MBA685 - Strategic Business Plan: Kiwi Travels New Venture Plan

This document presents a strategic business plan for "Kiwi Travels," a new venture focused on promoting New Zealand tourism with an emphasis on Maori culture. It includes an executive summary, internal analysis using the McKinsey 7-S Framework, external environment analysis via PEST and Porter’s Five Forces, strategic analysis, long-term and short-term objectives, generic and grand strategies, functional tactics, policies, and strategic control measures. The plan outlines the company's philosophy, mission statement, and the rationale behind choosing New Zealand as the base of operations, highlighting the country's developed economy and thriving tourism industry. The venture aims to leverage technology through an e-commerce platform to offer customized travel packages and cultural experiences, targeting a niche market interested in exploring New Zealand's rich heritage. With an initial budget of £150,000 (BP), the company plans to establish its office in Auckland, focusing on both domestic and international tourism markets.

Running head: BUSINESS PLAN
Strategic Management: Business Plan
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

Executive summary
The purpose of this assignment is to make a business plan for a new venture. The assignment
encompasses all the strategies, policies and objectives that entrepreneurs should evaluate and
analyze in order to understand the feasibility of the business. The name of the venture is “Kiwi
Travels” and the platform of the business model is internet and the strategy of the company is to
target a niche market. New Zealand is a land of rich cultural heritage and the focus of the
company is to uphold the integrity and heritage of the Maori culture. PEST analysis and Porter’s
five forces has been used to understand the dynamics of the external business environment. On
the other hand McKinney 7s framework is used to analyze the internal business environment.

Table of content
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
1.1 The venture............................................................................................................................4
1.2 Rational of the business.........................................................................................................5
1.3 Company’s philosophy..........................................................................................................6
1.4 Mission statement..................................................................................................................6
2. Internal Analysis..........................................................................................................................7
2.1 The McKinsey 7-S Framework..............................................................................................7
2.2 Strength..................................................................................................................................9
2.2 Weakness.............................................................................................................................10
3. External Environment................................................................................................................12
3.1 PEST Analysis.....................................................................................................................12
3.2 Porter’s Five Forces.............................................................................................................14
4. Strategic analysis.......................................................................................................................16
5. Long-Term Objectives...............................................................................................................16
6. Generic and Grand Strategies....................................................................................................18
7. Short-term objectives.................................................................................................................20
8. Functional tactics.......................................................................................................................20
9. Policies that empower action.....................................................................................................22
10. Strategic Control and Continuous Improvement.....................................................................23
11. Conclusion...............................................................................................................................24
12. Reference list:..........................................................................................................................25

1. Introduction
The establishment of a business organisation follows a procedure depending upon the
scale of business, the nature of business and also the industry in which the business will operate.
Before starting a venture it is important for the people associated with the venture to come up
with a plan for the business (Aziri and Nedelea 2013). This is a business plan and there are a
number of functions of this document: it helps in understanding the prospect of the business; it
develops an understanding regarding the resources will be required to carry out the initial stages,
it will also guide in determining the mandatory procedure that is required to start the business
etc. For a business unit to successfully operate and generate profit the initial steps of
incorporation, employing the right people at the right time ensuring the resource and capabilities
are essential. This report is a business plan for a venture which is in the travel and tourism
industry (Botha and Robertson 2014). The idea is to develop a travel agency that is based on the
e-commerce platform; the idea is initiated based on the rising importance of technology in the
lives of the people. One of the major drives to open the business in the e-commerce domain is to
stay connected with the customers need and requirements. The company is an offshore
organisation which will be set up in New Zealand due to the trade facilities in the country as well
as the infrastructure that will be required to set up the business. The budget that is set for the
venture is £150,000 (BP). The company will focus on promoting and encouraging the tourism of
New Zealand along with the culture of the country.

1.1 The venture
The idea is to set up an off shore organisation in New Zealand in the Travel and tourism
industry. The business will be based on the e-commerce model and will be available in various
platforms. The people who will be initiating the venture are James Kelly and Marcus Russo. The
duo is friends from college and has a vision to promote the culture of New Zealand on a global
platform. It will be an online travel agency which will help and guide the customers to manage
their vacation in New Zealand. There will be packages which the customers can choose form or
they can also customize their own plan with the help of the options that will be available. The
micro focus of the agency will be on cultural tourism, where the people, lifestyle, history,
cuisine, language etc will be given importance (Köhler and Garcia Durand 2007). The website
and the mobile application will have a layout which will attract the customers who are interested
in exploring the culture of the country. There will be hotels and resorts listed in the platform
from where the customers can easily book their stay. There will also be several packages that
will be listed in the website, the customers can choose the package and enjoy their vacation in
New Zealand and the entire vacation will be planned by the company (Cross 2015). Depending
on the choice of place and the budget the customers can choose the packages. New Zealand is
blessed with gorgeous exotic locations and a rich culture thus the venture is a feasible idea. The
name that has been suggested for the organisation is “Kiwi Travels”. Technology is the key to
the venture and the tourism industry over the years have gained immensely form the
advancement of technology and acceptance of technology by common people. The website will
offer the customers with user friendly customization and features. Usually tourists who are
travelling form a different country do not have idea regarding the hotels and transportation; in
that case they approach a travel agent who acts as a mediator in planning the vacation. The

company will serve the visitors in the similar way in a much lower price. The packages that will
be offered will be divided in sections and subsections: budget, luxury, adventure. But all these
aspects will be associated with the association of the Maori culture.
Apart from these services there will be a list of articles that will help the visitors to know
more about the country and the places to visit along with the things to do while visiting the
country. One of the purposes of the company is to promote the culture of the country therefore
there will be articles regarding the various shades of the beautiful culture that is prevalent in the
country (Cross 2015).
The office will be situated in Auckland, which is one of the trade centers of the country
and is also a tourist destination. Though Wellington is the capital of the country, Auckland is
chosen as the base of operation in terms of infrastructure availability and feasibility of the
people.
1.2 Rational of the business
New Zealand is a country that has a developed economy and the government of
the country also encourages trade and business. Tourism is one of the major modes of income for
the country. This makes both the industry as well as the country of operation a lucrative
opportunity for the company to invest upon. The company will encourage and focus upon the
culture of the New Zealand. The management of the company also has experience in the tourism
industry thus the venture will be guided by experienced people. The tourism industry has a
significant contribution towards the economy of the country; in 2017 both domestic and
international tourism amounted to $35.9 Billion (Tourismnewzealand.com 2018). The tourism
industry in New Zealand is flourishing the government of the country has been spending

significant amount in the industry as there is opportunity in the process total tourism expenditure
was $34.7 billion in 2016 (Tourismnewzealand.com 2018).
1.3 Company’s philosophy
The values and principles that drive the organisation are to spread knowledge regarding
the culture of New Zealand with the help of tourism. Every package will have a culture oriented
aspect which will help the visitors to connect with the local people and understand, appreciate
the culture of the country.
1.4 Mission statement
To promote and encourage New Zealand tourism in the international platform

2. Internal Analysis
As a new venture the company will have to invest the finance as well as human resource
starting from what is available in the start. The internal capabilities of the company are based on
the expertise of the owners and their passion for travel and information technology (Bah and
Fang 2015). The owners of the company are also committed to promote the rich culture of New
Zealand. The financial investment that the company is going to make is £150,000 (BP). And this
money has been partially brought in by the owners and is taken as a loan. The internal
environmental factors that will impact that business operation are the human resources, financial
resource, infrastructure, contacts etc. With the help of The McKinsey 7-S Framework, the
internal resources and capability of the company can be analyzed. Here 7 aspects of the internal
business environment are stated in terms of its presence and impact of its existence.
2.1 The McKinsey 7-S Framework
Hard elements
Strategy: the strategy that the company has taken to maintain an edge over the other players in
the market is to position the company in a way that it highlights and promotes the culture of the
country. Cultural tourism is a rising and popular aspect in the industry.
Structure: As a new venture the structure of the company is fairly simple there are just two
people in the company as they recruit more people while developing the website or collect data
the company will follow a hierarchal system, owners of the company being the highest level of
report. There will initially be two teams business development and information technology and
each will be led by one of the two entrepreneurs.

System: The operations in the initial stage will be building the contacts and collecting data from
the business development department. On the other hand the IT department will lead the
development and creation of the website.
Soft elements
Shared values: the core value of the company is to provide the customers with a good time,
ensure there is a healthy and enjoyable work environment. The owners believe one should do
what they like doing for a profession since they love Travelling and in the course learn about the
culture of various places they have come up with the idea of this venture (Singh 2013).
Style: The leadership style that will be adopted by the owners in the process of the business is
transformational, the owners believe that as the organisation is driven by technology they have to
keep improving updating and adopting to the changes in the technology as well as focus on the
needs and requirements of the customers in order to achieve success in the objectives.
Staff: The human resources that will be employee have to be either skilled in terms of
management or have information technology knowledge. This is the initial requirement for the
employees; the owners have brought with them four other members who are experts in these
fields.
Skill: based on e-commerce platform the requirement of the business is IT skills as well as
administrative skills, in order to ensure that the platform is operating (Cross 2015).

Figure: 7s model of McKinsey
Source: (Ravanfar 2015)
2.2 Strength
Experience and knowledge: The people who are associated with the company are mostly the
owners; there are two people who are in the venture. One of them is from New Zealand and is
passionate about the place and its culture and has knowledge about the country, James is a
person who understands the land and its culture and he is passionate about travel and is a master

in business management. He contributes his management skills and understanding of the culture
towards planning and organisation of the business. On the other hand Mark is a person who has
Information technology background, he has been associated with a big IT firm for more than 10
years, with his previous experience and skill the website which is one of the major infrastructures
of the business model will be developed. They are also the people responsible for hiring more
human resource (Chaffey et al. 2013).
Financial support: The owners of the company have the financial capability of £150,000 (BP),
which enables the company to build the website and organize a few people to develop the data
base for the website.
Service: as an online travel agency the company will come up with unique and lucrative holiday
packages for the people who are interested in exploring the cultural exclusiveness of New
Zealand. The packages will be divided in a way that it will cater to a wide array of people
depending on the income demographic as well as psychographic segmentation. The company
will allow the people to pay with the help of several options and in order to do that they have to
seek support and develop the website accordingly (Chang et al. 2015).
The concept: The concept of cultural tourism is relatively new and unique in the industry; the
people of the organisation are passionate about the vision and the concept. This is a major
strength as this will allow the people to create objectives which are realistic and achievable.
2.2 Weakness
Lack of experience in terms of running a business, this is one of the major drawbacks of
company, both the owners are not from a business background, study management and dealing

with business practically is two different things and therefore the company has a disadvantage
over other competitors in the market.
There is also lack of infrastructure in the company as an off shore organisation the owners have
to start the business and build the infrastructure from scratch. Each and every step associated
with incorporation will be a challenge for this reason.
Lack of suppliers and contacts in the industry is another weakness; the skill and knowledge of
the people are not enough for the development of the plan that the entrepreneurs have in mind in
terms of the service and the reach of the business. it will take time to build the data for the
institution.
A major part of such a business in this industry is dependent on the customer service department
and the company must invest in their resources and infrastructure to develop this segment. But
that is being neglected in order to create more and more packages and offers.