; Australia is known for great wine production, most people travel worldwide to come and view the aspect of wine and terroir in this country. This is an opportunity for my business venture as a tour operator because I will be glad to provide them a service by accessing the great wine plantations and also visiting the wine industries. Nature based tours; this type of tour aligns with the wine tour because it involves appreciating the nature of Australia. The tourists will need to be toured around the natural places where they can enjoy the beautiful nature of Australia. One of the natural contributing factors of this country is the wine plantations especially the vineyards. Tour to escorted luxury; this type of tour comprises of escorted luxury whereby I will organize for the tourists who apply for this type of tour. The tourists will have the opportunity to enjoy their luxury with an escort tour guide. This is an executive type of tour operation because it includes providing extraordinary services like personal luxurious vehicles or organizing for private jets for the tourists. It will all depend on a request from the tourist. Day tours; I will also extend my services to the provision of day tours whereby my clients will have the opportunity to book for a tour day and; therefore, I will give them a tour guide who will take them for a day tour to their places of preferences. 5.2 Products; being a tourist operator entail many of the service provision; however, there are some services that are accompanied by providing products to the tourists. Some services, for example, escorted luxury tour will have to entail service and products because I will be responsible for providing products such as all the requirements to be used in the tour, for example, tents, food and drinks, binoculars for viewing, cameras, parachutes for nature tours personal cars and other products used in the adventure. Therefore, I will have to link my services to the various suppliers of these products because it will help in my business. My venture into being a tour operator will enable me to extend my hospitality to the tourist so that they will enjoy my services and products and; therefore,it will enable my small business to expand and grow. Being innovative in service provision will aid in building the image of my company and will attract more tourist. Other products I intend to provide are personal cars that will enable the tourist to take their personal tours under supervisory. Camping will also be one of the products I will provide for my tourist where I will have to cater for all the camping materials. This will provide an opportunity for the tourist to explore Australia and enjoy their holidays. 6.0 Operations plans proposed Western Australia accessible tour operators 6.1 Operation objectives; objectives, operating my business imply the purpose I intend to pursue in my tourism operation indulgence. The objectives will be based on the success of my business and therefore I have broken down the operational objectives as follows Designing an attractive market structure; I will focus on designing a market structure which will attract more customers. The structure will include advertising the tour operation services and, therefore, passing information about the existence of these services to the tourist. Competitive dynamics; my operation objectives will be integrating the consideration of my competitors and researching on the methods of attaining a competitive strategy upon which I will focus on creativity and innovating more attractive services on tour operators. Growth of the business; since my business is on its development stage, my operations should aim at the future growth of the operation service industry will, therefore, continue to work for a business expansion through tour operations, and this will influence the growth of my business. Networking with other tourism sectors; there are other tourism sectors that provide other services such as accommodation, restaurants and travel. Networking in business operation is important because it will help one to develop new ideas and skills. My operation objectives will, therefore, include networking with these sectors to enhance my service provision since all these sectors interlink. Management of customers and the employees; my company will design a tool for managing my customers and also the employees. Managing people who contribute to the success of the business is a stepping stone towards the growth of the business. Management is, therefore, a key aspect in my operation's objectives. Proposed location; the business is proposed to be located in Western Australia; this is because this place is known for many tourist attraction sites. The proposed location is, therefore, appropriate for my type of business venture, since my major duty is to provide accessibility to the tourist through tour operator business. According to the research, I discovered that this place has natural sites a good example of wine plantations including some other tourist attraction sites. The purpose of locating my business in this region is to have a network from the other tour sectors that will receive the tourist and direct them to my company for tour operation services. The layout of this place is appropriate, and it also has good facilities such as infrastructure and the topography is also good for the tour guide services. 6.2 Acquisition of premises; the premise that will serve as my business destination point will be acquired through leasing agreements. The purpose or selecting this type of acquisition is based on the financial considerations and also on the fact that I am working on a small business that intends to grow at some certain point. I will, therefore, lease through payment of rent and, therefore, I will use approximately $ 450,000 for acquiring the property. According to a survey I conducted on the premise, it will be able to provide offices for all my employees; it also has storage services in it and other services including places for parking. I will, therefore, lease the premise for a period of time until there will be a turn up in the business, and I will have acquired some profits for purchasing land (Barney, 1991.pg 45). 6.3 Production processes; production process entails a range of activities that will ensure sufficient product and service delivery (Mike, 2005). It is a guideline towards organizing activities that will lead to achieving the objectives of the company. The production process of tour operator is organized as follows; Full and half day tour operation; these are tours that will only take a full or half day, my business will operate by touring the visitors to their places of preference. It enables them to experience the adventure in a short time because they schedule for a full or half day. I will provide them with a tour guide who will give them a list of places they intend to tour. Extended tour operation; this type of tour has more days than a day; therefore the tourists will enjoy this tour because they stay in a hotel or in a coach. My business will, therefore, set up a schedule whereby the tourist can book for an extended tour. Group package tour operation; this type of tour is almost similar to the extended tour, but it is organized and scheduled in the form of groups. These groups consist of those who want to visit a particular place as a group, for example, visiting winery locations. The operations will involve catering for the transport and drinks together with a tour guide. Camping tour operation; this applies to that tourist who share the same interest, and would like to go for a camping tour in the specific place of their interest, they will, therefore, the book for four wheel drive whereby they will destine in the visited place. The operations services will involve organizing for tents where they will camp in, organizing for food and drinks and also security. Passenger service charter; this is a type of tour operation that provides vehicles for the tourist. The tourist will hire these vehicles as a group, and they will use in touring their preferred places. The service will also include providing a driver to those tourists that need to be shown the way. Small vehicle tour operation; this type of operation will involve providing luxurious vehicles as limousine for personal tours. The service provided will also include a tour guide since it will entail a single tourist or family tour. Regular tourist transport; the operation for regular transportation of tourist will also be organized by designing a schedule that will enable all the tourists to get a chance of touring their specified places. We will consider designing a timetable, destination points and the routes to be used when touring. The flow chart below will help in understanding the operation Graphical illustration of the layout Facilities to be used; facilities to be used in the business is inclusive of materials that I will use to provide operational services. These materials are either leased of bought. I would prefer leasing some of the materials which are beyond my financial capability so that when I get enough profits, I will, therefore, resort to purchasing my own. The equipment I will purchase is those that will not be costly. Equipments Method of acquisition Amount Vehicles purchased $ 200,000 Tents leased $ 10,000 Electronics such as cameras and binoculars and computers purchased $ 30,000 First aid kits purchased $ 50,000 Other equipments Purchased $ 10.000 Since there is a projected increase in the number of tourists, Western Australia tour operation business has therefore plan on expanding their location points and opening some other branches that will serve customers (Brian 1989) Maintaining facilities; this implies the means through which the business will cater for the maintenance of their equipments and facilities to be used in tour operation. The business will design a management control system that will enable my employees to perform their duties while considering the maintenances. The maintenance procedures are for example Proper handling of electronics Servicing of vehicles Proper handling of leased equipments Materials and supplies required; materials required for the achievement of tour operation objectives will be mainly the vehicles because we major on providing services through enabling accessibility to the attraction sites. There are some vehicles that will be leased, for example, from luxury services and personal tour. Some other materials include tents and first aid kits. Therefore, the company plans to design a procedure for acquiring these materials. The processes of getting these materials will involve signing of contracts with the lease and also advertising for tender notices to those who want to supply electronics and first aid kits. Inventory management system; inventory management of business facilities involves aspects such as financial control which entails safe record keeping and managing the flow of funds. The business will, therefore, organize for efficient flow of resources and funds in the company (Tonge, 2008. Pg 180). The control of cash is important because it will reflect the position of the company in the future. Strategies for managing seasonal variations; any business must experience the peak season and the low season of demand and supplies. For the tour operation business, developing some means of ensuring that there is proper managing of seasonal variations will enable the company to remain viable even in the low seasons. Strategies will include reaping huge profits during peak seasons by doubling the prices for tour operations. In the low season, for example, it will involve lowering the cost and striving towards low cost leadership strategy which will attract more customers and stabilizing the financial status of the company (Otto, 2009). Regulatory and legal issues; legal and regulatory frameworks will be complied with by the business because they ensure that the operations of the business are acceptable in the government and community level. My business will, therefore, ensure licenses and permits that regard any facility and premises are obtained. For example. driving licenses, twenty four hours operation permit and tour guide licenses. All these regulatory and legal issues will be adhered to in order to create an enabling business environment. Number of employees Positions Terms of employment Recruitment source Remuneration Two Top level managers Full time formal interview $ 20,000 per month Twenty Tour guides Full time Recruiting using level of experience $ 10,000 per month Fifty Drivers Full time Formal interview $ 5000 per month Twenty Security guards Full time Recruiting according to the field of experience $ 5000 per month ten Camera and video shooting Casual Formal recruitment $ 2000 per month Training and performance measurement; training is a way of motivating employees, and this makes them add value to their service provision. I will, therefore, develop programs on training my employees according to their fields of job performance. I will also design a management control tool that will be used to measure performance of the employees. This will help my employees to perform their work by dedicating on service provision. My employees will, therefore, be required to sign an employee contract that will dictate the job specifications and the rules and regulations for conducting their jobs (Robert, 1982). 7.0 Conclusion Being a tour operator is a very interesting business because it will nurture my potential and also it will help me in opening up other opportunities that will attract more tourists. It will be a promising business with high demand in the future, and; therefore, I will use my tactical and competence from the tourism class together with managerial aspects of conducting business. It is, therefore,a great opportunity for me to engage in this business with a passion. 8.0 Recommendation Since I will be providing tour operations for people from different diversities and culture, I, therefore, recommend on extending my service provision to the physically challenged since they always have a challenge in touring due to their conditions. Reference Brian King, G. H. (1989). 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