International Expansion: A Strategic Report on Saffron Events UK

This report provides an analysis of the international expansion strategy for Saffron Events UK, focusing on entering the Australian market. It begins with an introduction to International Management Events and a SWOT analysis of Saffron Events UK, highlighting its strengths in organizing royal events, valuing customer money, and a talented workforce, while acknowledging weaknesses such as limited connections and potential for inexperienced team members. The report then utilizes Porter's Five Forces to assess the competitive landscape in Australia, considering competitive rivalry, supplier power, buyer power, the threat of substitution, and the threat of new entry. A PESTEL analysis examines the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors influencing the Australian market. The report also delves into marketing plans for launching new products, emphasizing the 5 P's of marketing and Hoefstede's Model to understand cultural dimensions. Finally, it addresses issues affecting the success of overseas expansion, such as foreign laws, currency rates, international structure, and hype, and provides recommendations for overcoming these challenges, including managing currency fluctuations and adhering to ethical practices. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and emphasizes the importance of strategic planning for successful international expansion.

INTERNATIONAL
EVENTS
MANAGEMENT
Introduction
International events'
management represents deep
understanding of the development,
issues and characteristics of specialized
knowledge and skills which could be
utilized for business activities (Bodie,
2013). To conduct and organise
programmes, there are requirements of
professionals who could come along
with their productive and innovative
teams which could make events
happening and successful for their
clients. Saffron events UK is one of the
most established event company in the
UK which was launched in 1995 that
provides various packages for
weddings and corporate events along
with private functions. Company offers
planning and management services
with the aim of ensuring quality as
well.
Organisations background including
SWOT Analysis
Saffron is well known event
company in UK that is engaged in
conducting various programmes such
as weddings, parties, meetings,
functions and many more. They
organise various royal events in a very
efficient way. They value their client's
money therefore, all the possible efforts
are given by them into their work so
that they could make their customers
happy and satisfied with their work.
Figure1: Event planning
(Source: Creative Entertainment, 2017)
SWOT Analysis of the organization
Strengths
 Company is well established
therefore, more number of
customers prefers their
company for planning of their
events.
 Over the years it has gained
market knowledge and
experienced team which
manages budget for the event in
a well manner.
 Company is rich in talented
employees who always come
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out with new and innovative
ideas.
 They hold good market share
which helps them to attract lots
of customers and preference
over companies.
 They have excellent PR within
the venture.
 Employees are self-motivated
which fosters them to always
think beyond the specific zone.
Weaknesses
 Due to recessions, there is
unavailability of funds which
affects functioning of business.
 Due to recruitment of new
employees, inexperienced team
possess low energy level.
 Inability to generate press
coverage could be a weakness
for the firm.
 Company could have weak
connections which restricts its
growth and expansion in the
new marketplace.
Figure 2: Party Event
(Source: Event management, 2017)
Opportunities
 As company is renowned,
therefore it faces little
competition in the market which
enhances their chances to grow
(Cardenas, 2016).
 Adoption of new technologies
could prove to be crucial assets.
 Strong convincing skills of the
employees could help to gain
more clients for the company.
Threats
 Bad weather could dismiss all
the planning.
 Unavailability of materials.
 Increased labour costs.
 Poor speakers could act as
threats for the event company
because it is required to have
fluent communication skills to
convince customers.
 Inabilities to find sponsors
could affect functioning of the
venture.
Relevance of the chosen event in the
new identified overseas market
Tool that could be utilized to
identify success of royal events of the
company Saffron events UK in the
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Australian market could be analysed by
using porter's five forces. It takes into
consideration five forces which are
discussed below:
 Supplier power: To launch
company into entirely new
market it is required to identify
number of suppliers (Rhodes,
Evans and Rochwerg, 2017). If
the number of people who could
supply materials required in the
event are less, than chances are
there that they would charge
more cost.
 Buyer Power: it involves
number of customers that would
approach for organising their
ventures. Over the years, event
planning culture has seen
adequate growth, therefore,
company will have sufficient
number of customer making
profits for them.
 Competitive Rivalry: Many
people have started event
planning businesses in the
Australia as well which could
prove to be a tough competition
for the Saffron Company to
hold competitive power in the
market. Thus, company is
required to present unique ideas
to acquire customer's attention.
Organisations could face strong
competition due introduction of
new technologies in the market
which might have not been
accepted by the company but
other ventures have
implemented in their workings.
Figure 3 Dinner party
(Source: The Dinner party life after
loss, 2016)
 Threat of Substitution: It is
always prevailing in any sector
of the market of being replaced
by some other company
(Brown, Pettersson and
Wallstam, 2015). When the
charges charged by the Saffron
would be more than others, then
there is threat that people would
move towards other planners
who could offer better packages
at affordable rates.
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 Threat of new Entry: As the
company has years of
experience but with the time
change and modifications are
required to remain competitive
in the market. New start-ups
have innovative ideas at lesser
costs which could prove to be
threat for the venture.
PESTEL analysis of the Australia
New market chosen for business
expansion of Saffron events UK is
Australia. Its capital is Canberra and
English language is spoken by the
people. To introduce any new venture
in a different country it is required to
perform PESTEL analysis of the region
so that factors could be identified
which may affect its success. Political: Australia is a
democratic country which was
formed in 1901.
Figure 4: Flag of Australia
(Source: Imperial college of London,
2017)
It was formed as an outcome of
an agreement that was
conducted between six
governing British colonies. All
these became six states
afterwards. Prime Minister is a
Member of Parliament.
 Economic: Australia has very
strong economy and is rich in
natural resources which attracts
huge number of tourists every
year that generates revenue for
the nation (Dellinger, Levy and
Osborn, 2013). Before financial
crisis, economy grew for more
than 17 years consequently.
 Social: Aborigines were the
first people of the country. It is
a country where many
languages are spoken by the
people such as English, Italian,
Arabic and many more. Adult
literacy rate is 99%. It has third
largest fishing zone in the
world.
 Technological: People who are
using internet have increased
from 1.1 million users to 4.7
million in the year 2006.
Expenses on research and
development has also increased.
Some technological
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achievements of the county are:
Wi-Fi, electric drill, lawn
movers etc.
Figure 5: Australia
(Source: Popular places to visit in
Australia, 2017) Environmental: It is largest
island continent with varied bio
diversities. It is rich in
diversified habitats such as
deserts, plants, animals and
many more. One the major
environmental issue is global
warming which has adverse
impacts causing land damages,
droughts.
 Legal: Country has strict
regulations and laws under
which all the people of the
country are equally treated.
Under Australian Constitution
of 1901, powers are diffused
among states and the federal
government.
Detail of event theme/design
Event Company is engaged in
planning events with worth experience
for the client. Efforts are required to
transform imagination into reality.
Therefore, every aspect of wedding is
given special attention. The complete
procedure of organising royal wedding
event involves selection of wedding
destination, guest invitations, wedding
party theme, entertainment programmes
and catering services (Haimes, 2015).
Nowadays most common part of the
weddings are to have an eye catchy
stage so that everybody's attention
could be acquired. Themes provided by
the company according to the trends are
Venetian and Baroque, Winter
Wonderland, Mogul and Crystal. It has
offered quality services and food with
beautiful decorations satisfying clients.
Theme based parties are
trending nowadays. In such type of
weddings, the bride and groom have
special entries to acquire attention from
the crowd. Food gets served into
specially designed utensils which has
altogether different charm among
guests.
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Marketing plan for launch
To launch any new product in
the market, a plan is required for its
successful execution. There are five P's
of marketing which are essential to
consider and these are given below:
 Product: It represents what is
being offered to the customers.
It may include additive features,
special packaging, guarantee
terms. In the case of Event
Company, it is required for the
company to offer quality and
innovative themes for
organising functions.
 Price: Amount charged for
selling services and products to
the clients’ confines into it. It is
essential for the event planner
to analyse market trends and
cost of the materials and
accordingly cost for event
planning should be finalized.
 Promotion: Various
promotional activities are
needed for business expansion
and to reach customers
(Masterman, 2014 ). Nowadays
social media platform has
proved to be most effective tool.
Planners could post pictures and
videos of the organised events.
Figure 6: Night Party
(Source: Event management, 2017)
Place: For business expansion it
is necessary to identify key
locations that could be
beneficiary for the company and
helps in venture growth.
 People: This constitutes team
members, customers. People are
needed to provide effective
trainings so that they could
come out with productive ideas
which makes your company
distinctive from others.
Hoefstede's Model
Due to invention of technology
life has become much easier and
brought people together. People of
varying culture now work with one
another.
Power/ Distance (PD): Degree of
inequality is presented by it. A high PD
score indicates that there is acceptance
of power which is not equally
distributed. Low PD presents equal
distribution of power.
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Individualism (IDV): it presents the
strength of the ties among people
within the community. If IDV score is
high it represents connections are loose
and vice versa.
Masculinity (MAS): Values of the
society considering roles of men and
women are represented by it. If a
country has high MAS, that means
male members are required to be tough
and women cannot work together with
them. In low MAS scores, gender roles
reverses.
Figure 7: Wedding Party
(Source: Wedding Parties, 2017)
Uncertainty/ Avoidance Index (UAI):
Degree of anxiety felt by members of
the society in uncertain situations is
represented by it (Papadopoulos and
Heslop, 2014). Nations that have high
UAI score always tend to avoid such
kind of situations whereas low Scores
represents countries enjoys differences
in values.
Long term Orientation (LTO): It
presents how society favours long term
values and traditions while opposing
short terms. LTO scores are less in
countries like UK and US which
represents they do not value traditions.
Issues affecting success of the overseas
event
 Foreign laws and regulations:
There various legal implications
on business operations which
affects launch of new products
and services into market. There
are certain guidelines which are
needed to be followed such as
interest rates, foreign exchange
rates etc.
Figure 8: Conference
(Source: Business conference rooms,
2017)
 Pricing Strategy: Setting up
price for products could be a
challenging part for the
organisation. In order to remain
competitive and make profits it
is required to fix appropriate
cost for the commodities and
services.
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 Currency rates: fluctuations in
currency rates seems to be
major challenge in operating
business activities (News,
2017). Its monitoring is
essential and it should be taken
into consideration on priority.
 Hype: Many times hype get
created in the market about the
product launch without being
announced by company. People
always prefer to market and
promote specific shares of the
venture in order to generate
profits and increase in number
of shares but false
advertisements could affect
marketability of the
organisation.
 International company
structure: To remain
competitive in the market it is
required to have proper
structure and management of
the organisation. Unorganized
firms deviated from the
objectives and goals from
acquisition and it results into its
failures of task and activities. It
could be managed by setting up
central headquarters and
associating representatives for
every department.
Recommendations
One of the recommended ways
to overcome from the problems of
currency rate fluctuations is payment
should be made to the suppliers along
with production units in the same
currency as the product is selling into
market to the customers (Piccini, Garg
and Hankey, 2014).
Figure 9: Sky Lantern Event
(Source: Event Services, 2017)
Under Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act, unethical practises
should be avoided from international
trading.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be
concluded that in the last few year’s
trends of event planning has come into
existence which is preferred by many
people as it helps them to organize their
events in a better way. To introduce a
venture into new market it is required
to identify its social, political,
technological, etc. factors using
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PESTEL analysis so that success and
failure of venture in particular country
could be identified. From the SWOT
analysis performed, it can be analysed
that events companies such as Saffron
events UK has wider scope to grow in
the future if they acquire new
technologies and fresh talents which
could help them to attract customers by
presenting innovative ideas in planning
royal events. Marketing plan has been
discussed in the report which could is
helpful in launch of new commodities
and services into market.
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