Profits and Pandemics Service Quality Management in Hospitality

Question: Discuss about the Profits and Pandemics for Service Quality Management in Hospitality. Answer: Introduction The report illustrates the facts of the industry and a chosen organization in that sector of industry. In this study, fast food market of Australia is selected and the analysis of the market will be conducted in the light of the organization Eagle Boys pizza in Australia. Eagle Boys is a restaurant chain in delivering pizza to the Aussies from decades ago. It is one of the biggest companies in delivering pizzas when compared to other fast food retail chains of Australia. Eagle Boys is a multinational channel fast food restaurant has its branches in many parts of the world. The company is focused on its value of innovation, responsiveness, professionalism, consistency, equality and dedication towards growth. The study will discuss about the growth, profitability and recent trends of the industry along with nature of competition, role of primary target market segment into decision-making and positioning map for the company in terms of competition and primary target markets. Apart from that, theoretical concepts of PESTEL analysis and STP in determining the positioning map and position of the organization amongst competitor brands in the Australian fast food market. In the study, trends of fast food market of Australia are also be described in a detailed manner. Industry trends The industry chosen for analyzing is fast food market in Australia in the perspective of performance and positioning of Eagle Boys in Australia. The current trends of the industry will be described in the light of growth, profitability and macro environment of the industry. The fast food industry of Australia comprises of restaurants, cafes, fast food outlets, catering services, etc. However, the facts and figures of the industry will be described under the following categories (Lang Heasman, 2015). The growth of the fast food industry is booming. The facts that will be mentioned below will illustrate the revenue and growth of the industry in Australia. The revenue of the market is nearly $3.7bn. On the other hand, the annual growth of the industry in the year of 2016 is 2.8%. The industry structure in Australia is described in the following: Life cycle stage of the industry is in mature stage. The revenue volatility of the industry is low (Sacks et al., 2015). The capital intensity of the industry is medium. The industry assistance is low. The concentration level of the industry is medium. Regulation level of the fast food industry is medium. Technology change is medium. Barriers to entry of companies in this industry are low. Globalization of the fast food industry is low. On the other hand, the most important is the competition level that is high (Morley et al., 2013). The strong growth of the industry especially the pizza restaurants of Australia is forecasted up to 0.9% in the year of 2017. The revenue in the year will reach up to $3.7bn. Demands of the consumers are changing day by day. The key factors of growth of the fast food industry in Australia are product innovation and diversified demands of customers. Profitability The profitability of the industry is depended on some external drivers that are responsible for creating an impact on the profitability of the industry. The key external drivers are consumer sentiment index, health consciousness, demands other fast food services, real household discretionary income. Due to the convenience of the customers, operators of the industry are focused in improving the customer service while increasing the sales of the operators (Moodie et al., 2013). To maintain the quality of the foods, the prices of the fast foods by many operators have been charged high. However, it is seen that customers are willing to pay more in order to consume high quality foods from the restaurant chains. It can be said that, due to increase in the automation because of innovation of technology, the reliance of the industry in terms of labor is reducing day by day with the decrease of wages (Wellard et al., 2012). Macro Environment Fast food industry is in the mature stage. Many companies are present in the Australian market that are providing ample options of fast foods in the market to the customers. As it is in the mature phase, the growth of the industry is supposed to be 2.6%. However, it is seen that the growth of GDP annually is 2.5%. Hence, the growth rate is according to the growth of the annual GDP of the country (Hobin et al., 2014). There is a shift in the taste and preference of the customers in terms of consuming fast food. People are becoming more health conscious and are becoming choosy in consuming fast foods from the retail outlets. Following this trend, the companies of the fast food industry are shifting their menus from oily to less calorie oriented healthy organic foods with low sugar and carbohydrate content. However, macro environment of fast food industry will be analyzed by using PESTEL analysis, which will be discussed, in the appendix section of the study (Booth Whelan, 2014). Market segments overall The market segments of the operators of the fast food industry i.e. Eagle Boys along with other operators of the industry can be categorized into primary and secondary target markets. Eagle Boys has used the segmentation of demographic and geographic segmentation for selecting the primary and secondary target markets. Geographic segmentation of the target markets illustrates the different geographic divisions of the country. The primary target market i.e. target country of Eagle Boys is Australia (Mok et al., 2013). Apart from that, the company has expanded its business operation from Australia to many countries of the world. It is considered as the secondary target segment in terms of geographic segmentation. Segmentation targeting and positioning is important for determining the particular target customers in order to cater the needs and demands of the customers. Beside this, the marketing strategies of the company are also formulated on the basis of the primary and secondary targe t customers to the company. Another form of segmentation of the target customers is demographic segmentation (Dunn, 2012). The demographic segmentation is conducted based on age groups. The target market is categorized into three categories of age groups. The three age groups are people aged between 15 to 34 years, second is people between age 35 to 54 years of age and the last is people of aged 55 years of age and more than that. The age group between 15 to 34 years of age is considered as the primary target segment of customers of Eagle Boys. The characteristics of people of these age groups are fewer commitments in life, i.e. having no mortgage or responsibilities of children. It is reason of having a discretionary income to them and the spending nature of the customers are reckless (Louviere et al., 2013). Total percentage of this category of customers is 38.8%. It is seen that the people between these ages are proven to spend a substantial amount of their monthly income in consuming fast foods that includes eating pizzas. When compared to the older demographics, these people have a lower level of in come. The characteristics of middle-aged people i.e. between 35 to 54 years are different from that of the previous age groups. It is the largest revenue generator target-segment of customers. Almost 40.9% of the revenue of the industry are generated from them. These people usually have families and come to restaurant for eat away usually with families (Hearst et al., 2013). Well-settled well-established careers along with steady income are the reason of buying higher priced products i.e. pizzas both for themselves and for their families. The last age group i.e. people above 55 years of age do not spend much on fast foods. Nevertheless, they cannot be ignored. These people usually buy pizzas occasionally rather than everyday meal purpose. It can be said that from these age group, the operators of the fast food industry including Eagle Boys collect 20.3% of revenue. Hence, this segment is considered as secondary target segment of customers. Primary segment and decision-making Eagle Boys is recognized as one of the most popular fast food retail chain in selling high quality pizzas to the Aussies. Involvement of primary segment of customers means the people between 35 to 54 years of age. Involvement of customers in the decision making process of customers illustrates the commitment of the company towards its customers. It is discussed earlier that Eagle Boys is dedicated in innovation and maintaining consistency and equality. Apart from that, the company is known for its community involvement in its different strategic business decisions (Nestle, 2013). Involvement of customers will lead to 110% dedication towards excellent customer service. It will lead to more loyal and satisfied customers along with Word of Mouth Promotion (WOM). The culture of the company is open that embrace the ideas of the customers while improving their business strategies in catering the latent needs of the customers. Innovation and passion along with involvement of primary segment in terms of decision making also helps in improving the brand image and create a positive impact on the minds of the people (Bauer et al., 2012). Ultimately the involvement will not only increase the image of the brand but also increase the profitability of the company. Eagle Boys involve primary segment of customers in many ways such as loyalty programs, excellent customer service, involving customers into various in store activities, interacting with the customers. Interaction with the customers with the employees present in the stores will automatically help in collecting feedback from the, feedback is collected regarding the products and services provided by the company in order to satisfy the customers. It is an indirect involvement in the decision making process of the company (Belasco, 2014). Valuable feedback of the customers are recorded in a detailed manner so that in the development of the products and services Eagle Boys implement them so that they can get more loyalty from their existing segments as well as attracting more segments of customers. However, Customers are also included as the external stakeholders of Eagle Boys (Handford et al., 2014). It can be said that the involvement of external and internal stakeholders in the strategi c decision making process of the companies help in formulating strategies that will yield fruitful results in the long run. Apart from that, in the online presence of company, customers of Eagle Boys are connected with the company in many ways (Han et al., 2013). It can be said that, online engagement of customers is more than that of involvement of customers in the decision making process of the company through its online stores. Competition In the industry analysis, it is mentioned that the fast food market of Australia is very competitive in nature. Apart from that, fast food market not only in Australia but also across the world. Hence, it can be said that Eagle Boys in Australia faces tough competition from the other rival brands of fast foods in Australia. It can be said that there are two types of competitors of Eagle Boys in the market. The direct competitors of Eagle Boys in Australia are Dominos, Pizza hut, EBA Pizza Holdings Pty Ltd, La Porchetta Holdings Pty Ltd, etc. Apart from that, there are indirect competitors of Eagle Boys. They are Burger King, McDonalds, Starbucks, KFC, Yum Street, Donut King, etc. However, other local fast food restaurants are popular among different areas of Australia (Harris et al., 2013). Presence of these companies has made a wide availability of choices for the customers for various kinds of fast foods. On the other hand, it can be said that the supermarket giants of Australia ar e providing tough competition to the company. They are engaged in selling different kinds of fast foods as well as organic healthy foods under their private label brands. The trends of the taste and preference of customers are changing day by day. There is a case that, the price of the food items is lower in supermarkets than in any other restaurants like Eagle Boys, McDonalds and other restaurants mentioned above. Strengths: Eagle Boys has a well reputation in Australian market in terms of reputation and superior quality pizza to the Aussies. As it is an Australian company by origin, hence the company is aware about the preferences and the tastes of the people in the market when compared to other US fast food retail chains in Australia. Research has proved a fact that Eagle Boys are providing thick crust of the bread in their pizza for attracting people. While the other pizza sellers are providing thin crust in their pizzas. People of many parts of Australia have preferred Eagle Boys mostly than any other brands of pizzas (Kasapila Shaarani, 2016). Weaknesses: Products range of Eagle Boys is relatively low when compared to other direct competitors of fast food retail chains such as Pizza Hut and Dominos. It is seen that being an international brand in Australia, Dominos have the greatest market share compared to other international and domestic fast food restaurants in the country. Eagle Boys being a domestic pizza manufacturing company of Australia has lower market share than Dominos, Yum Street restaurant, etc (Garcia et al., 2012). Positioning map Positioning map in marketing is defined as the diagrammatic representation that is used by the marketers in order to capture the perceptions o the customers i.e. primary segment of customers towards the brand. Positioning map is also known as perceptual map that is used to position the company or the product line or products of the company compared to the rival brands present in the market (Ferguson et al., 2012). In this situation, positioning map for Eagle Boys will be formulated based on the involvement of the customers in the decision making process of the company. The map will describe the position of the company in the market according to the preference of the customers. The determinants of the positioning map are also formulated as per the feedback of the primary segment of target customers. Conclusion The study focuses on the various aspects of Eagle Boys especially in terms of selection of the target segments of customers along with their involvement in the strategic decision making process of the company. This is explained in details in the study. Apart from that, various facts of fast food industry of Australia is explained in terms of growth, profitability and macro environmental factors of the industry in the country. It is pointed out that the fast food market in Australia is almost saturated in terms of competitors and it is in the matured phase. In terms of product development, there are various types of products that are sold by the companies or operators ruling the industry. There is much competition among the main operators of the industry in Australia not only in terms of gaining a substantial market share but also in terms of attracting more customers and improved profitability. In the last part, a positioning map of the company that will illustrate the products and i ts position in the market amongst its other rival companies. Positioning map will be formulated based on the results of the implementation of segmenting, targeting and positioning of the company in terms of determining marketing mix. 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