See attachment UR Healthy Fitness Center Case Study In 1980, the UR Healthy Fitness Center was opened in a growing area of a bedroom community, by Tom Ellington, a Business Management graduate after he retired.
Assignment – 5 Pages double-space (Incorporate some Process Maps – see Wal-Mart Example) Case Study, Stage 1: Business Environment Analysis Before you begin this assignment, be sure you have read the “UR Healthy Fitness Center Case Study.” Purpose of this Assignment This assignment gives you the opportunity to apply the concepts of the Porter Five Forces model to a specific business, develop a strategic direction for your Fitness Center, and identify a process that could be improved with the use of technology. This assignment specifically addresses the following course outcomes to enable you to: · analyze business strategy to recognize how technology solutions enable strategic outcomes · analyze internal and external business processes to identify information systems requirements. Business Environment Analysis for UR Healthy Fitness Center The UR Healthy Fitness Center has been in business since 1980 and has seen an increase in competition from small fitness centers, Cable TV and Internet Exercise channels and sites, Wii and other TV Game Console, various exercise equipment infomercials and increasing supply of Exercise DVD’s . One of your fitness instructors told you that she saw a sign announcing the construction of Gold’s Gym (a well-known national fitness franchise) a few blocks away. Your staff is worried and is looking to you to provide reassurance that the competition will not affect the business. In addition, you have decided to develop your strategic direction for bringing the UR Healthy Fitness Center into the 21st century. You know that Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model is a useful tool for analyzing a business, understanding the importance of the five competitive forces and helping to develop its Generic Strategy. It is also used to aid organizations facing the challenging decisions of dealing with changes made by existing competitors, entering a new industry or industry segment, or developing a strategy for dealing with new competition. The Five Forces Model helps determine the relative importance of the forces affecting competitive position that could affect the future success of a business. The Five Forces are: · Buyer Power · Supplier power · Threat of substitute products or services · Threat of new entrants · Rivalry among existing competitors The Five Forces and the Generic Strategy are fully described and discussed in the textbook, and the Business Model and Competitive Advantage are covered in Module 1. In order to analyze the Fitness Center’s current competitive position and develop a Generic Strategic direction, you have decided to use the Five Forces Model to analyze your Fitness Center business. Assignment write a paper 5 pages in length, not including References page and cover sheet, responding to the bulleted items below. Remember to use the APA formatting rules and correctly cite and reference your sources with APA format. Use the Grading Rubric to be sure you have covered everything. Create a document that includes the following: · Brief introduction providing the background of the case, why you are writing and what is to come in your paper. This should only be 3-5 sentences. · Perform a Porter's Five Forces analysis for your UR Healthy Fitness Center, addressing each force in one or two sentences and defining the force, its impact (Positive, Negative or Neutral) on the Fitness Center and whether it should affect your strategy (Yes/No). (See Textbook, pp. 15-18 and Course Module 1.) Do not identify solutions or things that you are doing that would affect the factor. (The idea is to identify how the different forces affect the UR Healthy Fitness Center and how much.) This provides you with a view of the business that will allow you to select a Generic Strategy and a Strategic Business Area on which to focus your efforts. · Determine which of Porter's Three Generic Strategies (see textbook page 20) that you will use to improve your UR Healthy Fitness Center for the 21st century and explain why you selected it and tie it into the significant forces that you have identified. · Using your analysis of the Fitness Center’s Business Model (based on what you learned in Module 1), identify an important Strategic Business Area that needs to be improved. The Strategic Business Area is to be selected from the direct variables (explained in Module 1 and illustrated in the Walmart Example Case Study, page 3). The Direct Variables are: suppliers, competition, employees, location, organizational components, owners and customers. The Walmart Example demonstrates use of this concept, so you should review it and make sure that you are on the right track. Explain why you have selected that Strategic Business Area and how improving it will improve operation of the Center, including how it relates to the Generic Strategy you selected. · Within the selected Strategic Business Area, identify and select a single daily process that is within and supports the Strategic Business Area that needs improvement. Note: A process is defined in your textbook as “a standardized set of activities that accomplish a specific task, such as processing a customer’s order.” (Baltzan, 2012, p. 20) (In Stage 2 you will model the AS IS process and the TO BE Process, and propose a technology solution to improve the process you identify here, so select a process that is appropriate for a technology solution.) · At the end of your report with your References enter the following headings and complete the information using one concise phrase for each. You will be starting each subsequent stage by including this information as a method to keep us focused on the objectives. GENERIC STRATEGY: STRATEGIC BUSINESS AREA: PROCESS TO BE IMPROVED: The "right" and "wrong" answers have to do with whether or not you correctly incorporated the course concepts from the textbook and addressed all parts of the assignment. You need to do some external research on at least one aspect of the assignment - your choice - and incorporate it and cite/reference it in APA format in your response. The specific strategic area you select for a technology solution is not as important as that it makes sense in light of the course content and the Case Study and is well supported with your application of the course concepts and your external research. Use the Rubric below to be sure you have covered all aspects. GRADING RUBRIC: Attribute Full Points Five Forces Analysis Analysis covers all Michael Porter’s 5 forces, correctly defining them and their impact on the Fitness Center (Positive, Negative or Neutral) and whether it should affect your strategy (Yes/No) demonstrates understanding of course concepts, analysis and critical thinking. Generic Strategy Generic strategy identified, explained and tied to the 5 forces analysis; and demonstrates understanding of course concepts, analysis and critical thinking. Strategic Area for Improvement Strategic Business area is selected based on the analysis of the Business Model and is adequately described demonstrating understanding of course concepts, analysis and critical thinking. Process for Improvement Business Process identified is aligned with strategic business area above; process is applicable to the Case Study and is appropriate for a technology solution improvement. External Research At least one source other than the textbook is incorporated, is substantive and used effectively. Source(s) used are relevant and timely and contribute to the analysis and support conclusions. Report Format Report reflects effective organization; correct sentence structure, grammar and spelling; presented in a professional format; references are appropriately incorporated and cited using APA style. Recommendations: Page 1 of 2 UR Healthy Fitness Center Case Study In 1980, the UR Healthy Fitness Center was opened in a growing area of a bedroom community, by Tom Ellington, a Business Management graduate after he retired. It has an exercise room with many different kinds of specialized equipment, rooms for various exercise and martial arts classes, and locker rooms with showers for men and women. In addition, there is a small snack area where members can buy bottled water, soda, fruit juices and snacks, with tables and chairs where people can relax. There are several part time staff members that man the counter where people check in; they also sell memberships and collect payments. There are trained exercise room attendants to assist members, and a maintenance staff to ensure cleanliness of the facility and minor maintenance of the equipment. Recently you were hired by the owner and founder as the manager, and you are very excited about this opportunity! UR Healthy is a for-profit Fitness Center and must cover its variable costs, fund future improvements and produce a reasonable profit for the owners. Unfortunately, business has been steadily declining over the last five years. Although your predecessor did a good job at the Center, it has become out-dated. You recognize that some of the equipment really needs to be replaced, but you are not sure which equipment should be replaced first. The classes and exercise programs available have also become out-dated. There is little known about the makeup of the membership (age, sex, goals, interests, problems, complaints, etc.). You don’t know if there are long waits for particular equipment. If you had more information in these areas you feel that you could increase membership and income. For instance, if you knew which equipment was most heavily used, perhaps you would opt to replace that first, or add more similar equipment. The membership fee structure has not been reviewed in many years, and your contracts with outside firms that perform preventative and major maintenance, and those that provide cleaning supplies, vending machines, and towels have not been reviewed in a number of years. Recently, there have been weeks when the Center has run out of clean towels and the vending machines were out of the most popular items. In addition, customers have been requesting WiFi reception in the Center as well as cardio monitoring features on the cardio equipment. The Center is open from 5 AM to 10 PM and is busy most of the day; however, the make-up of the people differs over the course of the day and each group has its own characteristics. The early group, 5 – 8 AM are the heavy workout members who speed through their exercises and head out for work or school. The next group, 8 AM -2 PM are older and take their time exercising and attending classes and spend a lot of time in social interaction; they are generally either retired or moms with their kids in school. The period from 2 – 4 PM is the least busy and is made up largely of high