INTREPID Travel's Sustainability Practices

This assignment examines INTREPID Travel's dedication to sustainable business practices. It analyzes their stated commitments as outlined in their Communication on Progress document, focusing on their environmental and social impact. The analysis draws upon relevant academic literature and industry best practices to evaluate the effectiveness of their sustainability initiatives. Furthermore, it considers the company's global marketing strategy and how it aligns with their sustainability goals.

Running head: MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING
Sustainable Management and Marketing
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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Executive Summary
This report deals with the current business operation procedure and market position of the
tourism industry in Australian market. INTREPID TRAVEL is a popular travel organization and
operates in the global market. Development of a sustainable business in terms of economic,
social and environmental sustainability is their business goal. It has been received that
environmental sustainability is a big factor for the INTREPID TRAVEL as it is a travel
organization. They need to increase the awareness among the employees and the customers
regarding the necessity of the environmental protection. They have targeted to minimize the
impact of their business operation on the environment. Their future business strategies include
the use of effective market research, online recruitment process and involvement of local people
in the business to gain the competitive advantage, high workforce and sustainability.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Background of the INTREPID TRAVEL........................................................................................4
Planning in the context of INTREPID TRAVEL............................................................................5
Human Resource Management........................................................................................................7
Style of the leadership.....................................................................................................................8
Controlling the value chain and technology in the context of INTREPID TRAVEL.....................9
Recommendations for future strategies.........................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
The term sustainable development in a business refers to an inclusive approach to bring
social, economic and environmental development through the business operation (Albrecht
2018). In order to bring sustainability in a marketing process, the marketers try to enhance the
stakeholder engagement and corporate social responsibility to reduce the impact of the business
on the environment (McDonagh and Martin 2015). This study deals with the sustainability
management in the context of INTREPID Travel. This is a global organization, which operates
all over the world. In order to get a competitive advantage in the global market a sustainable
marketing is necessary for every organization.
Background of the INTREPID TRAVEL
INTREPID TRAVEL is a popular adventure travel company operates in various
countries such as Asia, Australia, Middle East, Africa USA and so on. This is a global business
organization and specialized for adventure travel (INTREPIDtravel.com 2018). Their objectives
are to enhance the staff engagement and creating global bets practice. They have a flatter
organizational structure to empower their employees to participate in the organizational
decision-making. In the recent years, the management structure is modified in this organization.
Their co-founder Geoff Manchester becomes the managing director. The MD of such
organization has been carried out the sustainability program by involving both internal and
external stakeholders. Their management structure is good as they focus on the customer’s
satisfaction as well as the employee development.
This organization is operating in Australia and the international market. However, USA,
Africa, Asia are the major there countries where this organization has operating their business
with successful growth. In the context of Australia, this organization is one of the popular
earning organizations in Australia among the 2000 companies. According to the IBIS report,
INTREPID TRAVEL has been growing rapidly in this country as Australia is a good place for
the tourism industry. High growth has been achieved in this country. In the year 205, the $129
million was their profit margin (Ibisworld.com.au 2018). This ensures a good business
environment in Australia in the context of INTREPID TRAVEL.

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Several environmental factors such as political factors have a great impact on the
business of INTREPID TRAVEL. In the context of Australia, the stable political environment
ensures the growth of the MNC's in the Asia-Pacific region (Kotabe and Helsen 2014). Such
political environment provides INTREPID TRAVEL a sophisticated market and right
environment to drive innovation in their travel operation. Cost competitiveness or the low cost of
the property is a big economic factor that allows the foreign organizations to establish their
headquarters in Australia. Therefore, high GDP in comparison to Germany, UK, and France
leads INTREPID TRAVEL to get the opportunity to expand their business in this country.
However, social factor leaves a great impact on the travel industry as customer's lifestyle is a big
factor. In Australia, maximum people are working. This may bring opportunity for INTREPID
TRAVEL to cover a large number of customers as people of Australia like to travel due to their
good income level. INTREPID TRAVEL needs to follow the legal requirements of Australia
during their operation as incompliance with the legal norms this organization may face legal
obstruction (Yüksel 2016). However, it is important for INTREPID TRAVEL to utilize the
emerging technology of Australia as Australia is a technology-oriented country.
In the recent years, Australian dollar is feeding into the tourism industry. However, many
foreign travelers come to visit Australia. For this reason, there are growing numbers of tourism
organizations. The major competitors of INTREPID TRAVEL are Intro Travel and G
Adventures in Australia. Such two organizations provide adventure travel to the visitors. Current
competitor analysis is helpful for an organization to understand their position in the national and
international market (Daft and Samson 2014). In the context of INTREPID TRAVEL they are
facing a tough competition level in Australian tourism industry due to rising number of similar
companies in the same market segment.
Planning in the context of INTREPID TRAVEL
The vision of INTREPID TRAVEL is to bring change in the way through which the
people see the world. Their mission is to make a sustainable travel business in the global tourism
industry (Bals and Tate 2018). Their value focuses on the establishment of a customer-centric
business with focusing each segment of sustainability (Yüksel 2016). Tourism is the largest
growing economic segment in the world. Hence, by enhancing the tourism business INTREPID

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TRAVEL can maintain their economic sustainability in Australia. Through the expansion of the
tourism business, INTREPID TRAVEL can invest in the education and professional training
especially for the indigenous people. This brings social sustainability in a country as well as in a
business. Moreover, the tourism industry is associated with the protection of environmental
resources as this is the main attraction of the tourists (Lozano et al. 2018). Hence, by developing
a customer-oriented business INTREPID TRAVEL can develop an environmentally friendly
business.
Major planning and goal setting practices of INTREPID TRAVEL include improvement
of the traveler engagement in the sustainability issue, enhancement of the staff engagement,
development of the global practices and increasing the customer loyalty. This organization
focuses on the traditional approaches to implement their planning. As for example, they have
made campaigns to increase the awareness among the travelers regarding the current
sustainability issues especially the environmental sustainability. Such campaign encourages the
tourists to involve in reducing the social and environmental sustainability issues by increasing
the education level and by protecting the natural resources (Daft and Samson 2014). In order to
increase the staff development, INTREPID TRAVEL has established staff motivational
techniques through providing financial and non-financial award such as salary increment,
performance appraisal, and promotion. In order to increase customer loyalty, they focus on the
low pricing strategy with high-quality service.
The approaches that are taken by INTREPID TRAVEL are associated with the economic,
social and environmental sustainability. However, organizing campaign is an effective approach
to increase the awareness among the tourists regarding environmental sustainability (Yip and
Bocken 2018). On the other hand, an employee motivation technique in INTREPID TRAVEL is
beneficial to increase the employee performance, which is associated with profitability as well as
economic sustainability of the organization. Retention of the customers by using low pricing
strategy is helpful for INTREPID TRAVEL to increase their sales revenue and they can
contribute to the educational and training program. This approach ensures both economic and
social sustainability.

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Human Resource Management
In order to make a business competitive, the human resource management or HRM
department plays an important role. In the recent years, labor shortage issue is one of the major
issues in the travel industry (Ehnert et al. 2013). In the context of INTREPID TRAVEL is crucial
for HR department to solve the labor shortage problem. INTREPID TRAVEL has offered more
job opportunities to resolve such labor shortage. They have established employment policy to
recruit more skilled labors in this organization. This is helpful for the organization to improve
their productivity, outsourcing and fulfill the demand of the target market. INTREPID TRAVEL
has focused on the employee empowerment strategy. The HRM of such organization has
encouraged the employees in the organizational decision-making. This will be helpful to enhance
the performance of the employees by sharing new ideas in business. As a result, such
organization can gain competitiveness in the global market. Cost reduction is crucial for a
business to achieve the economic sustainability (Doppelt 2017). The HRM of INTREPID
TRAVEL has established cost reduction strategy by recruiting skilled employees. However,
skilled employees are able to reduce the internal cost and increase operating margin, which is a
big factor in gaining competitive advantage.
INTREPID TRAVEL defines the job role before hiring an employee. Therefore, they use
right hiring method such as the use of social media via Linkedin they are able to attract the local
job seekers. Review the application is necessary for an organization to get the right people (Daft
and Samson 2014). INTREPID TRAVEL reviews the applications before selecting the people
for the desired position. In order to develop an effective workforce, the HRM of INTREPID
TRAVEL has established a collaborative work between the employees and the management. The
departments and employees are interdependent to each other in this organization, which ensure
their effective workforce development.
Maintenance of the effective workforce is necessary besides its development (Daft and
Samson 2014).INTREPID TRAVEL has identified the gap between the existing system and the
business need. They have established an effective communication with the employees and share
their business goal with them, which helps them to enhance the employee engagement.
Therefore, they are monitoring the progress of the plan by taking feedback from the employees.

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INTREPID TRAVEL gives value to the importance of the sustainability of a business.
They have taken a policy to reduce their impact on the environment. They have adopted energy-
efficiency measure policy by automatic computer shut off at 8 pm in their head office. They
focus on the Skype conferencing rather than face to face interaction in order to reduce the energy
consumption (INTREPIDtravel.com 2018).
Style of the leadership
Sufficient resource and the accurate leadership are the two vital factors that contribute
success in a tourism industry (Stead and Stead 2013). In the context of INTREPID TRAVEL
they follow the motivational leadership. Geoff Manchester the MD of such organization focuses
more on the employee motivation. INTREPID TRAVEL follows transformational leadership
style in their business. This type of leadership is associated with the change in an organization.
INTREPID TRAVEL has adopted transformational leadership to motivate the employees in their
work. The leaders of INTREPID TRAVEL are an effective communicator and have a specific
goal. They are very accountable and responsible towards the organizational objectives as well as
employee benefits. However, INTREPID TRAVEL follows transformational leadership style in
their organization thus their leaders follow some specific characters. The leaders are able to take
a difficult decision based on the situation. They have a clear focus on the vision, objectives, and
goal of the organization. The leaders are inspirational and execute new ideas to achieve a
sustainable business through their collaborative work.
INTREPID TRAVEL has the ability to motivate the employees as they follow the
transformational leadership style. They use the reward and performance appraisal tactics to
motivate their employees. They provide both financial and non-financial award to the employees
to enhance their performance beyond their normal level. This transformational leadership process
helps this organization to encourage the employees in their work. For a growing tourism
organization, the travel company needs to integrate sustainability into their leadership style. The
transformational leader focuses on the sustainable strategy to improve the organizational
performance (Mpuga 2017). In the context of INTREPID TRAVEL, the leaders focus on the
Federal Sustainable Development Act 2008 to protect the environment by motivating the
employees about the importance of establishing an environmentally friendly business. Therefore,

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they motivate the employees to focus the on the internal cost reduction for the economic
sustainability in this business.
Controlling the value chain and technology in the context of INTREPID TRAVEL
The operation process of the travel industry includes front office and back office
operation. The front office operation includes customer facing while the back office operation
includes non-customer facing (Yüksel 2016). In the context of INTREPID TRAVEL they
manage their front office operation by developing an effective communication with the
customers. The customer can book the hotels and tickets via online. Their customer executives
provide 24-hour support to the customer through online. On the other hand, the back office staffs
involve in managing account (Walker and Jones 2012). Therefore, employees of INTREPID
TRAVEL are associated with cost-cutting process. The team leaders are associated with the
workforce management by providing the training program.
Supply chain management is a crucial part of any business. INTREPID TRAVEL aims to
eliminate the waste and to enhance the customer satisfaction by their supply chain management
process. The supply chain of tourism industry includes accommodation, transport, and excursion.
Apart from this production of food and waste disposal are the other aspects of the tourism supply
chain management (Masa’deh et al. 2017). INTREPID TRAVEL develops sourcing strategy,
distribution strategy, inventory strategy and customer service strategy. They focus on the fresh
raw materials to prepare food for the customers. They deliver their service within 24 hours after
just the customer place the order. They follow low inventory management strategy to reduce
waste in their supply chain process. Their sourcing strategy includes two-step system that is
direct sales from the supplier to the customers via own reservation. They communicate with the
customer directly and provide them service, there is no middle man. They provide transportation
service by offering railway, airline, and road transportation. They provide local foods and crafts
by involving local suppliers, which is the main customer attraction and contributes more in the
local economy.
INTREPID TRAVEL uses internet based software to make their supply chain process
simple (Masa’deh 2017). Flash View is an important software that is used to reduce the error in
the supply chain management. INTREPID TRAVEL uses this software to digitally analyze the

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data of inventory. Therefore, this helps them to monitor and track all the information in supply
chain process by generating and electronic invoice. Flash View enhances the operational
efficiency of the supply chain process in the context of INTREPID TRAVEL. However,
INTREPID TRAVEL has achieved sustainable business through their supply chain management
and business operation as they focus on the local foods and culture, which allows them to
contribute more in the local economy and get social sustainability. They involve the local
suppliers for arranging the accommodation for the tourist, which improves the economic
condition of a specific region.
Recommendations for future strategies
 INTREPID TRAVEL needs to adopt a market research strategy to evaluate the position
of their competitors. It will be helpful for them to achieve competitive advantages.
 Recruitment of the skilled employees by using online recruitment software will be
effective for INTREPID TRAVEL to reduce the labor shortage and maximize the
productivity.
 INTREPID TRAVEL needs to focus on the enhancement of the local revenue by tourism
investment. For this purpose, an involvement of the local people in the tourism industry
will be an effective strategy for INTREPID TRAVEL to maintain the economic
sustainability in the local areas, where the organized tour.
 Conservation of the habitats to make the tourist area attractive will be a good strategy for
the tourism industry. INTREPID TRAVEL can focus on the protection of habitats and
wildlife as it will allow this organization to make an environmentally friendly business,
which is one of their business goals.
 INTREPID TRAVEL can implement the ICT or information communication technology
by using mobile devices and social media. This will help them to improve the tracking
process in the supply chain management.
Conclusion
The above piece of the study reveals the sustainable management and the marketing in
the context of INTREPID TRAVEL. This organization operates in Australia and across the

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global tourism industry. They focus on the economic, social and environmental sustainability by
accomplishing their business goals. On the other hand, they have adopted transformational
leadership by motivating the employees. They provide training to the employees to enhance the
staff developmental program. In order to achieve a sustainable business, they encourage their
internal and external stakeholders to involve in the organizational decision making.

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