Facilities & Property Development & Management - Golfing Resort in Croatia - Outline Example

Facilities & Property Development & Management Case Study Assignment Written by Executive Summary A golfing resort in Croatia is not unlike the contradictions of the game itself. Major risks accompany incredibly attractive profit and growth opportunities. It is also an engaging way of combining your legendary business acumen with a hobby, as you have done in such charming manner in the United States. Our core business strategy should be to learn from our errors in Scotland. My specialty lies in the efficient and profitable operations of established facilities, as I have done for decades in London, Singapore, and other top spots of the business world. Project management is not my forte, the lessons of Scotland notwithstanding. Similarly, you have a penchant for finding great locales, but potential problems of construction are not in your domain of expertise. Let us focus in Croatia on our respective strengths, while we leave the rest to experts with track records. I am confident that such an approach will deliver reliable results. The rest of this document details the strategy I propose, and how I think we should proceed. Introduction Aficionados can never have any excess of new golf resorts. Each country and tourist destination has its own special attractions. Inveterate golfers like to notch up the numbers of courses at which they have played, because this is a matter of peer admiration in its own right. Croatia is one of the most intriguing vacation spots of the new world. There is natural curiosity everywhere about how this country fares after decades of oppression and strife. It is a beautiful place, with much for families of golfers to do. It is a nearly ideal location for a new gold resort. Our lessons from Scotland may not be complete. There could be new issues in a strange business environment as prevails in Croatia. Instances of delayed and uncoordinated material deliveries that we experienced in Scotland may exacerbate. Our success will lie in combing our strengths as a team, and the opportunities of golfing in Croatia, while investing in expertise for project management and logistics. Background The vacation business is one of the most successful in recent times. It appears to be resilient as well with few families willing to cut-back on annual periods of rest, regardless of economic and financial compulsions. Demands from the golfing segment are especially insensitive to financial pressures. The establishment of a new golfing resort on a green-field basis calls for distinct management skills. Project delays and cost over-runs, which have plagued us in the past, threaten the Croatia opportunity. The new resort has to be planned and managed in a new and improved format. Project Feasibility Analysis Methodology Relevant construction experience is a key issue for studying project feasibility. We need a person who has established golf courses at new locations to visit Croatia. It may be a team rather than just one person. The costs of topography, greening, water, and weed management are some of the aspects that should be fully accounted in our feasibility plan. The other success driver will be the investments and staffing required for the resort. We will need a reputed Croatian architect and contractor for this. The project should rely on local materials as far as possible, so that our experience with Italian marble in Scotland is not repeated. Action Plan 1. You accord agreement in principle with a planning credit for project feasibility analysis. 2. I will prepare a short-list of at least 3 golf course experts, from which you can choose one based on a survey of other courses designed and built by them. 3. I will locate teams of architects and construction engineers in or near Croatia, for resort construction. 4. We take further steps based on time and cost estimates prepared by the commissioned experts. 5. We should conduct focus interviews with golfing customers and associates in the United States and Scotland, to get confirmation of our basic concepts of a new resort in Croatia. Management Brief I suggest that risk management should guide the management brief. We should ask the consultants to offer time and cost guarantees, and benchmark at least one existing golf course that we wish them to copy. The crucial questions for which we should seek answers are how much money and time we need to establish a tightly specified facility at the Croatia location. Development Team Sourcing and Fitment The development team needs two parts: one for the golf course, and the other for the resort. I would like to supervise the project on your behalf, and will keep you posted on time and cost schedules on a regular basis. I will also supervise the steps related to aligning the resort design to the expressed needs of regular and key customers at our existing U.S. and Scotland resorts. This structure will ensure that we adhere to time and cost budgets, and that we create a new resort which our clientele will love. This will enable you to reap early and attractive returns on your investments. Potential Planning Problems We should not be under any illusions that the project will be all smooth sailing. The fledgling bureaucracy of Croatia could be our biggest stumbling block. Inward movements of materials and finances could take much longer than the paces to which we are accustomed in the U.S. and the U.K. Please therefore consider taking a Croatian partner on board for this project. We stand to benefit with some local expertise on the ground near the project area. The other major issue I expect is with respect to staffing. I do not think we can source all our maintenance and service crews from within Croatia. However, the country does have a potential demographic base. Hence, we should start recruiting training and supervisory personnel early in the project, so that local hands can be made ready once the project is ready for launch. Construction Planning Coordination is the main lesson we can learn from the Scotland experience. It should be easier this time, given our combined experiences, and the fact that we do not have to contend with existing structures. I will personally chair regular and frequent meetings between the golf course and resort consultants, so that required materials arrive just in time and in the appropriate quantities. Launch Preparations I suggest a trial launch before the real one. We can invite a selection of regular clients from the U.S. and Scotland to sample the new resort in Croatia. This will provide us with invaluable feedback, and insulate us from all the bad effects of time delays and cost over-runs as well. The full-scale launch could be in the form of a tournament for leading personalities in the vacation and travel sectors. This will enable us to create a favorable media image, and enjoy word-of-mouth promotion benefits as well. Diversity Issues Conflicts between local teams and staff from Croatia, and experts from other countries are always possible. Our best bets against such mishaps would be to send local Croatian employees to our facilities in the U.S. and Scotland before the new project starts. This will familiarize them with the working ethos of an international golf resort. Key Asset Management The golf course is cause for most concern. Croatia is not a major golfing destination. Hence the soil, irrigation, and agronomy are relatively unknown. It will be safest to link the course construction project with a guaranteed maintenance contract for the first few years after launch. Maintenance of the resort facilities is not a concern for me, as it is close to my particular area of expertise and prior experience. I will ensure that our business plan provides for realistic resort maintenance expenses. Conclusions Croatia is both an opportunity and a challenge. Clearly, we cannot pass up such a major source of new revenues. The climate, scenery, and location of this country, makes it a valuable new destination for our Group. We have significant strengths between the two of us. We can combine the expertise of aspects of golf resort construction and management that we do not know with our own, and achieve better returns than we have at Scotland. I do strongly recommend this project and look forward to starting work soon. Read More