Part 1: Executive Summary
Tourism has created major impacts on economies of various countries in the world. When properly used it brought about the changes in lifestyle and daily activities of the people. Tourism has its policies that should be implemented well; this would bring tourism developments in the future. Tourism created the need for a personalized means of transportation in foreign places. The need resulted to rent a car business. The paper takes a look at Avis rental Car Company and it will conduct a consultation regarding what the company must do to counter the threat it has.
Introduction
Self-service car rental schemes involve offering cars for rent by public transport companies on a short-term basis. After use, the car is collected by the system operator and made available to the next user. Hence, use-per-car is optimized for cost effectiveness and environmental effects. Users rent the cars at special stations located, for instance, near railway stations, where maintenance and recharging also take place (Hoogma et al. 2002). Computer and communication technologies enable system operators to keep track of the location of cars and to organize distribution according to demand. One may look upon self-service car rental schemes as a top-down, high-tech variant of car-sharing. One remarkable characteristic of car-sharing at the consumer level was that it helped to break up user routines by transparently disclosing information about different mobility alternatives and undermining the entrenched linkage between car ownership and use and associated feelings of comfort and security. These characteristics led to consumer empowerment and to the unlearning of environmentally destructive routines and convictions. It is in this respect that car-sharing may deliver on its truly revolutionary potential (Hoogma et al. 2002). Car rental companies have been operating in various parts of the world. This kind of business is profitable in countries where tourism is the main focus. One company that offers rental services is Avis rental car. This paper will conduct a strategic review of Avis rental car and will suggest what should be implemented to introduce change to the company. This paper intends to include an implementation plan for the change project.
Strategic review of the organization
Many countries and regions which have possessed the necessary resources for tourism development have chosen, either consciously or otherwise, the path of developing large scale tourism as a major national or regional activity. Tourism has become a major employer, taxpayer, and physical and political presence in many jurisdictions. As a result, tourism has often altered the very nature of social, political, and economic interaction that occurs in these places (Eadington & Smith 1992). Now, in industrialized countries, tourism is frequently pushing out manufacturing, distribution, or extractive industry as the economic mainstay. In developing countries, the shift typically has been from an agrarian economic base to a touristic economic base, bypassing an industrial phase altogether (Eadington & Smith 1992). Tourism has created major impacts on economies of various countries in the world. The boom of the tourism industry was used by Avis to create a name for itself. Avis rent a car company was founded in 1946 by Warren Avis. Avis established some branches across the US a few years after its creation, it become the second largest car rental company by 1953. By its tenth anniversary it opened international offices in Europe, Canada and Mexico. Over the years, Avis has been owned by a number of different companies. There were some times when the company became a public company. Currently Avis has over 4000 branch offices worldwide and it still continues to expand. Many of the branches not operating in an airport operated through franchising rather than company operated and maintained Avis was the first car rental business to be located at an airport.
Opportunity
Avis’ main opportunity is to increase branches on countries where tourism is becoming a big thing. Such countries include New Zealand and Hong Kong. Increasing branches on such countries can help them have better finances.
Branch expansion in New Zealand
New Zealand has, for a long time, promoted itself as a tourist destination which offers open spaces, a clean environment and unique, fresh and green scenery (Faulkner, Laws & Moscardo 1998). The tourism industry serves as one of New Zealand’s export earner. It brings about millions of finances from various tourists that come to the country every year. The tourism industry of New Zealand makes use of the country’s natural resources to attract people who have various purposes and thoughts of leisure in coming to their country. Although tourism is primarily a good thing, there are some organizations that worry for the effect of tourism to their natural resources. They frequently see to it that the tourists will be educated on how important it is for them to conserve the natural resources they use. The different groups also help the tourist to develop a concern for the environment. The company needs to intensify the car rental branches in such country because of the possible income it might produce. In intensifying branches in New Zealand the company gets to serve more clients. In setting up newer branches in New Zealand the company needs to make sure that the cars that will be rented will not be the cause of degradation of New Zealand’s environment and natural resources.
Branch expansion in Hong Kong
The tourism of Hong Kong is one of the factors for the economic growth of the state. Visitors to Hong Kong have continuously increased over the years. The rise in tourist is attributed to the introduction of the individual visit scheme wherein residents from Mainland China can go to Hong Kong not only for business purposes but for tours and recreation as well. The Hong Kong tourism board is the agency responsible for promoting and advertising Hong Kong as a tourist destination. The Hong Kong tourism board also has the responsibility to enhance the experience of the tourists after they arrive in the state. Hong Kong would be a good place to expand branches because many people come to that country to visit. The tourist may need a car as a means of transportation to go to various places in the country. Avis’ rent a car services will be in demand in a tourist haven such as Hong Kong.
Threat to the company
Global financial crisis is inevitable because it is part of the process of growing up. It is part of the pain of making mistakes at all levels. Without that pain, people will not learn how to adjust and how to manage risks (Harwood, Litan, & Pomerleano 1999). The global financial crisis has created a certain effect not only to poor countries but to developed countries as well. The crisis has affected businesses. The global financial crisis is a threat to the financial stability of the firm. The global financial crisis created the need for the company to rethink about their focus and the goals they intend to achieve.
Competitor of Avis
One competitor of AVIS Europe is Hertz Corporation. This company is known as a second largest car rental company in the world. It has 5,100 locations worldwide. Recently Hertz started a new policy on refueling their car rental returns. This was done instead of charging a higher per gallon charge for refueling the rental vehicle. The company was originally the brainchild of Walter L. Jacobs. After a few years of initial operations Jacobs sold it to John D. Hertz, who is known as the president of Yellow Cab and Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing Company. John Hertz decided to rename the company. Over the years the company has changed management and it include companies like General Motors, Radio Corporation of America, and United Airlines. Hertz has launched a Green Collection that features environmentally-friendly vehicles. All vehicles have acceptable Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) highway fuel efficiency ratings, and most carry EPA’s certification that indicates lower emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases.
The company’s loss of profits
The company experienced some loss of money in 2006. Some believe this problem started after the 9/11 attacks. The company had some financial losses because of lower car rentals due to fear of terror attacks. People are afraid to travel and make use of rented cars because of the fear of any attack from terrorists and similar groups. Another reason for the loss of profit is the global financial crisis wherein people have lost their interest to spend.
The challenge to make use of environmental friendly cars
Due to global warming and the dwindling environment there have been calls for the use of products or services that will not harm the environment. There is a need for the use of cars that doesn’t harm the environment without causing the delay of services.
A strategic option for the company
The recommended strategic option focuses on what is needed by the market and what will create innovations in the market. In this strategic option the focus is on the company’s creativity, desire to reach the objective oriented and need to follow the theory. The strategic option for the firm is to offer newer service to its branches particularly the use of green cars. This strategic option aims to provide make use of environmentally friendly cars that would attract environment conscious clients. This strategic option will help the company to increase the services it offers; it will help in attracting clients who usually don’t rent a car when they travel. This strategic option will lessen the pollution brought by the combination of private cars, public cars and rented cars. It will lessen the degradation of the environment in the different countries they operate in. This option will give the company additional income that it can use to counter some financial loss over the years. A limitation of the strategic option is the clients feeling alienated due to the addition of new services. Another limitation of the strategic option is the reduced need for some of Avis’ cars. It will also cause some redundant personnel to lose their jobs.
Implementation Plan
Program of work for Project
A. Initial stages of the project
- Find out the issues of the project
- Gather needed resources
B. Project implementation
- Research about how durable the project will be
- Know the boundaries of the project
- Research about other similar projects and its weakness.
C. Final stage of the project
- Determine whether the project is feasible or not
- Know the problems that might be encountered
Time sheet
Time needed
The first stage of the project will take around 1 to 2 weeks. The first stage focuses on the initiation on the project. This part focuses on the initial part of the project. The resources for this activity includes different sources that can provide information on how the business can grow and achieve its goals; the other resource for this stage includes different notes and information that will provide the different changes that needs to be done with the planned use of green cars. In this stage the project manager will gather the needed resources and will hire the personnel that will manage such specialized cars. The second stage of the project includes the planning stage. The second stage of the project will take one week so that proper planning, testing and analysis of the new project can be made. In this stage the budget, human resource, and job responsibilities have been known and are ready to offer the green rental cars. The third stage of the project will take two to three months for proper adjustments. In this stage the project is on the full implementation stage wherein the goal is to slowly introduce the environmental friendly rental cars in some of the company’s branches. The fourth stage of the project will involve the control, validation and evaluation of the project. The resource for this stage includes the evaluation materials that will be distributed to the project manager. The evaluation materials will be used to understand the changes the project has done to the company and what are the current problems of the initiated project. The fourth stage will check how the project succeeded in its goal and what could still be added to the project. The last stage of the project will take around one to two weeks.
GANTT chart
Budget
One major responsibility of many project managers is developing and adhering to a budget for the project. Often they will be rated a success or failure as project managers according to whether the project comes in under, on, or over budget (Frame 2003). Project costs are typically composed of four components: direct labor costs, overhead, fringe benefits, and auxiliary costs (Frame 2002).The budgets can either come from the parent company or from other sources like investors. The budget will be used to pay for the different expenses of the firm in purchasing, operating and maintaining green cars. The expenses will be worth it because once the benefit of the new service shows the company will gain more income to cover the expenses. The budget will be used to pay for the expenses on new service, the payment for all the employees that will participate in the project, the cost of hiring new personnel and other costs or expenses. The next part will give a visual representation of the budget.
Sources of funds
Company funds 0,000
Investor contribution 70,000
Bank loans 30,000
Total Funds 0,000
Expenses
Expenses on the green cars 1,000
Overall employee salary 60,000
Cost of hiring new personnel 6,300
Miscellaneous expenses 900
Total Expenses 8,200
Total Funds 0,000
Total Expenses 178,200
Cash at hand 41,800
Project leader
The leader for the project will be the general manager. He will closely work with the top management and the administration staff. The project manager needs to have perseverance and diligence in making sure that all aspects of the project will push through. The project manager needs to have the drive that will help them finish the project no matter what happens. The project manager needs to make sure that he can relate well with all the personnel that will be involved in the project. The project manager needs to have enough patience in dealing with various kinds of personnel. The project manager need to make sure that he is responsible and is willing to do the best they can to finish the project. He needs to plan wisely the actions that will be taken and take full responsibility once the project fails. The Project manager should be prepared for the criticisms and intrigues that will be hurled towards him. He needs to be ready for all people that will try to discredit them or the improvements he has done in the project.
Stakeholders for the project
The stakeholders for the project include the management team of Avis rent a car, the clients of the company, the company’s employees and the lawmakers of a country that has their branch. The management team of Avis rent a car, is a stakeholder because the success of the project will depend on how well they supervise the planning and implementation of the project. The clients are stakeholders because the change in service will help them help save the environment. The employees are stakeholders because improvements in the company’s service can help improve their effectivity and efficiency. The lawmakers are stakeholders in the case because they are that ones that will create or change laws pertaining to the regulation of rent car businesses. Once the project is successful the lawmakers can think about means to help the business thrive amidst the crisis.
Project control and validation
The first of factors for success is a group of External ones like government, community, general economic conditions, ecology, and so on. The second set of factors affecting the viability of project definition is that the project offers a sense of cost-benefit relationship and that the terms of the Financing of the project make sense (Earl 1998). The last factor affecting the project definition is the project’s Timing. Curiously, this aspect is often totally ignored in the project management literature which tends instead to dwell on scheduling methodologies. Timing means the pace at which the project is developed: its urgency, its phasing, and the placing of the strategic review points (Earl 1998).The project itself must then be implemented using a range of concepts, tools, and techniques which have traditionally been thought of as the province of project management. These include matters of organizational structure responsibility and contract strategy, terms and conditions; issues of personal leadership and management style, resourcing, systems, and procedural conflict management and industrial relations, team-working, and matters of control and communication (Earl 1998). The project will be constantly monitored to check its effect on the company and the changes it has done on the company’s branches. The initial problems on the project will be known and fixed to reduce the emergence of other problems. To control the project communication systems will be used between the members of the organization. The communication systems such as email and letters will assist in monitoring the project. The project will be validated via its effect on the company and the car rental industry.
Project evaluation
Projects are not perfect it will contain certain flaws. If these flaws merge wit forces within the environment the result would be the failure of the project. Project failure can be due to the lack of preparation or planning wherein the manager became too concentrated on the end result rather than the specifics of the project. Project failure can also be due to lack of cooperation between the manager and his subordinates. When there is no teamwork between the manager and the subordinates’ aspects of the project will not be completed. Another cause of project failure is when the manager does not take risks. The risk may have given the project a better chance for success. Moreover a cause of project failure is the lack of alternative strategies that should be used whenever there are small problems or irregularities seen when the project is being undertaken. Lastly a cause of project failure is the inability to use the approved strategies. There are certain times that project managers fail to make use of strategies set by the organization, this results to an altered direction for the project and in the end failure of the project. To avoid project failure, the project should be constantly checked and evaluated to see if it still performs according to standards. Evaluation will focus on checking how the firm has adjusted to the new service and how the firm has grown after introducing the use of green cars. Evaluation will be used to determine the things or issues that should be changed within the project and determine the next options that should be taken.
Probable problems for the project
One constraint for the project is the barriers to the scope or reach of the project. The scope determines the boundaries of the project. Once the barriers prevent the company from reaching the scope the project would be a total waste. Another constraint for the project is the lack of time that will be used to finish the project. Time is important because it will determine which aspect of the project needs more focus. This constraint needs to be balanced thoroughly so that the project can achieve all of its purpose. Lastly a constraint for the project is the lack of budget. The budget is the one used to finance all that will be needed to finish the project. The budget is important because without it the project cannot move on to its other aspects.
Conclusion
The rising call for environmentally safe cars created the need for green cars. This new service reduces environmental pollution while maintaining the convenience of clients and maintaining profitability for the firm. The green car should be properly priced so that it will attract clients and not drive them away.
Part 1: References
Eadington, WR & Smith, V (eds.) 1992, Tourism alternatives:
potentials and problems in the development of tourism,
University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.
Earl, MJ 1998, Information management: the organizational
dimension, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Faulkner, B, Laws, E & Moscardo, G 1998, Embracing and
Managing change in tourism: International case studies,
Routledge, London.
Frame, JD 2003, Managing Projects in organizations: how to
make the best use of time, techniques, and people, Jossey-
Bass, San Francisco.
Frame, JD 2002, The new project management: tools for an age of rapid change, complexity, and other business realities, Jossey-Bass,
Harwood, A, Litan, RE & Pomerleano, M (eds.) 1999,
Financial markets and development: The crisis in emerging
markets, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC.
Hoogma, R, Kemp, R, Schot, J, Truffer, B 2002,
Experimenting for sustainable transport: The approach of
strategic niche management, Spon Press, New York.
McGonagle Jr, JJ & Vella, CM 1996, A new archetype for
competitive intelligence, Quorum Books, Westport, CT.
Part 2: Personal Development plan
Skills Analysis
Skills
The Management consultants have inquisitive skills in gathering needed information. The management consultants have a great desire for acquiring information that they believe is vital so that they can give the proper advice to a company. This skill was developed in the assignment through the constant need for information about the company. The assignment helped in determining how a company can survive even if it faces a difficult task. Management consultants have good technical skills and they have a good grasp of how to operate devices that they believe can help them acquire the information they need. This skill was developed in the assignment through the constant need for computers and other technical materials. The technical materials helped in gathering the needed data. Management consultants have good communication skills that were used in dealing with the company and its representatives. Among all the skills necessary for the management consultant to have, communication skills were the most prevalent. The management consultant made sure that they communicated well with the representative of the firm to achieve the goals. Each management consultant checked first with the management of the company before taking any measures that will change the outcome of the project. The management consultant was free to communicate any issues they have with the firm and its representatives. The communication skill was developed in the assignment through interactions with individuals and institutions that may help in gathering the needed data.
Knowledge
Knowledge-intensive capitalism is increasingly a global system and the knowledge-intensive organization is increasingly a global actor. All aspects of R&D and product development to production and marketing must be oriented to and increasingly take place in major markets throughout the globe. To be effective in this increasingly borderless global economy, regions must be defined by the same criteria and elements which constitute a knowledge-intensive firm: continuous improvement, new ideas, knowledge creation and organizational learning (Gertler & Wolfe 2002). Knowledge is an important resource for an organization and individuals who get involved with it. Knowledge helps an organization and an individual to complete a goal through the use of background knowledge and previous experience. Without proper management of knowledge, the conduct of learning would be incomplete since important things needed in the learning process would not be available. The management consultants had background knowledge of the industry and thus they used it to create a strategic option that will counter the threat. This was developed in the assignment through gathering the history of the company and the different issues it faced. The management consultants used previous experienced in dealing with the organization. They used the previous experience to learn how to relate to the company and its representatives. The use of previous experiences was developed in the assignment through making sure that mistakes are never repeated especially in times of gathering data and information. The use of the knowledge of previous experiences reduced errors.
Behavior
It is difficult to imagine a time at which human beings were entirely satisfied with the conditions of their lives. It is equally hard to conceive of a state of affairs either natural or cultural to which every person or group would give its unqualified assent. The most narratives from mythologies to founding religious texts, to the earliest histories of world civilizations, are full of conflict, opposition, and revolt against established order. Since the beginnings of documented human association, human culture and its implicit critique seem to have developed hand in hand. While the discourse of philosophy and that of cultural critique have not always been identical throughout history, traditions nonetheless can be traced to a common set of fundamental concerns. They also share certain important assumptions and terminological distinctions, and they have borrowed insights, concepts, and methods from one another (Surber 1998). Culture plays a part at how individuals behave. A good culture results to good behavior while a bad culture creates a bad behavior. The management consultants were brought up from a good culture. The management consultants had good qualities like respect, diligence and understanding. They used such qualities to relate with the company and its unique culture. The company and its representatives showed proper decorum in facing the management consultants. This helped both parties to construct a project that will be benefit the firm. The good behavior shown by the management consultants and the members of organization was developed in the assignment through the good behavior of diligence in finding the needed information that will help in achieving the purpose of the assignment.
Why me?
The students should be the consultants for the project because they have the skills, behavior and ideas that are similar to what the management consultants have. The students have inquisitive skills that are needed in gathering needed information. The students have good technical skills and they have a good grasp of how to operate devices that they believe can help them acquire the information they need. The students have good communication skills that were used in dealing with the company and its representatives. The students had background knowledge of the industry and thus they used it to create a strategic option that will counter the threat. The students used previous experienced in dealing with the organization. They used the previous experience to learn how to relate to the company and its representatives. The students were brought up from a good culture. The students had good qualities like respect, diligence and understanding and these were used in dealing with the organization and its representatives. Aside from those qualities the students have commendable decision making skills that differ only on a student’s style and level of thinking. The different decision making styles assist in dissecting the information that can be acquired from the different situations in the company and in the end it guides in discerning what action should be done. The different styles of decision making helps not only in finding solution for the problems in the company but it assists in determining what actions should be done so that the company can improve its operations and have sustainable competitive advantage over rival firms.
References: Part 2
Gertler, MS & Wolfe, DA (eds.) 2002, Innovation and social
learning: Institutional adaptation in an era of
technological change, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
Surber, JP 1998, Culture and critique: An introduction to
the critical discourses of cultural studies, Westview
Press, Boulder, CO.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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