Question

Scenario

Sun City Board’s CEO, Tom Wilson, has decided that Sun City should take advantage of the global surfing market. He has based his decision on the information he obtained from the industry study summarized below. You are cautiously optimistic about this opportunity and need to advise Tom on the management considerations Sun City must address before embarking on this endeavor.

Preparation

In this assignment, you will outline and explain the key management considerations for going global, based on the information you’ve been given and the concepts you studied in your readings on globalization and business.

1. Thoroughly read Module 3 Management Within a Global Organization Learning Unit.

2. Review the following excerpts from the 2016 report titled “Surfing: A Global Strategic Business Report” (Links to an external site.) from Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

The global market for surfing is projected to reach US$9.5 billion by 2022, driven by growing interest in surfing both as a leisure and sporting activity, increased accessibility to surfing through surf parks and surf pools, and technology innovations focused on developing sophisticated surf-wear and surf-gear…. As warm water surfing in tropical locations turn crowded as a result of mass tourism, there is increasing interest in cold water surfing. The trend is expected to bring conventionally unpopular surfing locations into the spotlight, thus expanding the addressable market for surfing equipment and gear. The United States represents the largest market worldwide (49.0% market share) supported by the long-established surfing culture in the region and the resulting large base of surfer population. Australia is poised to grow at the fastest CAGR of 5.5% over the analysis period, driven by rising tourism, increased spending on family vacations, presence of several attractive national surfing reserves in the country, and the popularity of beach and surf tourism and recreation.

Snapshot Summary of Trends and Drivers

• Growing participation of women in surfing offers surf-wear market lucrative growth opportunities

• Rising popularity of surfing as a sport and leisure activity drives demand for surfing apparel and equipment

• Performance surf wear continues to gain prominence

• Establishment of surf parks with artificial wave technology to benefit market growth

• Focus shifts to eco-friendly surfboard materials and production techniques

• Demand for hybrid and uniquely shaped surfboards

Key players in the global surfing market include O’Neill, Quiksilver, Body Glove, Volcom LLC, Rip Curl International Pty Ltd., and Billabong International Limited.

Your Task

Carefully consider the political, economic, and cultural challenges and benefits of global business. How should Sun City management address its planning, organizing, leading, and controlling functions to participate in the global market?

Write a three-paragraph essay of at least 300 words describing your advice for Sun City. Your essay must include three properly referenced and defined terms from Module 3 Learning Unit. For example, if you believe that Sun City should follow a standardization strategy, what implications would this have on management control? How does your plan address the potential for a global supply chain?

Answer 1

Carefully consider the political, economic, and cultural challenges and benefits of global business. How should Sun City management address its planning, organizing, leading, and controlling functions to participate in the global market?

Political, economic and cultural problems, concerns and advantages, if any, are the key aspects that need to be taken into account when venturing internationally. Countries have diverse political structure, economic conditions and cultural context. Surfing is seen as a enjoyable sport in most parts of the United States, but in South Asia and Africa it is not so. Australia and New Zealand both have strong customer base for surfing. It depends on knowledge level among prospective clients, company sophistication, acceptability and economic viability. In these areas, Surfing is risky given the rugged Indian Ocean and the small seas that surround it. People in South Africa and Europe enjoy surfing as part of their holiday experiences where the seas are quiet and the environment encourages tourism and leisure. Management of Sun City will be creative when performing its administrative tasks such as roles of planning, coordinating, leading and managing. Growing continent must have a head in place to ensure that the right kind of preparation is carried out for each prospective consumer base taking cultural, political and economic role into consideration. All the heads must be connected to Sun City Group's corporate culture and overall operational approach with its United States headquarters. Later that, a campaign of awareness on the various benefits of surfing needs to be established especially in continents such as Asia and Eastern Europe. Surfing should be marketed as a de-stressing enjoyable experience for business citizens, a family holiday experience for those who are trying to enjoy their holidays. It can also be marketed around the world as an experience for people who are health conscious. It's really interesting to learn human culture. As a corporate marketing manager, who has wanted to go national, I realize that society has an effect on a customer's whole decision-making cycle. The surf gears are hired and not purchased particularly in other continents except our North America. The supply chain would have tour operators who should be allowed to buy the surf gears and employ them as part of their enjoyable experiences for people who pursue surfing. This cycle does not produce instant benefits, but over the medium to long term leads to a steady increase over market and brand recognition. Finally, corporate management will be at the headquarters of the United States, but various divisions of different nations will be run as a single strategic business entity while at the same time being responsible for their own companies. When designing the sales model, a more personalized approach can be adopted but the products should be streamlined to make the brand identity better with current and prospective consumers.

Write a three-paragraph essay of at least 300 words describing your advice for Sun City. Your essay must include three properly referenced and defined terms from Module 3 Learning Unit. For example, if you believe that Sun City should follow a standardization strategy, what implications would this have on management control? How does your plan address the potential for a global supply chain?

Strategic planning is one of the crucial steps in creating a strategy and action plan to accomplish the organization's objectives. For strategic planning including SWOT, PESTLE, etc, many resources are available.

In this paper, SWOT has been selected and analysis has been done on SWOT in regard to Sun City Boards. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It is a strategic planning tool which is used to analyze the internal as well as the external environment of the organization. In the internal environment, SWOT analysis helps in analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. In the external environment, SWOT analysis helps in analyzing opportunity and threats for the organization.

The organization's strengths include the company's skills and tools to help the organization achieve competitive benefits. The organization's shortcomings include issues that impede the organization's success. Opportunity includes ways to boost the market place. Organizational challenges include risks from rivals, laws and government legislation, people, and so on.

The purpose of the selected tool is to evaluate the organization's internal and external environment and to help develop strategies. The Sun City Boards will improve their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses with this device. It may also recognize the potential available to the organisation's customers and therefore appreciate the opportunities for the company.

SWOT operates efficiently and analyzes many variables, such as capital, employee ability, competitive advantages, brand performance, competition, market risk, etc. The company will increase its competitive advantages over rivals after considering these variables. The SWOT Analysis offers an insight into various factors such as the organizations 'competitive position on the market and can thus establish strategies to strengthen their competitive position.

Basically there are two issues that are not covered by SWOT research. Firstly, it does not provide the weight of all of the factors that have been established. It is therefore difficult to determine the most significant and less significant factor. Furthermore, it offers a theoretical empirical interpretation and does not offer objective evidence on which business decisions should be based.