General description of the Company

Applying managerial practice for the companies which operate in contemporary sport industry, we should take into account the peculiarities of the target market and the sphere the company is developing in. It is signified in the report that the company has certain significant goals and achievements but the same time meets certain problems. The company is capturing the audience among those who ski and snowboard.

They introduced absolutely new idea, which gives new opportunities for those who keen on winter sports: “SnowSports Interactive executives wanted to dramatically enhance the experience of skiers, snowboarders, and downhill sliders worldwide. The company had developed extensive Intellectual Property which combined the latest in GPS, Wi-Fi, RFID technologies with proprietary tracking and analysis software. The Company’s core product, the Flaik, was a small light-weight arm band “tag” worn by skiers and snowboarders.

The device housed technology such as Global Positioning System (GPS) units that could continuously monitor the position and time of users, 802. 11g Wi-Fi units to transmit position and time data to a Network operating Centre, and RFID chips to uniquely identify each tag” (Yang, Taylor Mardiasmo, 2006). The competitive product is supposed to be one of the most interesting tools for the skiers and snowboarders helping them to navigate and always be available. The following research would examine the core principles of the strategic vision, provide SWOT analysis and seek for the developmental perspectives within the sport industry market.

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The core principles of the strategic vision snow sports interactive

It goes without saying that the company, providing absolutely new technology and introducing at the specific target market, as the winter sports, in particular skiing and snowboarding, should understand that this new product placement should correspond to the contemporary needs of the target market and have certain peculiarities, which make it more attractive among the other competitors: “SnowSports Interactive executives felt that phrase appropriately described the new technology they were planning to introduce to the world of the ski industry in winter 2006-07.

However, in late June, 2006 the company confronted a number of challenges. What, they wondered, did they need to do to maximize the potential for their company” (Yang, Taylor Mardiasmo, 2006). This fact characterizes the company’s executives as good planners and they were well aware about the difficulties they got meet before reaching the success within the industry.

It goes without saying that understanding the difficulties the team should also understand that the internal factors also significantly influence the process of product placement on the target market “the theories and concepts that inform the development of sport policies and the principles which underline the planning process. You will consider planning models in conjunction with policy frameworks, examining the relationship between their practical relevance” (Kitchen, 2009).

One of the key specialists of Business School in London Metropolitan University Paul Kitchen advice to study the internal factors; it helps to understand the current needs of the target market. It provides good basis for the policy and planning development for the company participant and let them get familiar to the whole atmosphere they got to perform in. “The various models of corporate strategy and provides you with a framework to examine and integrate the different management functions.

You will evaluate the key sources of uncertainty facing sports organizations as well as the concepts of environmental, social and financial audit and appraisal and the feasibility of proposed sport developments” (Kitchen, 2009). The strategic planning for the newcomer is also very important. Understanding the needs of the target market helps to develop appropriate strategic plan that would be profitable and suitable according to the current state of things. It goes without saying that SnowSports Interactive executives were well aware about the difficulties they would meet while integrating their product on the market.

And development of appropriate strategic vision, such as separation of concrete target group (as skiers and snowboarders) let them to avoid spending time and money for the other representatives of the winterpark sports, which won’t be so interested n their innovation technology. Before the startup they studied statistical data, which made an advantage for them in understanding the approximate measurements of those who keen on the target sports. Developing a global integration strategy they understood the necessity of the resorts involvement into the process of start up.

The partnership with the resorts would help to introduce their tools on the absolutely new level: “A tentative global strategy SnowSports Interactive had adopted to raise funds involved creating partnerships with ski resorts. SnowSports executives envisioned approaching target markets (which include targeted ski resorts) for expressions of interest. Each partnership would involve creating a limited liability company with a ski resort company. The limited liability company would be operated by a combination of the existing SnowSports Australian team and a local team” (Yang, Taylor Mardiasmo, 2006).

It goes without saying that such collaborative practice with the resorts would benefit for the both partners and in the following chapter would provide SWOT Analysis of the Snowsports Interactive.

SWOT Analysis of SnowSports

• Interactive Strengths

Plays significant on role in sport equipment market, creating a new trend in the winterpark sports - Impacts the innovative integration to the winter sports - Provides development of the innovative technologies - Increased safety for Ski School participants - Improved peace of mind for parents of Ski School participants - Improved efficiency of Ski School operations

• Increased revenue from existing resort operations
• Increased utilization and value from resort assets.

Opportunities

Provides greater perspectives for target group: skiers and snowboarders, Enhance their experiences on the slopes by keeping score of performance statistics and enabling the skier to compare rankings with friends, family, and competitors. - Creates opportunities for the new usage of GPS, Wi-Fi, RFID in the winter sports

Raise popularization of GPS, Wi-Fi, RFID in the sport industry

Threats

The integration of the innovation could meet misunderstanding - The company’s core product, the Flaik is not a single innovative tool for the skiers and snowboarders - The company is going to meet severe competition in the nearest future Further Perspectives of the SnowSports Interactive in Winter Sports As it was mentioned earlier the company would meet severe competence while struggling for the target market and in the present day situation, when innovation integration has become a typical practice for the winter sports.

The high development of the different tools for the sportsmen created severe competence on the market. The right solution they made is signifying the core target market, which let them to make the right solutions and concentrate on investigation of the needs of the specific group of people. It goes without saying that it won’t be an easy to make a new start up in such a severe competence, but the strategic vision of the company creates good perspectives for further development.

Attracting the investors is also really good idea as well collaborative practice with the resort area. This would bring a number of benefits making wintersports such as snowboarding and alpine skiing more safe and comfortable for the participant. The development of the right product placement strategy would help the company to realize the set plans and according to the data provided in the report they are well aware about the difficulties they have met and do not expect the boom profits, understanding that the struggle for the target group would be severe.

The company also thought about legal protection of their intellectual property: “The Company planned to protect its intellectual property through a variety of means including patents, trade marks, copyrights, as well as trade secrets of its designs, circuit layouts. The company also planned to use and enforce confidential non-disclosure agreements” (Yang, Taylor Mardiasmo, 2006). Conclusion. Summarizing the Report

It goes without saying that providing a start up in the sport industry is not an easy task and the company that undertakes such a decision should apply the managerial practice already developed by the other companies. Applying for different managerial strategies the executives of the company understand what is waiting for them. They developed quite an interesting approach to the product placement, introducing collaborative practice with the resorts and seeking for the investors who eager to participate in integration of the new technology in the winter ports.

The SWOT analysis showed a number of strong parts for this collaboration. The expectations and further perspectives for this project are really good and the development of such a strategic vision would help the company to realize the ideas set. It goes without saying that the understanding of the target market needs and monitoring of their expectations from the tools would be also very suitable for the executives and their understanding of the market trends would play for a good advantage for them.

References

•  Fine L. G. 2009.The SWOT Analysis: Using your Strength to overcome Weaknesses, Using Opportunities to overcome Threats. CreateSpace 2. Yang X. , Taylor M. L. , Mardiasmo D. 2006. SnowSports Interactive - A Global Startup’s Challenges. Australia 3. Kitchen P. 2009. Sports Management. Business School of London Metropolitan University 4. Williamson D. , Cooke P. , Jenkins W. et al. 2003. Strategic Management and Business Analysis. Butterworth-Heinemann 5. SSI. 2010. Show where you go in the snow. [Online] Available at: http://www. flaik. com/solutions/flaik [Accessed 10 May 2010]
• 6. Sherwood J. , 2009. Snowstorm swallows GPS skiing gizmo's creator. Situation Publishing Ltd 7. Bryman A. ; Bell E. , 2007. Business Research Methods. 2nd edition. USA: Oxford University Press. 8. Beall A. ,2008. Strategic Market Research: A Guide to Conducting Research that Drives Businesses. IUniverse. 9. Zikmund W. B. , 2009. Business Research Methods (with Qualtrics Card). 8th edition. South-Western College Pub. 10. Saunders M. ; Thornhill A. , 2009. Research Methods for Business Students. 5th edition. Prentice Hall.

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