Report on Marketing Strategy

Executive summary

This report was conducted with the aim to analyse and discuss major key roles to implement a proper marketing strategy for the company Study Active UK. The volume of this report has provided a critical overview of the potential competitors and the market of the company to assist them in building a structured plan to fill the gaps and enhance their business. The main competitors of this company are Educate fitness, the fitness circle, and YMCA which also provides similar products and facilities to their customers. Also this report has done a critical analysis to structure a strategic plan for the company by utilizing the aspects of SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, Porter’s five forces framework, vrio, swot, Bowman strategy clock, Mckinsey Matrix, BCG matrix, Roger model, value chain analysis, Bowman strategy clock, and Ansoff Matrix. The overview of the company and the market marhas been mentioned in the report transparently with detailed description. The report has also provided detailed recommendations by analysing and observing the works of their rivals so they can implement these terms in their future business strategies. The report further focused on highlighting the business environment of Study Active and the planning and implementation of the various strategies by the organization for improving its performance and productivity in the fitness industry. It further provided a critical analysis on the importance of innovation that has been adopted by Study Active as a strategy for gaining competitive advantage in the fitness industry over its competitors like the Educate Fitness, The Fitness Circle and YMCA fit. 

Introduction

Strategic management tools are very important for analysing the internal and external environment of the company (Adiguzel, 2020). The internal and external factors of a company can impact business operations. These tools also help to improve the business strategy and business capabilities. It also helps to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. It is very necessary for the fitness industry to improve the business facilities and infrastructures to provide better facilities and services to the customers. In recent days, the fitness industry has been growing rapidly, and hence, they need to stay updated to compete in the market.

Overview of study active

Study Active is a fitness organization. Besides providing personal training and yoga classes to the clients, the organization also provides group fitness, training classes. The services of the organization are not only limited to training facilities but it also provides diet charts and fitness-related consultancy advice to the clients. It also provides fitness courses through webinars, e-learning activities, workshops, and tutorial videos (Fernando et al. 2019). The training videos of the organization motivate and encourage people to live healthily and stay fit. The highly qualified professionals are appointed in the organization. This helps to maintain the reputation of the organization.

Critical analysis of the business environment of Study Active

The organization Study Active is one of the renowned organizations in the UK in the world of fitness. The primary aim of the organization is to provide customized and individual training to the clients seeking consultation regarding their fitness regime. Apart from providing specialized training to the clients, the organization also focuses on providing training to the students in fitness courses both through the medium of online and offline. Thus, for providing online training to remote students, the organization focuses on the method of sending tutorial videos to the students apart from the live classes. The organization also conducts frequent workshops for providing fitness training to the students aspiring towards a career in the fitness industry. The company also focuses on the technique of flexible options of payment for the courses undertaken by the students and a considerable fee for each course for an overwhelming response of the students towards the courses offered by Study Active, UK (Study Active, 2021).  

In the era of globalization, the competitiveness among the organizations in any industry has witnessed a tremendous increase. Thus, the organization Study Active, UK is not an exception in this regard. The business environment of the organization thus provides a critical analysis of the operations and business processes that the organization adheres to. The business environment of Study Active, UK, is considered as the most important factor for the successful functioning of the organization in the fitness industry. Thus, the company primarily focuses on the internal environment of the organization as well as the external environment of the organization for gaining a competitive advantage in the fitness industry and also for planning the process of strategic management. Thus, the business environment of the organization plays an important role in the planning and implementation of the strategies formulated by the organization to overcome the challenges resulting from the external threats from its competitors like Educate Fitness, The Fitness Circle and YMCA Fit (Uzunca, Rigtering and Ozcan, 2018). 

Thus for gaining competitive advantage in the fitness industry, the organization Study Active, UK has therefore focused on the adoption of strategies that would facilitate their business operation. Hence, for this purpose, the organization adheres to the importance of structuring a well-organized internal business environment. For achieving this aim, the organization has hired well-trained fitness professionals who would contribute to a great extent in attracting the attention of the clients interested in their health and well-being. It is mainly because, the company through their well-trained fitness professionals, have formulated customized training programmes for their clients according to their needs (McGreal and Jocham, 2018). As the organization focuses on the technique of maintaining a flexible pricing scheme for the clients apart from the strategy of hiring well-trained fitness professionals, it contributes towards enhancing the reputation and performance of the organization in the fitness industry. 

The onset of the global pandemic has reinforced the organizations in the fitness industry of UK like the Study Active, to rethink and develop strategies to overcome the losses experienced by the organization due to the announcement of lockdowns and restrictions by the Government of the United Kingdom to curb the spread of infections. Thus, the organization, for the continuation of the smooth operation of their business in the fitness industry of the UK and also for improving their position in the market, has adopted the strategy of innovations to attract the attention of the clients enthusiastic about their health and well-being. The organization thus has developed attractive schemes and customized fitness programs for their potential clients so that they can reach the individuals concerned about their health and well-being during the situation of the pandemic. As the pandemic has given rise to concern among the individuals regarding the maintenance of their health and well-being, therefore the organization has focused on the process of utilizing this scope as an opportunity for the growth and development as well as for the sustainability of their business in this situation of crisis (Baporikar, 2021). 

The maintenance of the brand image of the organization is considered the most important aspect of Study Active, UK. Thus, the organization focuses on charging zero per cent of interest rate to the potential clients during the situation of crisis imposed by the global pandemic on the economic condition of the world. The company also maintains a flexible payment option for their clients and enables the customers to pay the charges for the services offered to them by Study Active, UK, through different modes of payment for gaining the loyalty of the customers towards the image of the brand and also for enhancing the position of the organization in the fitness industry to gain a competitive advantage over its rival organizations in the fitness industry like the Educate Fitness, The Fitness Circle and YMCA fit, especially during the period of the global pandemic for the growth and development of the organization in the fitness industry of UK (Andersson and Andreasson, 2021). 

The human resource department of the organization, Study Active, UK, in the era of globalization and technological innovations, have adopted the strategy of using social media as a tool for the purpose of marketing regarding their brand image in the global environment of business and also for attracting the attention of the clients seeking personal assistance in their fitness regime and also for informing them regarding the services offered by the organization. The organization has adopted this method for reaching out to a wider variety of clients and also for the attainment of the goals of the organization. This strategy would also contribute to a great extent in the improvement of the performance and productivity of the organization in the fitness industry of the United Kingdom and also for the sustainability of the organization, especially during the situation of the crisis created by the onset of the global pandemic (Cronshaw, 2021). The organization’s strategy of using social media as a tool for marketing the brand image of their organization has also focussed on raising the awareness of the public regarding their health and well-being as well as for improving the economic condition of the organization. 

Critical Analysis of the Competitive Advantages

Study Active has been facing strong competition in the market from the rivals and existing competitors in the market. Hence, the organization needs to develop a plan on the basis of the competitive environment in the market. Educate fitness, The fitness circle, and YMCA fit are the main competitors of the organization. The competitors also provide almost the same facilities and services as Study Active. Hence, there is a high threat for the organization to get substituted in the market and it needs to develop a perfect strategy to deal with the problems. The Pestle analysis, Porter's five forces model, VRIO, SWOT, Mckinsey Matrix, BCG matrix, Roger model, value chain analysis, and Bowman's strategy clock have been discussed to analyse the key factors for the company. 

Pestle:

According to this PESTLE analysis, political and economic stability can provide a better competitive advantage to Study Active. It is also vivid from the social factors that there is a vast opportunity in the fitness and healthcare sectors in the United Kingdom. Hence, Study Active needs to develop a proper strategy to attract customers to the organization.

Porter’s five forces:

It analyses the five important competitive forces that can impact the entire business process of Study Active. The five necessary forces are described below:

Competition in the industry:  Educate fitness, The fitness circle, and YMCA fit are the main competitors of the organization. The competitors also provide almost the same facilities and services as Study Active. The main threat for the organization in the industry is to lose customers due to the presence of rivals in the same industry which also deals with the same facilities.

New entrants: With the increasing interest of people in the fitness industry, new fitness organizations have been emerging as a potential threat for the existing organizations. New organizations can provide almost the same facilities at lower fees (Karttunen et al.2021). This can be a serious concern for the organization.

Power of suppliers: If there are very few organizations that can provide the necessary facilities to the customers, the power of the supplier's increases as they can demand desirable fees for the fitness courses in the same industry.

Power of the customers:  If the number of organizations is greater than the total number of customers, the customers get an advantage for the selection.

The threat of substitutes: Educate fitness, The fitness circle and YMCA fit which are the rivals of Study Active, also provide the same facilities. Hence, there is a high chance for Study Active to get substituted. 

SWOT:

Study Active provides fitness training to the clients. Besides providing such fitness training to the clients, it also provides diet charts and consultancies related to fitness. It also has a good infrastructure that can help to provide better facilities and services to the clients. It also has an attractive price scheme for the clients. These are the strengths of the organization. 

The organization can provide the facilities to a selective number of clients and it is very hard for the organization to accommodate all clients at the same time. This can give an advantage to the competitors to attract the customers to the company. This can be considered a weakness for the organization.

 As the social factors give the proper opportunity to the organization to expand the business, the organization must adopt some necessary steps to achieve those opportunities. The people in the United Kingdom are very enthusiastic about fitness. Hence, there is ample opportunity for the organization to improve. The threats can come both from the competitors and the new entrants. The new entrants can be the potential threats for the organization as the price rates for the same services are comparably low. It can also attract the rest of the customers.

VRIO:

Valuables: The resource capability is considered valuable (Noorliza, 2020). The main resource of the company is the infrastructure and the training facilities and consultancy services of that organization. It can help the organization to get a sustainable competitive advantage. Lack of value can cause disadvantages for the organization and can provide benefits to the competitors.

 Rarity: The resources of an organization can be considered as rare elements. It helps to differentiate an organization from another organization. It can also provide benefits to the organization. The qualified employees, services, and products are also an important part of rarity.

Inimitability:  Inimitability can be considered as the services and products that are unique and cannot be copied by the competitors (Rauf, Kadir, and Kamariah, 2019). It also provides the necessary stability to the organization in the competition. The E-learning courses, diet charts, and consultancies are the best rare valuables for the organization that cannot be imitated by the competitors.

Organization: Organizational strategies are also necessary for achieving a sustainable competitive advantage in the competition. Study Active has proper strategy and plan that have been providing benefits to the organization in the market. The organizational capabilities can also provide several benefits to the organization.

 Mckinsey Matrix:

It depends on the following key factors:

• Industry attractiveness: The facilities in Study Active are very attractive and they can provide a competitive advantage to the organization.
• Competitive strength: The brand quality and service facilities can provide a sustainable competitive advantage to the company.
• Strategic implications: This matrix can be crafted by busing the 3 degrees such as High, Medium, and Low. These can help the organization to understand the critical factors that can help the organization to get the benefit.
•  Investment: The investments are necessary for improving the infrastructure of the organization.
• Selectivity: The organization must have a strategy to attract customers and improve the business. It can give a better competitive edge and potential in the competition.
• Harvest and divest: Sometimes big companies can buy other small companies. It is a harvest strategy and sometimes small companies are sold to the big companies. It is a divest strategy. 

 BCG matrix:

In the BCG matrix, there are four main factors such as star, cash cow, pet, and question mark. It is a very important tool and it deals with shares, investments, and profits. The following are the characteristics of this matrix:

• In low growths, the organization must focus on reinvestments and high shares for improvements.
• Due to the high shares, the growth of the organization becomes high. This is known as a star.
• After achieving a sustainable position, the growth becomes high but the shares become low. This is regarded as a “question mark” in the matrix.  
• The liquidity, divestment, and repositioning are responsible for low share, low growth.

Roger model:

Roger developed this model to explain the diffusion and the innovation process of a company. This process offers innovation to discover certain sources to the user so they can adapt to it. This process follows five steps; Knowledge, Persuasion, Decision, Implementation, and Confirmation. 

The knowledge phase helps the companies to learn about the existence of innovation and encourages them to seek information from their specific business area by offering critical questions to determine the worth of their attempts.

The persuasion stage follows the Knowledge stage to promote innovation and decision process. Here the company gathers information from outside sources to reduce uncertainty about the innovations (Cao and Li, 2018)

The Decision stage lets the companies choose or reject the company innovations after analysing all the possibilities that suit the requirements of the company. 

At the Implementation stage the innovation is put into practice and it brings newness in the subject.

The decision of the company becomes more vital in the Confirmation stage as they look for support to implement the decision. 

The Roger model will help Study Active to analyse the rate in which their consumers will buy a new product or service from them. It will also help them to understand the market by observing new trends, customer preferences while assisting them to find the exact ratio of success or failure of their services.

Value chain analysis

Value chain analysis is conducted to impact profits of a company by creating products and services superior enough to captivate the eyes of the customers and willing to make them pay for it. Nevertheless, the Study Active UK should not take this model easy and try to utilize its framework by analysing important activities in the business. The value chain analysis needs assistance from the training centre after making them acknowledge the fact that all functions and areas in the company do not need the same scrutiny level as others (Jones, Demirkaya and Bethmann, 2019). The primary and secondary activities of the value chain can improve the performance of the Study Active UK by implementing the following aspects;

Primary activities

• Inbound logistics
• Operations
• Outbound logistics
• Services
• Marketing & sales

Secondary activities

• Human resource management
• Technology development
• Procurement

• By conducting these strategies into their business study active may gain cost advantages by reducing costs associated with value chain activities.

  Bowman strategy clock:

  Cliff Bowman established the strategy clock by combining eight mixes of price quality factors (Arshad and Yazdanifard, 2017).  The strategy clock provides tools and techniques to study active by analysing its success or failure outcome rates.

  Strategic options	Needs/risks
  No frills	Segment specific
  Low price	Risk of low price compared to competitors
  Hybrid	Low price-based cost and differentiation
  Differentiation
  Without premium price	Perceived added value by consumers by growing market share benefits
  With premium price	Adding sufficient value to bear premium price
  Focus differentiation	Adding value to a particular segment through premium price
  Standard value	High margin in the market if competitors do not follow the risk of losing price margin
  Increase price/value	Only feasible in monopoly situation
  Low value/price	Loss of market value

  Ansoff’s matrix:

Ansoff matrix is a strategic tool that guides companies to develop strategic decisions for business growth. It offers four strategic factors to choose from which is, market development, market penetration, diversification, and product development (Loredana, 2017). The external factors in this tool may include political stability and economic growth of a region while the internal factors include talent management and resource capacity factors.

The study has been a successful health training business in the UK with maintaining their strategic choices and decisions. Utilizing the potential of Ansoff matrix can help the company to become a leading fitness giant globally. Using this method will help the company to increase the following:

• Production capacity
• Marketing investment
• Enhanced distribution
• Competitive pricing
• Reduction in operational costs
• Tackling competitors
• Partnership and joint ventures
• Product benefits and Features
• Frequency of Consumption
• Regional expansion
• New consumer segment
• Brand face awareness
• Customer education
• Research and development

Recommendations

Study active is one of the most successful providers of certified personal training courses & fitness qualifications providing aid to individuals in becoming a personal trainer or gym investor. Like many big fitness training franchises this company is also going through some issues with improving their business and tackling their competitors in the market (Gupta and Basumatary, 2017). Educate fitness, the fitness circle, and YMCA also provide their customers with same facilities and training as the study active, however, this company actually offers CIMSPA personal training competition and plus 20 free CPD courses to their customers to help them improve their training sessions. In YMCA’s social media policy, it is written that the use of any pictures or logo of the company is prohibited plus they are committed to not interfere with the private lives of their customers in social media (Fischer-Tiné, 2019).

Meanwhile, students actively mainly communicate with their customers through text or email, while they are constantly on social media, they also do not like to interfere with the personal life of their customers on the media platforms. During the Covid-19 outbreak study actively started offering 24/7 online training sessions so their customers can keep up with the learnings at any time of the day they want to. The other competitors were also providing the same assistance and facilities, but YMCA organized a raise and fund to help the needy who were struggling due to the Covid-19 in over 50 countries. The company gained a respectful and ethical brand face regarding their exceptional work during the pandemic.

From analysing all the comparisons and gaps between study active and their competitors the following recommendations are assembled to help the company improve their business strategies and approach.

Recommendations

 Paying attention to the services your rivals are offering, the number of clients they have, their website, reviews, and operations are all the major keys that one needs to study for finding the gaps in their own company and fill it in no time to captivate more customers compared to their competitors. Starting joint ventures with the competitors and doing collaboration when necessary is also vital for business. Companies get the opportunity to observe each other’s learnings, techniques, and key skills so it can help them to build a better strategy plan for their organisations.

Partnering up with the rivals also cuts down product and service cost as both have to share their part of money into the collaboration and helps to pick up new clientele (De Vries, Walker and Nilakant, 2018). Focusing on improving client Satisfaction is crucial as they are the ones who boost the growth of a business.

Additionally, they also need to stay up-to-Date with the latest trends and tools to captivate the needs of people. Facilitating a feedback system and spreadsheets to the employees and customers also gives a straightforward input about the positive and negative key areas of the training centre.

Conclusion

This report has analysed and discussed the planned strategic management of Study active, a renowned fitness training franchise in the UK. From the foregoing discussions we can conclude that the company is facing some issues concerning the constant growing competition in the market. A well-planned marketing strategy will serve as a link between the planning and analysing of the company and help them to increase their market rate. The company should focus more on their strategic planning with the assistance from different analysis and competitive advantage like PESTLE analysis, SWOT analysis, porter’s analysis and methods, Roger model, value chain analysis, and much more to clarify the market potential and set appropriate future goals.

References

Adiguzel, Z., 2020. Evaluating the Impact of Strategic Management and Strategic Thinking on Performance in the Public Health Sector. In Multidimensional Perspectives and Global Analysis of Universal Health Coverage (pp. 231-265). IGI Global.  Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zafer-Adiguzel/publication/338701273_Evaluating_the_Impact_of_Strategic_Management_and_Strategic_Thinking_on_Performance_in_the_Public_Health_Sector/links/5e25f2334585158dfe6707bd/Evaluating-the-Impact-of-Strategic-Management-and-Strategic-Thinking-on-Performance-in-the-Public-Health-Sector.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021] 

Andersson, K. and Andreasson, J., 2021. Being a Group Fitness Instructor during the COVID-19 Crisis: Navigating Professional Identity, Social Distancing, and Community. Social Sciences, 10(4), p.118. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/4/118/pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021] 

Arshad, A. and Yazdanifard, R., (2017). Investigative synopsis of Sony Inc.’s strategic management issues/failures and how to overcome them. International Journal of Management, Accounting and Economics, 4(9), pp.917-936. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Assc-Prof-Dr-Rashad-Yazdanifard/publication/321242261_Investigative_Synopsis_of_Sony_Inc’s_Strategic_Management_Issues_Failures_and_How_to_Overcome_Them/links/5a1647ddaca272dfc1ecf4b7/Investigative-Synopsis-of-Sony-Incs-Strategic-Management-Issues-Failures-and-How-to-Overcome-Them.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021]

Bailey, M.J., DiNardo, J. and Stuart, B.A., 2021. The Economic Impact of a High National Minimum Wage: Evidence from the 1966 Fair Labor Standards Act. Journal of Labor Economics, 39(S2), pp.S329-S367.  Available at:  http://bryan-stuart.com/files/BaileyDiNardoStuart_JOLE.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021] 

Baporikar, N. ed., 2021. Handbook of Research on Strategies and Interventions to Mitigate COVID-19 Impact on SMEs. IGI Global. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sheikh-Mohammed-Huque/publication/352211531_Strategies_to_Mitigate_the_COVID-19_Challenges_of_Universities_in_Bangladesh/links/60bf1f5092851cb13d88f5df/Strategies-to-

Mitigate-the-COVID-19-Challenges-of-Universities-in-Bangladesh.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021] 

 Cao, L. and Li, L., (2018). Determinants of retailers’ cross-channel integration: an innovation diffusion perspective on omni-channel retailing. Journal of interactive marketing, 44, pp.1-16. Available at https://e-tarjome.com/storage/panel/fileuploads/2019-03-10/1552215694_E10773-e-tarjome.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021]

Cronshaw, S., 2021. Web workouts & consumer well‐being: The role of digital‐physical activity during the UK COVID‐19 lockdown. Journal of Consumer Affairs. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/joca.12375 [Accessed 28 October 2021] 

De Vries, H.P., Walker, B. and Nilakant, V., (2018). Competition and collaboration: How an innovative alliance structure allowed competitors to collaborate across boundaries in a post-disaster city reconstruction environment. Available at https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10092/101924/Collaboration%20across%20organisational%20boundaries__Repository.pdf?sequence=2 [Accessed 28 October 2021]

Fernando, E., Murad, D.F., Warnars, H.L.H.S. and Oktriono, K., 2019, November. Development Conceptual Model and Validation Instrument for E-Learning Succes Model at Universities in Indonesia: Perspectives influence of Instructor's Activities and Motivation. In 2019 International Congress on Applied Information Technology (AIT) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.  Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Harco-Leslie-Hendric-Spits-Warnars/publication/343114754_Development_Conceptual_Model_and_Validation_Instrument_for_E-Learning_Succes_Model_at_Universities_in_Indonesia_Perspectives_influence_of_Instructor%27s_Activities_and_Motivation/links/5fad0e3845851507810d4c44/Development-Conceptual-Model-and-Validation-Instrument-for-E-Learning-Succes-Model-at-Universities-in-Indonesia-Perspectives-influence-of-Instructors-Activities-and-Motivation.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021] 

Fischer-Tiné, H., (2019). Fitness for Modernity? The YMCA and physical-education schemes in late-colonial South Asia (circa 1900–40). Modern Asian Studies, 53(2), pp.512-559. Available at https://www.academia.edu/download/57478511/fitness_for_modernity_the_ymca_and_physicaleducation_schemes_in_latecolonial_south_asia_circa_190040.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021]

Gupta, A.K. and Basumatary, S.J., (2017). The role of business development strategies in corporate fitness centre. Available at https://www.kheljournal.com/archives/2017/vol4issue3/PartE/4-3-80-993.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021]

Jones, L., Demirkaya, M. and Bethmann, E., (2019). Global value chain analysis: concepts and approaches. J. Int’l Com. & Econ., p.1. Available at https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/journals/concepts_approaches_in_gvc_research_final_april_18.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021]

Karttunen, E., Tsytsyna, E., Lintukangas, K., Rintala, A., Abdulkareem, M., Havukainen, J. and Nuortila-Jokinen, J., 2021. Toward environmental innovation in the cement industry: A multiple-case study of incumbents and new entrants. Journal of Cleaner Production, p.127981.  Available at:  https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0959652621021995?token=A2C2905CE561607198898E8382C7C1FD9E07FE455E474C086AF28F15F93BFB3786B9C70D8FCF8AB6434BC600B305599A&originRegion=eu-west-1&originCreation=20211028112845 [Accessed 28 October 2021]  

Liu, L., Schmidt-Eisenlohr, T. and Guo, D., 2017. International transfer pricing and tax avoidance: Evidence from linked trade-tax statistics in the UK. Review of Economics and Statistics, pp.1-45.  Available at:  https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/171058/1/cesifo1_wp6594.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021]  

Loredana, E.M., (2017). The use of Ansoff matrix in the field of business. Annals-Economy Series, 2, pp.141-149. Available at https://www.utgjiu.ro/revista/ec/pdf/2017-02.Volumul_2_Special/21_EcobiciL.pdf

McGreal, D. and Jocham, R., 2018. The professional product owner: Leveraging scrum as a competitive advantage. Addison-Wesley Professional. Available at: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cEBbDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT13&dq=importance+of+trained+professional+in+fitness+industry+for+gaining+competitive+advantage&ots=EaJbmSG2W2&sig=lGWmdEkSBnStJVcA4Xo5P0UQeqg [Accessed 28 October 2021] 

Noorliza, K., 2020. Resource-capability of halal logistics services, its extent and impact on performance. Journal of Islamic Marketing.  Available at:  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Noorliza-Karia-2/publication/340580649_Resource-capability_of_halal_logistics_services_its_extent_and_impact_on_performance/links/609adcda458515d31513b7b2/Resource-capability-of-halal-logistics-services-its-extent-and-impact-on-performance.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021]  

Rauf, A., Kadir, A.R. and Kamariah, N., 2019, October. The Role of Firm’s Unique Resource in Developing Sustainable Competitive Advantage from Strategy Inimitability and its Effect on Firm Performance of Mining Companies in Indonesia. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 1341, No. 9, p. 092022). IOP Publishing.  Available at:  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/1341/9/092022/pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021] 

Sampson, T., 2017. Brexit: the economics of international disintegration. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(4), pp.163-84.  Available at:  https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.31.4.163 [Accessed 28 October 2021] 

Study Active, 2021. Why Choose? - About Us - Fitness Training Providers - Study Active. [online] Study Active - Personal Trainer Courses. Available at:  https://studyactive.co.uk/pages/why-choose-study-active  [Accessed 28 October 2021]. 

Uzunca, B., Rigtering, J.C. and Ozcan, P., 2018. Sharing and shaping: A cross-country comparison of how sharing economy firms shape their institutional environment to gain legitimacy. Academy of management discoveries, 4(3), pp.248-272. Available at: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/97923/7/WRAP-sharing-shaping-cross-country-economy-institutional-legitimacy-Ozcan-2018.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2021] 

Appendix

Summary of findings and recommendations for future

Study Active is a fitness organization. Besides providing personal training and yoga classes to the clients, the organization also provides group fitness, training classes. The services of the organization are not only limited to training facilities but it also provides diet charts and fitness-related consultancy advice to the clients. It also provides fitness courses through webinars, e-learning activities, workshops, and tutorial videos. The strategic tools can help the organization to improve the business.  The internal and external factors of an organization can impact the business and its operations. These tools also help to improve the business strategy and business capabilities. It also helps to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. It is very necessary for the fitness industry to improve the business facilities and infrastructures to provide better facilities and services to the customers. For improvement, the company can increase the range of policies and facilities to attract customers.

The business environment of Study Active plays an important role in establishing the position of the organization in the fitness industry. It allows the organization to develop and implement the strategies required by them for thriving in the fitness industry and also for gaining competitive advantage over its competitors like the Educate Fitness, the Fitness Circle and YMCA fit. The organization therefore has adopted the strategy of offering customized fitness training programs to its potential clients at a flexible pricing scheme for improving the economic condition of the organization during the situational crisis imposed by the onset of the global pandemic. The organization has also adopted the strategy of using social media as a tool for marketing the brand image of the company and also for raising the awareness among the public regarding the importance of maintaining their health and well-being during the global pandemic. All such factors contribute towards the sustainability of the organization. 

Recommendation

Physical activity has been long associated with improving the overall health of human beings, be it in terms of mental and physical health. As a part of the fitness industry, Study Active works efficiently for maintaining the good health of their customers. However, the current situation of covid might have harmed the operation, revenue to a greater height where people in the fear of getting contaminated has stopped coming down physically to the public place, the company can engage in conducting online yoga classes with a fixed time for different groups based on their age, and physical health. For example, the old people might be asked to engage in low intensity yoga for strengthening their muscles.

Additionally, the company can also entice new prospects by giving special offers so that more people are attracted towards the intro offers like giving free first month for new joinees.

In addition to that the company can also provide compelling reviews and success stories that they might have achieved through Google search engine like quotes from the customers. Additionally, the company needs to be extremely transparent about pricing so that there is a clear communication among their customers. They need to make it easier for the people to find their website in paid advertisements.