Benchmarking
The market of coach services in Ireland is quite standardized, which means that the competitors pursue relatively similar strategies and policies regarding crucial value chain activities. The most efficient means of performing the mentioned activities might be non-lowering the price, gradual development of key resources and facilities, and efforts to minimize the number of delays and cancels of bus departures. It should be stated that GoBus demonstrates functional capacity in the framework of the aspects above an does not inferior to the competitors in this regard. However, there are some approaches among critical rivals of GoBus that might lead to a better performance than the latter’s one.
The main competitor of GoBus, CIÉ (represented by Bus Éireann), may be defined as the best-in-industry coach service provider that offers lower prices in comparison with GoBus. The main reason for such a situation is that CIÉ is a public company having many agreements with the Irish government. Hence, the country compensates for some part of the expenses but can interfere in the affairs of the firm. However, it happens not often due to market stability and adequate governmental domestic policy and attitude to a national business. Services of Bus Éireann cover the entire country; thus, it has the opportunity of economies of scale.
Moreover, it cooperates with a number of rail, flight, and shipping companies, which allows the rival to provide its services internationally and gain large profit margins. Collaboration with local coach providers also contributes to the Bus Éireann success. Moreover, the firm has a significant advertisement campaign, which results in the productive promotion of services and a good reputation among customers.
It might seem that the other firms in the market do not undertake any substantial activity to lower the cost of their services. It might happen because of the established prices and standards of the coach service market. Lower costs may lead a competitor to the loss of sustainable competitive advantage and decreased profits. The only visible critical aspect that all the rivals care about more than GoBus is a refund policy, which helps a company to gain the trust and dedication of a client. Some complaints on the mentioned point coming from the customers of GoBus via the Internet were identified.
In order to improve the GoBus’s own cost competitiveness, it might be essential to take the following actions. The company may sign a reasonable number of agreements with the government that will provide GoBus with favorable business conditions and maybe even with some compensations. Then, the firm should improve its refund policy, taking into account the feedback collected via social media. Furthermore, GoBus can expand its services coverage to the scale of the whole Ireland or international level, which may lead to economies of scale.
Industry Attractiveness
It might be important to notice that the industry attractiveness is a relative, not absolute aspect to discuss. Hence, it is crucial to investigate this issue through the prism of particular GoBus strengths and weaknesses but not through the whole market actors’ ones. If there will be a trial to evaluate this attractiveness from the unified perspective of many companies, the results might be unconvincing and unreliable.
The industry’s market size might be substantial because it involves a high number of rivals providing high-quality coach services. The Irish government adheres to the adequate policy regarding the quality and quantity of roads. Hence, the industry always has significant growth potential, and GoBus might use this fact as an opportunity because it has enough resources for it. Competitive forces are likely to raise the profitability of the market as the rivals act within the scope of developed and fair legislation regarding the competition.
Furthermore, the coach service segment has a low risk and uncertainty as the market remains stable, and there are no substantial changes expected. The most severe problem that the industry continually faces is the delays and cancels of coaches’ departure due to various demonstrations, which cannot be considered crucial.
Then, GoBus takes a solid competitive position among the other rivals, although there is Bus Éireann with governmental support in the business. Due to the appropriate and rational strategy, GoBus provides services within a specific market niche, which allows it to be significantly competitive and profitable. Given the fact that the company has a sustainable competitive advantage, the modern fleet, it has a great potential to capitalize on vulnerabilities of the weaker competitors.
Finally, the firm has sufficient resources to defend against unfavorable market factors as the revenue and gradual development of GoBus may be considered substantial. Thus, it might be concluded that the industry of Irish coach services for GoBus can be remarkably attractive.
After the discussion on the business environment of GoBus, it seems reasonable to define the strategy being pursued by the company. Now, the research contains enough facts, arguments, and ideas to exhaustively evaluate the policy of the firm and identify its features. The further investigation will apply the fit, competitive advantage, and performance tests to assess whether the strategy of GoBus is the winning one.