Far Horizon, Essay Example

Before analyzing The Far Horizon business plan through the prism of the “four P’s”, we should examine it the basic economic concepts, which had been historically formulated and oriented to the historical events taking place at the time when they were formulated. There are basically three main concepts as to what is most influential in economic matter, however the newest fourth concept is not completely defined. There still exist debates on that matter whether the fourth economic concept belongs to entrepreneurship or whether it should be more deeply defined into the various following capitals: human capital, intellectual capital, social capital. Economist are more pulled into argumentations of the characteristics and specific definition of “entrepreneurship”, and that is on whether it is simply a specific kind of human capital or labor. Besides that, the long ago factors of land, labor, and capital goods were distinctly identified by physiocrat, classical economic schools, Marxian, and neoclassical economics. Every school had there own view of what is more important, for example marxians imposed upon labor, subjects of labor, and instruments of labor, the classical economy imposed to land, labor, and capital stock, but in all economies there were common points, which nowadays define the following four concepts.

Considering the Far Horizon, we can apply all four concepts in a less-or-more extent. When applying the labor concept, according to the Far Horizon business plan, we must speak of the staff and their performance in the following organization. As mentioned in the business plan, the team of managers that was hired for Far Horizon on their first phase of development, they were not all effective, and it took the organization two years to change the managerial team in order to make it function efficiently. The Far Horizon entity produces services for its consumers, therefore the labor force that serves must be qualified and must satisfy the needs of the customer that pays for the given services. Speaking of land and natural resources of Far Horizon, we can say that they are provided by the location of the facility in the state, and their logistic characteristics according to their customers. This concept is not the one of that makes great influence. Since the Far Horizon is situated in the center of the state, it is universal when speaking about all-state business convention, where it has to prove its efficiency when representatives of a certain business must reach it from different corners of the state. In this matter it is also universal because its location is not far from an airport, and it is situated near a major highway, making it easy to reach. However since it is not located in a major town, local citizens will not bring great revenue. The capital-goods concept that applies in Far Horizon depends mostly on the equipment and inventory for the services provided. That is the restaurant inventory used for providing banquets, breakfasts, lunches, and dinners; the inventory used for business conventions, such as meeting halls, training rooms, everything needed for functions of businesses and organizations. The final economic function to be applied is the entrepreneurship of the Far Horizon, which is represented by the owners of the company. They are also the executives of the organization, the owner has 35 years of work experience in this field, and the top manager has over 25 years of experience in the restaurant industry. They are the minds of the following organization, and they make all the decisions with a consultant in managerial decisions. Other economic concepts like intellectual and human capital are represented in minor matters such as in promotion campaigns of the Far Horizon, and the personnel’s dedication in the organization, which is also influenced by social capital like individual rewards and stimulus.

When defining product strategy decisions that influence the convention center we push away from the characteristics and goals made in the Far Horizon business plan. Product strategy is an important component of the functioning of a business and especially when we speak of the development of a service providing organization. That is why in the product strategy of Far Horizon we define that product planning is one of the key factors, if the planning or managerial decisions according to plans are feeble, the whole product strategy is most likely to fail (Ed Crowley, 2009). The Far Horizon has created a business plan of the way to function and develop. The owner has defined 4 phases of development which are to be followed year-by-year. Another product strategy factor that is distinctive for this business is service quality and value, Far Horizon plans to develop a convention center for state-wide organizations and enterprises, meaning that the quality of services in the restaurants convention halls and future motel are to be of high standard for the visiting representatives. Branding is the third factor of the product strategy that needs attention. Far Horizon is not located in a highly populated city, in order to attract visitors from the whole state it needs an affective promo campaign, which will require high costs, but in the end will bring revenue (James H Donnelly, 2009).

The place strategy factors in Far Horizon are also of great importance because the location of it is universal, infrastructure, ads on highways, airports, gas stations and railway stations, scenic landscapes are the strategic areas benefiting development. Since Far Horizon is to be a state-wide convention centre, it has to be easy to find and get to. The executives must have in mind that in order to attract visitors they should ensure that the road to Far Horizon is comfortable and worth the time. Buses should have routes going past the convention from different parts of the state and from places that have constant streams of people. The factor of ads has an influence on the location because their presence makes the convention seam to be closer from places which are relatively far. Another place strategy factor which is important from the marketing prism is the landscape around the convention. Far Horizon wants to provide a nice place to withhold various shows, banquets, occasions, business meeting, so the scenic landscape should another factor of attraction, inviting customers.

Speaking about the promotion strategy factors of Far Horizon, the most we identify the following: promotion-expenditure factor, customer factor, media-selection factor. We identified specifically these three factors according to the factors influencing marketing perspectives for this organization, based on the geographical situation, budget, and potential of the enterprise. The promotion-expenditure factor relies on the budget that will be extracted for the promotion campaign, which then depends on the scale and services of ad-companies affordable to buy. The customer factor depends on whether the majority of business or household customers will use the services of Far Horizon, the concentration of customer, and their numbers. Finally the media-selection factor which depends on whether Far Horizon is looking forward to advertise by booklets, billboards on highways, radio-ads, or TV-ads, and whether this will be state-wide, on a local level, or both (Jo Ann Smith, 2007).     .

The pricing strategy is one of the most important strategies especially in a developing organization. The major factors that Far Horizon must take to mind according to the pricing strategy are current profit maximization factors, expenditures, and competitive quality leadership. Current profit maximization should be taken to high account because since the expenses on promotion and development are growing Far Horizon should raise prices, and at the same time save the customers that already use their services in order to recover the losses. Expenditures are a factor of pricing influence strategies because Far Horizon is a producer of services, including meals prepared in the restaurant, communal services and salary of the personnel. The final important price-influencing factor is the competitive quality leadership factor. It depends on the competitive prices of neighboring facilities that have similar services, but at the same time when rising or dropping prices to competitive standards, they have to be a proof of quality, so that the ordinary consumer of the following services defines the quality according to the price (NetMBA.com, 2007).

These strategies are of great importance in providing success to Far Horizon. Only correct managerial and marketing strategies will give an uplift in reaching prosperity in any organization. As proved from the experience of Far Horizon, the managerial staff is not always perfect, and in order to form a team of personnel that works for the development it may take time and nerve.

References

Ed Crowley, (2009). Product Strategy Doesn’t Just Happen. Retrieved September 16, 2009, from http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/magazine/3/4/0508ec

J Paul, Peter James H Donnelly, (2009). Marketing management: knowledge and skills. Retrieved 17, September, from http://books.google.com.ua/books?id=ah_0rrAOMy8C&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=product+strategy+Factors&source=bl&ots=O_FHi_wmFQ&sig=O1z_YD_2ejMooax6uzcacOdPVEY&hl=uk&ei=Z1iySr_GFcaG_AaqlMG1DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8#v=onepage&q=product%20strategy%20Factors&f=false

Jo Ann Smith, (2007). Perspectives on Promotion Strategies. Retrieved September 17, 2009, from http://www.web-articles.info/e/a/title/Perspectives-on-Promotion-Strategies/

NetMBA.com, (2009). Pricing Strategy. Retrieved September 17, 2009, from http://www.netmba.com/marketing/pricing/