final project - prasad

Prasad Pachakale Professional Project 08/04/2011

NORTHUMBRIA BUSINESS SCHOOL

UG PROFESSIONAL PROJECT

“FORMULATING AND SUGGESTING FUTURE STRATEGIC

CHOICES”

(A CASE STUDY OF KESARI TOURS)

NAME: PRASAD PACHAKALE

ID NO: W10031253

MODULE CODE: NX0315

MODULE NAME: PROFESSIONAL PROJECT

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 08/04/2011

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Contents1. Who am I as a Learner?......................................................................................................3

2. Implication of career choice...............................................................................................6

3. Research topic.....................................................................................................................8

4. Research Objectives............................................................................................................8

Personal objective...........................................................................................................8

Stakeholder objective......................................................................................................8

Academic objectives.......................................................................................................8

5. Research questions..............................................................................................................9

6. Background of Kesari Tours...............................................................................................9

Various divisions of Kesari Tours.................................................................................10

Products it offer.............................................................................................................10

7. Literature review...............................................................................................................11

Strategic formulation.....................................................................................................12

Strategy in Action.........................................................................................................12

The Strategic Position...................................................................................................14

The Strategic Choices...................................................................................................21

The Strategic Evaluation...............................................................................................26

8. Strategy proposal for Kesari Tours...................................................................................26

Evaluating the strategy in action of Kesari Tours.........................................................27

Current strategic position of Kesari Tours....................................................................28

Developing Strategic Choices for Kesari Tours............................................................31

Strategic Evaluation for Kesari Tours...........................................................................33

9. Limitations in this project.................................................................................................33

10. Recommendations.........................................................................................................34

11. Reference.......................................................................................................................35

12. APPENDIX- A (Reports)..............................................................................................36

13. APPENDIX – B (CV)...................................................................................................42

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SECTION – A

1. Who am I as a Learner?

I am passionate to learn new things in an interesting way. I am a quick learner of theories and

concepts if it is delivered through visuals and demonstrations. I would prefer to learn in a

practical way rather than reading books, articles and journals. However, I am a good survivor

in nature. So, if in case I would have to learn through books and articles I could do that

effectively. I believe in learning through a mix of theory and practice. Sometimes I may get

bored if I am only into theories and not in practice. I am interested in learning complex

things, simple things may make me bored. I believe in learning through group discussion, as I

could share the knowledge easily and in a communal way. I am very analytical and creative

in nature. I feel writing is a good learning practice. Writing refines the learned materials.

My strengths in learning are, I am always eager to solve difficult problems and learn

something new from those problems. I feel making assignments is a better practice rather

than exams. However, I am good in tackling exams as well. When I do assignments, I

experience a lot of questions rising and it makes me interesting to find answers for those

questions. I would prefer to find the answers through a podcast or a video file rather than

books. I like to read learn through visuals. I am good in relating things, when I learn any

fundamentals I could use it properly in a difficult situation. I am always eager to know

something new and interested in keeping me updated in the area where I’m interested in. I

could quickly understand when someone explains about hard theories. I always try to learn

something from people I meet.

My weak points are, sometime I may get bored in reading books, articles and journals.

However, some articles are interested in reading but not all. Sometimes I cannot concentrate

on things which I am not interested in. But, if I am forced to do that I will probably make

myself concentrating in to that. Sometimes, I don’t understand difficult concepts by reading

books; I may need lectures or visual explanations.

VARK learning style test: Multimodal study strategy

According to VARK results I am into multimodal study strategy, VARK result says that,

“Multimodal study strategy people have 3 to 4 mode of preferences, in which they use the

one according to the people around them. They could easily match or align their mode to the

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others around them. But if they want to annoy other people then they could stand in a

different mode and make others do in an alternate way”.

When I am looking into the VARK report, it exactly resembles my mode of learning. I have 4

modes of learning one is Visual, Oral, Reading and Writing. However, I would prefer to use

visual mode most of the time. But if the circumstance made me to use another mode I would

readily adopt other mode without wasting the time. VARK says that people who have

multimodal preferences have told that it is often essential for them to use more than one

strategy to learn better and communicate better. People with multi modal strategy feel

insecure if they have only one mode of learning.

Mental muscle test

Briggs type Indicator states about my personality type as ENFJ that is I am a kind of person

who always seek to build up and encourage growth in my friends and family. I may have a

intellect potential about them that may broaden away from how they see themselves. I also

try to find out the potential within relationships or the team. But, I never push the people so

hard that ends up creating conflicts, because maintaining the harmony is very important for

me. I agree with the Briggs type indicators report. I always believe in relationships and

friendships that make everything easy. I never try to get into any conflict that spoils the

relationship as relationship is more important for me. It also states that my dominant function

is feelings and very extraverted, I don’t agree with the above statement completely.

Sometimes I may be feelings oriented person but sometimes I am just material minded. It

depends upon the situation where I am in. If I am working in a company I won’t be feeling

oriented, rather I will be a professional.

Leadership style

MMDI report says that I am primarily a participative leader. Such leaders accomplish through

people, through collective involvement, through teamwork in the tasks. This kind of

leadership involves constructing communal ownership and promise within the group. These

leaders create people feel valuable as an essential part of the team so, everyone accomplishes

the goals through relationships and teamwork. I agree with the above statement as I always

been a part of the team and I am good in motivating people towards the goal of the company

as a colleague. I believe I can be a good leader in future. It also shows that the chance for me

to grow in ministry is higher than the senior position.

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The personality radar shows that my preferences match more likely towards the area of

Organization, action, information, innovation, change and values kind of jobs. Even The

analysis position is a more like to be my best area of preference and it matches my profile.

Roles that suite my personal nature

Belbin’s Report states that in a role of a plant I am creative, unorthodox, and imaginative and

solves difficult problem. As discuses in the previous areas I am creative and imaginative in

nature. I could solve difficult problems. However, I have some weakness which I allowable

but I need to improve it that is ignoring incidentals. It states that I am very much pre-

occupied with my own beliefs to communicate easily. That’s correct, whenever I want to

discuss something important I won’t act pre-occupied. However, in normal cases, I am

always pre-occupied. This is a barrier for me to learn something from people whom I am not

much interested in.

In the role of resource investigator I am extrovert, communicative, enthusiastic and develop

good contact. But I am a bit more positive, and I lose interest on a particular thing once the

initial enthusiasm has passed. After that I need something new. So, I would prefer to go for a

very dynamic job that keeps me enthusiastic always. As a coordinator I behave more

matured, confident, I do clarify goals, and take other people jointly to encourage team

discussions. I am a thoughtful and analytical person. It offers me a extraordinary advantage in

the position of an adviser. It helps me advice to others or as evaluator of outside assets. I

would anticipate being well aware about things that happening and I would like to work in a

clear picture. But not so greatly to the particular technological capability as to my wide

interest in all that is happening.

When it comes to operating at a less senior level or in dealing with everyday issues I may

find it more difficult to achieve job satisfaction. The work may not be mentally stimulating

enough. Another danger is that I may find myself operating in too confined a space that

denies me the chance to prove myself. I could find myself criticised for not doing enough on

a practical front. That will depend partly on the expectations of the person to whom I report.

Much depends on whether I am in a job that is cast with suitably broad terms of reference. If

not, I will need to take action to change the frontiers of my job or even to seek a more

suitable position.

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My ultimate functioning role is an examiner. In professional terms, it gets close to a role of

detective. My questioning mind can be strength for improvement. So, any job I may prefer, I

want to be a energy for getting better what exist there.

2. Implication of career choice

I have chosen my career in travel and tourism industry. As it is an interesting field and my

family background is in the same industry itself. I have a vision to grow up in the ladder to

reach an executive position. I am planning to enhance my leadership skills, managing skills

and personal abilities to become a chief executive of a multinational company in travel and

tourism industry. So, based on that plan I have chosen my graduation in travel and tourism. I

already have work experience in the same industry. While I was working in my previous

company I felt that I am lacking of some managerial personality. So I decided to learn those

managerial tactics through this course. I have chosen travel and tourism as my key subject as

this degree is going to help me in the future career development.

Life-long learning plan

In have a mixed set of learning plan in the future. First of all I am planning to learn some of

the major international languages such as Spanish, Italian, Chinese and German. As travel

and tourism has world wide scope and learning international languages may enrich my CV

and increase my job opportunities in this field. I would like to learn about various cultures

and behaviour of different people from different backgrounds. That may enable me to

understand various people in the work place as well as in personal life.

After completing my graduation I am planning to work for 2 years to gain more experience in

package tours. Then I am planning to do masters in travel and tourism that may enhance my

career opportunity in a senior level. The mix of practical experience and academics will

enrich my knowledge in the travel and tourism sector. I am also planning to do some research

in people behaviour and tourism to gain more in-depth knowledge about the field.

Transferable skills

I am going to take the academic theories and concepts that I have studies in this course into

practice. According to Honey and Mumford (1992) report I am a pragmatist’s person who is

always keen on trying out ideas, techniques and theories to see if they work in practice. I can

positively search ideas and I could take the initiative to experiment with applications. People

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like me are enthusiastic management students brimming with new ideas to implement and see

the effects in practice. I like to take practical decisions and solving problems. I really think

that there is always a better way and if it works then its good.

So, I could promise that I will take the theories and concepts to the real world and experiment

it to identify the effectiveness of the concepts. Specifically in the strategic planning subject I

gained the confidence that I could evaluate a company’s strategy and I could develop new

strategic choices that the company could pursue in future. I learnt to use appropriate tools

wherever required. So, I can say that I will use these managerial tactics in real business.

Career choice

Travel and Tourism is my passion and I would like to choose my career path in the same

industry. I have previous experience in this industry and I feel I really enjoy the job. I just

need to polish my skills and abilities in making strategic decisions and day to day

management activities. I feel this course helped me a lot in gaining knowledge about the

managerial aspects and decision making. I would like to raise my qualification to a senior

level executive in future. I will build my personal and academic skills to suit that position. As

I am a multimodal learner and a participating leader, I could easily mingle with people and

motivate others towards teamwork. I hope my career will flourish through the path I have

chosen.

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SECTION – B

3. Research topic

Aim of the research is to identify the longitudinal strategic development history of Kesari

Tours for the past 25 years by evaluating the strategies that the company pursued and the

outcomes of those strategies. Evaluating the current strategic position of the company to

formulate and suggest a future strategic choice for its growth and sustainability.

4. Research Objectives

The main objective is to develop and suggest a future strategic choice for Kesari Tours. To

develop a sustainable and reliable strategy we have to evaluate the current strategic position,

and the recent past strategy development history of the company (Johnson, Scholes and

Whittington, 2008).

Personal objective

My career plan is to climb up the ladder in a multinational company based in hospitality

industry and to reach an executive position in the future. Kesari Tours is my dream company

to work with and I am planning to start my career with Kesari Tours after completing my

bachelors. So, this project will help me to gain in-depth knowledge about the strategies of the

company and may increase my job opportunity at after completing my course.

Stakeholder objective

In this highly competitive and dynamic market, companies in the hospitality industry are

looking for new ideas and suggestions to increase their competitive advantage among their

rivalry. Developing a fine strategy is one of the best competitive advantages in hospitality

industry (Enz, 2010). So, my findings and suggestions may benefit Kesari Tours to develop

its own strategy for future sustainability.

Academic objectives

This project will help me to get in-depth knowledge about the academic theories and concepts

used to evaluate the strategic position of a company and to formulate a future strategy for a

company. It also helps me to identify the gap between literatures and practice. Hope this

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thesis will add my contribution to the University as a future reference for students who

research in this area.

5. Research questions

What are the various strategies that the company deployed in the past and their

outcomes?

What are the internal strengths and weakness of the company?

What is the macro and micro environmental position of the company in its industry?

What are the opportunities and threats in context to its current position?

What are the strategic choices available to obtain its goals?

Whether the strategic choice is reliable to its capabilities and stakeholder

expectations?

6. Background of Kesari Tours

Kesari Tours was founded by Mr. Kesari Patil, in 1984. Kesari Patil was a school teacher and

he decided to enter into the travel industry with a very small capital of Rs. 85,000 by keeping

his wife Sunita Patil by his side. His business tactics and efforts made miracles to generate

revenue of Rs. 3.50 billion per annum. How is this happened in a short span of time?

Managing director of Kesari Tours, Veena Patil, (2010) says that, “this is a result of our

pledge (When you make a promise to your guest, honour it) that we took 26 years back, we

strive for 100% customer satisfaction and that has earned us immense goodwill”. The

company expanded its business from 500 to 10,000 clients per year. It has conducted more

than 40,000 tour programmes in the last 13 years.

Kesari Tours have been a family business and its success was totally a team work of the

whole family. Kesar Patil and his wife Sunita Patil handled all the operations, Veena Patil

their daughter took care of the strategic formulation and Sudhir Patil became the front face of

the company by handling PR and corporate communications said Veena Patil (2010) in her

book Veena’s world. She also added that, “we implemented trial and error policy and the

company took some time to streamline operations and settle down”.

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Various divisions of Kesari Tours

Kesari Tours has specialized divisions to satisfy its customer needs professionally. It offers

catering services and through the brand name “KMICE” and it offers customized holiday

tours in the brand name “Strawberi Holidays”. It also offers money transfer facility through

its subsidiary named “Kesari Forex” which increases the feasibility of its customers.

Products it offer

Kesari Tours believes its innovative product portfolio is its core competency (Veena, 2011).

The company offers about 224 unique speciality tours and customized tours as well (Kesari

Tours, 2010). Kesari Tours offer a wide range of tour products to a broad market segment. Its

products are tactically designed according to the needs of a particular segment. It attracts a

wide segment from students to families, group travellers, individual travellers, business

people, bachelors, ladies, couples, senior citizens, farmers and children’s. It also attracts

inbound tourists and outbound tourist. After reviewing the portfolio of products, it is

identified that it has a diversified portfolio of products that attract a huge market. Its core

competency develops from its product differentiation strategy. For e.g. the most successful

My Fair Lady & Agro Tour which is only available with Kesari Tours (Veena, 2010).

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7. Literature review

Literature review is essential to generate and refine the research ideas, it is to ensure that the

work done in a project is not done in a vacuum, but it is been build on the ideas of other

people who have already studied the field before (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). In

this literature review various books and articles are been referred to refine the ideas in the

area of strategic formulation for sustainable future of an organization.

The below fig 7.1 shows the area of literature is been gathered to assist the development of

future strategic choice for Kesari Tours.

Fig 7.1 Relevance tree for the literature review (Abstract of the literature review)

According to Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2008) the, “elements of strategic

management such as strategy in action, strategic position and strategic choice do not always

follow this linear sequence however, they are interlinked and feed back of each other”.

For example, in some circumstance an understanding of strategic position of an organization

can be best build by evaluating the strategy that the company deployed in past and their

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Strategic formulation

Strategy in ActionStrategic

development process

Current Strategic Position

Strategic capability of an

organization

Micro and Macro environment of

the industry

Strategic choices

Bases of competative

strategy

Strategic Directions

Methods of pursuing strategies

Strategy evaluation

Suitability analysis

Acceptability analysis

Feasibility analysis


outcomes. Hence strategy in action informs understanding of the strategic position of an

organization.

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Strategic formulation

Strategic formulation is the process of shaping an appropriate course of action to achieve its

organizational objectives by considering its capabilities, environment and constraints and to

develop a core competency that leads to long-term sustainability of the organization (Porter,

1980). Strategic management comprises of understanding the strategic position of an

organization and making a strategic choice for future that suits its capabilities and managing

strategy in action (Johnson, Schholes and Whittington, 2008). We are going to critically

review the literature about the strategic formulation process be following chapters.

Strategy in Action

Strategy in action is associated with to make sure that the chosen strategies are put into action

and evaluating the outcomes of those strategies. To evaluate the strategy in action it is

necessary to consider the strategy development process, its organizational structure and

relationships between the process and structure of an organization (Johnson et. al., 2008).

Strategy development process of an organization

Basically the strategy developed in an organization is of two types. One is “Intended

strategy”, which is a result of top management decisions based on leadership, strategic vision,

and strategic planning. However, the second one is “Emergent strategy” which is not a

planned strategy but emerged in organizations overtime due to the influences change in

business environment (Johnson et. al., 2008).

Intended strategy development process: It is an appearance of required strategy as

purposely formulated by top management. Such strategies are developed using appropriate

tools, frameworks and techniques for strategic analysis and evaluation. The most relevant

strategic development process to this project is strategy developed through strategic

leadership. Strategy formulation may be strongly linked with a strategic leader or small group

of individual upon whom the strategy is observed be reliant. In small organizations the

owner’s position, personality and reputation will be centred as the strategic province. These

owners may develop strategy in three possible ways such as strategy leadership as vision ,

strategy leadership as design, and strategy leadership as command. These are major tools for

formulating the strategy in small businesses (Elbanna, 2006).

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In the Strategy leadership as design, the strategic leader might think the strategy through an

analytical process. The leader might used some sort of techniques associated to strategic

analysis and evaluation, or the leader might had developed the strategy systematically and

consciously based on the issued the organization faces and come to his or her own

conclusion. In case of Strategy leadership as vision, the leader might have strongly

associated with an overall vision, mission and strategic intent that motivate others, to create

or develop a strategy that could effectively achieve the vision and mission of the leader

(Bennis and Nanus, 2002). In this type, the leader will not design the strategy but the vision

of the leader motivates others to create a sustainable strategy. In case of Strategy leadership

as command, the strategy of an organization might be dictated by the leader. This is mostly

evident in small businesses where the owner is in direct control with all operations and

activities of the organization. Such method has both advantages and disadvantages such as on

the positive side a fast adopting inimitable strategy could be developed. However in negative

side there is a huge risk involved on individual strategic decisions (Miller et. al., 2005).

Emergent strategy development process: Although strategic development process is an

intentional thing but research shows that the historical pattern of strategic development in

most of the organizations are incremental. It shows that the strategies do not take major shifts

but it typically changes by building on past strategies by amending the strategic choices

according to the outcome of past strategies. Prior strategic decisions impact future directions.

Changes in business environment, capabilities of the company, resource availabilities tend to

affect the strategic choice in course of time. As time goes on, each amendment is informed by

this developing pattern of strategy and keeps shaping it for the future (Johnson et. al., 2008).

Logical incrementalism is the most evidenced strategic development pattern which is

associated with the development of strategy by experimentation and uncertainties in the

business environment. There are several reasons behind such strategic formulation. They are,

Environmental uncertainties in which managers come to know that they cannot cope up with

the uncertainty of their environment by depending on analyses of historical data’s forecasting

how it is going to change. But they rely on constant environmental scanning throughout the

organization to be sensitive to the environmental signals. Generalised views of strategy in

which managers have a general idea about the future position of the company and they

implement incremental strategy to move the company towards that position. In this lack of

specific view and innovation from the managers the company cannot create an inimitable

competency in competitive market (Quinn, 1996).

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Experimentation is where managers seek to develop a secure, strong but flexible core

business. These managers develop their own strategy in their own areas for e.g. product

development, diversification, product positioning and external relations etc. Coordinating

emergent strategies in which top managers may utilize the mix of formal and informal

political and social processes to represent together an emerging pattern of strategies (Quinn,

1996).

There are different pattern of strategy development such as Multiple strategy development

process where a mix of patterns such as emergent or intended and utilizing most of the

possible approaches. In this the company get benefits according to the environmental change

and the nature of the business by adopting various strategy developments process at different

situations (Szulanski and Amin, (2001). Contextual differences the strategy development

processes are likely to change over time and in different contexts.

The Strategic Position

It is essential to understand the strategic position of an organization before developing a new

strategy. There are two basic views to identify the strategic position of an organization, they

are, one is external factors of the organization and the second one is the international factors.

The external factors of an organization matters most to the success of a strategy, strategy

development is the process of seeking attractive opportunities in the market. Attractive

opportunities are those favours the internal capabilities on an organization. So, understanding

about external environment matters a lot in formulating future strategies. Internal

environment of an organization should be evaluated to identify the internal strength and

weakness of an organization. It also helps to identify the resource availability to pursue a new

strategy. It weights the internal capability of an organization. It also interrelated with the

external environment as if the environment changes the internal capabilities and resources

need to develop in order to match the external environment (Johnson et. al., 2008).

There are several tools that could be used to analysis the external and internal environment of

an organization, they are PESTEL analysis which is used to analyse the macro-environment,

Porter’s five forces is used to analysis the micro-environment. SWOT analysis can be used to

analysis the internal strengths, weakness and external opportunities, threats of an organization

(Johnson et. al., 2008).

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Analysing macro-environment using PESTEL

There are three tools such as PESTEL, Key Drivers and Scenarios to analyse the macro-

environment of an organization. All these are interconnected tools for investigating the

macro-environment of an organization. PESTEL offers a broad synopsis of the Marco-

environment, whereas Key drivers help focus on what are most important factors that have a

huge impact on the success or failure of a strategy and Scenarios put up on key drivers to

investigate diverse ways in which the macro-environment might vary (McKiernan, 2006).

PESTEL stands for political, economical, social, technological, environmental and legal

elements of a macro-environment. It provides a broad list of influences on the possible

success or failure of the strategies. In these elements Politics refer to the influence of

government policies upon the strategy, Economy refers to the macro-economic factors such

as business cycle, exchange rates and differential economic growth rates around the world.

Social refers to the factors such as demographics, ageing population and changing cultures

that influence the strategy. Technology refers to the elements such as automobiles,

aeronautics, internet that influences the strategy. Environmental stands for pollutions control

and policies related to green issues that may influence the strategy. Legal refers to the

legislative constraints, restrictions upon a company that may influence the strategy (Thomas,

2007). These above elements also interrelated to produce a new constrain, if we analysis the

above elements and its relationship there will be a result of a huge complex list. Rather than

getting confused on the above factors it is recommended to identify the key drivers for

change (Thomas, 2007).

The Key drivers for change are the macro-environmental factors that are most probably to

have an impact on the success or failure of a strategy. Typical key drivers will vary by sectors

for example a Tour and Travel Company would concentrate on the technological changes that

could improve its on-line booking facilities and factors that attract its customers for booking.

Identifying key drivers for change may helps managers to concentrate on the PESTEL factors

that have the highest priority. Research says that other PESTEL factors depends on the key

drivers for example, ageing population will drive change in funding and public policy

(Johnson et. al, 2008).

When high level of uncertainties arising in a business environment due to rapid change and

complexity in the PESTEL factors, it is hard for the managers to develop a single view of

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how environment might influence an organization’s strategies. Scenario building helps

managers to develop various plausible alternative views about how the environment can

change in future may affect the organization’s strategies. The scenario will be build upon the

PESTEL analyses. Managers could develop different strategies according to various

scenarios. They have the privilege to wait and watch the actual change in the environment

and they could adjust the strategy accordingly. Basically there are three most common

scenario building approaches such as optimistic, middling and pessimistic. Research says that

managers naturally focus on the middling scenario and ignore others. So it is recommended

to have two or four scenarios to form a matrix of plausible alternative views, instead of

having midpoint which lead to the negligence of other two. Scenarios are significantly useful

when there are a limited number of key drivers influencing huge the success of the strategy

and huge uncertainties involved in the future (Cornelius, Putte and Romani, 2005).

Analysing micro-environment using Porter’s Five Forces framework

Porter (1980) states that, “Porter’s Five Forces framework helps to identify the attractiveness

of an industry or sector in terms of competitive forces”. The five competitive forces in this

framework are the bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new

entrants into an industry, threat of substitutes for the industry’s product or service and

competitive rivalry in an industry. Porter (1980) argues that, “if these five forces are high in

an industry, then the industry is not attractive. There will be too much of competition and too

much of pressure to obtain profits”. Porter’s Five Forces and its bargaining powers are

discussed below

Bargaining power of buyers: Customers are the backbone of a business, each and every

company are trying to attract the customers and to satisfy and to create a loyalty to get repeat

business. However, sometimes the customers or buyers can have high bargaining power in a

particular industry that leads to the suppliers are squeezed up with no profits at all.

Bargaining power of buyer is likely high in the following situations.

Concentrated buyer: Where a very few large buyers accounting for the majority of sales in a

particular industry. For example items such as milk in the grocery stores in many European

countries, whereas only few suppliers dominate the market.

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Low switching cost: Where the buyers can move from one supplier to with less switching

cost. At that time they may have a strong negotiation position and they squeeze up the margin

of suppliers.

Buyer competition threat: Some buyer pursue backward vertical integration by producing the

same product which is been produced by their suppliers if they feel the price and quality is

not satisfactory. In hospitality industry, customers are the buyers and some of the booking

agents are also buyers (Porter, 1980).

Bargaining power of suppliers

Suppliers are the part of business cycle who supplies raw material, equipment, source of

finance and labour to the organizations that produce final goods. The factors that increase

supplier power are opposite to the factors that increase buyer power. So, supplier power is

tend to be high in the following conditions.

Concentrated suppliers: If very few suppliers in an industry who dominates the supply, then

suppliers tend to have more bargaining power over buyers. For example Iron ore industry is

much concentrated with only three main producers that dominate the supply. However, the

steel manufacturers are fragmented, so the supplier bargaining power is much higher in this

area.

High switching cost: When buyer faces high switching cost to move from one supplier to

another, then the supplier’s bargaining power goes high. For example, Microsoft is a huge

supplier of Windows operating system. Buyers faces problem in switching from windows to

another operating system. So the bargaining power of Microsoft tends to be very high.

Supplier competition threat: In some cases suppliers have stretched their operations to cut

buyers who act as intermediaries. This is called as forward vertical integration, where the

suppliers are moving close to its final consumers. For example, Airlines are able to negotiate

more with travel agents as the online booking has increased the reach of Airlines to reach the

customers directly. Here, the bargaining power of Airlines is quite high.

In general, there will be more suppliers for a particular buyer. However, it is not necessary to

analysis each and every suppliers. But it is necessary to concentrate the analysis to most

important suppliers (Porter, 1980).

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Threat of new entrants into an industry

Threats of new entrants are the barriers to the new organizations to enter into an industry.

There are several factors that act as a barrier for a new company to start with and compete

successfully. Barriers are those factors that need to be overcome buy a new entrant to

compete successfully. High barriers for new comers are good for existing competitors as they

protect themselves with from the new comers into that industry and make it more fragments.

The typical barriers are,

Scale and experience: In some industries the when the existing organizations achieved the

economics of scale, then it will product the goods in high volume with good quality and

cheapest price. In that stage, it is difficult for new entrants to come into that industry to make

profits. They have to struggle by high competition and price wars. In some cases, the existing

organizations enjoy the benefit of its experience and create a competitive advantage that will

be inimitable for the new entrants.

Access to supply or distribution channels: Most of the industries manufactures have their

control over the supply chain and distribution. They achieved through vertical integration and

its own investment. That will be inimitable by the new entrants to achieve quickly. However,

in some industries new entrants have bypassed the retail distribution by access to e-

commerce. For example, Amazon and Dell Computers overcome constrain by online sale.

Expected retaliation: Some new entrants believe that the existing companies will retaliate

through price wars and marketing blitz. Such believes act as a discouraging factor for the new

entrants to enter into a market.

Legislation or government actions: Government restrains some of the industries by keeping

high entry standard. For example, pharmaceutical industry in which licensing standards is too

high. Such legislations may act as a strong barrier for a new entrant.

Differentiation of product / service: Product or Service differentiation by the existing

company creates a barrier for the new entrants as the current product is loyal to its customers

and it is hard for the new entrants to imitate that competency.

Threat of substitutes

Substitute products / services are those offers similar benefit to the consumers but it is been

produced by another industry. For example, camera mobiles are a substitute for digital

19


cameras. Substitutes can reduce the value of a particular product as the consumer could

switch easily to the alternate product. There are two major concepts in substitution

The price/performance ratio is critical substitution threats: In case if the substitute product is

more costly, then there is a positive threat. However, if the price worth’s its performance then

it became negative threat. Here, the price to performance ratio matters than simply price.

Extra-industry effects: It is the core of substitution concept. Substitutes from outside the

existing industry should not be mixed up with the competitor’s threats from within industry.

Higher the threat of substitution, less attractive the industry is.

Competitive rivalry

Competitive rivalries are the organizations that produce similar products / service and those

targets the same market segment. Competitive rivalry is interlinked with rest of the four

forces. For example, low barriers to new entrants create more competition such as price wars

and marketing blitz which fragments the industry and reduces the profit margin. More the

competitors in an industry are worse for the incumbents. There are several factors that

directly affect the degree of competitive rivalry in an industry, they are

Competitor balance: In most of the attractive industries there will be one or two dominating

competitors, however in some industries there will be more companies of equal size that

makes the competition worse.

Industry growth rate: Companies used to grow along with the industry growth rate. In case of

higher growth rate of the industry, companies can easily grow and there will be less

competition. In some case the growth rate of the industry is low and there will be more

competitors that lead to reduced profitability.

High fixed cost: When the initial investment in an industry is very high, companies try to

obtain the economics of scale by increasing high volumes and reducing price. Thus, triggers

the price war between competitors.

High exit barriers: When disinvestment in an industry is tends to be difficult and if the

industry is declining. Then the rivalry will be quite high.

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Low differentiation: If the product differentiation is very less in an industry then it is hard for

the companies to stop customers to switching between competitors. Thus, increases the

rivalry.

The five forces framework provides useful insight of the attractiveness of an industry. The

analysis should conclude with a judgment about whether the industry is good to compete or

not. It should answer the below questions

Which industry to enter and which industry to leave?

What influence can be exercised?

How rivalries are differently affected?

Porter’s Five forces framework should be used cautiously and is not essentially complete

even at the industry level. While using this framework it is necessary to keep the three key

issues in mind which is defining the right industry, congregate industry and complementary

products (Porter, 1980).

SWOT Analysis

It identifies the key issues of a business atmosphere and the strategic ability of an

organization that are like to influence the strategic development.

Identifying the strength and weakness of an organization in relation to its competitors

The goal of SWOT analysis is to identify the degree to which the strength and weakness are

relevant to or capable of dealing with the changes occur in a business environment. SWOT

analyse is only effective when it is comparative in relation to its competitors. It is help full

while discussing the future strategic choices of an organization as it evaluates the degree to

which as organization is capable of supporting the strategies (Jacobs et. al., 1998).

Identifying the opportunities and threats

Identifying opportunities and threats is a valuable part when thinking about strategic choices

for the future. It is used to respond strategically to the environment by reducing the identified

threats and taking advantage of the best plausible opportunities (Valetin, 2001). Taking

advantage of a strategic gap is an efficient way of managing opportunities and threats.

Strategic gaps can be identified with the help of Porter’s Five Forces; Strategic gaps are

where the rivalry is low. In accordance with the concept of strategic gaps there are six types

21


of opportunities that are most important. They are Opportunities in other strategic groups,

Opportunities in substitute industries, Opportunities in targeting buyers, Opportunities in

new market segment, Opportunities for complementary products / services, and Opportunities

over time. All these opportunities should be identified to justify a strategic gap (Valetin,

2001).

The Strategic Choices

These are associated with the decisions about an organization’s future and the way in which it

needs to respond to the pressure and influences of external environment. There are basically

three choices should be made. They are,

The choice of how an organization positions itself in relation to competitors.

The choice of markets and products of an organization.

The choice about how the developed strategies are to be pursued.

Strategic choices can be developed through the TOWS matrix. It is a most common tool used

for strategy development. It is similar to the SWOT analysis, as it pull’s the information’s

from SWOT analysis to generate different combination of strategic choices.

Bases of competitive advantage (business-level strategies)

The strategic choices that could gain competitive advantage in a market place at business unit

level. Business-level strategies are classifies in to 5 categories they are Sustaining competitive

advantage, Bases of competitive advantage, competition and collaboration and game theory,

Competitive strategy in hypercompetitive conditions. The bases of competitive advantages

can be identifies using “the strategic clock” tool (Bowman, 1995).

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Strategic clock to develop competitive strategy options

Source: Bowman C., and Faulkner D., (1995) The essence of competitive strategy, prentice hall.

Where the strategic clock illustrates price and product benefit relationship in eight ways. In

which it is classified in to 5 major areas such as Price-based strategy, Differentiation

strategies, the hybrid strategy, focused differentiation and failure strategies.

Sustaining competitive advantage: Organizations that try to achieve competitive advantage

may try to hold it for long time. So there are three different areas of sustaining competitive

advantages they are based on the organization’s current strategic position. If an organization

plans to sustain its cost leadership, it should pursue sustaining price-based advantage.

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Sustaining competitive advantage

Source: (Johnson G., Scholes K., and Whittington R., (2008) Exploring corporate strategy, 8 th edition, Essex:

Prentice Hall.

However if it is pursuing differentiation strategy then it need to obtain sustaining

differentiation-based advantage or if an organization needs to lock in the current position

where it is dominating the industry then it should pursue strategic lock in.

Strategic direction

Corporate-level strategy concerned with the choice of developing a strategy about the

products and markets for an organization to enter or to exit.

Strategic direction using Ansoff Matrix

Products

Existing New

Markets

Existing Market Penetration Product development

New Market development Diversification

Source: Ansoff H., (1988) corporate strategy, penguin

24

Sustaining competative advantage

Differentiation1. Create difficulties of imitation2. Achieves imperfect mobility3. Reinvest margin

Price-based strategies1. Acccept squeezed margins2. Win a price war3. Reduce costs4. Focus on specific segment

Strategic Lock in1. Acheive the market dominance2. Reinforcement3. Rigorous enforcement


Corporate level strategies can be developed using Ansoff matrix. In this the organization

could decide whether it has to concentrate on the product development or market

development or diversification (Ansoff, 1988). When an organization is handling a portfolio

of products in which the product lifecycle is in different positions it is recommended to use

BCG matrix. It is one of the sustainable ways of visualizing the balance of a portfolio of

business (Hax and Majluf, 1992).

BCG Matrix for managing portfolio of products

Source: Hax A. C., and Majluf N. S., (1992) The use of growth-share matrix in strategic planning, Vol. 13 no. 1

In this method the market share and market growth are two important variables that

determine attractiveness and balance. Logically high growth and high market share are

attractive. However, BCG matrix also warns that high growth demands heavy investment for

example to expand capacity or developing brands. It says that there needs to be a balance

within the portfolio, so there should be some low-growth businesses that are making adequate

surplus to invest on higher growth businesses (Hax and Majluf, 1992).

Star is the business unit that has a high market share in a growing market. The problem child

is a business unit in growing market, but it is not yet in high market share. Converting the

question mark into a star consumes heavy investment. Lot of question market fails to develop

into a star, so BCG suggests promote several at a time. A cash cow is a business unit with a

high market share in a matured market. In the matured market growth tends to be low, so

investment is low and profitability is high in this unit. Dogs are business units with low

25


market share in declining market. BCG suggests divestment to this type of business units

(Hax and Majluf, 1992).

Methods of pursuing strategies in international context

When a company wants to pursue into an international market, it has to consider the global-

local dilemma, which relates to the degree of a product or service may be standardise across

national boundaries or need to be amended to meet the requirements of a particular national

market. This may affect the decision of infrastructure of a company whether it is to be

centralized or decentralized its operation while penetrating into global market.

Multi-domestic strategy: Through this strategy the company deploy workforce and

production in the local domestic market and independently serves the local market. Adapting

locally can make the overall corporate portfolio increasingly diversified. Such strategy is

majorly attractive in professional services where the local relationships are critical (Porter,

1986).

Complex export strategy: Through this strategy the company manufacture its products in one

location to meet the economies of scale. Then it builds its brand and marketing in other

countries. Companies build strong brand and growing network overseas with growing

organizational maturity (Porter, 1986).

Global strategy: It is a more matured and well established strategy in which the company will

be fully diversified. It accesses the benefits of international value network and it establishes

its production, marketing and operations in various countries that suit its process (Porter,

1986).

International market selection and entry modes

Once the international strategy is been built based upon the available sources of competitive

advantage, the managers need to decide which country to enter. This can be done using the

analysis conducted through PESTEL. Once the country is been selected then it is necessary to

choose the entry mode that would be appropriate for the company to be profitable. There are

several strategies to enter into an international market. They are, Exporting, Joint ventures

and alliances, Licensing and Foreign direct investment. Any of these options can be chosen

by the manager according to the capabilities and strategic requirements (Knights and Cavusil,

26


2005). Organic development, Mergers and Acquisitions and Strategic alliances are some of

the most common methods for pursuing strategies.

The Strategic Evaluation

Evaluating the strategies is necessary to analyse whether the developed strategic choice will

succeed in future. This can be analysed in three main criteria’s they are.

Suitability analysis

It is concerned with whether a strategic choice that is been developed is addressing the key

issues related to the strategic position of an organization. Tools such as TOWS matrix, the

relative suitability of options, Ranking strategic options, Decision trees and Scenarios can be

used to evaluate the suitability of the strategy (Johnson et. al., 2008).

Acceptability analysis

It is concerned with whether the expected performance outcomes such as return or risk of a

strategy and the degree to which these strategies meet the stakeholder expectation. Tools such

as profitability analysis, cost-benefit analysis, real option analysis, stakeholder value analysis,

sensitivity analysis to evaluate the risk involved, stakeholder mapping can be used to analyse

the acceptability of a strategy (Johnson et. al., 2008).

Feasibility analysis

It is concerned with whether the company has the capabilities to deliver a strategy and

whether the strategy could work in practice. Financial feasibility analysis and Resource

deployment analysis are the tools used to evaluate the feasibility of a strategy (Johnson et. al.,

2008).

8. Strategy proposal for Kesari Tours

A strategy proposal is been developed after critically reviewing the above literature and

putting Kesari Tours in to the context. This proposal starts with evaluating the recent past

strategic development process of Kesari Tours to identify the strategy in action, and then it

moves into evaluating the strategic position of Kesari Tour in which external micro and

macro environment is been analysed and opportunities and threats are been evaluated. Then

SWOT analysis is been conducted to identify the internal strength and weakness of the

27


company. Strategic choices are been developed using appropriate tools and the developed

strategic choices are been evaluated through three major criteria’s suitability, acceptability

and feasibility analysis. Finally the most reliable strategies for long-term sustainability of the

company is been recommended.

Evaluating the strategy in action of Kesari Tours

After reviewing the history of Kesari Tours it is identified that the strategy developed in the

past is through a mix of intended and emergent process. Veena Patil is strategy planner of

Kesari Tour from the beginning, as she was an engineering student and jumped into travel

and tourism business she initially answered the environmental changes and deployed

strategies that could overcome current issues which formed an incremental emergent strategy.

However, her aggressive nature and a perfectionist attitude thrives excellence (Sudhir Patil,

2007) on her leadership that leads to the development of intended strategies. In 2007 the

company won the Best domestic tour operator award in which Veena Patil (2007) said that,

“As a company, we have done very well. Our focus will continue to be on innovation and this

year we hope to be successful in this regard”. Veena Patil’s strategy towards innovative

products in the domestic market was a path of success.

Product differentiation a successful strategy for Kesari Tours

The company believed that its innovative products are different from the ones in current

market and considering product differentiation as its core competency, the company

developed more and more innovative products such as “Agro Tours” that provides a chance

to the farmers in India to visit foreign countries to explore the new technologies and methods

of farming. Kesari Tours understands its market segment properly and designed products

various products suits a particular segments.

Kesari Tours competitive base

According to Bowman’s strategy clock concept, the competitive base of Kesari Tours was its

hybrid strategy that is based on low-price and product differentiation that offers more value to

its customers. It also charged premium prices for some products that are particularly targeted

a focused group of customers. Premium products are Tailor-made packages, business tours

etc. It turns towards sustainability and concentrates on its domestic network, the company

planned to offer IPO in 2007 to obtain Rs. 10 billion to invest in its network. In the past the

28


company was totally into product development by launching innovative products in existing

market (Ansoff, 1988).

International strategy of Kesari Tours and its entry mode

Kesari Tours has expanded its business in UK through a strategic alliance with Kuniversal

travels. The company has started its operations in UK and organizes tour packages from UK

to 7 continents. It pursues Multi-domestic strategy by employing local workforce in its

operations. It also delivers the same products that it is successful in its domestic market

(Kesari Tours, 2011).

Current strategic position of Kesari Tours

The current strategic position of Kesari Tours is been evaluated by analysing the macro and

micro environment it operates, then a SWOT analysis is been conducted to identify the

strength, weakness, opportunities and threats involved in relations with its competitors.

PESTEL Analysis upon travel and tourism industry

PESTEL is used to analyse the Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Environmental

and Legal factors of an environment. By using Key Drivers along with PESTEL we could

focus more on the most important factors that have high impact on the success and failure of

a strategy (Johnson et. al., 2008).

Fig 6.2 PESTEL analysis using Key Driver technique

Political

Monetary policy in UK encourages

small business to grow and encourages

foreign investment in to UK a positive

sign for International Expansion into

UK (Datamonitor, 2011).

Economic

Tax reduction for small business

in UK is a favourable time to

expand and sustain its position

(UK Budget, 2011).

Social

Growing ageing population in

European countries has a positive

impact on its “Age no bar” products

(Datamonitor, 2011). Hence more

products for ageing populations are

Technological

Internet usage rate is dramatically

growing in India and UK. Online

reservations becoming more

popular (Datamonitor, 2010)

29


required in UK.

Changing attitude of Indian people is a

favourable condition for the innovative

products.

Innovation in GPS technologies

Environmental

Technological innovation is developing

solutions for air pollution, noise

pollution and environmental friendly

vehicles. That may lead to the company

to invest money on new vehicles.

Legal

Health and safety laws becoming

strict in India

Based on the above PESTEL analysis there is some changes that could positively impact the

strategy but some of them could be a threat in future. For example, Growing technological

advancement in internet and increasing number of internet users may lead to the company to

concentrate on online reservation facilities. It should restructure its network according to the

upcoming changes.

Porter’s Five Forces to analysis the attractiveness of UK market for its expansion

Porter (1980) states that, “Porter’s Five Forces framework helps to identify the attractiveness

of an industry or sector in terms of competitive forces”. Hence, we are evaluating the

competitive forces in the UK market to identify the attractiveness

Porter’s five forces

30


31

Competative RivalryHigh !

Threat of Substitutes

Low !

Threat of new Entrants

Low !

Bargaining power of buyer High !

Bargaining power of Suppliers

Low !


Threat of new entrants: Threat of new entrants into UK market is low as the travel and

tourism industry runs upon its reputations and network. It will be hard for a new company to

come and obtain economies of scale in UK. The companies which dominate in this industry

have already differentiated its products to attract the customers. So, it is difficult for a new

entrant to imitate that competency.

Threat of substitutes: Threat of substitutes is also low as airlines and other local travel

agencies are the substitutes for this company. However, the price performance ratio is better

than its substitutes.

Bargaining power of buyer: Bargaining power of buyers is high due to low switching cost. In

case of booking agents, due to high competitive rivalry the agent will sell the products which

is profitable for them and the agents bargaining power tends to be very high.

Bargaining power of supplier: Suppliers for Kesari Tours will be Airlines, Hotels and Coach

Providers. Due to threat of supplier competition as there is a chance for forward vertical

integration by the Travel Operators the suppliers tend to be less vulnerable.

Competitive rivalry: Competitive rivalry is quite high in UK market as there is balanced

competitors situation. There are lot of leading Tour Operators competing each other in the

market place. There is less differentiation in the product portfolios which again increases the

rivalry.

Thus based on the above analysis using Porter’s Five Forces upon UK market it is identified

that the micro environment of UK market is attractive for Kesari Tours to expand its

operations.

SWOT analysis

SWOT analysis identifies the key issues of a business environment and the strategic

capability of an organization that are like to influence the strategic development (Johnson et.

al., 2008).

Internal strengths of Kesari Tours: Innovative products and product differentiation strategy,

resource availability and inimitable corporate culture. Brand loyalty in domestic market is

also a good strength.

32


Internal weakness of Kesari Tours: Poor online booking, Poor international expansion,

funding of huge investment will be constrain.

External Opportunities: Opportunity in new market segment such as international expansion,

for example UK is environment is very favourable for its expansion. There is an Opportunity

to increase online booking facility. Diversification such as forward vertical integration as

Veena Patil (2010) says that, “we need hotels wherever we operate”. The company should

integrate with hotels to increase its profitability.

External threats: Economic downturn may reduce the growth of the company and may lead

to huge loss if diversification strategy implemented. Threat of competitors could imitate the

product differentiation.

Thus, after analysing the SWOT of Kesari Tours it is identified that there is lot of

opportunities for the company to grow. It has to obtain market expansion strategy and it has

to enhance its capability in increasing the online sales. More over diversification through

forward vertical integration may lead the company to grow quickly.

Developing Strategic Choices for Kesari Tours

Strategic choices can be developed through the TOWS matrix. It is a most common tool used

for strategy development. It is similar to the SWOT analysis, as it pull’s the information’s

from SWOT analysis to generate different combination of strategic choices (Weihrich, 1982).

Developing strategic choice using TOWS matrix

Internal Factors

Strengths (S) Weakness (W)

External

factors

Opportunities

(O)

SO Strategic options

International expansion

WO Strategic options

Diversification through vertical

integration, considering economical

downturn as an uncertainty

Threats (T)

ST Strategic options

Innovation in product development

to differentiate its product from

competitor

WT Strategic options

Improving the Online booking facility to

cope up with future demands

33


Strategic direction for Kesari Tours

At corporate-level the company should develop a direction for its growth. Ansoff Matrix

could be used to develop a strategic direction for the company. According to Ansoff Matrix

the company should pursue Diversification, as the company should enter into new market

segments with new products to increase its market share. It also helps the company to grow in

a fast phase. However, risk involved in this strategy, but tactical implementation of this

strategy can overcome the risk.

As the company is dealing with more number of products in its portfolio, it is necessary to

use BCG matrix to evaluate the balance within the portfolio. It says that there needs to be a

balance within the portfolio, so there should be some low-growth businesses that are making

adequate surplus to invest on higher growth businesses (Hax and Majluf, 1992). As most of

the products in its portfolio is in the Star, Cash cow areas, The company should develop more

innovative products to Problem child in BCG matrix may help the company to sustain its

revenue for long-term.

Pursuing the strategies in international context

The company should pursue Global Strategy by obtaining the benefits of international value

network to diversify its products. The company should develop more products that better

suits the local nations. For example, Kesari Tours in UK should offer more products to

ageing population. It should establish its operations in countries where the workforce is cheap

and close to its destination points.

International market selection and entry modes for Kesari Tours

As identified in the Porter’s Five Force and PESTEL, UK is a favourable place to expand.

And the favourable entry mode will be strategic alliances as Kesari’s brand loyalty and

product differentiation would remain a core competency. So, the investment needed for

infrastructure can be shared by the strategic partner. That would reduce the risk of heavy

investment.

34


Strategic Evaluation for Kesari Tours

Evaluating the strategies is necessary to analyse whether the developed strategic choice will

succeed in future. This can be analysed in three main criteria’s such as suitability,

acceptability and feasibility.

Suitability analysis: The key issue of the Kesari Tours is the growth constrain. As it is fully

grown domestically and there is increasing inbound tourist from European countries to Asian

and African countries. It is necessary for the company to take opportunity to expand its

business in European markets to attract the inbound travellers. In this point of view the

strategic choice developed using TOWS matrix is suitable. As the internet usage is growing

dramatically it is necessary for the company to improve its online booking facility to cope up

with the need in future.

Acceptability analysis: The stakeholders of Kesari Tours are the family members and private

investors. Generally stakeholders of Kesari Tours depend on the strategic decisions taken by

Veena Patil. As they are not much involved into the operations of the business it could be the

individual decision. However, the return through this strategy worth the risk involved in this

strategic development.

Feasibility analysis: It is assumed that the company has enough resources and financial

capabilities to deliver these strategies.

9. Limitations in this project

As Kesari Tours is a private limited company, the financial information’s required to analysis

the acceptability and feasibility analysis is not available. So assumptions have been made that

the company have enough financial capability to implement these strategies. And there is

very less previous research has been done on this company, so the availability of internal

information’s is limited.

35


10.Recommendations

Following to the above analysis about the strategic gap associated with future environmental

changes in travel and tourism industry. It is recommended that Kesari Tours could develop a

diversification strategy by expanding into international markets such as UK. It is also

recommended to concentrate on forward vertical integration by acquiring hotels in the most

operational areas. As the technology is growing rapidly and the use of internet is also

growing faster. So people are more comfortable in booking online. So Kesari Tours has to

improve its online booking facility to cope up with the future demand. It is also

recommended to maintain a balanced portfolio of products by developing new products to

keep the revenue growing sustainably.

36


11.Reference

Bennis W., and Nanus B., (2002) the strategies for taking charge, successful habits of visionary companies,

Harper Business.

Cornelius P., Putte A., and Romani M., (2005) Three decades of scenario planning, California management review, Vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 92-109

Enz C. A., (2010) Hospitality strategic management concepts and cases, 2nd edition, New jersey: John wiley & Sons, Inc.

Express Travel World, (2010) Idea Exchange with Veena Patil, MD of Kesari Tours [Online] Available from: http://www.expresstravelworld.com/201008/market14.shtml (Accessed on 15/03/2011)

Elbanna S., (2006) Strategic decision making: process perspective, International journal of management reviews, Vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 1-10

Jacobs T. et al., (1998) SWOT Analysis: Exploring techniques of strateg analysis and evaluation, Prentice Hall.

Johnson G., Scholes K., and Whittington. R., (2008) Exploring corporate strategy, 8th edi, Essex: Prentice Hall.

Kesari Tours, (2010) About Kesari Tours [Online] Available from: http://www.kesari.in/Others/AboutUS.asp (Accessed on 14/03/2011)

Knights G., and Cavusil T., (2005) taxonomy of born-global firms, Management international review, Vol. 45 no. 3, pp. 15-35.

McKiernan P., (2006) PEST and Scenario, International Studies of Management and organization, Vol. 36, no.3

Moneycontrol, (2007) Kesari Tour mulls Rs. 100 crore IPO [Online] Available from: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/ipo-upcoming-issues/kesari-tours-mulls-rs-100cr-ipo_285861.html (Accessed on 15/03/2011)

Porter M, E., (1980) Competitive Strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. New York: Free Press.

Porter M, E., (1985) Competitive advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance. New York: Free Press.

Quinn J. B., and Mintzberg H., (1996) the strategy process: Concepts, Context, Cases. 3rd edition, New Jersey: Prentice and Hall.

Saunders M, Lewis P and Thornill A (2009) Research methods for business students. 5th Edition. Essex: Pearson Education Ltd.

Szulanski G., and Amin K., (2001) Learning to make strategy: balancing discipline and imagination, Long range planning, Vol. 34 pp. 537-556

The Economic Times, (2007) Kesari Tour Mulls Rs. 100 crore IPO [Online] Available from: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2007-06-10/news/28492222_1_tour-operators-outbound-travel-rs-100-crore-ipo (Accessed on 13/03/2011)

Thomas H., (2007) An analysis of environment and competitive dynamics of management education, Journal of management development, Vol. 26, no. 1 pp. 9-21.

Valetin E., (2001) SWOT Analysis from resource based view, journal of marketing theory and practice, Vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 54-69

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http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2007-06-10/news/28492222_1_tour-operators-outbound-travel-rs-100-crore-ipo

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2007-06-10/news/28492222_1_tour-operators-outbound-travel-rs-100-crore-ipo

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/ipo-upcoming-issues/kesari-tours-mulls-rs-100cr-ipo_285861.html

http://www.kesari.in/Others/AboutUS.asp

http://www.expresstravelworld.com/201008/market14.shtml


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38


12. APPENDIX- A (Reports)

VARK RESULT: Multimodal Study Strategies

If you have multiple preferences you are in the majority, as approximately 60% of any

population fits that category.

Multiple preferences are interesting and varied. For example you may have two strong

preferences Visual and Aural (VA) or Read/write and Kinesthetic (RK), or you may have

three strong preferences such as VAR or ARK. Some people have no standout scores. Their

scores are almost even for all four modes. For example one person had scores of V=6, A=6,

R=6, and K=6. She said that she adapted to the mode being used or requested. If the teacher

or supervisor preferred a written mode she switched into Read/write for her responses and for

her learning.

So multiple preferences give you choices of two or three or four modes to use for your

learning and for your interaction with others. Positive reactions mean that those with

multimodal preferences choose to match or align their mode to the significant others around

them. But, some people have admitted that if they want to be annoying they may stay in a

mode different from the person with whom they are working. For example they may ask for

written evidence in an argument, knowing that the other person much prefers to refer only to

oral information. This can be used in argument or debate.

You will need to read two or three or four lists of strategies provided in the Helpsheets. If you

have two almost equal preferences please read the study strategies that apply to both

preferences. If you have three preferences read the three lists that apply and similarly for

those with four. There is obviously no multimodal helpsheet. One interesting piece of

information that people with multimodal preferences have told us is that it is often necessary

for them to use more than one strategy for learning and communicating. They feel insecure

with only one. Alternatively those with a single preference often "get it" by using the set of

strategies that align with that single preference.

We are also noticing some differences among those who are multimodal and who have

chosen fewer than 25 options and those who have chosen more than 30. Those who have

39


chosen fewer than 25 of the options in the questionnaire prefer to see their highest score as

their main preference - almost like a single preference and they use their prefrences singly to

suit each situation. Those who have a total VARK score larger than 30 tend to use their

preferences in combination. To read more about Multimodality you can download an article

written by Neil Fleming here: Multimodality

Belbin’s Report

For a thinking and analytical person, you have an outgoing outlook and personality. This

offers you special advantages in the role of an adviser to others or as assessor of

external resources. We would expect you to be very well informed about everything that

is going on, due not so much to your specialised technical expertise as to your broad

interest in everything that is happening. You have an aptitude for being at the right place

at the right time. For you, "Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted". Hence, your

advice can be widely appreciated because it can often throw a new and unexpected light

on things that are commonly taken for granted.

One of your additional values in an organization is to help it stop "re-inventing the wheel".

You are not afraid of making contact with the people who can help. This could make you

the counter to those who resist outside influences or the "not invented here" brigade. If

you choose to make a stand it will be because you have thought it through. One of your

special roles might be as the guardian against proceeding with anything that could soon

become obsolete.

When it comes to operating at a less senior level or in dealing with everyday issues you

may find it more difficult to achieve job satisfaction. The work may not be mentally

stimulating enough. Another danger is that you may find yourself operating in too

confined a space that denies you the chance to rove. You could find your self criticised for

not doing enough on a practical front. That will depend partly on the expectations of the

person to whom you report. Much depends on whether you are in a job that is cast with

suitably broad terms of reference. If not, you will need to take action to change the

frontiers of your job or even to seek a more suitable position.

Your ideal operating role is that of an investigator. In occupational terms, it comes close

to that of a detective. Your probing mind can be a force for progress. So whatever job you

may be in, you should be a force for improving what is there.

On a final note, you need to take account of the role for which you are least suited. You

40


do not appear to fit comfortably into a subordinate role. You may therefore need to give

special attention to becoming low profile and supportive when the occasion calls for it.

Learning styles - Pragmatists

Pragmatists are keen on trying out ideas, theories and techniques to see if they work in

practice. They positively search out new ideas and take the first opportunity to experiment

with applications. They are the sort of people who return from management courses

brimming with new ideas that they want to try out in practice. They like to get on with things

and act quickly and confidently on ideas that attract them. They tend to be impatient with

ruminating and open-ended discussions. They are essentially practical, down to earth people

who like making practical decisions and solving problems. They respond to problems and

opportunities ‘as a challenge’. Their philosophy is: ‘There is always a better way’ and ‘If it

works it’s good’.

Honey and Mumford, 1986, 1992

Guidelines for selecting learning experiences

which are appropriate to your learner's preferred learning style

1. Learners who have a preference for the activist style will learn best from activities

where:-

- there are new experiences/problems/opportunities from which to learn

- they can engross themselves in short 'here and now' activities such as

business games, competitive teamwork tasks, role-playing exercises

- there is excitement/drama/crisis and things chop and change with a range

of diverse activities to tackle

41


- they have a lot of the limelight/high visibility, i.e. they can 'chair'

meetings, lead discussions, give presentations

- they are allowed to generate ideas without constraints of policy or

structure or feasibility

- they are thrown in at the deep end with a task they think is difficult, i.e

when set a challenge with inadequate resources and adverse conditions

- they are involved with other people, i.e. bouncing ideas off them, solving

problems as part of a team

- it is appropriate to 'have a go'

2. Learners who have a preference for the reflector style will learn best from activities

where:

- they are allowed or encouraged to watch/think/chew over activities

- they are able to stand back from events and listen/observe, i.e. observing a

group at work, taking a back seat in a meeting, watching a film or video

- they are allowed to think before acting, to assimilate before commenting,

i.e. time to prepare, a chance to read in advance a brief giving background

data

- they can carry out some painstaking research, i.e. investigate, assemble

information, probe to get to the bottom of things

- they have the opportunity to review what has happened, what they have

learned

- they are asked to produce carefully considered analyses and reports

- they are helped to exchange views with other people without danger, i.e.

by prior agreement, within a structured learning experience

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- they can reach a decision in their own time without pressure and tight

deadlines

3. Learners who have a preference for the theorist style will learn best from activities

where:

- what is being offered is part of a system, model, concept, theory

- they have time to methodically explore the associations and

interrelationships between ideas, events and situations

- they have the chance to question and probe the basic methodology,

assumptions or logic behind something, i.e. by taking part in a question

and answer session, by checking a paper for inconsistencies

- they are intellectually stretched, i.e. by analysing a complex situation,

being tested in a tutorial session, by teaching high calibre people who ask

searching questions

- they are in structured situations with a clear purpose

- they can listen to or read about ideas and concepts that emphasise

rationality or logic and are well argued/elegant/watertight

- they can analyse and then generalise the reasons for success or failure

- they are offered interesting ideas and concepts even though they are not

immediately relevant

- they are required to understand and participate in complex situations

4. Learners who have a preference for the pragmatist style will learn best from

activities where:

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- there is an obvious link between the subject matter and a problem or

opportunity on the job

- they are shown techniques for doing things with obvious practical

advantages, i.e. how to save time, how to make a good first impression,

how to deal with awkward people

- they have the chance to try out and practice techniques with

coaching/feedback from a credible expert, i.e. someone who is successful

and can do the techniques themselves

- they are exposed to a model you can emulate, i.e. a respected boss, a

demonstration from someone with a proven track record, lots of

examples/anecdotes, a film showing how its done

- they are given techniques currently applicable to their own jobs

- they are given immediate opportunities to implement what they have

learned

- there is a high face validity in the learning activity, i.e. good stimulation,

'real' problems

- they can concentrate on practical issues, i.e. drawing up action plans with

an obvious end product, suggesting short cuts, giving tips

(Reference : Honey and Mumford "The Manual of Learning Styles" 1986)

44


13. APPENDIX – B (CV)

PRASAD C. PACHAKALE

58, Hadrian Road,

Newcastle Upon

Tyne

NE4 9QH.

Mobile No: 07832739567

E-mail Id : [email protected]

___________________________________________________________________________

___________

PROFILE:

A bilingual Airline Management and Travel & Tourism Diploma with several years of

customers and administrative experience seeking a challenging role that will develop and add

to the skills. To utilize

my knowledge skills and abilities towards the growth of organization and grow along with it.

EDUCATION:

Degree Name of University Year of Passing Percentage &

Class

45

mailto:[email protected]


BA (HONS) In

International

Hospitality &

Tourism

Management (Top-

up)

Northumbria

University

Sep 2010 to June

2011

Pursuing

Bachelor in

Commerce

Mumbai University Mar 2005 Pass

Intermediate Level A Maharashtra State

Board

Feb 2002 53%

High School GCSE Maharashtra State

Board

Mar 2000 65 %

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATION:

Degree Name of

University

Year of

Passing

Percentage &

Class

Specialization/

Subject

Diploma in

International

Airlines &

Travel Tourism

Management

through IITC

(IITC) India

International

Trade Centre. 2007

76%

Tourism,

Travel Agency

Management,

Airline &

Airport

Management,

Cruises

IATA / UFTAA

Foundation

Course

(IITC) India

International

Trade Centre.

2007 Pass

Airline Fares

& Ticketing

Computer

Reservation

System

(IITC) India

International

Trade Centre.

2007

Pass

Amadeus,

Sabre

46


EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:

1) Worked with “DIVYA TOURISM PVT LTD.” as a Guest Service Executive (Ground

handling agent for AIR DECCAN) from 1st April 2007 till 30th October 2007.

Key Areas

● Responsible for passenger check in.

● Handling baggage related matters.

● Ramp supervision – on time turnaround & departure of aircrafts.

● Assisting arriving passenger with regard to their further itinerary like connecting domestic

/

international flights, baggage retrieval, loss claims & ground transportation

● Managing boarding gate activities.

Cont……..

2) Worked with “AIR DECCAN (KINGFISHER AIRLINES)” as a Guest Service Agent

from 10th October 2007 till 30th April 2008.

Key Areas

● Responsible for passenger check in.

● Handling baggage related matters.

● Ramp supervision – on time turnaround & departures of aircrafts.

47


● Assisting arriving passenger with regard to their further itinerary like connecting

domestic /international

flights, baggage retrieval, loss claims & ground transportation.

● Managing boarding gate activities.

● Issuing tickets for passengers at the ticketing counter. (Raddix Air Enterprise)

3) Worked with “J.R. TECHNOLOGIES (SKYBIRD TRAVEL)” as a Ticketing

Executive from May 2008 till March 2010.

Key Areas & Responsibilities

● Issuing tickets for international airlines in AMADEUS.

● Issuing tickets for US based travel agencies.

● Issuing tickets for SKYBIRD TRAVEL LTD.(US)

● Working on publish fare, bulk fare (net contract), auto price, manual force.

● Checking availability.

● Making reservation as per passenger request.

● Sending email itinerary

REFERENCE

Available on request

48


Place:

Date:

PRASAD C.

PACHAKALE

49

final project - prasad

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