Understanding Environmental Factors and Implications on Business - Melaleuca Resort Case Study

This report focuses on understanding the environmental factors and their implications on the business operations of Melaleuca Resort. It discusses the importance of internal and external factors, and provides recommendations for innovative options to ensure smooth business operations.

SBM4301 case study

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the present scenario, hospitality as well as tourism industry are playing essential
part in making economy growing at the rapid rate. It is majorly composed of hotels, resorts
and other amusement facilities with numerous services. The present report is based on
Melaleuca Resort, which is situated in the tropical gardens across road from Palm Cove
Beach and the Coral Sea of the Palm Cove Queensland. Discussion will be focused on
understanding of environmental factors and its implications on business. Also, emphasis will
be made in the report to identify and evaluate the best innovative option for smooth business
operations.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................................10
RECOMMENDATIONS.....................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES....................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The success as well as failure of tourism and hospitality industry business highly
depends on the type, quality of services it is engaged in. Most of the hotels are having ideas
and knowledge related to customer needs. This awareness about taste and preference helps in
understanding of desires, motives and expectations of guests with the context to be
hospitable. The services provided are evaluated by measuring customer satisfaction in the
context of different tangible elements such as breakfast, check in/ check out facility, room
amenities and other related products. In the present report, focus is made on the Melaleuca
Resort which is conducting its business operations of tourism in the northern Queensland. For
remaining competitive in the market with sound profitability index, it is very much important
to understand environmental factors both internal factors such as its value system, mission,
objectives and internal relationship as well as external one including competitor strategy,
economic situation, technological factors etc.
By understanding environmental factors properly, Melaleuca Resort can capture large
market share along with competitive advantages in the short period of time frame. An
organisation change is associated with changes made in the strategies, processes, operations,
techniques which are considered for betterment of future business goals and objectives
(Doppelt, 2017). It can also help such company in improving its overall business as well as
employee productivity and profitability level to a large extent which in turn helps in increase
in acquisition of market share. Following are implications of understanding environmental
factors for the business:
1. Many of the Hospitality and tourism buildings, organisations and venues are now
involved in the concept of designing as well as redesigning with the aim of
reducing impact on the environment to some extent. Also, it assists Melaleuca
Resort and other similar business firms in merging with the local environment in
much better and systematic manner.
2. Nowadays employing and adoption of more sustainable practices in business
operations has been in trend. It supports the tourist company in meeting with eco -
friendly customer needs and also helps in promoting green image which is highly
appealing to large number of consumers.
3. By making use of sustainable form of business practices such as providing organic
products having recyclable nature, making use of less toxic chemicals, adoption of

more energy and water efficient fittings in resort premises. These factors can help
Melaleuca in making high customer base as well as profit margins.
4. By taking into consideration all the market opportunities and threats, Melaleuca
Resort can take benefits of the competitive edge as prevailing in the market. For
this in depth research and study of market forces can help in gaining large number
of profits.
Internal environmental factor – Are those which arises from within the business
organization operations only. Internal changes taking place in the business working and
operations can be the result of number of factors which can have influencing impact on its
overall business performance in the near future. These factors basically include:
1. Managerial change – Any change in the managerial personnel can affect the overall
business performance of the Melaleuca Resort as the new personnel or the manager will work
with own ideas and concepts, emphasizing on his working methodology.
2. Employee attitude and behaviour towards customers – With the change in the working
behaviour and attitude of resort employees, it directly creates negative impact on customer
base (Verhulst and Lambrechts, 2015). Also productivity gets hampered resulting in change
in the overall business performance and profit margin.
3. Change in operative personnel – By employing better educated and qualified employees
having sound knowledge base, Melaleuca resort can made more emphasis on understanding
of human values, beliefs, cultures as possesses by customers. Also by providing better
working conditions to workers as well employees, Melaleuca can have strong employee base.
External environmental factors – In case of Melaleuca resort, there are some factors like
sustainability concept, eco - friendly products & services etc. which are affecting its working
and which need to be controlled by the company itself.
Mostly, external factors include political forces, government policies, technological
advancements, changes in social values and human belief, competitor policies & strategies
etc. All these forces needs to be assess on proper time so as to overcome with loss, damages
to business. With changes in the working of Melaleuca, it can affect all the business plans,
strategies and standards made earlier before. For seeking competitive advantage and market
opportunities, it is very much essential for such tourist company to have focus on its internal
as well as external business environmental factors. And should be assessed by making proper

management and business plans so as to mitigate any further losses as associated therewith in
the near future.
SWOT Analysis -
1. Strengths – The key strength of this firm is that it provides hotel rooms at affordable
prices along with service facility of free wi-fi, television, laundry etc. to its customers.
Also, it offers convenient as well as quick booking option with its own business card
to all its business travellers. Melaleuca also deals in luxury services and products
which are offered for catering its customer needs.
2. Weaknesses – Further it is now focusing on rendering of sustainable business
practices for fulfilment of its environment friendly customer needs which was its one
of the weaknesses (Singh and et.al., 2018). Thus, it provides Melaleuca with increases
market competition for it and improved business performance and profitability.
3. Opportunities – It can expand its business operations across the world in countries
where it is not conducting its business operations earlier with the assistance as
provided by the Queensland State government. By using sustainable tourism methods,
Melaleuca can get a considerable amount of money from its government which will
adds to large market as well as customer share.
4. Threats – As the Queensland state government has decided to makes investment in
those tourism business organisations which is dealing in high sustainable business
services, Melaleuca needs to make updates in its business functions. Lack in making
changes can result in non - investment and resort will stand in out of market trends
category followed by low profit margins.

(Source: Internal Analysis in Strategic Management: Tools, Importance and SWOT
Analysis, 2019)
Sustainable tourism development is considered as one of the most important criteria
by the Queensland state government. For achieving sustainable tourism growth, Melaleuca
needs to formulate long term strategies, plans in accordance with the manner laid down by
the investment firms. Such long tern planning will help Melaleuca in nurturing business
growth and development with secure and longevity tourism business. Melaleuca can achiev
sustainability only by having full control on its business operations.
Innovation options available with the Melaleuca resort for making its business more
sustainable to its clients includes:
1. Water Management - one of the most important aspects of sustainability is related
with water wastage as hotelier has to maintain swimming pool, private Jacuzzi.
These are huge booster for relaxation - driven tourism. Also, by identifying leaky
taps with leak detectors can help in reducing large water wastage. By establishing
of low-flow showerheads, Melaleuca can improve its hotel efficiency.
2. Energy Consumption – With technological advancement, Melaleuca can achieve
its sustainable tourism development plan (Prajogo, 2016). By cutting back on the
mode of energy usage with implementation of eco - friendly products such as key

- card activated electric keys and light - saving motion activated lights, energy
consumption can be minimized.
3. Waste Management – Plastic has been considered as one of the most polluted item
which is degrading the quality of nature to large extent. Melaleuca can replace its
plastic items such as shampoo bottles, single use coffee cups & other plastic
containers with recyclable products for long run use. Also, it has been noticed in
most of the hotels that food wastage is another problem which needs to be limit
up. By allowing guests for making a choice of food and removing Buffets option
from food service facility, changes can be made therein as well.
Strategies with the help of which Melaleuca can inculcate innovative means in its
business operations include:
1. Supporting feature of product diversification as well as event management.
This will help Melaleuca in obtaining best technology of smart intelligence
which will further assist in reducing energy consumption.
2. Enhancing destination images so as to attract large customer (i.e. tourist)
group. Investing in activities related to modernisation of tourism infrastructure
will help Melaleuca in overcoming its water wastage problem and can save
water for future generation too.
3. Ensuring sustainable visitor management system so as to minimize
environmental impacts. By making promotion of traditional handicrafts
development in its areas, Melaleuca can attract customers.
Plan for successful implementation of sustainable business practice related to Energy
Consumption:
1. Business structure – For establishment of any hotel or resort premises, a
thorough and in depth research is required to be done so as to ascertain all
the positive and negative aspects. Market analysis needs to be done in
order to ascertain current market trends, customer taste and preferences,
government regulations, competitor policies & strategies before entering
into new business line. A sound business planning and strategy can help
Melaleuca in achieving its sustainable tourism development idea.
2. Competitive Environment – By preparing list of resorts and hotels in area
of business operations can help Melaleuca in understanding the

competition level. Also, it will help in assessing best business practices as
adopted by competitor such as technology related to low energy
consumption etc.
3. Pricing policy – The Melaleuca resort should finalise rooms per night fees
as per the rates decided by other competitive firms nearby. Fee schedule
should include all the expenses which had been done in implementation of
best technology and software (Feldman and et.al., 2016). Also, pricing
should be done as per season and discount should be given on bulk
booking option.
4. Financial Plan – Before making expenditure on latest technology, software
it is very much important to make a rough estimate or budget. Investment
should be made in only those technologies which yield sustainable
development to both the business as well as to the customers. And also it
doesn’t account on the part of Melaleuca or customer unnecessary
expense.

CONCLUSION
Tourism sector basically helps in contributing to economic growth and development.
In case of sustainable development, Melaleuca not only aids to financial growth but can also
help the economy in generation of employment opportunities thereby conserving nature and
environment with adoption of new and better improved working business practices.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Melaleuca Resort can make the Queensland state government force to invest in its
tourism business firm by making adequate changes in its business practices pertaining to
sustainable growth. Also, by practicing sustainable tourism operations with its main focus on
local architecture, traditional values & cultures, crafts, organic and natural agricultural
products produced locally, Melaleuca can attracts investment from other sources as well.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Doppelt, B., 2017. Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for
business, government and civil society. Routledge.
Feldman, G. and et.al., 2016. Technological, Organisational, and Environmental drivers for
enterprise systems upgrade. Industrial Management & Data Systems. 116(8). pp.1636-
1655.
Prajogo, D. I., 2016. The strategic fit between innovation strategies and business environment
in delivering business performance. International Journal of Production Economics,
171, pp.241-249.
Singh, M. K. and et.al., 2018. A glimpse of sustainable electronics manufacturing for India: A
study using PEST-SWOT analysis. In Global Value Chains, Flexibility and
Sustainability (pp. 271-281). Springer. Singapore.
Verhulst, E. and Lambrechts, W., 2015. Fostering the incorporation of sustainable
development in higher education. Lessons learned from a change management
perspective. Journal of Cleaner Production.106.pp.189-204.
Online
How Internal and External Factors Drive Organizational Change. 2019. [Online]. Available
through: <https://www.googlesir.com/internal-and-external-forces-affect-organizational-
change/>.
Internal Analysis in Strategic Management: Tools, Importance and SWOT Analysis. 2019.
[Online]. Available through: < https://www.businessmanagementideas.com/scientific-
management/internal-analysis/internal-analysis-in-strategic-management-tools-
importance-and-swot-analysis/18762 >.