Strategic Report and Recommendations for Oak Tree Inn

This report provides a strategic analysis of Oak Tree Inn, including an overview of the firm, evaluation of threats and opportunities, potential strategic options, and assessment of strategic choices. It also discusses the importance of location and friendly staff in attracting customers.

Consultants Strategic
Report and
Recommendations for
Oak Tree Inn
(Case study)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Brief overview of the firm and its activities with required data and information...........................1
Evaluate the threats and opportunities which the business is facing from both macro and micro
competitive environment...............................................................................................................2
Critically evaluate the two potential strategic options which will mitigate threats and exploit the
opportunities for the business.........................................................................................................4
Assess the two strategic choices which is generated from the research through the application of
theories.............................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
References:.......................................................................................................................................7
Books and Journals.....................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Strategic agility is the ability of the business to quickly respond to the market changes
with keeping the focus and efficiency (Patri and Suresh, 2019). This phrase means to stay
competitive in the market while also identifying the opportunities which will help to reduce the
threats. With this the owners of the business will recognize the market changes which could be
good or bad for the business helping them to quickly adopt to such changes. Developing strategic
agility helps the business owners to develop the clarity about what are the market demands and
where they stand in the competitive market. Oak Tree Inn offers friendly guestrooms and pub
with great atmosphere and comfortable rooms. This was started by Fraser family in 1997 which
is located between Heathrow Airport and Central London. This report will cover brief overview
about the firm and their activities with the threats and opportunities which the firm is facing
covering both the micro and macro environment. It also covers two potential strategic options
which will mitigate threats and exploit opportunities.
MAIN BODY
Brief overview of the firm and its activities with required data and information.
Oak Tree Inn was started by Fraser family in 1997 which used the slate from local
quarries which is used to develop a building which is developed into the picturesque in the
village of Balmaha. The Oak tree is located between Heathrow Airport and Central London
which is a pub and offers guestrooms to the customers (Jesse, 2018). The Oak tree is situated in
Balmaha and not just the mentioned services they also offers B&B accommodation, Ice cream
parlour, Coffee shop and a village shop. The restaurant has won an award and which is also
considered to be the heart of beautiful village of Balmaha. Oak tree inn offers their customers
variety of services which includes twins and doubles with private bathroom facilities, games
room, patio gardens and many more. Any person who comes here enjoys the beautiful scenery
and the peaceful location. The restaurant also offers the affordable and tasty food which can be
affordable by any person and the prices of the stays are also reasonable. Those individuals who
are tired of their busy life come here for some days and surround themselves with the peace and
ultimate time with their near and dear ones. The bar is also very cosy and soothing with the
welcoming atmosphere with a real log fire. They serves the traditional Scottish food and Oak tree
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also offers from their popular menu brewed beers and cider plus which is an extensive whisky
bar.
Facilities offered by Oak Tree Inn:
Offering range of accommodations the Oak tree also offers the cottages which are few
minutes away from the main building. St Mocha Coffee shop & Ice cream parlour offers special
quality of coffee with the tea and also homemade ice cream (Vaishnavi and Suresh, 2020).
Besides the Oak tree there is also Inchcailloch Island which offers boatyard trips around the
island. The oak tree offers easy access to The West Highland Way, Conic Hill and Millennium
Forest. The oak tree is the best location if the individuals or the couples want to spend some
quality time. It offers to explore best places and natural beauty of Lomond and The Trossachs
national park.
Evaluate the threats and opportunities which the business is facing from both macro and micro
competitive environment.
There are many factors which are responsible for the growth of the business. This can be
explained with the use of PESTEL analysis on the Oak tree-
PESTEL analysis- This analysis is done to identify the macro-environments which can affect the
competitive position in the market. There are some factors which impacts the working of Oak
tree inn which are explained below-
 Political factors- Government plays as a backbone of such businesses as they are the
ones who are responsible for attracting the international tourism. They make the tourism
law which needs to be more open and flexible (Suresh, Ganesh and Raman, 2019). Oak
tree inn is affected by such laws of the government where the most important is the tax
on the restaurants and for hotels like this.
 Economic factors- These factors includes the inflation rates, recession, economic growth
and many more. Stability in the economic environment is also the biggest factor which
attracts the individuals towards the other countries. Restaurants and pubs are the most
frequent visit places of the individuals who went to outside countries. But at present time
due to COVID-19 issue the Oak tree in has to bear a lot of expenses.
 Social factors- Social factors include the change in the lifestyle and demands of the
consumers. As the income of the consumers is increasing they want to spend their times
on the luxurious places and not in such small place because people do not look for
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peaceful place in the present time. Oak tree inn is just a small restaurant with a definite
amount of rooms availability so it makes it difficult for the consumers to attract.
 Technological factors- Hotels are now adopting different technologies which are new
for the consumers as well. These new methods make it more interesting making their
experience to be the best. Oak tree inn have changed their room styles and taking orders
from the customers using new methods and technology (Sheel, Singh and Nath, 2020).
 Environmental factors- People are now becoming more serious towards protecting the
environment. Oak tree inn does not create any waste and use a good waste management
system of whatever they make in the coffee shops or in their dining.
 Legal factors- Laws of the country are the other important factors which influence the
working of Oak tree inn. There are many laws including the health and safety,
employment law which the businesses have to follow if they want to work in those
countries.
SWOT analysis- This analysis is used to identify the internal factors which will be responsible
for the company success.
Strengths Weakness
The biggest strength of Oak tree is that they
provide the comfortable and safest place like
home. Also oak tree attracts more consumers
because of their location and peace that they
provide to their consumers which help to
contribute to the local economy. They also
provide employment opportunities to the
people.
The weakness of the Oak tree is the seasonality
of the business and the dependence on tourism
sector. Sometimes the ordinary household
individuals consider staying in hotels to be
costly as it influences their budgets. And also
the such businesses find it difficult to bear the
taxes as in some countries the tax rates are
usually high (Li and Holsapple, 2018).
Opportunities Threats
The main opportunity for the Oak tree will be
building good relationship with the customers
and offering them variety of services at decent
prices. In the peak time also they must offer
good services with various new things to be
The major threat for the oak tree will be the
political unrest in the country which can affect
the tourism. And also the pandemic COVID-19
which has affected the hotel industry and
tourism. Last are the competitors with their
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done which will attract more consumers
towards the oak tree.
unique features and services offered to
customers.
Porter Five Forces- This method is used to analyse the environment which can affect the
profitability of the business. Explanation of this model is discussed below-
 Competition in the industry- The competition in this sector is high. New businesses are
coming up with similar features like the oak tree which is intense. Also the cost of
switching such guestrooms and restaurants is low so the consumers can change at any
time.
 Threat of new entrants-There will be difficulty for the new entrants to enter the market
as it requires huge investment and high capital costs (Pitafi, Kanwal and Pitafi, 2019).
Thus, the new business owners have to be conscious in entering the market.
 Power of suppliers- The power of supplier is usually low as the oak tree only requires
the labour, the staff and personnel to manage the operations. They are more into the
competitiveness factor and not towards the suppliers.
 Power of buyers- This is high because those consumers who are subjected to high power
can affect it like domestic and international airlines or tour operators. Oak tree have to
create its uniqueness if they want to stay competitive in the market.
 Threat of substitute products- In case of substitute products the threat for oak tree is
higher because various restaurants, pubs and guestrooms could be available very easily.
Thus, oak tree have to make some variety and the place more comfortable which will be
able to enhance the beauty of the place.
Critically evaluate the two potential strategic options which will mitigate threats and exploit the
opportunities for the business.
There are factors which has the ability to reduce the threats for the business and exploit the
opportunities for them. When business keeps these factors into consideration it makes more
customers and increases the profitability of the business. Two most strategic options which will
increase the revenue and customers of the Oak tree inn are discussed below-
 Location- For every business location plays the important role for the consumers as well
as for the business. Oak tree is the restaurant and pub which also offers the guestrooms to
their consumers. The site selection of the oak tree is quite good as the place is located on
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the village side of Balmaha. The location is revolved with beautiful scenery covered with
mountains and trees. When any consumer comes here to visit the place they feel
extremely relaxed and peaceful. The location of oak tree is the USP of them as consumers
are mostly attracted because of the location and the quality food they offer.
 Friendly staff- It is very important form the side of the Oak tree that they employ best
staffs who would be able to come in front of the guests and will be able to create good
image in the eyes of consumers (Hoffmann, Ahlemann and Reining, 2020). Positive and
friendly attitude of the staff is what attracts the consumers. These staffs are the face of the
business as they are the ones who would create image in the eyes of consumers. Staffs
should be those who take the complain in a very positive manner and try to mitigate it as
soon as possible if any consumer complaint about it. The polite behaviour, smiling face
and good tone of the staff members is very important if the owners wanted to build good
customer relations.
Assess the two strategic choices which is generated from the research through the application of
theories.
With the above strategies mentioned above it becomes very important to analyse how
these strategies will be efficient for the business in gaining the success. For this SAF analysis is
used which considers the Suitability, Acceptability and Feasibility of the strategic options. These
factors are mentioned below in context with Oak tree inn-
 Suitability- Suitability is used to assess various factors which could be environmental,
economic or other factors which can affect the business. As the above mentioned
strategies are of location and friendly staff which will be considered suitable for the
business. Because these factors are important for the business as location is the area
which the consumer takes into consideration before going. The staff also plays important
role to create good relations with the customers.
 Acceptability- The acceptability means to measure the risk, return which the business
will get from these applied strategies. As we know that the location is the USP of the oak
tree inn which brings more customers to their restaurant (Slagmulde and Devoldere,
2018). And the friendly staff is also important if the business wants to bring more
customers which will give them more return.
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 Feasibility- This factor means whether the business have the resources and the finances
to implement these strategies. Oak tree considers these factors to be very important as
such strategies will be able to give good success to them (Thrassou, Vrontis and
Bresciani, 2018). The business have good management and the material what is actually
required is the resources which the oak tree have to conduct their daily operations.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that external and internal environment both can
affect the business performance. Therefore it becomes essential from the part of business that
they carry their activities according to these both factors. Because this will enable the business to
identify the threats and take early precaution before it becomes harmful for them. This will also
help them to utilise the resources in the correct manner helping them to gain competitive
advantage and also succeeding in the market. Many new competitors are coming up in the
market with same ideas and thoughts. Thus it becomes important from the side of business that
they make new innovation in their regular activities to make themselves different from the other.
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References:
Books and Journals
Hoffmann, D., Ahlemann, F. and Reining, S., 2020. Reconciling alignment, efficiency, and
agility in IT project portfolio management: Recommendations based on a revelatory case
study. International journal of project management. 38(2). pp.124-136.
Jesse, N., 2018. Organizational evolution-how digital disruption enforces organizational
agility. IFAC-PapersOnLine. 51(30). pp.486-491.
Li, X. and Holsapple, C.W., 2018. Entrepreneurial Work Design for Organization
Agility. Journal of Management Policy and Practice. 19(3). pp.35-49.
Patri, R. and Suresh, M., 2019. Agility in healthcare services: a systematic literature
exploration. International Journal of Services and Operations Management. 32(3).
pp.387-404.
Pitafi, A.H., Kanwal, S. and Pitafi, A., 2019. Effect of enterprise social media and psychological
safety on employee's agility: Mediating role of communication quality. International
Journal of Agile Systems and Management. 12(1). pp.1-26.
Sheel, A., Singh, Y.P. and Nath, V., 2020. Managing agility in the downstream petroleum supply
chain. International Journal of Business Excellence. 20(2). pp.269-294.
Slagmulder, R. and Devoldere, B., 2018. Transforming under deep uncertainty: A strategic
perspective on risk management. Business Horizons. 61(5). pp.733-743.
Suresh, M., Ganesh, S. and Raman, R., 2019. Modelling the factors of agility of humanitarian
operations. International Journal of Agile Systems and Management. 12(2). pp.108-123.
Thrassou, A., Vrontis, D. and Bresciani, S., 2018. The agile innovation pendulum: family
business innovation and the human, social, and marketing capitals. International Studies
of Management & Organization. 48(1). pp.88-104.
Vaishnavi, V. and Suresh, M., 2020. Assessing the readiness level of healthcare for
implementing agility using fuzzy logic approach. Global Journal of Flexible Systems
Management. 21. pp.163-189.
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