Business Health Check: An In-Depth Analysis of Thomas Cook

This report provides a comprehensive business health check of Thomas Cook, a leading travel company. It begins with an introduction to the tourism industry and an overview of Thomas Cook's objectives, mission, vision, goals, and priorities. The report then conducts SWOT and PESTLE analyses to evaluate the company's internal and external environments, identifying key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It examines factors impacting the business, assesses business effectiveness across various departments, and offers recommendations for performance improvement. The report also analyzes Thomas Cook's business development plan, highlighting areas for change management, operational improvements, financial strategies, marketing and promotion, and technological advancements. The analysis aims to provide a detailed understanding of Thomas Cook's current position and suggest strategies for future growth and success in the competitive travel industry.

Business Health Check

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
a. Introduction of the tourism industry........................................................................................1
b objectives of business and its mission, vision, goals and priorities of business.......................1
c. SWOT and PESTLE analysis of Thomas Cook......................................................................2
d Factors that impact the business...............................................................................................4
e. Business Effectiveness.............................................................................................................4
f. Recommendations to Improve the Performance of Organization............................................5
g. Analysis of Business Development Plan.................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Business health check is the process that is vital for the company and it is the key part of
the process. It highlights the potential weakness of the business and helps by giving the direction
to give the relevant help and support to the business for this various tools is used for the
evaluation. Thomas Cook is the leading travel company in all over all the world and having the
great presence globally. This report explains the short description about the company and analyse
the objective of the case study and explains the mission and vision of the company. This report
also expalins the PESTLE Analysis of the Thomas Cook.
TASK 1
a. Introduction of the tourism industry.
In travel industry, Thomas Cook is one of the biggest international travel company started
in 1841 having the successful one day rail excursion shilling from Leicester to Loughborough on
first week of July. It offers complete holiday package that includes accommodation, food, sight
seeing etc. in the year 1850, Thomas cook began to start the trips of Europe, United States and
other places in the world. At the time, Thomas has been travelling the world his son John Mason
Cook successfully move the new head office at Ludgate circus. For the opening of new offices
they both are having the argument and end their partnership soon after that. Aster this his son has
established the business globally and get the success in his venture. Thomas has always made the
possible efforts to expand the business even in the Britain (Boniface, Cooper and Cooper, 2016).
In the case as Thomas conduct the trip to Switzerland and Italy specially for the middle section
of the society and their expectation is high for the accommodation than the earlier Thomas Cook
customers have. It is being determined that there has been an international exhibition is being
held first time in the Paris and for this Thomas seized the opportunity by persuading it to
command the concessions to channel traffic.
b objectives of business and its mission, vision, goals and priorities of business.
Objectives of the Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook always want to reach in the global market with the offering of different
variety of product and services and at the same they usually promote the new products with the
objective to reach and approach the new customers and clients. They give the information of
different products and services to the different segments of the customers and they are making
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the non stockist agents. Main objective of the business is to develop the infrastructure in tourism
industry and also they give the facility to do the shopping in the tax free shops and duty free
market.
Mission of Thomas Cook
The mission of Thomas cook is to make the holidays of the customers memorable by
providing the best service (Xiang, Magnini, and Fesenmaier, 2015). Team of Thomas cook
always try to work hard to give the best experience of holiday to their clients. They promise to
customers for the quality, service and the reliability.
Vision of Thomas Cook
Vision of the Thomas Cook is to advocate the issue that give the beenefit to the travellers
an dinfluences the policy of torism, legislation and marketing. Their vision is to the best holiday
group in providing the services to the customers and also make the dreams come true and ensure
to the customers that all the employees across the group are being united to deliver the best
services to the customers.
Goals and priorities of Thomas Cook
They always aim to promote the tourism in the United Kingdom to make the country
more sound. Their priority is to beat the long queues in the airport by giving priority package and
make the customers' trips happy and smooth.
c. SWOT and PESTLE analysis of Thomas Cook.
Strength
Strong brand name is one of the powerfull strength that is hold by the Thomas Cook.
Weaknesses
Profitability ratio and the net contribution of the thomas cook is below the average of
industry. They are even lack in adopting the new and latest technology and put more investment
to integrate their process.
Opportunity
Increase in the disposable income of consumers ias there is increase in household
incomes so now people can spend more even after paying the taxes. Online market flourish this
industry.
Threats
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Many competitors in tours and travel industry it is the true threats that is being faced by
the company currently. At the same now cdonsumer can easily switch to other company if they
did not get the satisfactory service.
PESTLE Analysis
Political factor
This plays the significant role and having the great impact in the political stability of this
industry in the economy of country (Fang, Ye and Law, 2016). As Thomas Cook is operating in
many countries, so the political system risk is always associated with it so before entering into
the country they have to analyse the factors such as taxation policies, minimum wage rate,
pricing regulation etc.
Social Factor
Beliefs and attitude of people plays the great role in the group and have to understand the
customers of that particular country and the education level. Culture of the society always impact
the working culture of the Thomas Cook.
Economical factor
Inflation rate, foreign exchange rate, interest rate and the economic cycle determine the
aggregate demand and investment in the country (Sigala, 2017). They have to analyse the
economic factors such as exchange rate, intervention of government related to customer service,
unemployment rate etc.
Technological Factor
It is the factor that disrupt the various industry in any segment. Thomas Cook is having
the aim to be in the top online service provider in this sector and that can be only possible by
adopting the advancement of technology.
Legal Factor
Thomas Cook have to do the evaluation very carefully before entering into the market
and this may lead into theft of organisation secret and they have to take care of employment law,
health and safety law of particular country etc.
Environmental Factor
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Every country is having their own environmental standards that impact the overall
revenue of the company so the Thomas Cook have to consider the weather of particular country,
endangered species etc.
d Factors that impact the business.
Impact of the SWOT and PESTLE Analysis in the business. As the company is having
the great image in the market that is ahving the positive impact on the business as it will lead to
generate more r5evenue and that leads to increase in profits of the company. If the company does
not adop[ts the technology thajn it may cause negative impact in the growth as consumers in
these era can switch very soon to new industry if they are not satisfied. Now the governments are
promoting the tourism as it will eliminate the cultural differences among the people and also
helps in building the infrastructure of the country ifv they promote the tourism they will get the
incopme from that they can invest it in the development of the country.
e. Business Effectiveness
For a business organization, effectiveness is most important to keep perform with high
rate of profit. Better performance can be achieved by improving implementation of different
function of individual departments in the organization (Pulido-Fernández, Andrades-Caldito and
Sánchez-Rivero, 2015). In Thomas Cook, different functional aspects of company are service
provider, marketing, Finance, and business performance.
Operation
Operational department is one of the most important department of Thomas Cook
company. Operational department is consists of employees who are handles the clients and
services which are provided to them. The quality of service is most required element in tourism
industry. Success of organization is dependent on the satisfaction of clients which only can be
achieved by providing best services to customers.
Marketing
Marketing and promotion department ensures that the company is enough visible in the
market. It essential for the organization to stay attractive and visible to draw more consumer.
This can improve the productivity of Thomas Cook by serving more consumers with high
effectiveness.
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Finance
In the travel & tourism company, it is required to keep the operations under budget and it
is work of finance department to allocate budget to the operation department to conduct various
function which are designed to satisfy clients by specific services that are mention by company
in plan.
Business Performance
As explained above, the satisfaction level of client is most important in industry. It is job
of quality and performance department to take care of consumers and keep the actions of
organization suitable for them (Jaelani, 2017). In travel industry ensures the quality of services
and try to keep them economic as much as possible to gain high marginal profit from operations.
This is how the different organizational aspects are important for Thomas Cook
Organization. By completing these actions in efficient manner, better performance can be
obtained. The goals of individual function are correlated to goals and objective of organization.
f. Recommendations to Improve the Performance of Organization
There are different and external factors affects the business of organization. The different
function get influenced with these internal factors. This impact of micro and macro factors can
be minimised by making different changes in organization methods and procedures. Various
decisions of government can reduce or improve the business of organization. As the company is
in business of tourism, so it is mostly affected by foreign policy of government. This can be
minimised by following terms and conditions which are mentioned in policy of government. By
using different economical forecasting methods, company can make easy survival in economic
crisis conditions. Technical improvement can be used in operation to increase visibility of
organization and improve consumer handling capacity of organization. The social issues and
cultural issues in the organization can be reduced by improving communication and
implementing cultural changes in the Thomas Cook organization (Alén, Losada and Domínguez
2016). The environmental issues in the company can be avoided by different methods which can
help Thomas Cook to perform good in difficult environment. The last, but not least the legal
factors are most essential for the organization.
Organization has to follow these legal laws to ensure the continuity of business. These
different factors are also interrelated to strengths and weaknesses of organization. These factors
also can provide the opportunities to company. The strengths of organization can be utilized to
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minimise the impact of different economical and political factors of organization. By
implementing AI and Automation can improve efficiency and consumer handling of Thomas
Cook company. The opportunities can be converted into success by using better implementing
techniques and methods. Threats can be minimised by better planning and analysing techniques.
g. Analysis of Business Development Plan
The main purpose of business development plan is to improve the productivity of
organization.
Change Management- The different changes made in the organization in various department
are important to improve the operations of individual function by introducing innovation in
company procedures.
Operations and management- In the travel and tourism is dependent on the satisfaction of
consumers. The resources which are already available in the organization can be utilized in better
way to improve the cost efficiency of company.
Finance- The financial management operation of Thomas Cook can be improved by better
implementation of market research and analysis. This can help the finance department to work
according to current market conditions.
Marketing and Promotion- Marketing operation of the company can be improved by using new
technology and innovation in marketing department.
Technological- The digital marketing can be used to attract more consumers towards the
company services. Digital marketing can help the organization to reach to larger number of
people.
Quality Management- Quality of company services can be improved by using different quality
improvement tools like TQM and CQI. Better quality can help the organization to meet their
goals in efficient manner.
Action Plan- The action plans of organization can be improved by better planning and
management.
Control and Monitoring- The monitoring and handling can also help to make action plan
efficient for the goal completion with in the time (Camilleri, 2018).
Risk Management- The risk management is the best strategy to minimise the risk factor in the
business. This can be done by using contingency plan and alternating plans for different
predictive situation.
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Time management- This all purposes of business development plan can be improved by using
specific time management tools. The time management tool can help the organization to develop
particular change with in the dead line with greater efficiency. This is how the business
development plan can be executed in travel and tourism organization.
CONCLUSION
This report is concluding the different factors of travel and tourism industry. Business
objectives of organization has been analysed to conclude its relations with mission and vision of
organization. The impact of different internal and external factors of the organization has been
studied to learn the strengths of Thomas Cook. To evaluate the success of the organization
different internal and external aspects has been studied in report. Various functions of
organization are evaluated together to find the way to make business of company effective.
Important suggestions are provided to reduce the impact of internal and external issues of
Thomas Cook. Different approaches of organizations has been analysed to implement business
development plan.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alén, E., Losada, N. and Domínguez, T., 2016. The impact of ageing on the tourism industry: an
approach to the senior tourist profile. Social Indicators Research. 127(1). pp.303-322.
Boniface, B., Cooper, R. and Cooper, C., 2016. Worldwide destinations: The geography of travel
and tourism. Routledge.
Camilleri, M.A., 2018. the tourism industry: An overview. In Travel marketing, tourism
economics and the airline product(pp. 3-27). Springer, Cham.
Fang, B., Ye, Q. and Law, R., 2016. Effect of sharing economy on tourism industry
employment. Annals of Tourism Research. 57(3). pp.264-267.
Jaelani, A., 2017. Halal tourism industry in Indonesia: Potential and prospects.
Pulido-Fernández, J.I., Andrades-Caldito, L. and Sánchez-Rivero, M., 2015. Is sustainable
tourism an obstacle to the economic performance of the tourism industry? Evidence from
an international empirical study. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 23(1). pp.47-64.
Sigala, M., 2017. Collaborative commerce in tourism: implications for research and
industry. Current Issues in Tourism. 20(4). pp.346-355.
Xiang, Z., Magnini, V.P. and Fesenmaier, D.R., 2015. Information technology and consumer
behavior in travel and tourism: Insights from travel planning using the internet. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services. 22. pp.244-249.
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