A Situation Analysis
The Atlantic Waterfowl Celebration (AWC) started as an organization that was intended to offer basic services to the public at relatively low costs. AWC was not intended to be a profit-making organization; in addition, it was also not allowed to operate as a legitimate charity due to the fact that it was intended to exclusively offer cheap services to tourists.
The governance structure of the organization consisted of a board of directors, which was constituted by individuals from different backgrounds, who represented the interests of the members of the community.
The board of AWC established some of the most effective ways of raising funds that were used to run the organization’s operations. These ways included fundraising, government’s grants and funding, donations from the private sector, corporate contributions, and its own revenues accruing from the sales of memorabilia and souvenirs.
For instance, money collected from the organization’s activities during that time amounted to close to $100, 000 and government grants were about $44,000. The management of AWS was good at maximizing the organization’s projects by using a lesser amount of money.
AWC organized a lot of events from which it collected revenue; it is through these events that the organization found the chance to extend its services to the community. In addition to the celebration, the other events included: the Duck Decoy auction, the waterfowl carving exhibition and competition, the sale and silent auction, and the art exhibition.
The organizers of these events used them to give the members of the community a chance to be part of AWC. For instance, the members were allowed to display and sell their products in the trade shows and exhibitions that were organized by AWC.
Marketing is one of the major tools that AWC’s management applied in the operations to ensure success of the organization. The management gave a lot of importance to marketing and employed large amounts of money to ensure that its products and services were thoroughly marketed to the organization’s potential customers.
The management used a local advertising agency to help them develop the organization’s products in a way that would attract more customers and make it remain at the top of its competitors. The advertising agency was also part of the marketing team of the organization. For instance, it assisted the team in designing the posters that were required for the 1991 event.
Lastly, the management committee of AWC relied on effective communication to market its products and to improve its general performance. The most common mode of communication in AWC was use of posters. Besides using the posters as marketing tools, they were also used to bring out the visual imagery of the organization.
For that reason, the posters were built with a strong visual outlook that depicted either some of the pillars or the events that were held at that particular time. AWC also used brochures to pass some of its crucial information to the community and tourists. The brochures acted as tourist guides at times as they contained sufficient information that could lead them to various destinations.
A SWOT Analysis
Strengths
AWC had so many advantages that it enjoyed as an organization. AWC had a staff that was constituted by individuals who were highly qualified; for that reason, the organization was smart at organizing lucrative events that assisted it to make sufficient money to maintain its operations.
The organization also had reliable sources from where it got money to carry out its operations. For instance, it obtained funds from the government, the private sector, and other corporations. AWC also maximized its financial resources to avoid running operations that were not valuable. The organization had a unique selling proposition (USP), which enabled it to offer relatively cheaper products and services than those of the other competing organizations in the tourism industry.
Weaknesses/Limitations
There were a few limitations and weaknesses at AWC that barred it from exploiting its resources fully. The limitations also prevented it from dominating the tourism industry as it was expected to. The first limitation was the purpose for which AWC was incorporated into the tourism industry.
AWC was formally incorporated as an organization not with the intention of making any profits, but to offer basic services to the community at affordable costs. For that reason, the organization could not compete favorably with the other organizations, which strived to maximize their profits.
Another weakness that is evident in the organization is the weak governance structure that existed in AWC. The top governors were volunteers, who were not rewarded for their efforts; consequently, the organization’s directors were not adequately motivated like in the other companies. Interference from the government also hindered the growth and prosperity of the organization.
Opportunities
AWC’s management made good use of the opportunities that existed within as well as outside the tourism industry. For instance, from the time it realized that other organizations were not holding numerous trade shows and exhibition within the industry, it began to conduct the exhibitions regularly to complement some of the basic services it offered to the community. The management of AWC also noted the trends in the industry and started implementing them within its areas of jurisdiction.
Some of the new implementations it carried out included the use of posters, which none of its competitors had regarded as an effective mode of marketing and communication. The changes in population profiles and social patterns also brought about the attractive performance witnessed in AWC. AWC realized that more youths than elderly people frequented the industry and as a result, considered them as its target customers.
Threats
There were many obstacles that AWC faced at the time, which greatly prevented it from prospering the way it did before. One of the obstacles was the lack of qualified managers, which came about after the board disintegrated, with some of the directors resigning from the organization to seek better opportunities elsewhere. The organization was also faced with a serious debt problem; as a result, it experienced a significant shortage of the funds it needed to clear the debt.
The problem of lack of enough funds also affected the organization’s marketing activities. The organization could not afford to carry out an elaborate marketing strategy to help it in advertizing its products during the celebration.
AWC was also faced with the threat of losing most of its customers. In fact, this threat became real when it lost several customers to its competitors as a result of a sharp increase in the prices of its products and services. The management thought that by increasing the prices, the organization could recover from its financial crisis; however, the recovery plan never succeeded.