Part 1 - Business Report (60%)

Section A - Business Review (1000 words)

You must produce a business report which outlines how your adopted business is currently managed. The following areas must be covered:

Identify the 3 most important skills of management for your business

Peoples and communication skills:
At Savvy Fitness Nikki emphasised the importance of peoples and communication skills, being in a gym/personal training environment, having a good relationship with your customers is key. For example if a customer hasn't been at a session for a while nikki will call them up and ask them if they want them to change the schedule or if they can do anything to help them come back into a session. This is essential to keep customers happy and to keep them coming back. Nikki highlighted the importance of ‘community’ in their business and how it is their biggest strength. Having good peoples and communication skills helps strengthen the community feel of the business and keep customers happy

Problem solving skills:
Problem solving skills are crucial to all efficiently flowing businesses. Nikki emphasised the importance of having employees that could problem solve, as they were an integral part of the business. Problem solving requires two different types of mental skill. These are analytical and creative. Analytical Thinking includes skills such as ordering, comparing, contrasting, evaluating and selecting. It provides a logical framework for problem solving and helps to select the best outcome from those available by narrowing down the range of possibilities. Creative thinking is a differing process, using people's imagination to think of a range of possibilities and ideas. It requires us to look outside the box. Having employees with these types of problem solving skills really benefit a business especially one like Savvy Fitness which must constantly overcome problems such as; council and a consistent customer flow

Having knowledge:
A knowledgeable management team is often pivotal to the success of a business. With an intelligent and diverse management team, businesses will perform significantly better than those businesses which do not. For example, a knowledgeable management team will often help develop an effective business infrastructure and assist in the development of promotional and marketing strategies

Describe the business’s management Approach + explain its suitability

The Behavioural Approach - The Behavioural approach to management stresses that people (employees) should be the main focus of the way in which the business is organised


The main features of behavioural management approach are:
Humanistic approach (employees are the most important resources)
Economic and social needs of employees should be satisfied
Employee participation in decision making
Team based structure
Managers need good interpersonal skills
Democratic leadership style emerging

At Savvy Fitness, Fitness business Manager, Nikki emphasises the importance of personal skills. The management team aims to be comprised of people who are not only focused on the objective of the business, but also on the needs of their staff. The suitability of this management approach relies on Savvy’s relaxed approach to operations. Being a business which uses trained fitness workers to facilitate classes of physical activity, it is incredibly important that Savvy runs a business that allows for the employees to be in the best state of mind possible while at work, a business which allows for their employees to be comfortable and have their needs met

Identify what stage in the BLC your business is in. Justify

The business is currently undergoing a new growth in the post-maturity stage. The business has just recently moved locations from Keira St, Mt Keira to a new studio in Fairy Meadow. As stated by Nikki, the Savvy Fitness business Manager, they have seen new growth in the amount of clients they have had in the past but have also seen it stay at a steady rate for a long period of time, they have grown from the single mums class they used to run 12 years ago. Savvy fitness runs mainly group classes and these classes are held outdoors and due to external factors such as the weather: the number of clients drop during the winter. Savvy have tried to counterattack this by adding winter classes and a new program they named “Winter Warrior”. Savvy is trying to expand their small business, they are aiming to keep their outdoor classes running in the future and also hopeful that their new venue in Fairy Meadow is successful in spite of Anytime Fitness being right next door

Explain critical issues in achieving success for this business

Competition:
While Nikki from Savvy Fitness explains that the management team don’t stress too much about their competition, it is still important for the business to consider where their business stands in relation to their competitors. With the recent move to their Fairy Meadow studio, Savvy Fitness is right next to Anytime Fitness, another large pre-established fitness franchise. In order to be successful in Fairy Meadow and attract a new audience, Savvy Fitness must provide a service that is unique, they must satisfy a need or want that Anytime Fitness is not satisfying

Exposure to public spaces and Council:
Given Savvy runs both indoor and outdoor classes, the ability to run their outdoor classes relies solely on the availability of the public spaces in which they operate on. While Savvy has the permission from council to run their classes on public property, their power is limited in the sense that Savvy does not own the land nor the rights to restrict it. If the general public wants to use the space that Savvy is using to run a class, Savvy has no right to decline them access and may be forced to move the class elsewhere

Describe the business’s Marketing Mix (4ps)

The Marketing Mix of a business refers to their “4 Ps”. “The 4ps” refers to their Product, their Prices, their methods of Promotions and the Place in which they operate from. All of which are pivotal to the success of different businesses which is why it is important that Savvy have a well balanced marketing mix

Products: They have a variety of different Products ranging from fitness programs like suspension, yoga (performance), yoga (recovery) and there indoor cycling program. They also offer outdoor and indoor training sessions six times a day

Prices: Savvy fitness have priced there programs and classes with the consideration that there customers need to be able to pay the fee of renewing here memberships. They also provide deals like the ”special introductory offer” to make it easy for a customer to join a training program and get bonus upon joining Savvy Fitness

Place: Savvy fitness utilizes the illawarra's landscape well by spreading classes and gyms in convenient and peaceful locations. They have a gym that has recently opened on the princess highway in Fairy Meadow. This is a very convenient location with a lot of exposure to passing cars and host indoor fitness sessions and classes at this gym. Savvy’s outdoor training is done at North Wollongong beach and Bulli beach. This provides the customer Exposure to the elements. This creates a marked effect on your mental, emotional and physical wellbeing

Promotions: Savvy Fitness promotes themselves in many ways and utilizes a lot of different promotional strategies. One big promotional even they do each year is savvy survivor which is a multi-day event that anyone can do and draws in around 300 people each year. They also have a large presence on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. They utilise social media to post updates to events they are hosting and changes to the business

NIkki seems to have these four aspects under control and is managing to keep a healthy mix of the four p’s to keep the business thriving and money flow constant

Describe the Quality Management Process the business undertakes

Due to the nature of Savvy Fitness being a facilitator of physical activity the quality management process cannot be compared to that of a traditional business that manufactures goods. However Savvy Fitness does have their own unique quality management process. For example at Savvy Fitness they have an induction process for new staff members, this includes more experienced staff helping new staff members so they can perform to the best of their ability. To ensure they provide an optimal service they supply feedback forms and accept online feedback through the likes of social media, this helps them finetune their service

Explain the value of Financial Statements to the business

Financial Statements are vital to a business. Financial statements are a formal record of the financial activities and position of a business. The information the statements provide offers benchmarks and feedback that help the company make changes. Financial statements are useful for making decisions regarding expansion and financing. They also figure into marketing decisions, providing data indicating which aspects of company operations provide the best return on investment. Financial statements help show when the business is most successful or unsuccessful. Finally they show pattern in business showing what works and what doesn't, when business view these they can often make beneficial decisions based on what the financial statements say and show therefore leading to a more fruitful business

Describe how the business trains and develops its employees

Savvy will aim to hire staff with the correct qualifications and certificates for the job. For example, instructors that run the outdoor group classes must have the correct certificate in Personal training and possess a first aid certificate. Nikki has stressed the importance of having good people and communication skills and a passion for the job. Even after having all the correct qualifications and certificates valid, Savvy will still train their employees so they are prepared for whatever might happen while on the job. Nikki has informed us that the employment turnaround has been quite good in past years, stating that employees don’t just come and go, many will stay for minimum 14 months and then choose to move on

Section B - Managing Change - Hypothetical scenario management (1000 words)

Savvy Fitness has established itself as a market leader within the outdoor fitness boot camp industry. It has achieved this status thanks to a reputation for quality service and customer relationships

The business is now looking to expand and acquire a building, allowing them to offer indoor fitness services

Outline the key factors when considering Location

Discuss TWO Finance options available to Savvy to fund the expansion

Recommend THREE marketing strategies Savvy can utilise in order to ensure the new indoor centre is a success













Section C - Watch, Interpret, Predict (1000 words)

Finally, you must look ahead at future market trends, identifying potential opportunities and threats and analysing how the business should approach them

In an attempt to be more proactive, identify 3 key influences (could be internal or external) that may impact FUTURE business success










Assess how they might impact the business within the next 5 years










Recommend Operations, Marketing, Finance or Human Resources strategies to overcome/take advantage of them