Strategies Of Sustainable Tourism In Maharashtra Tourism Essay

Strategies Of Sustainable Tourism In Maharashtra Tourism Essay Tourism is concerned with pleasure holidays, travel going or arriving somewhere. These are the motivation that makes people leave their normal place of work and residence for short term temporary visits to other places not more than one consecutive year. Tourism is generally considered to be beneficial activity and for most people an ideal land use activity; a non-polluting, job generating and foreign exchange earning industry. However, years of sobering experiences have led to the realisation that mass and uncontrolled movement of people creates certain social, economic, political and environmental impacts of the destinations. These impacts vary as per the type of tourism promoted and can be both beneficial as well as adverse. This essay discusses and defines the key term sustainability and competiveness and how they can be use as a strategy to develop tourism in Maharashtra, which is one of top ranked tourist destination in India. The key word in the analysis of tourism is sustainability, a notion that at its most basic summarizes the growing concern for the environment and natural resources, though sustainability has also had increasing resonance in social and economic issues in tourist destinations. The destination has played an important role in tourism. It is a mix product of the tourism which offers integrated experiences to its tourist and consumers. Basically destination are regarded as well define geographical areas such as a town, a city, a country, a nation or as whole world where tourist stay at least one overnight (WTO, 2007). On the other hand it is growing subjectively by the tourist and consumers depending on their flexible demands as when they plan their itinerary on the basis of culture background of the destination and the purpose of visits. It may be educational, business, or vacations to experience importance of the place. Such as a Paris as a destination for German business travellers, for Leisure Japanese, Europe may be a destination within their specified period of a trip (Vlahovic, S., 2010). Apart from this A Jungle may be a destination for scientist and researchers who involve in nature related study simultaneously it is destination for people who like to visit Jungle in their vacation such as Jungle Safari. In addition to it tourist destination also helps in generating revenue to the government as well as private sector which is a significant factor while considering tourism (Edward, J., 2010).****************** Since beginning destinations are divided by manmade borders such as geographically and politically, which does not considering the consumer preferences or tourist industry functions (Vlahovic, S., 2010). Whereas Holloway and Taylor (2006) say that all destinations share certain features such as the place of attraction, services and facilities and accessibility of the destination. Currently in all worlds destination a high competition can be seen. Due to mobility and accessibility of the tourist destination around the world, also emerging changes in tourist destinations with technology, infrastructure, and communication. Therefore destination cannot escape the competitive challenges by the justification that the task is too difficult (Vlahovic, S., 2010). Mostly, destination are varied in nature, these are not always with equal potential, some have lot of potential resources competitive advantages, and some have limited natural resources and infrastructure to support the tourism development in particular destination (Ritchie and Crouch 2000 cited McCartney et al.2008). According to McCartney et al., 2008, there were question between Ritchie and crouch 2000, that whether destination are by born or created? The answer is in question itself. Further Ritchie and Crouch (2000) mention the definition of destination competitiveness and how its related to sustainability as firstly its ability to increase tourism expenditure, to increasingly attract visitors while providing them with satisfying memorable experiences and to do so in a profitable way, while enhancing the well-being of destination residents and preserving the natural capital of the destination for future generations. As a result of this it can be assume that destination competitiveness in tourism has several sustainability dimensions such as economic, social, cultural and environmental. Competitiveness has become a central point of tourism policy. As its increases and tourism activity become stronger, so there is need to put some limelight on improving the competitiveness by creating a constitutional outline to examine, to control and enhance quality and effectiveness in the industry and to protect (to sustain) resources (Vlahovic, S., 2010). Sustainability has defined by Bruntlands Report (1987 cited Cooper et al., 2008) that meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs So to understand the sustainability of resources and how much potential available in destination, there is necessitate to do SWOT as well as PESTLE (Tribe,1995) analysis of the destination from internal and external then require to focus on essential innovative strategy to come up from weakness and threats and to strengthen it to create more opportunity in the future. Strategy has defined by Quinn 1980, It is an outline of a plan that combines organizations major goals, policies and sequence of action in to a cohesive whole, whilst strategy is the way and scope of an organization, it has two phases one short term about three year and second long term more than 5 year (Cooper et al,. 2008) preferably which matches its resources to its changing demand from the surrounding particularly in destination markets to tourists and consumers so as to meet stake holders opportunity (Tribe, 1997). Pike and Ryan (2004 cited McCartney, et al, 2008) said that competitive strategy through comparing cognitive, affective and conative perceptions of the destination. They concluded in their studies that effective positioning requires a succinct, focused and consistent message. Positioning analysis requires an understanding of how a destination is perceived to perform on attributes deemed important to the target market, relative to the competition. On the other side in terms of income and expansion of a national tourism industry in the global market of develop and developing countries, which could therefore raise the real income of its citizens and develop its standard of living (Hong, 2008). Therefore, high demand in competitive strategy or policies require proper and better education and training about the sustainability tourism through academic orientation programmes, government and private organization, also through various information channels (Harris et al 2002). The concept of Sustainability strategy has become in practice by World Conservation Strategy (WCS) in 1980. It was commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which jointly with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) provided the financial Support for its operations. The main strategy has aim to make basic structure and legal guideline to develop and developing country to explain the involvement of living resources conservation to human survival such as green house gas effect, emission, destruction, degradation, extinction of flora and fauna species, pollution, genetic diversity and soil erosion and to sustainable development identifies the main concern of conservation problem and the main requirements for dealing with them and proposes ways for effective accomplishing the strategys goal (NSSD, 1980). There are mainly four pillars of sustainable strategies that are economic, environmental, social and cultural. And it requires suitable consideration of all above four parts of pillars for well being of all stakeholders, to achieve long-term goals requires the engagement of all the stakeholders concerned to the production and consumption process of sustainable tourism though it is related to ruralisation or urbanization (Cooper et al., 2008). Economic Sustainability: Cooper et al., 2008 explained that economic sustainability requires holistic planning across all industrial sectors. It must also reach beyond the destination to make sure that intermediaries such as tour operators are not able to circumvent or put unwanted pressure on the planning processes, it may create a negative impression on the tourist and tourist destination. Mowforth and Munt (2009) have mentioned that economic sustainability is not less important than all others in any tourist development. Sustainability in these terms refers to a level of economic gain from the activity such as planning, training etc., sufficient either to cover the cost of any other special measures taken to provide for the tourist and to mitigate the effects of the tourists presence or to offer an income appropriate other conditions or both. In contrast, Baumgartner and Quaas (2010) have different view as the general definition of sustainability has based on the notions of weak and strong sustainability. Environmental Sustainability Environmental sustainability in tourism requires greater attention and knowledge about the impacts and ways of translating those impacts into the economic marketplace. The tourist, or service provider in the tourism industry have to understand their responsibilities such as disturbing the natural life cycles so for this reason government legislation should be there in system that in case of failure to abide by those systems (Cooper et al., 2008). Further there is need to calculate carrying capacities, it is an important method of assessing environmental impact and sustainability (Maldonado et al. 1992 cited in Mowforth and Munt 2009). Social sustainability Social sustainability is a ability of a community, may local or national, to understand changes such as excess tourists, for short or long term and continuing functioning either without the creation of social disharmony as a result of these contribution or by settling its functions and relationships so that the conflict created can be improve or mitigated (Mowforth and Munt 2009). As per the Cooper et al., (2008) that tourists who do not want to adapt at all will always create negative impacts on the local community. So to avoid it tourist who may be through natural interest where the concerned visitor intrigued by local customs and behaviour so they go to scrutinize and that inspection can set in movement of a commercialisation process that will sooner or later change the events. Cultural sustainability Travel can change persons life through its visits to various parts of the world and more interaction between the local people of the destinations. It helps to develop the understanding about the tourist destination and its culture of the local people. But some time the relationships within particular society, the mores of interaction, the lifestyle, the customs and traditions are all subjectively means of exchange. Even its culture may be irreversibly altered. Culture is a dynamic a feature of human life as in the society, community and economy; so then it can be assume that changes in culture not always welcome in to the society. That means sometime it creates negative effects. But, the cultural sustainability refers to the ability of people to maintain or understand the elements of their culture which distinguished them from others people (Mowforth and Munt, 2009). According the definition that destination has made by manmade borders, so here every destination has its own administrative as well as managing style. This includes the rules and regulation of the town, city, states, countries and all worlds to sustain the balance of Environmental, economic, social and cultural sustainability. So, the role of government and private organization to make strategies and policies is to keep engaging and motivating the participants on long term basis such as government stakeholders, private organizations, and other local authorities also the NGOs in to development of the tourism product. Due to the vast nature of the industry it involves wide-ranging of operations, decisions and planning area with understanding sustainability and non sustainability and the requirements of tourist destinations, its consumer and suppliers such as tourism intermediaries and others like infrastructure developers and legal procedures such as visa and tourists destination manag ement, its statistics of visitors and economy which circulate by the tourism industry (Prugh et al., 2000). The destination which I have taken that is Maharashtra state of India. So first of all according to definition of destination need to understand geography of Maharashtra. Maharashtra is a  state  which located in the western part of  India. It is the  second most populous and  third largest state by area  in India. There is a huge tourism potential available in Maharashtra due to its culture and vide range of geographical area. The borders of Maharashtra is the  Arabian Sea  to the west of India with a 720 km long coastline along the lush green Konkan region,  nestled Sahyadri mountain range are several hill stations and water reservoirs with semi-evergreen and deciduous forests. Gujarat  and the  Union territory  of  Dadra and Nagar Haveli  to the northwest,  Madhya Pradesh  to the northeast,  Chhattisgarh  to the east,  Karnataka  to the south,  Andhra Pradesh  to the southeast,    Goa   which is the part of Maharashtra it has located at the southwest it is a famous holiday spot in the world it is well known by its various beaches. Vasco da Gama sailed down at Malabar Coast in 1948. The Goas economy is solely depending on the tourism. Maharashtra state covers an area of 307,731  km2  (118,816  sq  mi) or 9.84% of the total geographical area of India.  Mumbai, the capital city of the state, is Indias largest city and the financial capital of the nation.  Marathi  is the mother tongue of Maharashtra (Govt. of Maharashtra, 2006). It is also the richest state in India, contributing to 15% of the countrys industrial output and 13.2% of its GDP  in year 2005-06. History The name Maharashtra also appeared in a 7th century inscription and in the account of a Chinese traveller Hiuen-Tsang, was a famous  Chinese  Buddhist  monk, scholar, traveller, and translator that brought up the interaction between  China  and  India  in the early  Tang  period. The potential available at Maharashtra that it has four world cultural heritage sites as first two located in the Sahyadri Mountain Range these are 1) Ajanta caves 2) Ellora caves at Aurangabad and 3) Elephanta caves at the Elephanta Island at the Mumbai. And the newly inscribed site is Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) before it was known as Victoria Terminus (VT) (MTDC, 2010). Bhandardara is noted place for trekking place of Maharashtra followed by Pratapgarh near Mahabaleshwar, Torna near Bhor and Panhala near Kolhapur. Also Sahyadri ranges provide about 7 to 8 trekking cites which has around Pune, Satara, Lonavala and other places. And the rock climbing at Karla Mountains, believed to be dating back to 160 BC. It is home to the huge cluster of Chaitya caves (Planning commission of India, 2007). The water sport activity available at Panshet Aqua Sports centres 40 km drive from Pune, such as windsurfing, speed boating, kayaking, water scooters etc. Close to Mumbai, Esselworld at Gorai is an amusement park which has roller coasters and water slides. Also the Sailing which is most popular in India available at Mumbai and Pune, in Maharashtra, sailing equipments are available only at the Khadakvasla Lake in Pune. Currently, MTDC has started the Scuba and Snorkelling diving school in the water of Arabian Sea at Konkan (MTDC, 2010). Before propose, justify and to defend strategy for the chosen destination, require a SWOT analysis of destination internally as well externally (Tribe, 2003). Then it is easy to understand the nature of competitiveness and threats among the four pillar of sustainability. The analysis involves consideration of the major influences upon the tourist destination success in terms of: resources and environment (Tribe, 2003). So according to this, the analysis of Maharashtras tourism sector is also based on national and global factor as resources and environmental consideration. SWOT analysis of Maharashtra (Govt of India, 2007): Strength available in Maharashtra Maharashtra has immense potential with natural beaches, heritage and culture. Mumbai is comparatively higher in strength of Maharashtra States. It is commercial as well as entertainment capital of India. Recently, the achievement by A. R. Rehman from Slumdog millionaire movie, It has received a prime interest to population of Indian origin in the source of market of USA and UK. Mumbai has an international airport brings about 26 per cent of most of the international tourists. Also, it has advantage of getting most of the tourist to the state before any other states in India. Further, in Agricultural tourism wine tourism now in boom. Because of The international level research institute and providing a better knowledge about the agricultural products which includes export quality product to other countries and how to sustain the farmers land to grow well crops in future. While considering health Medical tourism also in budding stage in metro cities. Weakness in Tourism of Maharashtra Every tourism require tourist for its growth so, the tourism industry in Maharashtra is highly depend on the long haul market include USA, UK, France and Germany. Secondly, the host ambience; when tourist arrived in Mumbai they experience that the condition of western highway is poor, ample amount of advertisement boards and then on the road beggars this all creates a very poor host ambience the reason behind it is population of Mumbai about is approximately 13,788,305. Thirdly, destination transits status shows that only 5-8 per cent out of 50 per cent of international tourist who visits to India is ready to travel to Maharashtras destination. The reason behind it the Safety and security concerns and poor marketing campaign available around India and other countries. Fourthly, unfocused development and lack of co-ordination between MTDC (Maharashtra Tourism Development and Corporation), ITDC (Indian Tourism Development Corporation) and IRCTC (Indian Railway and Catering Tourism Corporation) etc. have followed their own objectives and plans and are working on separate platform. Lack of co-operation between various governmental organization involved in tourism creates inconvenience to the tourist. For example : A visit to Ajanta World heritage site requires a tourist to purchase as many as 7 tickets due to a distinct jurisdiction issue.(Planning Commission of India, 2007). And Deccan Odyssey Luxury train which serves 7 tourist destinations in Maharashtra has getting less revenue, because of poor marketing strategies and promotions from various tourist information Kiosk available in Maharashtra and other part of India. Opportunities to sustain tourism in Maharashtra Due to 9/11 terrorist attack, the domestic tourism growth has increased. Maharashtra Government undertaking initiatives to attract domestic tourism as a tourism strategy. Secondly, Indian governments Golden Quadrilateral Highway project is now in last stage to connect North- South, East-west corridors by the National highways, and is expected to increase accessibilities in domestic tourism (GoI, 2002). The growing tourism source countries of Japan, China and Sri Lanka have Buddhist populations (Buddha Dharma Education Association) their interest is in Buddhist architecture and heritage is a great opportunity for Maharashtra to offer then its unique Cave Architecture. Thirdly, the nature of tourist market in Mumbai, the high spending business and leisure tourists mostly from East European countries affects on the market. The available outbound market is China. Threats which affects to sustain competitive tourism in Maharashtra Maharashtra had significant threats in last decade that all affect on the tourism of Maharashtra. The series of incidents as bomb blast in 1993 target was Hotels and tourists attraction, train bomb blast 2006 and then at the end terrorist attack on 26th to 29th November 2008 on Hotel Trident, The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminals in Mumbai. Secondly, the competitor of it started Economic Impact assessment working with the help of WTO and WTTC, Kerala has already started their vision 2025 to sustain their development growth in tourism. Thirdly, the most competition can be seen in Heritage tourism, beach tourism, back water sport and special interest tourism. Cultural sustainability and strategies in Maharashtra: Under the cultural tourism strategy of Maharashtra the government considered that it has distinctive aspects of its rich culture and tradition would be identified and promoted as an integral part of Maharashtras tourism. To Identify and promote the states folk arts and organize folk dance and music programmes at tourist destinations (Govt of Maharashtra 2006). But to sustain it there is less financial support to those participants in to the entertainment field. The financial support is not on time they need to wait sanction the amount from government. Currently, there is a lot of attention to Bollywood artist, so here it can be seen that celebrities has taken over on Maharashtras culture such as following dress sense of Hollywood actresses is now seen in metro cities. There is still no any specific step has been taken by any of the entertainment industry to give chance to local folk artist to perform on large scale. Environmental impacts and strategies of sustainable tourism in Maharashtra: Due to dramatically rise in the Domestic as well as international tourism, currently metropolitan cities such as Mumbai and Pune, has facing pollution level problem, considering the case of Pune, in Pune the pollution level always on critical level. Local authority made strict rule for transportation and traffic rule to control the negative impact on the environment but still it not up to the good level to achieve low pollution in those metro cities. Every tourism activity affects the natural and built environment. The issue between tourism and environment has lot of complication, but to sustain it there are some strategies such as government has made plane to develop eco- tourism for this according to the requirement such as there is no any new construction will take place in preserved area for sanctuaries and other important places such as lakes and forest land. Changes can be made in old building such as government rest houses at hill station and sanctuaries. But, in fact those cost and expenditure on old construction is comparatively higher than new construction. On another side to develop or to sustain such sites, government and NGOs providing financial and knowledge about the eco- tourism to local people who surviving on the nature. For environmental sustainability government has chosen some part of Konkan in Mumbai, in this, the residence at those places are paid by government to develop their houses (Huts and Cottages) with amenities and other facilities but to ensure that life cycle of nature it should not be disturb. This is a really good example as well as strategy to understand the rural life at those places in touch with nature for next generation as well as the tourists from urban part also helps to increase income level and living standard (GoM, 2006). Economic sustainable strategies The economic Sustainability means the balance of rural and urban economics development. The government and private policy maker should consider reduction of rural as well as urban poverty in specific destination Shen et al., (2008). According to this as per mention earlier that currently the government and various private organization institutions working on the research area of Agriculture, nature (wildlife), medical (Health and safety), information technology-communication and at the end human resource development in the Maharashtra, to provide better employment opportunity to each people and to generate and increase the income level of each people and their standard of living. Now the current competitiveness shows that unbalance growth in various sector, such as labour on contract and seasonal basis. In short when the pinnacle period of any season starts then the employers often outsource the employment instead of local. The effect of this rises in dispute between local and outsourcing employee. The India is still developing country; Japan has been supporting in reconstruction of Ajanta caves in Maharashtra and Nalanda  University is an  ancient centre of higher learning  in  Bihar,  it was a  Buddhist  centre of learning from 427 to 1197 CE. The economics of Maharashtra has highly depend on long haul and outbound tourist whose spending capacity is more than domestic tourist, as per discuss earlier that the stake holders play an important role in development in sustainable economic growth through employment and taxation, such stake holders in Maharashtra as Taj, Oberoy, Hilton, Best Western Hotels, Hyatt and in tourism Thomas Cook, Cox and King, SOTC and Raj Travel and other well known tourism service providers. Social sustainable strategies: Stren and Poleses (2000) define social sustainability as development (and or growth) that is compatible with the harmonious evolution of civil society, fostering an environment conducive to the compatible cohabitation of culturally and socially diverse groups while at the same time encouraging social integration, with improvements in the quality of life for all segments of the population (Davidson, M., 2009). Sex tourism a new phenomenon issue, according to Nair, P., and Sen, S., (2005) that not all the tourists are sex tourists, some of them definitely are. The sex incident happened in Goa had significant effect on Goas tourism, in which there is use of young girls for sex and pornography, by giving them shelter. According to Cooper et al., (2008) the growth of such activities is often supported by a network of facilitators ranging from pimps and brothels through to the apparently more respectable taxi drivers and hotel workers. The internet has only added to the problem by creating an international communication network that can market these services on international scale. Also, there are lonely child labour in small scale industries and without family, and mostly international tourists who come to enjoy their vacation, consider that child is safe as they feel that the children dont have any Sexual Transfer Diseases (Nair, P., and Sen, S., 2005). According to this the people of Maharashtra, stays in various societies there is always up and down glimpses of society can be seen in the social contest. So therefore, social upliftment and improved quality of life through exchanging culture adopting changes in environments and social life. In the situation like natural calamities, the requirement of unity to overcome from natural and manmade unpleasant incidents can be seen in the people of Maharashtra. Though, there may any disputes between different origins of peoples culture. Whereas, Kulkarni G., (2010) say that people may argue that issue of environment is enough, the enormity of the problem demands that, if each one of people of Maharashtra without blaming to the government authority does their bit toward conserving and sustaining the environment. Then it will ready to lend a hand to next generation to sustain environment with low economic price Conclusion: As a consultant, that every destination and attractions consumer and providers should understand that sustainable and non sustainable culture. Then, only the specific growth in next 10-15 year long term period can be achieved without extra energy. Also, balance must be maintain between limits and usage so that continuous changing, monitoring and planning ensure that tourism can be managed properly in Maharashtra (GoM, 2006). There is various strategies can be followed to develop competitiveness in tourism, keep in mind the importance of sustainability such as: Education and training: Once, people get basic education or knowledge about the environment and the sustainability in their life, and then the improvement within them can lead to help to their respective destination. For example: local tourist guide training programme, which will help to understand the history as well as importance of the place by local people and how they can serve to the tourist on competitive level. For, this government institution at Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik has been playing an important role to give education and training to the seekers. In private organization Taj and Oberoy institution has most influence on tourism industry management in Maharashtra. Equal opportunity: There should be put some lime light on rest part of Maharashtra, because current policies highly concentrated on Mumbai only, it provide lots of job and opportunities to the people of respective destination and attraction, so the govt and private organization should not ignore the immense potential available at other places of Maharashtra. They could concentrate on Agricultural tourism, medical tourism, heritage tourism, adventure tourism and wild life tourism etc. The role of researchers and professional in decision making process: It can play an important role policy and strategy analysis, in simple words to identify positive and negative points through various researches which conducted by professionals and scholars. Because, the management and the govern body is solely responsible for any changes in process of development in tourism some time it can lead damages. Safety and security: Tourist should not be a victim of any manmade and natural calamity; extra care should be taken by the local government and tour operator because of any vulnerability in case of woman or loss human of national and international countries can affects on the specific destination and the future tourists and their decisions. Decentralization and accountability: The process of operation and management involves variety of task and governing body, to reduce timescale the requirement of quick and perfect decision to make changes or implementation of original strategies. As well as keeping records of each event and financial transaction leads to clear accountability in the tourism sector. And can help to make better forecasting for tourism in Maharashtra.

Communications and Media the use of social media Essay

What SouthWest Airlines (SWA) has done is to consolidate customers and fans for the better performance of its operation in light of competition it is facing. This is a clear case where social media is being used as a channel that supports community building, customer collaboration and sharing ideas and market trends that propel the performance of a company. This strategy should be adopted in an ideal education situation so that university systems could look for ways of engaging and motivating learners to be more proactive. Still on SWA, the Company actively engaged fans on Facebook through posting different items and argumentative debates just to gather opinions on what customers expect from them. This is what Dani and Singer (2008) term as ‘discrete approach to marketing and feasibility study on what people expect’ (p. 192). American University of Sharjah needs to integrate a number of social media tools into the learning process to reflect the success SWA has enjoyed w ithin the shortest period of time it has been on business. Beginning with how SWA has integrated Facebook within its platform, it is important to note that what American University of Sharjah should strive to achieve is to have social networking. To contextualize this point, when using Facebook to engage customers, the case (Southern Airlines by Adam Saffer) reports that by posting a video from Air Zealand there were 58 comments and 95 likes. These comments according to the author helped the Company strategize on the best approaches to deal with the demands of its client. Contextualizing this case, research by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI 2007) has shown that at least 87 percent of students in universities have social media accounts and as such, Facebook account for about 90 percent. This statistics shows that social networking websites have become integral parts of students’ live at American University of Sharjah. It is from this perspective that the university should try as much as possible to engage students in dec ision making process by posting agendas and policies for debate. That is, facebook should be integrated as part of learning process. From the case, it has been noted that SWA communicated with Facebook fans in response to the questions and issues they were having. When there was a query or a problem from their fans, they could respond to the question on time and publicly. This is particularly to the issue that Lala Palelei asked on November 2nd 2009. It is from this approach that it is recommended for American University of Sharjah to actively engage with students through Facebook. As a matter of fact, Alexander Astin proposed a developmental theory that sought to engage with learners (Geyer et al. 2009). In his theory, he proposed that social interaction with learners help them grow psychologically and physically. Just like what SWA did, responding to the issues students are asking should be evidence-based. That is, answers should be well researched so that engagement includes effo rts students invest in their educational activities and such empirically connected to the objectives of the university. Just like SWA, American University of Sharjah is active on Twitter. It is important to note that adoption of official Twitter account is one factor, making it outpace empirical understanding of the use of such technology and the available theories regarding why it (the Twitter account) may alter a number of organizational process is another. It is from this observation that the university should make twitter account serve the purpose SWA’s twitter account is doing. The case reads, ‘of the social tools, SWA has found Twitter to be its primary means of interacting with its public.’ There are inherent reasons as to why the Company finds Twitter to be a source of interaction. Citing a case, it is reported that Jessica Turner had an interesting post concerning newest service location which was geared towards attracting debates on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This post attracted attention of its followers to an extent that the SWA managed to understand dynamic s of the market through what is termed as ‘two-way communication between SWA and its publics.’ Basically, this is the recommendation the University needs—a two-way communication between students, teaching staff and the public. This recommendation is evidence-based. Scholars such as Daly (2010) have studied the relationship between social practices and new technologies and found greater utility in the concept of affordance and unity because by positively engaging others through social media forums explain why organizations using same technology are likely to engage in disparate or similar work practices and communication. On 14th December 2014 the University through its official Facebook account posted the 12th NGN10 Competition where engineering students from the university were invited to contribute on the best way to make the lightest tower crane. While this approach is similar to what Christi Day did about his Twitter post on ‘Grab your bag. It’s on’ it is recommended that for effective interaction, the university should integrate marketing campaign when making such posts so that a conversation is generated between interested parties and students. Flickr and You Tube are other two social media SWA has used to capitalize on the needs of its customers and fans. On Flickr the information provided is that organizations such as the University can use social media to counter unrealistic claims and complaints aimed at tarnishing its image. This is in regard to complain made by Scooteriscracy. However, to maintain transparency and avoid circumstances as the one SWA found itself in, the line between personal business and professional posting should be distinct. It is recommended that the University should be careful in its posting. Nuts about Southwest as the name of SWA’s You Tube should be used as a benchmark in helping American University of Sharjah note that the use of social media also encompasses permitting every employer to self-publish as long as such publication conforms to specific regulations of the institution. It is apparent that the manner in which the University uses You Tube does not allow people, including stude nts to communicate or share their views and opinions across faculties or organizational boundaries. To conceptualize this recommendation, Brzozowski et al. (2009) conducted a research on the benefits of institutional engagements of leaners on social media. After interviewing 425 undergraduate students from the Midwestern institution, is was found that when learners are allowed to share, post or participate in education forums posted through social media there is a positive correlation between student engagement in the affairs of school and success of the school in policy drafting and implementation. In fact it is through this recommendation that SWA has managed to achieve its objective—great customer service (being ranked as the airline with the least cases of complaints per passenger since it started monitoring the data in 1987). It is important to mention, just like Fuller and Valacich (2008) does that the usage of social media in American University of Sharjah should be about providing meta-knowledge. That is, making the institution understand the type of people in its environ and what they may do so that good relationships and rapport is maintained. Just like what SWA is doing through blogging, the University could let students and employees create profiles pages on different social media where such pages have corporate directories information, photos as well as summary of content that individuals have contributed. It is from such initiatives that people will learn more about the interests, backgrounds and activities of students, workers. It is apparent that what SWA has succeeded in is creativity which as not only placed it as one of the fasted growing companies but also made it become effective. This will be achieved if the University allows participation by all in social media activities. Finally, Ameri can University of Sharjah has a reputation to keep and for the usage of social media, maintenance of confidentiality, transparency and respect to the property should note be overshadowed by the quest to adopt the recommendation provided. References Brzo zowski, M., Sandholm, T., & Hogg, T. (2009). Effects of feedback and peer pressure on contributions to enterprise social media. Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference on Supporting Group Work (pp. 61–70). New York: ACM. doi:10.1145/1531674.1531684 Daly, E. M., Geyer, W., & Millen, D. R. (2010). The network effects of recommending social connections. Proceedings of the Fourth Conference on Recommender Systems (pp. 301–304). New York: ACM. doi:10.1145/1864708.1864772 Dani s, C., & Singer, D. (2008). A wiki instance in the enterprise: Opportunities, concerns and reality. Proceedings of the 2008 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (pp. 495–504). New York: ACM. doi:0.1145/1460563.1460642 Fuller, R. M., & Valacich, J. S. (2008). Media, tasks, and communication processes: A theory of media synchronicity. MIS Quarterly, 32, 575–600. Geyer, W., Millen, D. R., Dugan, C., & Brownholtz, B. (2009). People sensemaking and relationship building on an enterprise social networking site. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press. doi:10.1109/HICSS.2009.343 Higher Education Research Institute (2007) College freshmen and online social networking sites.Available at: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/PDFs/pubs/briefs/brief- 091107SocialNetworking.pdf (last accessed 17th December 2014). Source document

Application And Application Of Knowledge Management

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Potential Merger Essay Example Pdf - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 9 Words: 2686 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Review Level High school Did you like this example? Introduction In todays fast-paced business environment, mergers have become a common strategic initiative for organisations (Volberda et al., 2011). Mergers are projected to be based on shareholders proposition or creating value for them, however, it is argued that the decision is initiated by the management (Wolfgang, 2008). The motive may be different for firms in different situations. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Potential Merger Essay Example Pdf" essay for you Create order For some organisations it may be to survive in the industry by combining with a more established player in the industry (McCarthy and Weitzel, 2013), while for others it may be a strategy to compete better by achieving higher growth (Johnson et al., 2014). A recent merger proposition between bookmaking giants Ladbrokes and Coral became the limelight of the public attention (Kleinman, 2015), whereby the various reasons for the merger were highlighted, followed by two-sided opinions about them. On one hand, media updates depict the potential of greater market power (Farrell, 2015), higher financial benefits (Hall, 2015), faster online growth (GalaCoral, 2015), increased international presence (Schram, 2015) and strong position in the regulatory environment (Maidment, 2015); while on the other, analysts criticize the decision by pinpointing the probability of store closures and job losses (Wood, 2015), loss in share price and dividend yield (Head, 2015), unfit skills set for online g rowth (Nimmo, 2015) and uncertainty about decision confirmation (Martin, 2015b). With such mixed viewpoints, Ladbrokes Coral must take appropriate steps to ensure the success of the combined entity both in the short run and long run. Reasons for the Merger Greater Market Power The most important reason behind the merger intention between Ladbrokes and Coral seems to be their aspiration to gain the market leadership position, i.e. they want to create a new entity which would be the largest bookmaker in the UK (Farrell, 2015). The new entity would have a total of 4000 shops (Rojas, 2015) surpassing the current market leader William Hill, which has only 2400 (Aglionby, 2015). Volberda et al. (2011) identify this as the principal reason underpinning most merger cases, whereby the merging organisations strive to achieve greater market power by ensuring that they will have an opportunity to sell more goods or services than their competitors. Bridge and Craven (2015), however, provide a critical review of this strategy saying that it will be a move with an aim to achieve dominance merely in terms of higher number of shops, and further mention that with the two companies merged together, they will have lots of duplicated shops within the same vicinity, which mig ht not be very useful. Another critique about this strategy was that a single company would not be allowed by the CMA regulations to have that many shops, hence the excess shops will be allocated to smaller competitors like PaddyPower and Betfred; that again makes the purpose of this merger in vain (Kleinman, 2015). As a counter-argument to this, the management of Ladbrokes and Coral stated that even if they lose 1000 stores, they would still have 700 more stores than William Hill, hence it would be beneficial for them (Bridge and Craven, 2015). Wood (2015) argues that as the regulatory authorities enforce to close down excess shops, it would also result in many job cuts and that Ladbrokes Coral management should have considered these consequences while discussing the merger proposal. Higher Financial Benefits According to Hall (2015), the combined entity would be valued at ÂÂ £2.3bn, earning about net revenues worth ÂÂ £2.1bn and delivering cost synergies worth ÂÂ £65m per year. However, critics argue that a mere announcement of the merger has resulted in a 9% decline in Ladbrokes share price, which is alarming (FinancialTimes, 2015). Hence the situation at the time of actual merger may be worse. An analyst Greg Johnson considers this to be a smart strategic initiative as the combined entitys revenues and profitability will be higher, which would result in greater marketing budget, thus helping the bookmaking giant be equivalent to the current leader William Hill (Martin, 2015a). Head (2015), on the other hand, views this as a disadvantage mainly for Ladbrokes, because at the time of announcing the merger, it underwent a reduction in the 2015 annual dividend by 66%. With only 2.3% yield of the shares, Ladbrokes investor confidence may further drop as well. The CEO of Ladb rokes offers a counter-argument saying that although this strategy has shown some dividend and revenue losses currently, it would be useful for the business development in the next 900 years (ProQuest, 2015). The combined retail business of Ladbrokes Coral is viewed as a cash engine of the company, which is why they consider this merger as a win-win situation for both organisations (Maidment, 2015). An opportunity for business growth has been identified related to the joint procurement and reduction of central overhead costs which would enhance the companys efficiency, making it financially strong to bear the tax increases (GalaCoral, 2015). Faster Online Growth With the major growth opportunities in the industry being online gaming and digital sportsbetting, the combined entity has a higher potential to enhance its online growth (GalaCoral, 2015) by attracting sports fans and younger gamblers through its tablet and mobile applications (Maidment, 2015). It will also set the drivers to enhance customer experience and increase loyalty though effective multi-channel offers (GalaCoral, 2015). Since both the companies use similar technology platforms and have partnered with outside parties such a Playtech and Scientific Games, it will be easier for integration of the systems and would not cause any disruption to their existing customers (GalaCoral, 2015). Investment banker Jefferies, however considers Coral to be an imperfect fit to merge with Ladbrokes, as another analyst determined that the success of Corals online business is only dependent upon its casino games; hence it lacks the competence to help Ladbrokes enhance its online growth (Nimm o, 2015). Increased International Presence Another reason for the merger is the opportunity to have greater international presence (Schram, 2015). After closing this deal, the combined entity would be able to operate in Italy, Australia, Spain and Belgium, and would have the potential to expand further with lesser limitations (GalaCoral, 2015). As a result of this, international revenues would account for more than 10% stake in the companys total revenues (Kleinman, 2015). The management of Ladbrokes and Coral also believes that they are very complementary businesses, which would enable them to compete better in the UK and internationally (Schram, 2015). Although there might be potential benefits of going international, Martin (2015b) argues that the uncertainty of whether the merger will take place or not, may cast serious doubts on the strategy of Ladbrokes and it may then hinder its plans to grow in other countries later on. Strength to Operate in the Regulatory Environment Maidment (2015) believes one of the reasons behind betting firms mergers is their strategy to be strong enough as an entity to be able to bear higher British tax bills and regulations in the industry. Some analysts view this as a strategy which is not well-planned, because Ladbrokes planned to take over Coral in 1998 with the same intention of better online growth, but the imposed regulations by the government to cease the takeover proposal and notices from the trade and industry secretary about the consequences of hurting the competition, made it discard the proposal (Martin, 2015b). Hence similar hindrances may occur this time around as well if the minute details have not been given enough consideration. Recommendations for Success Digital Strategy Jim Mullens, CEO of Ladbrokes admitted in front of the public about the disappointment from poor digital strategy by Ladbrokes, which made them suffer (ProQuest, 2015). In the digital market, Gala Coral accounts for a strong share of about 8% in the UK, while Ladbrokes lags behind with only 6% (Maidment, 2015). Hence in case of the new entity, the innovative ideas and successful technology from Coral may also be used in order to devise a successful strategy for digital marketing. The Coral Group possesses the leading multi-channel technology (Playtech, 2014), which if combined with that of Ladbrokes, would increase their expertise to such an extent that they will be able to upsurge their multi-channel revenue and customers. Separate Investment Entities Since the declining share price and dividend yield may have an adverse impact on customer confidence, the combined company should still keep the shares of existing shareholders to the entities they prefer, meanwhile transitioning the best case practices in both the entities before the merger takes place. This would help in avoiding any future issues in standardization of processes as has been the case in some merger failure cases (Papathanassis, 2012). Another advantage of this strategic move would be foundation of a recreational scale and improvement in the customers experience (Schram, 2015), whereby they would feel more valued. It would also upkeep the shareholders confidence as they would have discretionary power to hold the shares desired by them based on the experiences of customers. Ensuring High Employee Morale According to media sources, the merger is planned to come into effect legally as a takeover of Coral by Ladbrokes (Farrell, 2015), however, there might be problems arising as a result of this issue at the time of implementation of plans, because research suggests that takeover cases normally prove to worsen the situation for employees in the acquired organisation (Risberg, King and Meglio, 2015). Although there is satisfactory representation from both organisations in the executives list (GalaCoral, 2015), the real cultural problems may occur down the hierarchy. Ladbrokes Coral would, therefore, need to take care that the impression of the acquired firm is not considered in its literal sense, taking example from the successful merger case of Yawata Steel and Fuji Steel to form Nippon Steel, where the employee morale was kept up throughout (Waverman, Comanor and Goto, 2005: 66). The management must, therefore, develop policies according to which the employees of neither organisation are discriminated against to create a healthy work environment. Appointment of Trustworthy and Reliable Executive Members There is a probability that the CEO of HBOS, Andy Hornby would occupy a senior position in the executive board of Ladbrokes Coral (Duncan, 2015). Hornby was accused of pushing the bank into massive failure when it was finally rescued after being taken over by Lloyds bank in 2008 (Inman, 2015). Ladbrokes Coral seems to be waiting for the legal inquiry being published about the HBOS case and that Hornby would be taken on the board if not found guilty. One of the executives in the company suggested that he could be given another chance as he is a good retailer and was probably not well-suited for the banking career (Farrell, 2015). However, critics argue that the bank failed as a result of the reckless lending practices during Hornbys leadership (Aldrick, 2012). Although not being appointed for the main executives list (Duncan, 2015), it is still not fit for Ladbrokes Coral to have Hornby on their panel as it is going to be a huge risk for the company and might hinder its way to achie ve its goals successfully. Even if Hornby was not directly responsible to create the culture of high pressure sales, he was still responsible to not cease it when it came to his notice. Therefore, having experienced personnel with clear and honest work history would be best suited for the executive positions to be filled in for the newly merged company. Conclusion The competitive betting industry poses some amazing opportunities for Ladbrokes Coral, however, the combined entity may be faced with certain threats as well. Therefore, the management must evaluate the benefits of the merger proposition against the criticisms by the analysts to take the necessary actions to ensure the smooth running of the organisation. It may capitalise on Corals remarkable technology to develop its digital marketing strategy and secure stakeholders confidence by keeping the share ownership of the two entities separate. Additionally, it can formulate discrimination-free policies to ensure high morale of the employees in both entities, both before and after the merger, and appoint trustworthy and reliable members for its executive board to lead to a successful future. References Aglionby, J. (2015). Ladbrokes and Coral Confirm Merger. The Financial Times. 24th July. [Online] https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6a054918-31cb-11e5-8873-775ba7c2ea3d.html#axzz3olHGUo00 Aldrick, P. (2012). Book Cites Andy Hornby for HBOS Failure. The Telegraph. 9th September. [Online] Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9531748/Book-cites-Andy-Hornby-for-HBOS-failure.html Bridge, S., and Craven, N. (2015). Merger of Top Bookmakers Ladbrokes and Coral would lead to Huge Local Duplication of Shops all Owned by Same Firm. This is Money. 28th June. [Online] Available at: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3141674/Merger-bookmakers-Ladbrokes-Coral-lead-huge-local-duplication-shops-owned-firm.html Duncan, H. (2015). Disgraced Former HBOS Bank Boss Andy Hornby to Land Top Job at Newly-Merged Gambling Giant Ladbrokes Coral. The Daily Mail. 24th July. [Online] Available at: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-31724 17/Disgraced-former-bank-boss-Andy-Hornby-handed-job-newly-merged-gambling-giant-Ladbrokes-Coral.html Farrell, S. (2015). Ladbrokes and Coral in Talks to Create UKs Biggest Bookmaker. The Guardian. 23rd June. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/23/ladbrokes-and-coral-in-talks-to-create-biggest-bookmaker FinancialTimes (2015). Ladbrokes profits slump 44% after Shop Closures. [Online] Available at: https://www.ft.com/fastft/373691/ladbrokes-half-year-profits GalaCoral (2015). Joint Announcement Regarding Proposed Recommended Merger. [Online] Available at: https://www.galacoral.co.uk/~/media/Files/G/Gala-Coral/reports-and-presentations/quarterly-report/pr-24072015.pdf Hall, J. (2015). Ladbrokes Share Price Falls after Confirming ÂÂ £2.3bn Merger with Gala Coral. CityA.M. 24th July. [Online] Available at: https://www.cityam.com/220890/ladbrokes-confirms-23bn-merger-gala-coral Head, R. (2015). Why Playtech PLC is the Jackpot Winner fro m the Ladbrokes PLC-Gala Coral Merger. The Motley Fool. 24th July. [Online] Available at: https://www.fool.co.uk/investing/2015/07/24/why-playtech-plc-is-the-jackpot-winner-from-the-ladbrokes-plc-gala-coral-merger Inman, P. (2015). Former HBOS Boss Andy Hornby to take Charge of Public Company. The Guardian. 23rd July. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/23/former-hbos-boss-andy-hornby-to-take-charge-of-public-company Johnson, G., Whittington, R., Scholes, K., Angwin, D., and Regner, P. (2014). Exploring Strategy: Text and Cases. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Kleinman, M. (2015). Ladbrokes and Coral Agree ÂÂ £2.3bn Merger. Sky News. 24th July. [Online] Available at: https://news.sky.com/story/1524609/ladbrokes-and-coral-agree-2-3bn-merger Maidment, N. (2015). Ladbrokes and Gala Coral Team up for Online Betting Push. Reuters. 24th July. [Online] Available at: https://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/07/24/us-gala-coral-m-a-ladbrokes-id UKKCN0PY0JL20150724 Martin, B. (2015a). DÃÆ'Â ©jÃÆ'Â   vu for Ladbrokes Investors as Bookie Gambles on Mega-Merger. The Telegraph. 27th June. [Online] Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/leisure/11703159/Deja-vu-for-Ladbrokes-investors-as-bookie-gambles-on-mega-merger.html Martin, B. (2015b). Ladbrokes Merger Months in the Making. The Telegraph. 23rd June. [Online] Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/predictions/leisure/11694843/Ladbrokes-merger-months-in-the-making.html McCarthy, K.J., and Weitzel, U. (2013). Merger Motives Merger Motives and the Realization of Gains. In: McCarthy, K.J., and Dolfsma, W. (ed.). Understanding Mergers and Acquisitions in the 21st Century, pp. 109-147. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Nimmo, J. (2015). Market Report: Ladbrokes Stumbles as City Doubts Success of its Coral Deal. EveningStandard. 13th August. [Online] Available at: https://www.standard.co.uk/business/market-report-ladbrok es-stumbles-as-city-doubts-success-of-its-coral-deal-a2488616.html Papathanassis, A. (2012). Post-Merger Integration and the Management of Information and Communication Systems: An Analytical Framework and its Application in Tourism. Germany: Springer Science Business Media. Playtech (2014). Playtechs Multi-Channel Solution Revolutionises the Betting Shop Experience. [Online] Available at: https://www.playtech.com/news/latest_news_and_prs/playtech_s_multi-channel_solution_revolutionises_the_betting_shop_experience ProQuest (2015). Ladbrokes Business Review, Proposed Recommended Merger with Coral Group and Proposed Placing Call Final. Fair Disclosure Wire. [Online] Available at: https://goo.gl/Px3LXl Risberg, A., King, D.R., and Meglio, O. (2015). The Routledge Companion to Mergers and Acquisitions. New York: Routledge. Rojas, J.F. (2015). Betting Giants Ladbrokes and Coral Merge to Create UKs Biggest Bookmaker But will it Close Stores and Axe Jobs? Mirror Online. 2 4th July. [Online] Available at: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/business/betting-giants-ladbrokes-coral-merge-6128993 Schram, B. (2015). Ladbrokes and Gala Coral Agree on ÂÂ £2.3bn Merger to Create Bookmaking Giant. International Business Times. 24th July. [Online] Available at: https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ladbrokes-gala-coral-agree-2-3bn-merger-create-bookmaking-giant-1512379 Volberda, H.W., Morgan, R.E., Reinmoeller, P., Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., and Hoskisson, R.E. (2011). Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization. Hampshire: Cengage Learning EMEA. Waverman, L., Comanor, W.S., and Goto, A. (2005). Competition Policy in the Global Economy: Modalities for Cooperation. London: Routledge. Wolfgang, K. (2008). Synergies, Shareholder Value and Exchange Ratios in Value-Creating Mergers: Why Shareholders Should Doubt Managements Pre-Merger Promises. Managerial Finance, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 252-261. Wood, G. (2015). Coral and Ladbrokes Merger Result of Adapt -or-Die Phase of Digital Age. The Guardian. 23rd June. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/jun/23/coral-ladbrokes-merger-result-of-digital-age