U.S. Amusement and Theme Park Industry :Only Strategic Group and major competitors part - Research Paper Example

The Amusement Park and Theme Industry in the US Primary Strategic Groups Presently, there are four main competitors in the Amusement Parks industry in the country, Walt Disney, Universal Parks and Resorts, Cedar Fair and SeaWorld Entertainment. The four giant companies jointly control about 80.2% of the total revenue collected in the industry (IBIS World 2014). However, Walt Disney is the leading company in terms of customer base. There are about 400 other smaller enterprises in the industry, which relatively compete against one another and in the process, compete against the giant four.

Among the rest, there are companies such as Six Flags, Namco Entertainment, CEC Entertainment, and Dave & Busters. They jointly account for the remaining 19.8% of the market share in terms of revenues collected and number of visitors (IBIS World, 2014). A strategic group is an idea used in the process of strategic management for grouping companies in the same industry with a similar business models or strategies. It contains two dimensions: product innovation progress against the levels of customer loyalty.

On the other hand, strategic group mapping is a method used for examining the position of one firm in the competitive environment. It helps to determine the scope of competition, which a farm gets from others in the industry. A strategic group model determines which companies are in direct competition with each other in the industry. Considerations for the strategic group mapping indicate that Walt Disney, Universal Parks and Resorts, Cedar Fair and SeaWorld Entertainment are in the upper right corner of the map.

This categorization suggests that the four firms have greater innovation levels than the rest. As a result, they have more customer loyalty than the remainder of the companies does. The big four corporation are always inventing customer attraction features. For this case, Walt Disney is the market innovation driver, whose strategies spread to the rest of the industry. The three other companies in the same quarter of the map adopt the innovations faster than the remaining group. Because of these innovations in terms of customer service, the four companies have the capacity of keeping older customers and attracting new ones.

Firms found clustered in the lower-left corner were not able to be innovative enough with their services, which ultimately costs them their customer loyalty. Pictures (a) Six Companies Walt Disney, Universal Parks and Resorts, Cedar Fair and SeaWorld Entertainment Other Companies Six Flags, Namco Entertainment, CEC Entertainment, and Dave & Busters (b) Six Companies Walt Disney, Universal Parks and Resorts, Cedar Fair and SeaWorld Entertainment Other Companies Six Flags, Namco Entertainment, CEC Entertainment, and Dave & Busters Major Competitors in the Industry The Amusement Parks and Themes Industry has four main competitors primarily setting the pace for the rest.

These levels of rivalry cause the desire to produce the most innovative services for the visitors and, as a result, maintain customer loyalty. Profitability of the companies depends on how they market their products. The big four companies have installed expensive rides and enjoy economies of scale in terms of operations and advertising. The East Coast has the highest numbers of these parks with Florida, New York, and Ohio having the largest concentration. There are over 400 parks in the country across all states, which make the level of competition stiff especially for small companies.

The competitiveness of the industry gives the businesses a hard time in trying to adjust to the environment. References IBIS World (2014). Amusement Parks in the US: Market Research Report. Retrieved 15 February 2015 from http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/default.aspx?indid=1646.