Analysis of Thomas Cook's Strategic Position

The assignment analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of Thomas Cook through a PESTLE framework. It examines how the company has successfully adapted to changes in the market, including technological advancements and shifting consumer preferences. The document also highlights the importance of employee value and engagement for business success. By leveraging these insights, students can gain a deeper understanding of strategic management tools and techniques, as well as marketing principles. This assignment is relevant for students studying business, marketing, or tourism management.

Running head: BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
Business Environment Analysis of Thomas Cook PLC
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
Executive Summary
The report helps in analyzing the overview of the respective company named Thomas Cook Plc.
The entire external analysis has been done of Thomas Cook with the help and implementation of
PESTLE analysis wherein the different factors are considered in an effectual manner.
The main aim and purpose of the report is to understand the different kind of issues that can be
caused to Thomas Cook externally. The different issues have to be resolved with the
implementation of different instances that has helped in understanding issues.
The conclusion is based on the analysis of PESTLE analysis of Thomas Cook and the different
issues that can be faced by the company against the other competitors in the market.

2BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
Table of Contents
Question 1............................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................3
Organizational Structure of Thomas Cook PLC..............................................................4
Relationships between the Company and Stakeholders..................................................5
Question 2............................................................................................................................7
Question 3............................................................................................................................9
PESTLE factors affecting operations of Thomas Cook PLC..........................................9
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................13
References..........................................................................................................................15

3BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
Question 1
Introduction
The report helps in analyzing the different external and internal environment analysis of a
respective company named Thomas Cook PLC. The PESTEL analysis has to be done for
Thomas Cook as to understand the benefits from conducting PESTLE analysis.
Thomas Cook PLC is British global travel organization that has been listed on London
Stock Exchange. It was formed in the year 2007 in the month of June by the merger of Thomas
Cook AG. Thomas Cook operates in major five divisions that include United Kingdom,
Germany, Europe, Northern Europe and Central Europe (Thomascook.in 2018). Thomas Cook is
the major sponsor of the Peterborough United and Manchester City football team clubs.
Figure 1: Logo of Thomas Cook
(Source: Thomascook.in 2018)

4BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
The numbers of employees who are working in Thomas Cook PLC Company are 21,940
all over the world. The net income generated by the respective company was £9 million and the
revenue generated by the company is £7,812 million. Thomas Cook PLC is one of the leading
leisure groups of travel that operates in more than 16 source markets. It has been ranked as
number two in the world in terms of revenue in the core markets and its shares are listed in the
London Stock Exchange.
Organizational Structure of Thomas Cook PLC
Chief Executive
Officer
Cashier
BookkeeperAccounts executiveCounselor for travel
AdministrationSalesOperations
Secretary
Liaison Officer
Reservations and
ticketing
Utility Personnel

5BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
Figure 2: Organizational Structure of Thomas Cook PLC
(Source: Created by author)
From the organizational structure, it can be analyzed that the Non-executive chairperson
Mr. Frank Meysman chairs the board. In addition, the board currently includes two non-
executive and two executive directors. Thomas Cook PLC directors guide and make changes in
the structure of the members of the organization as this helps them in implementing
diversification in the management of the organization in an effective manner (Armstrong et al.
2015).
The Board of Directors governs the company and the structure of the company is
hierarchical in nature. There are two directors on board wherein the key people of Thomas Cook
were Frank Meysman Non-Executive and Chairman Peter Fankhauser, the CEO of the company.
The election of the key people in Thomas Cook was done in the year 2012 in the month of May.
Furthermore, the chairperson and executive director was appointed in the year 2003 in the month
of August (Afonina 2015).
Relationships between the Company and Stakeholders
Corporate Governance is essential and necessary in nature for both the company along
with the stakeholders of the company. Stakeholders are defined as the independent party that has
stake in the business. Therefore, the stakeholders can be both external and internal to the
business (Keller and Kotler 2016). Thomas Cook PLC has been maintaining cordial relationship
with the employees, shareholders and other members of the public as well. The examples of the
stakeholders of Thomas Cook PLC are as follows:

6BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
Figure 3: Stakeholders
(Source: Shabanova et al. 2015)
Employees
The employees are the ones who help in delivering and creating products as well as
services that will be consumed by the customers. The employees are the valuable assets of the
organization and the employers of Thomas Cook provides different motivation to the employees
as this will help them to perform well and increase the productivity of the organization as well
(Zhou 2015). Thomas Cook tries to implement different positive strategies in their organization
that will help them in gaining competitive advantage in the market. The respective company tries
to reward them with financial and non-financial system wherein this has huge positive impact on
employees and the sales of the company have been increased largely (Shabanova et al. 2015).
Shareholders
Furthermore, the shareholders are the essential assets of Thomas Cook PLC wherein
they are the ones who decide the outcome of the business and they have a huge role to play in the

7BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
decisions of the business activities as well (Hampel and Tracey 2017). Thomas Cook takes
proper care of the shareholders of their business, as they are the ones who control the business
entirely. It is the entire duty and responsibility of Thomas Cook to check whether the
shareholders are unhappy or happy with the tasks performed by them as business cannot ignore
their customers, as they will help the company in increasing their sales and productivity (Kotler
2015).
The shareholders of Thomas Cook finance the company and raise funds through different
private placements in an effective manner. The shareholders at Thomas Cook play both direct
and indirect roles in the different operations of the company in an effective manner. The different
shareholders of Thomas Cook provide suggestions and feedback for the different development of
the products in an effective manner as this has provided different kind of opportunities to the
company in maintaining less turnover rate of employees in the organization in an effective
manner (Hollensen 2015).
Public
The other members in the public are essential assets of Thomas Cook as well as the
satisfaction of the customers play a major role in the organization. Thomas Cook plays a major
role in satisfying the different needs and requirements of the customers by analyzing their issues
relating to the different products and services delivered by them. Thomas Cook has helped in
increasing the revenues and reducing the churn rate of the company by implementing strategies
and opening a separate department wherein all the queries of the customers are taken care off in
an effective manner (Heise, Crisan and Theuvsen 2015).

8BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
The customer relation management of Thomas Cook is interesting in nature as this helped
them in generating huge revenues and they are the second highest in terms of revenues in the
entire market as well. The public relations have huge importance in the effectiveness of
organization, as this will help in understanding the tastes and preferences of the customers in an
effective manner. With the help of feedback forms, it will be helpful in understanding the
different preferences of the customers in an easier manner. The public relation is not free kind of
advertising as this takes lot of efforts and this will require concerning relating to the different
needs in an effectual manner (Ho 2014).
Question 2
Purpose of PESTLE analysis for business organization
A PESTLE analysis is defined as the framework that is used by different marketers as to
monitor and analyze the macro environmental factors that can create impact on the organizations.
The main result will be used to identify the different weaknesses and threats that are used in the
SWOT analysis. The PESTLE analysis stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological,
Legal and Economic factors in an effective manner (Aithal 2016).
There are different purposes of conducting the PESTLE analysis in different business
organizations that includes when there is a requirement for expanding the business in the entire
global market. With the help of PESTLE analysis, the different assessment of the competitors,
assessment of the perspective market and the standpoint for the perspective market has to be
analyzed in an effective manner. The main purpose is to identify the different factors that will
affect the change along with the deliverables that can influence the supply and demand levels
along with the costs of production factors (Fountoulaki, Leue and Jung 2015).

9BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
Figure 4: PESTLE analysis
(Source: Zhu et al. 2015)
The technique of PESTLE analysis helps in clarifying the requirement of change and
identifies the different options that are potential in nature. PESTLE analysis help in providing
simple along with easy to use framework for the analysis that involves the different cross-
functional expertise and skills. The PESTLE analysis will help in reducing impact along with
effects of potential threats to the organization and it helps in encouraging the development of
strategic thinking within the organization in an effectual manner (Zhu et al. 2015).
Furthermore, the PESTLE analysis will help in providing mechanism that will help in
enabling the organization as to identify and exploit the different opportunities that are new in
nature. It enables to assess the different implications of entering into the new markets both
globally and nationally. The main objective of the PESTLE analysis is to ensure that it is easily
identified that the different essential implications of the PESTLE analysis can be observed in the
organization in an effectual manner. In order to maximize the different benefits of the PESTLE
analysis, it has to be used in an effective manner on a daily basis as this will enable to identify
the different trends in the market.

10BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
Political factors determine the actual extent wherein the government can influence the industry
in an effective manner and political factors include the fiscal policy, trade tariffs as well.
Economic factors are the actual determinants of the performance of the economy that can
directly affect the company and they create long-term effects.
Social factors include scrutinizing the social environment of the entire market and this includes
the different determinants such as demographics, analytics of the population.
Technological factors include the pertaining to the innovations in the technology that will affect
the different operations of the market that can be favorable or unfavorable in nature.
Legal factors include both the internal and external sides wherein there are few laws that can
affect the business environment (Smith, Rees and Murray 2016).
Environmental factors include the different factors that can influence the surrounding
environment in an effectual manner.
Question 3
PESTLE factors affecting operations of Thomas Cook PLC
Political factors play significant role in determining the different factors that can have
huge impact on the long-term profitability of the respective company named Thomas Cook Plc in
certain market or country. Thomas Cook is operating in the leisure and travel in more than 12
countries and it has exposed itself into different kind of political and environmental system risks.
Thomas Cook needs to analyze the factors closely before investing or entering in a certain kind
of market that are as follows:

11BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
Political importance and stability of the leisure and travel sector in the economy of the
country (Smith, Rees and Murray 2016)
Different regulations tariffs of trade related to the different consumer services
Labeling of product and other requirements in the travel and leisure
Mandatory kind of benefits provided to the employees
Interference and bureaucracy in the leisure and travel industry by different regulations of
the government
Antitrust laws related to leisure and travel along with the regulations of pricing that will
help in analyzing the industrial regulations on safety
Economic factors wherein the macro environment include different kind of factors such
as rate of inflation, rate of savings, interest and foreign exchange rate that will help in
determining the aggregate investment and demand in the economy. On the other hand, the micro
environmental factors that include the competition norms that have huge impact on the
competitive advantage of the company, Thomas Cook need to use the economic factors of
country that include the growth rate and economic indicators such as the spending of the
customers in an effective manner. The economic factors that have to be considered by Thomas
Cook while conducting the PESTLE analysis are as follows:
The type of the economic system in different countries of operation as to understand the
rate of stability of the economic system
The intervention of the government in free market that is related to the consumer services
The rate of exchange and the stability of the currency of the host country
Quality of the infrastructure in the travel and tourism industry
Inflation and interest rates in the market

12BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
Rate of the unemployment along with level of skill of workforce in the travel and tourism
industry
Analyze the comparative advantages of the host country along with sector of consumer
services in the respective country
Economic growth rate
Social factors can create huge impact on the culture of the society and the way of
performing things that can affect culture of the organization in an effectual manner. The attitudes
and shared beliefs of the entire population play a huge role in the analyzing the role of marketers
in Thomas Cook relating to designing of message of marketing for travel and tourism industry.
The different social factors that the leadership of Thomas Cook has to analyze for the PESTLE
analysis are as follows:
Skill level and demographics of population
Power, class and hierarchy structure in the entire society
Level of education along with standard in Thomas Cook industry
Culture (social conventions and gender roles) has to be analyzed in an effective manner
Leisure interests (Chernev 2018)
Technological factors can affect the Thomas Cook Group Plc wherein technology is
disrupting the different industries across the board. Transportation industry is one such industry
that can be used as the illustration wherein it is going fast forward. A firm needs to analyze the
different technological advancements in an effective manner, as this will help in coping with
speed of technological disruption. The analysis of technology helps in understanding the
different impacts such as:

13BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
The recent technological developments that has been done by the competitors of Thomas
Cook Plc
Impact of the technology on the offerings of the product
Impact on the structure of cost of the leisure and travel industry (Chernev 2018)
Rate of diffusion in technology of the travel and tourism industry
Legal factors can have huge impact on the Thomas Cook Plc wherein in different
countries, the legal framework along with institutions is not robust in nature and this cannot
protect the intellectual property rights of the organization. Thomas Cook Plc leadership should
consider the entering into new market is as follows:
Anti-trust law in travel and tourism industry along with in different countries
Health and safety law
E-commerce and protection of consumers
Employment law
Intellectual property and copyrights along with discrimination law
Environmental factors include that there are various markets have different kind of norms that
can influence the entire profitability of the organization in such markets. Before entering into a
new market, the duty of the new firm is to evaluate the different kind of environmental standards
that is required in such markets. The environmental factors that have to be considered by Thomas
Cook are as follows:
Climate change along with weather
Waste management in the consumer services sector
Endangered species

14BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
Laws regulating the pollution in the environment
Attitudes towards along with support for the renewable energy
For instances- There are different examples of the PESTLE analysis in the industry that are as
follows:
In United States, both Texas and Florida have different clauses of liability in case of
mishaps along with environmental disasters. From this example, it can be analyzed that the
companies need to analyze the weather of the place along with analysis of the laws relating to the
environmental safety.
In different countries, the legal factors vary from one another wherein the discrimination
law has been implemented in the different companies in United States. The health and safety
laws is mandatory in all the companies in The United States and this is creating positive impact
on the employees as they perform well as they feel they are valued in the respective organization.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that Thomas Cook is one of the most successful travel
agencies that helps in meeting the different requirements of the customers. With the help of
PESTLE analysis, it has been analyzed that Thomas Cook has different kind of issues that can be
faced by them in comparison to other competitors in the entire market. Thomas Cook needs to
analyze the different changes in the market as this helped them in achieving the trust and avoid
problems that can hamper their reputation in the entire competitive market. It has been analyzed
that there are different competitors in the market of Thomas Cook, however Thomas Cook is
performing best in the industry and it is the best travel groups in the entire competitive market.

15BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
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16BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF THOMAS COOK PLC
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