Final Project - Prasad

Prasad Pachakale Professional Project 08/04/2011
NORTHUMBRIA BUSINESS SCHOOL
UG PROFESSIONAL PROJECT
“FORMULATING AND SUGGESTING FUTURE STRATEGIC
CHOICES”
(A CASE STUDY OF KESARI TOURS)
NAME: PRASAD PACHAKALE
ID NO: W10031253
MODULE CODE: NX0315
MODULE NAME: PROFESSIONAL PROJECT
DATE OF SUBMISSION: 08/04/2011
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Contents
1. Who am I as a Learner?......................................................................................................3
2. Implication of career choice...............................................................................................6
3. Research topic.....................................................................................................................8
4. Research Objectives............................................................................................................8
 Personal objective...........................................................................................................8
 Stakeholder objective......................................................................................................8
 Academic objectives.......................................................................................................8
5. Research questions..............................................................................................................9
6. Background of Kesari Tours...............................................................................................9
 Various divisions of Kesari Tours.................................................................................10
 Products it offer.............................................................................................................10
7. Literature review...............................................................................................................11
 Strategic formulation.....................................................................................................12
 Strategy in Action.........................................................................................................12
 The Strategic Position...................................................................................................14
 The Strategic Choices...................................................................................................21
 The Strategic Evaluation...............................................................................................26
8. Strategy proposal for Kesari Tours...................................................................................26
 Evaluating the strategy in action of Kesari Tours.........................................................27
 Current strategic position of Kesari Tours....................................................................28
 Developing Strategic Choices for Kesari Tours............................................................31
 Strategic Evaluation for Kesari Tours...........................................................................33
9. Limitations in this project.................................................................................................33
10. Recommendations.........................................................................................................34
11. Reference.......................................................................................................................35
12. APPENDIX- A (Reports)..............................................................................................36
13. APPENDIX – B (CV)...................................................................................................42
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SECTION – A
1. Who am I as a Learner?
I am passionate to learn new things in an interesting way. I am a quick learner of theories and
concepts if it is delivered through visuals and demonstrations. I would prefer to learn in a
practical way rather than reading books, articles and journals. However, I am a good survivor
in nature. So, if in case I would have to learn through books and articles I could do that
effectively. I believe in learning through a mix of theory and practice. Sometimes I may get
bored if I am only into theories and not in practice. I am interested in learning complex
things, simple things may make me bored. I believe in learning through group discussion, as I
could share the knowledge easily and in a communal way. I am very analytical and creative
in nature. I feel writing is a good learning practice. Writing refines the learned materials.
My strengths in learning are, I am always eager to solve difficult problems and learn
something new from those problems. I feel making assignments is a better practice rather
than exams. However, I am good in tackling exams as well. When I do assignments, I
experience a lot of questions rising and it makes me interesting to find answers for those
questions. I would prefer to find the answers through a podcast or a video file rather than
books. I like to read learn through visuals. I am good in relating things, when I learn any
fundamentals I could use it properly in a difficult situation. I am always eager to know
something new and interested in keeping me updated in the area where I’m interested in. I
could quickly understand when someone explains about hard theories. I always try to learn
something from people I meet.
My weak points are, sometime I may get bored in reading books, articles and journals.
However, some articles are interested in reading but not all. Sometimes I cannot concentrate
on things which I am not interested in. But, if I am forced to do that I will probably make
myself concentrating in to that. Sometimes, I don’t understand difficult concepts by reading
books; I may need lectures or visual explanations.
VARK learning style test: Multimodal study strategy
According to VARK results I am into multimodal study strategy, VARK result says that,
“Multimodal study strategy people have 3 to 4 mode of preferences, in which they use the
one according to the people around them. They could easily match or align their mode to the
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others around them. But if they want to annoy other people then they could stand in a
different mode and make others do in an alternate way”.
When I am looking into the VARK report, it exactly resembles my mode of learning. I have 4
modes of learning one is Visual, Oral, Reading and Writing. However, I would prefer to use
visual mode most of the time. But if the circumstance made me to use another mode I would
readily adopt other mode without wasting the time. VARK says that people who have
multimodal preferences have told that it is often essential for them to use more than one
strategy to learn better and communicate better. People with multi modal strategy feel
insecure if they have only one mode of learning.
Mental muscle test
Briggs type Indicator states about my personality type as ENFJ that is I am a kind of person
who always seek to build up and encourage growth in my friends and family. I may have a
intellect potential about them that may broaden away from how they see themselves. I also
try to find out the potential within relationships or the team. But, I never push the people so
hard that ends up creating conflicts, because maintaining the harmony is very important for
me. I agree with the Briggs type indicators report. I always believe in relationships and
friendships that make everything easy. I never try to get into any conflict that spoils the
relationship as relationship is more important for me. It also states that my dominant function
is feelings and very extraverted, I don’t agree with the above statement completely.
Sometimes I may be feelings oriented person but sometimes I am just material minded. It
depends upon the situation where I am in. If I am working in a company I won’t be feeling
oriented, rather I will be a professional.
Leadership style
MMDI report says that I am primarily a participative leader. Such leaders accomplish through
people, through collective involvement, through teamwork in the tasks. This kind of
leadership involves constructing communal ownership and promise within the group. These
leaders create people feel valuable as an essential part of the team so, everyone accomplishes
the goals through relationships and teamwork. I agree with the above statement as I always
been a part of the team and I am good in motivating people towards the goal of the company
as a colleague. I believe I can be a good leader in future. It also shows that the chance for me
to grow in ministry is higher than the senior position.
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The personality radar shows that my preferences match more likely towards the area of
Organization, action, information, innovation, change and values kind of jobs. Even The
analysis position is a more like to be my best area of preference and it matches my profile.
Roles that suite my personal nature
Belbin’s Report states that in a role of a plant I am creative, unorthodox, and imaginative and
solves difficult problem. As discuses in the previous areas I am creative and imaginative in
nature. I could solve difficult problems. However, I have some weakness which I allowable
but I need to improve it that is ignoring incidentals. It states that I am very much pre-
occupied with my own beliefs to communicate easily. That’s correct, whenever I want to
discuss something important I won’t act pre-occupied. However, in normal cases, I am
always pre-occupied. This is a barrier for me to learn something from people whom I am not
much interested in.
In the role of resource investigator I am extrovert, communicative, enthusiastic and develop

good contact. But I am a bit more positive, and I lose interest on a particular thing once the
initial enthusiasm has passed. After that I need something new. So, I would prefer to go for a
very dynamic job that keeps me enthusiastic always. As a coordinator I behave more
matured, confident, I do clarify goals, and take other people jointly to encourage team
discussions. I am a thoughtful and analytical person. It offers me a extraordinary advantage in
the position of an adviser. It helps me advice to others or as evaluator of outside assets. I
would anticipate being well aware about things that happening and I would like to work in a
clear picture. But not so greatly to the particular technological capability as to my wide
interest in all that is happening.
When it comes to operating at a less senior level or in dealing with everyday issues I may
find it more difficult to achieve job satisfaction. The work may not be mentally stimulating
enough. Another danger is that I may find myself operating in too confined a space that
denies me the chance to prove myself. I could find myself criticised for not doing enough on
a practical front. That will depend partly on the expectations of the person to whom I report.
Much depends on whether I am in a job that is cast with suitably broad terms of reference. If
not, I will need to take action to change the frontiers of my job or even to seek a more
suitable position.
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My ultimate functioning role is an examiner. In professional terms, it gets close to a role of

detective. My questioning mind can be strength for improvement. So, any job I may prefer, I
want to be a energy for getting better what exist there.
2. Implication of career choice

I have chosen my career in travel and tourism industry. As it is an interesting field and my
family background is in the same industry itself. I have a vision to grow up in the ladder to
reach an executive position. I am planning to enhance my leadership skills, managing skills
and personal abilities to become a chief executive of a multinational company in travel and
tourism industry. So, based on that plan I have chosen my graduation in travel and tourism. I
already have work experience in the same industry. While I was working in my previous
company I felt that I am lacking of some managerial personality. So I decided to learn those
managerial tactics through this course. I have chosen travel and tourism as my key subject as
this degree is going to help me in the future career development.
Life-long learning plan
In have a mixed set of learning plan in the future. First of all I am planning to learn some of
the major international languages such as Spanish, Italian, Chinese and German. As travel
and tourism has world wide scope and learning international languages may enrich my CV
and increase my job opportunities in this field. I would like to learn about various cultures
and behaviour of different people from different backgrounds. That may enable me to
understand various people in the work place as well as in personal life.
After completing my graduation I am planning to work for 2 years to gain more experience in
package tours. Then I am planning to do masters in travel and tourism that may enhance my
career opportunity in a senior level. The mix of practical experience and academics will
enrich my knowledge in the travel and tourism sector. I am also planning to do some research
in people behaviour and tourism to gain more in-depth knowledge about the field.
Transferable skills
I am going to take the academic theories and concepts that I have studies in this course into
practice. According to Honey and Mumford (1992) report I am a pragmatist’s person who is
always keen on trying out ideas, techniques and theories to see if they work in practice. I can
positively search ideas and I could take the initiative to experiment with applications. People
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like me are enthusiastic management students brimming with new ideas to implement and see
the effects in practice. I like to take practical decisions and solving problems. I really think
that there is always a better way and if it works then its good.
So, I could promise that I will take the theories and concepts to the real world and experiment
it to identify the effectiveness of the concepts. Specifically in the strategic planning subject I
gained the confidence that I could evaluate a company’s strategy and I could develop new
strategic choices that the company could pursue in future. I learnt to use appropriate tools
wherever required. So, I can say that I will use these managerial tactics in real business.
Career choice
Travel and Tourism is my passion and I would like to choose my career path in the same
industry. I have previous experience in this industry and I feel I really enjoy the job. I just
need to polish my skills and abilities in making strategic decisions and day to day
management activities. I feel this course helped me a lot in gaining knowledge about the
managerial aspects and decision making. I would like to raise my qualification to a senior
level executive in future. I will build my personal and academic skills to suit that position. As
I am a multimodal learner and a participating leader, I could easily mingle with people and
motivate others towards teamwork. I hope my career will flourish through the path I have
chosen.
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SECTION – B
3. Research topic
Aim of the research is to identify the longitudinal strategic development history of Kesari
Tours for the past 25 years by evaluating the strategies that the company pursued and the
outcomes of those strategies. Evaluating the current strategic position of the company to
formulate and suggest a future strategic choice for its growth and sustainability.
4. Research Objectives
The main objective is to develop and suggest a future strategic choice for Kesari Tours. To
develop a sustainable and reliable strategy we have to evaluate the current strategic position,
and the recent past strategy development history of the company (Johnson, Scholes and
Whittington, 2008).
 Personal objective
My career plan is to climb up the ladder in a multinational company based in hospitality
industry and to reach an executive position in the future. Kesari Tours is my dream company
to work with and I am planning to start my career with Kesari Tours after completing my
bachelors. So, this project will help me to gain in-depth knowledge about the strategies of the
company and may increase my job opportunity at after completing my course.
 Stakeholder objective
In this highly competitive and dynamic market, companies in the hospitality industry are
looking for new ideas and suggestions to increase their competitive advantage among their
rivalry. Developing a fine strategy is one of the best competitive advantages in hospitality
industry (Enz, 2010). So, my findings and suggestions may benefit Kesari Tours to develop
its own strategy for future sustainability.
 Academic objectives
This project will help me to get in-depth knowledge about the academic theories and concepts
used to evaluate the strategic position of a company and to formulate a future strategy for a
company. It also helps me to identify the gap between literatures and practice. Hope this
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thesis will add my contribution to the University as a future reference for students who
research in this area.
5. Research questions
 What are the various strategies that the company deployed in the past and their
outcomes?
 What are the internal strengths and weakness of the company?
 What is the macro and micro environmental position of the company in its industry?
 What are the opportunities and threats in context to its current position?
 What are the strategic choices available to obtain its goals?
 Whether the strategic choice is reliable to its capabilities and stakeholder
expectations?
6. Background of Kesari Tours

Kesari Tours was founded by Mr. Kesari Patil, in 1984. Kesari Patil was a school teacher and
he decided to enter into the travel industry with a very small capital of Rs. 85,000 by keeping
his wife Sunita Patil by his side. His business tactics and efforts made miracles to generate
revenue of Rs. 3.50 billion per annum. How is this happened in a short span of time?
Managing director of Kesari Tours, Veena Patil, (2010) says that, “this is a result of our
pledge (When you make a promise to your guest, honour it) that we took 26 years back, we
strive for 100% customer satisfaction and that has earned us immense goodwill”. The
company expanded its business from 500 to 10,000 clients per year. It has conducted more
than 40,000 tour programmes in the last 13 years.
Kesari Tours have been a family business and its success was totally a team work of the
whole family. Kesar Patil and his wife Sunita Patil handled all the operations, Veena Patil
their daughter took care of the strategic formulation and Sudhir Patil became the front face of
the company by handling PR and corporate communications said Veena Patil (2010) in her
book Veena’s world. She also added that, “we implemented trial and error policy and the
company took some time to streamline operations and settle down”.
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• Various divisions of Kesari Tours

Kesari Tours has specialized divisions to satisfy its customer needs professionally. It offers
catering services and through the brand name “KMICE” and it offers customized holiday
tours in the brand name “Strawberi Holidays”. It also offers money transfer facility through
its subsidiary named “Kesari Forex” which increases the feasibility of its customers.
• Products it offer
Kesari Tours believes its innovative product portfolio is its core competency (Veena, 2011).
The company offers about 224 unique speciality tours and customized tours as well (Kesari
Tours, 2010). Kesari Tours offer a wide range of tour products to a broad market segment. Its
products are tactically designed according to the needs of a particular segment. It attracts a
wide segment from students to families, group travellers, individual travellers, business
people, bachelors, ladies, couples, senior citizens, farmers and children’s. It also attracts
inbound tourists and outbound tourist. After reviewing the portfolio of products, it is
identified that it has a diversified portfolio of products that attract a huge market. Its core
competency develops from its product differentiation strategy. For e.g. the most successful
My Fair Lady & Agro Tour which is only available with Kesari Tours (Veena, 2010).
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7. Literature review
Literature review is essential to generate and refine the research ideas, it is to ensure that the
work done in a project is not done in a vacuum, but it is been build on the ideas of other
people who have already studied the field before (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). In
this literature review various books and articles are been referred to refine the ideas in the
area of strategic formulation for sustainable future of an organization.
The below fig 7.1 shows the area of literature is been gathered to assist the development of
future strategic choice for Kesari Tours.
Fig 7.1 Relevance tree for the literature review (Abstract of the literature review)
Strategic
Strategy in
development
development
Action
Action process
Strategic
capability of
capability of an
an
organization
Current Strategic
Current Strategic
Position
Position Micro and Macro
environment
environment ofof
the industry
Bases of
competative
competative
strategy
strategy
Strategic
Strategic
formulation
formulation Strategic choices
Strategic choices
Strategic
Strategic
Directions
Directions
Methods
Methods of
of
Suitability
Suitability pursuing
pursuing
analysis
analysis strategies
strategies
Strategy
evaluation
evaluation
Acceptability
Acceptability
analysis
analysis
Feasibility
Feasibility
analysis
analysis
According to Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2008) the, “elements of strategic

management such as strategy in action, strategic position and strategic choice do not always
follow this linear sequence however, they are interlinked and feed back of each other”.
For example, in some circumstance an understanding of strategic position of an organization

can be best build by evaluating the strategy that the company deployed in past and their
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outcomes. Hence strategy in action informs understanding of the strategic position of an

organization.
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• Strategic formulation
Strategic formulation is the process of shaping an appropriate course of action to achieve its
organizational objectives by considering its capabilities, environment and constraints and to
develop a core competency that leads to long-term sustainability of the organization (Porter,
1980). Strategic management comprises of understanding the strategic position of an
organization and making a strategic choice for future that suits its capabilities and managing
strategy in action (Johnson, Schholes and Whittington, 2008). We are going to critically
review the literature about the strategic formulation process be following chapters.
• Strategy in Action
Strategy in action is associated with to make sure that the chosen strategies are put into action
and evaluating the outcomes of those strategies. To evaluate the strategy in action it is
necessary to consider the strategy development process, its organizational structure and
relationships between the process and structure of an organization (Johnson et. al., 2008).
Strategy development process of an organization
Basically the strategy developed in an organization is of two types. One is “Intended

strategy”, which is a result of top management decisions based on leadership, strategic vision,
and strategic planning. However, the second one is “Emergent strategy” which is not a
planned strategy but emerged in organizations overtime due to the influences change in
business environment (Johnson et. al., 2008).
Intended strategy development process: It is an appearance of required strategy as

purposely formulated by top management. Such strategies are developed using appropriate
tools, frameworks and techniques for strategic analysis and evaluation. The most relevant
strategic development process to this project is strategy developed through strategic
leadership. Strategy formulation may be strongly linked with a strategic leader or small group
of individual upon whom the strategy is observed be reliant. In small organizations the
owner’s position, personality and reputation will be centred as the strategic province. These
owners may develop strategy in three possible ways such as strategy leadership as vision ,
strategy leadership as design, and strategy leadership as command. These are major tools for
formulating the strategy in small businesses (Elbanna, 2006).
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In the Strategy leadership as design, the strategic leader might think the strategy through an
analytical process. The leader might used some sort of techniques associated to strategic
analysis and evaluation, or the leader might had developed the strategy systematically and
consciously based on the issued the organization faces and come to his or her own
conclusion. In case of Strategy leadership as vision, the leader might have strongly
associated with an overall vision, mission and strategic intent that motivate others, to create
or develop a strategy that could effectively achieve the vision and mission of the leader
(Bennis and Nanus, 2002). In this type, the leader will not design the strategy but the vision
of the leader motivates others to create a sustainable strategy. In case of Strategy leadership
as command, the strategy of an organization might be dictated by the leader. This is mostly
evident in small businesses where the owner is in direct control with all operations and
activities of the organization. Such method has both advantages and disadvantages such as on
the positive side a fast adopting inimitable strategy could be developed. However in negative
side there is a huge risk involved on individual strategic decisions (Miller et. al., 2005).
Emergent strategy development process: Although strategic development process is an

intentional thing but research shows that the historical pattern of strategic development in
most of the organizations are incremental. It shows that the strategies do not take major shifts
but it typically changes by building on past strategies by amending the strategic choices
according to the outcome of past strategies. Prior strategic decisions impact future directions.
Changes in business environment, capabilities of the company, resource availabilities tend to
affect the strategic choice in course of time. As time goes on, each amendment is informed by
this developing pattern of strategy and keeps shaping it for the future (Johnson et. al., 2008).
Logical incrementalism is the most evidenced strategic development pattern which is

associated with the development of strategy by experimentation and uncertainties in the
business environment. There are several reasons behind such strategic formulation. They are,
Environmental uncertainties in which managers come to know that they cannot cope up with
the uncertainty of their environment by depending on analyses of historical data’s forecasting
how it is going to change. But they rely on constant environmental scanning throughout the
organization to be sensitive to the environmental signals. Generalised views of strategy in
which managers have a general idea about the future position of the company and they
implement incremental strategy to move the company towards that position. In this lack of
specific view and innovation from the managers the company cannot create an inimitable
competency in competitive market (Quinn, 1996).
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Experimentation is where managers seek to develop a secure, strong but flexible core
business. These managers develop their own strategy in their own areas for e.g. product
development, diversification, product positioning and external relations etc. Coordinating
emergent strategies in which top managers may utilize the mix of formal and informal
political and social processes to represent together an emerging pattern of strategies (Quinn,
1996).
There are different pattern of strategy development such as Multiple strategy development
process where a mix of patterns such as emergent or intended and utilizing most of the
possible approaches. In this the company get benefits according to the environmental change
and the nature of the business by adopting various strategy developments process at different
situations (Szulanski and Amin, (2001). Contextual differences the strategy development
processes are likely to change over time and in different contexts.
• The Strategic Position

It is essential to understand the strategic position of an organization before developing a new
strategy. There are two basic views to identify the strategic position of an organization, they
are, one is external factors of the organization and the second one is the international factors.
The external factors of an organization matters most to the success of a strategy, strategy
development is the process of seeking attractive opportunities in the market. Attractive
opportunities are those favours the internal capabilities on an organization. So, understanding
about external environment matters a lot in formulating future strategies. Internal
environment of an organization should be evaluated to identify the internal strength and
weakness of an organization. It also helps to identify the resource availability to pursue a new
strategy. It weights the internal capability of an organization. It also interrelated with the
external environment as if the environment changes the internal capabilities and resources
need to develop in order to match the external environment (Johnson et. al., 2008).
There are several tools that could be used to analysis the external and internal environment of
an organization, they are PESTEL analysis which is used to analyse the macro-environment,
Porter’s five forces is used to analysis the micro-environment. SWOT analysis can be used to
analysis the internal strengths, weakness and external opportunities, threats of an organization
(Johnson et. al., 2008).
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Analysing macro-environment using PESTEL
There are three tools such as PESTEL, Key Drivers and Scenarios to analyse the macro-
environment of an organization. All these are interconnected tools for investigating the
macro-environment of an organization. PESTEL offers a broad synopsis of the Marco-
environment, whereas Key drivers help focus on what are most important factors that have a
huge impact on the success or failure of a strategy and Scenarios put up on key drivers to
investigate diverse ways in which the macro-environment might vary (McKiernan, 2006).
PESTEL stands for political, economical, social, technological, environmental and legal
elements of a macro-environment. It provides a broad list of influences on the possible
success or failure of the strategies. In these elements Politics refer to the influence of
government policies upon the strategy, Economy refers to the macro-economic factors such
as business cycle, exchange rates and differential economic growth rates around the world.
Social refers to the factors such as demographics, ageing population and changing cultures
that influence the strategy. Technology refers to the elements such as automobiles,
aeronautics, internet that influences the strategy. Environmental stands for pollutions control
and policies related to green issues that may influence the strategy. Legal refers to the
legislative constraints, restrictions upon a company that may influence the strategy (Thomas,
2007). These above elements also interrelated to produce a new constrain, if we analysis the
above elements and its relationship there will be a result of a huge complex list. Rather than
getting confused on the above factors it is recommended to identify the key drivers for
change (Thomas, 2007).
The Key drivers for change are the macro-environmental factors that are most probably to
have an impact on the success or failure of a strategy. Typical key drivers will vary by sectors
for example a Tour and Travel Company would concentrate on the technological changes that
could improve its on-line booking facilities and factors that attract its customers for booking.
Identifying key drivers for change may helps managers to concentrate on the PESTEL factors
that have the highest priority. Research says that other PESTEL factors depends on the key
drivers for example, ageing population will drive change in funding and public policy
(Johnson et. al, 2008).
When high level of uncertainties arising in a business environment due to rapid change and
complexity in the PESTEL factors, it is hard for the managers to develop a single view of
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how environment might influence an organization’s strategies. Scenario building helps

managers to develop various plausible alternative views about how the environment can
change in future may affect the organization’s strategies. The scenario will be build upon the
PESTEL analyses. Managers could develop different strategies according to various
scenarios. They have the privilege to wait and watch the actual change in the environment
and they could adjust the strategy accordingly. Basically there are three most common
scenario building approaches such as optimistic, middling and pessimistic. Research says that
managers naturally focus on the middling scenario and ignore others. So it is recommended
to have two or four scenarios to form a matrix of plausible alternative views, instead of
having midpoint which lead to the negligence of other two. Scenarios are significantly useful
when there are a limited number of key drivers influencing huge the success of the strategy
and huge uncertainties involved in the future (Cornelius, Putte and Romani, 2005).
Analysing micro-environment using Porter’s Five Forces framework
Porter (1980) states that, “Porter’s Five Forces framework helps to identify the attractiveness
of an industry or sector in terms of competitive forces”. The five competitive forces in this
framework are the bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new
entrants into an industry, threat of substitutes for the industry’s product or service and
competitive rivalry in an industry. Porter (1980) argues that, “if these five forces are high in
an industry, then the industry is not attractive. There will be too much of competition and too
much of pressure to obtain profits”. Porter’s Five Forces and its bargaining powers are
discussed below
Bargaining power of buyers: Customers are the backbone of a business, each and every
company are trying to attract the customers and to satisfy and to create a loyalty to get repeat
business. However, sometimes the customers or buyers can have high bargaining power in a
particular industry that leads to the suppliers are squeezed up with no profits at all.
Bargaining power of buyer is likely high in the following situations.
Concentrated buyer: Where a very few large buyers accounting for the majority of sales in a
particular industry. For example items such as milk in the grocery stores in many European
countries, whereas only few suppliers dominate the market.
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Low switching cost: Where the buyers can move from one supplier to with less switching
cost. At that time they may have a strong negotiation position and they squeeze up the margin
of suppliers.
Buyer competition threat: Some buyer pursue backward vertical integration by producing the
same product which is been produced by their suppliers if they feel the price and quality is
not satisfactory. In hospitality industry, customers are the buyers and some of the booking
agents are also buyers (Porter, 1980).
Bargaining power of suppliers
Suppliers are the part of business cycle who supplies raw material, equipment, source of
finance and labour to the organizations that produce final goods. The factors that increase
supplier power are opposite to the factors that increase buyer power. So, supplier power is
tend to be high in the following conditions.
Concentrated suppliers: If very few suppliers in an industry who dominates the supply, then
suppliers tend to have more bargaining power over buyers. For example Iron ore industry is
much concentrated with only three main producers that dominate the supply. However, the
steel manufacturers are fragmented, so the supplier bargaining power is much higher in this
area.
High switching cost: When buyer faces high switching cost to move from one supplier to
another, then the supplier’s bargaining power goes high. For example, Microsoft is a huge
supplier of Windows operating system. Buyers faces problem in switching from windows to
another operating system. So the bargaining power of Microsoft tends to be very high.
Supplier competition threat: In some cases suppliers have stretched their operations to cut
buyers who act as intermediaries. This is called as forward vertical integration, where the
suppliers are moving close to its final consumers. For example, Airlines are able to negotiate
more with travel agents as the online booking has increased the reach of Airlines to reach the
customers directly. Here, the bargaining power of Airlines is quite high.
In general, there will be more suppliers for a particular buyer. However, it is not necessary to
analysis each and every suppliers. But it is necessary to concentrate the analysis to most
important suppliers (Porter, 1980).
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Threat of new entrants into an industry
Threats of new entrants are the barriers to the new organizations to enter into an industry.
There are several factors that act as a barrier for a new company to start with and compete
successfully. Barriers are those factors that need to be overcome buy a new entrant to
compete successfully. High barriers for new comers are good for existing competitors as they
protect themselves with from the new comers into that industry and make it more fragments.
The typical barriers are,
Scale and experience: In some industries the when the existing organizations achieved the
economics of scale, then it will product the goods in high volume with good quality and
cheapest price. In that stage, it is difficult for new entrants to come into that industry to make
profits. They have to struggle by high competition and price wars. In some cases, the existing
organizations enjoy the benefit of its experience and create a competitive advantage that will
be inimitable for the new entrants.
Access to supply or distribution channels: Most of the industries manufactures have their
control over the supply chain and distribution. They achieved through vertical integration and
its own investment. That will be inimitable by the new entrants to achieve quickly. However,
in some industries new entrants have bypassed the retail distribution by access to e-
commerce. For example, Amazon and Dell Computers overcome constrain by online sale.
Expected retaliation: Some new entrants believe that the existing companies will retaliate
through price wars and marketing blitz. Such believes act as a discouraging factor for the new
entrants to enter into a market.
Legislation or government actions: Government restrains some of the industries by keeping

high entry standard. For example, pharmaceutical industry in which licensing standards is too
high. Such legislations may act as a strong barrier for a new entrant.
Differentiation of product / service: Product or Service differentiation by the existing

company creates a barrier for the new entrants as the current product is loyal to its customers
and it is hard for the new entrants to imitate that competency.
Threat of substitutes
Substitute products / services are those offers similar benefit to the consumers but it is been
produced by another industry. For example, camera mobiles are a substitute for digital
19
cameras. Substitutes can reduce the value of a particular product as the consumer could
switch easily to the alternate product. There are two major concepts in substitution
The price/performance ratio is critical substitution threats: In case if the substitute product is
more costly, then there is a positive threat. However, if the price worth’s its performance then
it became negative threat. Here, the price to performance ratio matters than simply price.
Extra-industry effects: It is the core of substitution concept. Substitutes from outside the
existing industry should not be mixed up with the competitor’s threats from within industry.
Higher the threat of substitution, less attractive the industry is.
Competitive rivalry
Competitive rivalries are the organizations that produce similar products / service and those
targets the same market segment. Competitive rivalry is interlinked with rest of the four
forces. For example, low barriers to new entrants create more competition such as price wars
and marketing blitz which fragments the industry and reduces the profit margin. More the
competitors in an industry are worse for the incumbents. There are several factors that
directly affect the degree of competitive rivalry in an industry, they are
Competitor balance: In most of the attractive industries there will be one or two dominating
competitors, however in some industries there will be more companies of equal size that
makes the competition worse.
Industry growth rate: Companies used to grow along with the industry growth rate. In case of
higher growth rate of the industry, companies can easily grow and there will be less
competition. In some case the growth rate of the industry is low and there will be more
competitors that lead to reduced profitability.
High fixed cost: When the initial investment in an industry is very high, companies try to
obtain the economics of scale by increasing high volumes and reducing price. Thus, triggers
the price war between competitors.
High exit barriers: When disinvestment in an industry is tends to be difficult and if the
industry is declining. Then the rivalry will be quite high.
20
Low differentiation: If the product differentiation is very less in an industry then it is hard for
the companies to stop customers to switching between competitors. Thus, increases the
rivalry.
The five forces framework provides useful insight of the attractiveness of an industry. The
analysis should conclude with a judgment about whether the industry is good to compete or
not. It should answer the below questions
 Which industry to enter and which industry to leave?

 What influence can be exercised?
 How rivalries are differently affected?
Porter’s Five forces framework should be used cautiously and is not essentially complete
even at the industry level. While using this framework it is necessary to keep the three key
issues in mind which is defining the right industry, congregate industry and complementary
products (Porter, 1980).
SWOT Analysis
It identifies the key issues of a business atmosphere and the strategic ability of an
organization that are like to influence the strategic development.
Identifying the strength and weakness of an organization in relation to its competitors
The goal of SWOT analysis is to identify the degree to which the strength and weakness are
relevant to or capable of dealing with the changes occur in a business environment. SWOT
analyse is only effective when it is comparative in relation to its competitors. It is help full
while discussing the future strategic choices of an organization as it evaluates the degree to
which as organization is capable of supporting the strategies (Jacobs et. al., 1998).
Identifying the opportunities and threats
Identifying opportunities and threats is a valuable part when thinking about strategic choices
for the future. It is used to respond strategically to the environment by reducing the identified
threats and taking advantage of the best plausible opportunities (Valetin, 2001). Taking
advantage of a strategic gap is an efficient way of managing opportunities and threats.
Strategic gaps can be identified with the help of Porter’s Five Forces; Strategic gaps are
where the rivalry is low. In accordance with the concept of strategic gaps there are six types
21
of opportunities that are most important. They are Opportunities in other strategic groups,
Opportunities in substitute industries, Opportunities in targeting buyers, Opportunities in
new market segment, Opportunities for complementary products / services, and
Opportunities over time. All these opportunities should be identified to justify a strategic gap
(Valetin, 2001).
• The Strategic Choices

These are associated with the decisions about an organization’s future and the way in which it
needs to respond to the pressure and influences of external environment. There are basically
three choices should be made. They are,
 The choice of how an organization positions itself in relation to competitors.

 The choice of markets and products of an organization.
 The choice about how the developed strategies are to be pursued.
Strategic choices can be developed through the TOWS matrix. It is a most common tool used
for strategy development. It is similar to the SWOT analysis, as it pull’s the information’s
from SWOT analysis to generate different combination of strategic choices.
Bases of competitive advantage (business-level strategies)
The strategic choices that could gain competitive advantage in a market place at business unit
level. Business-level strategies are classifies in to 5 categories they are Sustaining
competitive advantage, Bases of competitive advantage, competition and collaboration and
game theory, Competitive strategy in hypercompetitive conditions. The bases of competitive
advantages can be identifies using “the strategic clock” tool (Bowman, 1995).
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Strategic clock to develop competitive strategy options
Source: Bowman C., and Faulkner D., (1995) The essence of competitive strategy, prentice hall.
Where the strategic clock illustrates price and product benefit relationship in eight ways. In
which it is classified in to 5 major areas such as Price-based strategy, Differentiation
strategies, the hybrid strategy, focused differentiation and failure strategies.
Sustaining competitive advantage: Organizations that try to achieve competitive advantage

may try to hold it for long time. So there are three different areas of sustaining competitive
advantages they are based on the organization’s current strategic position. If an organization
plans to sustain its cost leadership, it should pursue sustaining price-based advantage.
23
Sustaining competitive advantage
Price-based strategies
1. Acccept squeezed
margins
2. Win a price war
3. Reduce costs
4. Focus on specific
segment
Differentiation
Strategic Lock in
1. Create difficulties of
1. Acheive the market
imitation
dominance
2. Achieves imperfect
2. Reinforcement
mobility
3. Rigorous enforcement
3. Reinvest margin
Sustaining
competative
advantage
Source: (Johnson G., Scholes K., and Whittington R., (2008) Exploring corporate strategy, 8 th edition, Essex:
Prentice Hall.
However if it is pursuing differentiation strategy then it need to obtain sustaining

differentiation-based advantage or if an organization needs to lock in the current position
where it is dominating the industry then it should pursue strategic lock in.
Strategic direction
Corporate-level strategy concerned with the choice of developing a strategy about the
products and markets for an organization to enter or to exit.
Strategic direction using Ansoff Matrix
Products
Existing New
Existing Market Penetration Product development

Markets
New Market development Diversification
Source: Ansoff H., (1988) corporate strategy, penguin
24
Corporate level strategies can be developed using Ansoff matrix. In this the organization
could decide whether it has to concentrate on the product development or market
development or diversification (Ansoff, 1988). When an organization is handling a portfolio
of products in which the product lifecycle is in different positions it is recommended to use
BCG matrix. It is one of the sustainable ways of visualizing the balance of a portfolio of
business (Hax and Majluf, 1992).
BCG Matrix for managing portfolio of products
Source: Hax A. C., and Majluf N. S., (1992) The use of growth-share matrix in strategic planning, Vol. 13 no. 1
In this method the market share and market growth are two important variables that
determine attractiveness and balance. Logically high growth and high market share are
attractive. However, BCG matrix also warns that high growth demands heavy investment for
example to expand capacity or developing brands. It says that there needs to be a balance
within the portfolio, so there should be some low-growth businesses that are making adequate
surplus to invest on higher growth businesses (Hax and Majluf, 1992).
Star is the business unit that has a high market share in a growing market. The problem child
is a business unit in growing market, but it is not yet in high market share. Converting the
question mark into a star consumes heavy investment. Lot of question market fails to develop
into a star, so BCG suggests promote several at a time. A cash cow is a business unit with a
high market share in a matured market. In the matured market growth tends to be low, so
investment is low and profitability is high in this unit. Dogs are business units with low
25
market share in declining market. BCG suggests divestment to this type of business units
(Hax and Majluf, 1992).
Methods of pursuing strategies in international context
When a company wants to pursue into an international market, it has to consider the global-
local dilemma, which relates to the degree of a product or service may be standardise across
national boundaries or need to be amended to meet the requirements of a particular national
market. This may affect the decision of infrastructure of a company whether it is to be
centralized or decentralized its operation while penetrating into global market.
Multi-domestic strategy: Through this strategy the company deploy workforce and
production in the local domestic market and independently serves the local market. Adapting
locally can make the overall corporate portfolio increasingly diversified. Such strategy is
majorly attractive in professional services where the local relationships are critical (Porter,
1986).
Complex export strategy: Through this strategy the company manufacture its products in one
location to meet the economies of scale. Then it builds its brand and marketing in other
countries. Companies build strong brand and growing network overseas with growing
organizational maturity (Porter, 1986).
Global strategy: It is a more matured and well established strategy in which the company will
be fully diversified. It accesses the benefits of international value network and it establishes
its production, marketing and operations in various countries that suit its process (Porter,
1986).
International market selection and entry modes
Once the international strategy is been built based upon the available sources of competitive
advantage, the managers need to decide which country to enter. This can be done using the
analysis conducted through PESTEL. Once the country is been selected then it is necessary to
choose the entry mode that would be appropriate for the company to be profitable. There are
several strategies to enter into an international market. They are, Exporting, Joint ventures
and alliances, Licensing and Foreign direct investment. Any of these options can be chosen
by the manager according to the capabilities and strategic requirements (Knights and Cavusil,
26
2005). Organic development, Mergers and Acquisitions and Strategic alliances are some of
the most common methods for pursuing strategies.
• The Strategic Evaluation

Evaluating the strategies is necessary to analyse whether the developed strategic choice will
succeed in future. This can be analysed in three main criteria’s they are.
Suitability analysis
It is concerned with whether a strategic choice that is been developed is addressing the key
issues related to the strategic position of an organization. Tools such as TOWS matrix, the
relative suitability of options, Ranking strategic options, Decision trees and Scenarios can be
used to evaluate the suitability of the strategy (Johnson et. al., 2008).
Acceptability analysis
It is concerned with whether the expected performance outcomes such as return or risk of a
strategy and the degree to which these strategies meet the stakeholder expectation. Tools such
as profitability analysis, cost-benefit analysis, real option analysis, stakeholder value analysis,
sensitivity analysis to evaluate the risk involved, stakeholder mapping can be used to analyse
the acceptability of a strategy (Johnson et. al., 2008).
Feasibility analysis
It is concerned with whether the company has the capabilities to deliver a strategy and
whether the strategy could work in practice. Financial feasibility analysis and Resource
deployment analysis are the tools used to evaluate the feasibility of a strategy (Johnson et.
al., 2008).
8. Strategy proposal for Kesari Tours

A strategy proposal is been developed after critically reviewing the above literature and
putting Kesari Tours in to the context. This proposal starts with evaluating the recent past
strategic development process of Kesari Tours to identify the strategy in action, and then it
moves into evaluating the strategic position of Kesari Tour in which external micro and
macro environment is been analysed and opportunities and threats are been evaluated. Then
SWOT analysis is been conducted to identify the internal strength and weakness of the
27
company. Strategic choices are been developed using appropriate tools and the developed
strategic choices are been evaluated through three major criteria’s suitability, acceptability
and feasibility analysis. Finally the most reliable strategies for long-term sustainability of the
company is been recommended.
• Evaluating the strategy in action of Kesari Tours

After reviewing the history of Kesari Tours it is identified that the strategy developed in the
past is through a mix of intended and emergent process. Veena Patil is strategy planner of
Kesari Tour from the beginning, as she was an engineering student and jumped into travel
and tourism business she initially answered the environmental changes and deployed
strategies that could overcome current issues which formed an incremental emergent strategy.
However, her aggressive nature and a perfectionist attitude thrives excellence (Sudhir Patil,
2007) on her leadership that leads to the development of intended strategies. In 2007 the
company won the Best domestic tour operator award in which Veena Patil (2007) said that,
“As a company, we have done very well. Our focus will continue to be on innovation and this
year we hope to be successful in this regard”. Veena Patil’s strategy towards innovative
products in the domestic market was a path of success.
Product differentiation a successful strategy for Kesari Tours
The company believed that its innovative products are different from the ones in current
market and considering product differentiation as its core competency, the company
developed more and more innovative products such as “Agro Tours” that provides a chance
to the farmers in India to visit foreign countries to explore the new technologies and methods
of farming. Kesari Tours understands its market segment properly and designed products
various products suits a particular segments.
Kesari Tours competitive base
According to Bowman’s strategy clock concept, the competitive base of Kesari Tours was its
hybrid strategy that is based on low-price and product differentiation that offers more value to
its customers. It also charged premium prices for some products that are particularly targeted
a focused group of customers. Premium products are Tailor-made packages, business tours
etc. It turns towards sustainability and concentrates on its domestic network, the company
planned to offer IPO in 2007 to obtain Rs. 10 billion to invest in its network. In the past the
28
company was totally into product development by launching innovative products in existing
market (Ansoff, 1988).
International strategy of Kesari Tours and its entry mode
Kesari Tours has expanded its business in UK through a strategic alliance with Kuniversal
travels. The company has started its operations in UK and organizes tour packages from UK
to 7 continents. It pursues Multi-domestic strategy by employing local workforce in its
operations. It also delivers the same products that it is successful in its domestic market
(Kesari Tours, 2011).
• Current strategic position of Kesari Tours

The current strategic position of Kesari Tours is been evaluated by analysing the macro and
micro environment it operates, then a SWOT analysis is been conducted to identify the
strength, weakness, opportunities and threats involved in relations with its competitors.
PESTEL Analysis upon travel and tourism industry
PESTEL is used to analyse the Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Environmental

and Legal factors of an environment. By using Key Drivers along with PESTEL we could
focus more on the most important factors that have high impact on the success and failure of
a strategy (Johnson et. al., 2008).
Fig 6.2 PESTEL analysis using Key Driver technique
Political Economic
 Monetary policy in UK encourages  Tax reduction for small business
small business to grow and encourages in UK is a favourable time to
foreign investment in to UK a positive expand and sustain its position
sign for International Expansion into (UK Budget, 2011).
UK (Datamonitor, 2011).
Social Technological
 Growing ageing population in  Internet usage rate is dramatically
European countries has a positive growing in India and UK. Online
impact on its “Age no bar” products reservations becoming more
(Datamonitor, 2011). Hence more popular (Datamonitor, 2010)
products for ageing populations are  Innovation in GPS technologies
required in UK.
 Changing attitude of Indian people is a
favourable condition for the innovative
products.
Environmental Legal
29
 Technological innovation is developing  Health and safety laws becoming

solutions for air pollution, noise strict in India
pollution and environmental friendly
vehicles. That may lead to the company
to invest money on new vehicles.
Based on the above PESTEL analysis there is some changes that could positively impact the
strategy but some of them could be a threat in future. For example, Growing technological
advancement in internet and increasing number of internet users may lead to the company to
concentrate on online reservation facilities. It should restructure its network according to the
upcoming changes.
Porter’s Five Forces to analysis the attractiveness of UK market for its expansion
Porter (1980) states that, “Porter’s Five Forces framework helps to identify the attractiveness
of an industry or sector in terms of competitive forces”. Hence, we are evaluating the
competitive forces in the UK market to identify the attractiveness
Porter’s five forces
Threat of new Bargaining power

Entrants of buyer
Low ! High !
Competative
Rivalry
High !
Threat of Substitutes Bargaining power of

Suppliers
Low !
Low !
30
Threat of new entrants: Threat of new entrants into UK market is low as the travel and
tourism industry runs upon its reputations and network. It will be hard for a new company to
come and obtain economies of scale in UK. The companies which dominate in this industry
have already differentiated its products to attract the customers. So, it is difficult for a new
entrant to imitate that competency.
Threat of substitutes: Threat of substitutes is also low as airlines and other local travel
agencies are the substitutes for this company. However, the price performance ratio is better
than its substitutes.
Bargaining power of buyer: Bargaining power of buyers is high due to low switching cost. In
case of booking agents, due to high competitive rivalry the agent will sell the products which
is profitable for them and the agents bargaining power tends to be very high.
Bargaining power of supplier: Suppliers for Kesari Tours will be Airlines, Hotels and Coach
Providers. Due to threat of supplier competition as there is a chance for forward vertical
integration by the Travel Operators the suppliers tend to be less vulnerable.
Competitive rivalry: Competitive rivalry is quite high in UK market as there is balanced

competitors situation. There are lot of leading Tour Operators competing each other in the
market place. There is less differentiation in the product portfolios which again increases the
rivalry.
Thus based on the above analysis using Porter’s Five Forces upon UK market it is identified
that the micro environment of UK market is attractive for Kesari Tours to expand its
operations.
SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis identifies the key issues of a business environment and the strategic
capability of an organization that are like to influence the strategic development (Johnson et.
al., 2008).
Internal strengths of Kesari Tours: Innovative products and product differentiation strategy,
resource availability and inimitable corporate culture. Brand loyalty in domestic market is
also a good strength.
31
Internal weakness of Kesari Tours: Poor online booking, Poor international expansion,
funding of huge investment will be constrain.
External Opportunities: Opportunity in new market segment such as international expansion,

for example UK is environment is very favourable for its expansion. There is an Opportunity
to increase online booking facility. Diversification such as forward vertical integration as
Veena Patil (2010) says that, “we need hotels wherever we operate”. The company should
integrate with hotels to increase its profitability.
External threats: Economic downturn may reduce the growth of the company and may lead
to huge loss if diversification strategy implemented. Threat of competitors could imitate the
product differentiation.
Thus, after analysing the SWOT of Kesari Tours it is identified that there is lot of
opportunities for the company to grow. It has to obtain market expansion strategy and it has
to enhance its capability in increasing the online sales. More over diversification through
forward vertical integration may lead the company to grow quickly.
• Developing Strategic Choices for Kesari Tours

Strategic choices can be developed through the TOWS matrix. It is a most common tool used
for strategy development. It is similar to the SWOT analysis, as it pull’s the information’s
from SWOT analysis to generate different combination of strategic choices (Weihrich, 1982).
Developing strategic choice using TOWS matrix
Internal Factors
Strengths (S) Weakness (W)
WO Strategic options
Opportunitie SO Strategic options Diversification through vertical
s (O) International expansion integration, considering economical
downturn as an uncertainty
Externa
l factors ST Strategic options WT Strategic options
Innovation in product Improving the Online booking
Threats (T)
development to differentiate its facility to cope up with future
product from competitor demands
Strategic direction for Kesari Tours
32
At corporate-level the company should develop a direction for its growth. Ansoff Matrix
could be used to develop a strategic direction for the company. According to Ansoff Matrix
the company should pursue Diversification, as the company should enter into new market
segments with new products to increase its market share. It also helps the company to grow in
a fast phase. However, risk involved in this strategy, but tactical implementation of this
strategy can overcome the risk.
As the company is dealing with more number of products in its portfolio, it is necessary to
use BCG matrix to evaluate the balance within the portfolio. It says that there needs to be a
balance within the portfolio, so there should be some low-growth businesses that are making
adequate surplus to invest on higher growth businesses (Hax and Majluf, 1992). As most of
the products in its portfolio is in the Star, Cash cow areas, The company should develop more
innovative products to Problem child in BCG matrix may help the company to sustain its
revenue for long-term.
Pursuing the strategies in international context
The company should pursue Global Strategy by obtaining the benefits of international value
network to diversify its products. The company should develop more products that better
suits the local nations. For example, Kesari Tours in UK should offer more products to
ageing population. It should establish its operations in countries where the workforce is cheap
and close to its destination points.
International market selection and entry modes for Kesari Tours
As identified in the Porter’s Five Force and PESTEL, UK is a favourable place to expand.
And the favourable entry mode will be strategic alliances as Kesari’s brand loyalty and
product differentiation would remain a core competency. So, the investment needed for
infrastructure can be shared by the strategic partner. That would reduce the risk of heavy
investment.
33
• Strategic Evaluation for Kesari Tours

Evaluating the strategies is necessary to analyse whether the developed strategic choice will
succeed in future. This can be analysed in three main criteria’s such as suitability,
acceptability and feasibility.
Suitability analysis: The key issue of the Kesari Tours is the growth constrain. As it is fully
grown domestically and there is increasing inbound tourist from European countries to Asian
and African countries. It is necessary for the company to take opportunity to expand its
business in European markets to attract the inbound travellers. In this point of view the
strategic choice developed using TOWS matrix is suitable. As the internet usage is growing
dramatically it is necessary for the company to improve its online booking facility to cope up
with the need in future.
Acceptability analysis: The stakeholders of Kesari Tours are the family members and private
investors. Generally stakeholders of Kesari Tours depend on the strategic decisions taken by
Veena Patil. As they are not much involved into the operations of the business it could be the
individual decision. However, the return through this strategy worth the risk involved in this
strategic development.
Feasibility analysis: It is assumed that the company has enough resources and financial
capabilities to deliver these strategies.
9. Limitations in this project

As Kesari Tours is a private limited company, the financial information’s required to analysis
the acceptability and feasibility analysis is not available. So assumptions have been made that
the company have enough financial capability to implement these strategies. And there is
very less previous research has been done on this company, so the availability of internal
information’s is limited.
34
10.Recommendations
Following to the above analysis about the strategic gap associated with future environmental
changes in travel and tourism industry. It is recommended that Kesari Tours could develop a
diversification strategy by expanding into international markets such as UK. It is also
recommended to concentrate on forward vertical integration by acquiring hotels in the most
operational areas. As the technology is growing rapidly and the use of internet is also
growing faster. So people are more comfortable in booking online. So Kesari Tours has to
improve its online booking facility to cope up with the future demand. It is also
recommended to maintain a balanced portfolio of products by developing new products to
keep the revenue growing sustainably.
35
11.Reference
Bennis W., and Nanus B., (2002) the strategies for taking charge, successful habits of visionary companies,
Harper Business.
Cornelius P., Putte A., and Romani M., (2005) Three decades of scenario planning, California management
review, Vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 92-109
Enz C. A., (2010) Hospitality strategic management concepts and cases, 2 nd edition, New jersey: John wiley &
Sons, Inc.
Express Travel World, (2010) Idea Exchange with Veena Patil, MD of Kesari Tours [Online] Available from:
http://www.expresstravelworld.com/201008/market14.shtml (Accessed on 15/03/2011)
Elbanna S., (2006) Strategic decision making: process perspective, International journal of management
reviews, Vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 1-10
Jacobs T. et al., (1998) SWOT Analysis: Exploring techniques of strateg analysis and evaluation, Prentice Hall.
Johnson G., Scholes K., and Whittington. R., (2008) Exploring corporate strategy, 8th edi, Essex: Prentice Hall.
Kesari Tours, (2010) About Kesari Tours [Online] Available from:

http://www.kesari.in/Others/AboutUS.asp (Accessed on 14/03/2011)
Knights G., and Cavusil T., (2005) taxonomy of born-global firms, Management international review, Vol. 45
no. 3, pp. 15-35.
McKiernan P., (2006) PEST and Scenario, International Studies of Management and organization, Vol. 36, no.3
Moneycontrol, (2007) Kesari Tour mulls Rs. 100 crore IPO [Online] Available from:
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/ipo-upcoming-issues/kesari-tours-mulls-rs-100cr-ipo_285861.html
(Accessed on 15/03/2011)
Porter M, E., (1980) Competitive Strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. New York:
Free Press.
Porter M, E., (1985) Competitive advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance. New York: Free
Press.
Quinn J. B., and Mintzberg H., (1996) the strategy process: Concepts, Context, Cases. 3 rd edition, New Jersey:
Prentice and Hall.
Saunders M, Lewis P and Thornill A (2009) Research methods for business students. 5th Edition. Essex:
Pearson Education Ltd.
Szulanski G., and Amin K., (2001) Learning to make strategy: balancing discipline and imagination, Long range
planning, Vol. 34 pp. 537-556
The Economic Times, (2007) Kesari Tour Mulls Rs. 100 crore IPO [Online] Available from:
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100-crore-ipo (Accessed on 13/03/2011)
Thomas H., (2007) An analysis of environment and competitive dynamics of management education, Journal of
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no. 2, pp. 54-69
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Waters J. A., (1985) “Of strategies deliberates and emergent”, Strategic management journal, Vol. 6, no.3, pp.
257-272
37
12. APPENDIX- A (Reports)
VARK RESULT: Multimodal Study Strategies
If you have multiple preferences you are in the majority, as approximately 60% of any
population fits that category.
Multiple preferences are interesting and varied. For example you may have two strong
preferences Visual and Aural (VA) or Read/write and Kinesthetic (RK), or you may have
three strong preferences such as VAR or ARK. Some people have no standout scores. Their
scores are almost even for all four modes. For example one person had scores of V=6, A=6,
R=6, and K=6. She said that she adapted to the mode being used or requested. If the teacher
or supervisor preferred a written mode she switched into Read/write for her responses and for
her learning.
So multiple preferences give you choices of two or three or four modes to use for your
learning and for your interaction with others. Positive reactions mean that those with
multimodal preferences choose to match or align their mode to the significant others around
them. But, some people have admitted that if they want to be annoying they may stay in a
mode different from the person with whom they are working. For example they may ask for
written evidence in an argument, knowing that the other person much prefers to refer only to
oral information. This can be used in argument or debate.
You will need to read two or three or four lists of strategies provided in the Helpsheets. If you
have two almost equal preferences please read the study strategies that apply to both
preferences. If you have three preferences read the three lists that apply and similarly for
those with four. There is obviously no multimodal helpsheet. One interesting piece of
information that people with multimodal preferences have told us is that it is often necessary
for them to use more than one strategy for learning and communicating. They feel insecure
with only one. Alternatively those with a single preference often "get it" by using the set of
strategies that align with that single preference.
We are also noticing some differences among those who are multimodal and who have
chosen fewer than 25 options and those who have chosen more than 30. Those who have
38
chosen fewer than 25 of the options in the questionnaire prefer to see their highest score as
their main preference - almost like a single preference and they use their prefrences singly to
suit each situation. Those who have a total VARK score larger than 30 tend to use their
preferences in combination. To read more about Multimodality you can download an article
written by Neil Fleming here: Multimodality
Belbin’s Report
For a thinking and analytical person, you have an outgoing outlook and personality. This
offers you special advantages in the role of an adviser to others or as assessor of
external resources. We would expect you to be very well informed about everything that
is going on, due not so much to your specialised technical expertise as to your broad
interest in everything that is happening. You have an aptitude for being at the right place
at the right time. For you, "Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted". Hence, your
advice can be widely appreciated because it can often throw a new and unexpected light
on things that are commonly taken for granted.
One of your additional values in an organization is to help it stop "re-inventing the wheel".
You are not afraid of making contact with the people who can help. This could make you
the counter to those who resist outside influences or the "not invented here" brigade. If
you choose to make a stand it will be because you have thought it through. One of your
special roles might be as the guardian against proceeding with anything that could soon
become obsolete.
When it comes to operating at a less senior level or in dealing with everyday issues you
may find it more difficult to achieve job satisfaction. The work may not be mentally
stimulating enough. Another danger is that you may find yourself operating in too
confined a space that denies you the chance to rove. You could find your self criticised for
not doing enough on a practical front. That will depend partly on the expectations of the
person to whom you report. Much depends on whether you are in a job that is cast with
suitably broad terms of reference. If not, you will need to take action to change the
frontiers of your job or even to seek a more suitable position.
Your ideal operating role is that of an investigator. In occupational terms, it comes close
to that of a detective. Your probing mind can be a force for progress. So whatever job you
may be in, you should be a force for improving what is there.
On a final note, you need to take account of the role for which you are least suited. You
39
do not appear to fit comfortably into a subordinate role. You may therefore need to give
special attention to becoming low profile and supportive when the occasion calls for it.
Learning styles - Pragmatists
Pragmatists are keen on trying out ideas, theories and techniques to see if they work in
practice. They positively search out new ideas and take the first opportunity to experiment
with applications. They are the sort of people who return from management courses
brimming with new ideas that they want to try out in practice. They like to get on with things
and act quickly and confidently on ideas that attract them. They tend to be impatient with
ruminating and open-ended discussions. They are essentially practical, down to earth people
who like making practical decisions and solving problems. They respond to problems and
opportunities ‘as a challenge’. Their philosophy is: ‘There is always a better way’ and ‘If it
works it’s good’.
 Honey and Mumford, 1986, 1992
Guidelines for selecting learning experiences
which are appropriate to your learner's preferred learning style
1. Learners who have a preference for the activist style will learn best from activities
where:-
- there are new experiences/problems/opportunities from which to learn
- they can engross themselves in short 'here and now' activities such as
business games, competitive teamwork tasks, role-playing exercises
- there is excitement/drama/crisis and things chop and change with a range

of diverse activities to tackle
40
- they have a lot of the limelight/high visibility, i.e. they can 'chair'
meetings, lead discussions, give presentations
- they are allowed to generate ideas without constraints of policy or

structure or feasibility
- they are thrown in at the deep end with a task they think is difficult, i.e
when set a challenge with inadequate resources and adverse conditions
- they are involved with other people, i.e. bouncing ideas off them, solving
problems as part of a team
- it is appropriate to 'have a go'
2. Learners who have a preference for the reflector style will learn best from activities
where:
- they are allowed or encouraged to watch/think/chew over activities
- they are able to stand back from events and listen/observe, i.e. observing a
group at work, taking a back seat in a meeting, watching a film or video
- they are allowed to think before acting, to assimilate before commenting,

i.e. time to prepare, a chance to read in advance a brief giving background
data
- they can carry out some painstaking research, i.e. investigate, assemble
information, probe to get to the bottom of things
- they have the opportunity to review what has happened, what they have
learned
- they are asked to produce carefully considered analyses and reports
- they are helped to exchange views with other people without danger, i.e.
by prior agreement, within a structured learning experience
41
- they can reach a decision in their own time without pressure and tight
deadlines
3. Learners who have a preference for the theorist style will learn best from activities
where:
- what is being offered is part of a system, model, concept, theory
- they have time to methodically explore the associations and

interrelationships between ideas, events and situations
- they have the chance to question and probe the basic methodology,
assumptions or logic behind something, i.e. by taking part in a question
and answer session, by checking a paper for inconsistencies
- they are intellectually stretched, i.e. by analysing a complex situation,

being tested in a tutorial session, by teaching high calibre people who ask
searching questions
- they are in structured situations with a clear purpose
- they can listen to or read about ideas and concepts that emphasise
rationality or logic and are well argued/elegant/watertight
- they can analyse and then generalise the reasons for success or failure
- they are offered interesting ideas and concepts even though they are not
immediately relevant
- they are required to understand and participate in complex situations
4. Learners who have a preference for the pragmatist style will learn best from
activities where:
42
- there is an obvious link between the subject matter and a problem or

opportunity on the job
- they are shown techniques for doing things with obvious practical
advantages, i.e. how to save time, how to make a good first impression,
how to deal with awkward people
- they have the chance to try out and practice techniques with
coaching/feedback from a credible expert, i.e. someone who is successful
and can do the techniques themselves
- they are exposed to a model you can emulate, i.e. a respected boss, a
demonstration from someone with a proven track record, lots of
examples/anecdotes, a film showing how its done
- they are given techniques currently applicable to their own jobs
- they are given immediate opportunities to implement what they have

learned
- there is a high face validity in the learning activity, i.e. good stimulation,
'real' problems
- they can concentrate on practical issues, i.e. drawing up action plans with
an obvious end product, suggesting short cuts, giving tips
(Reference : Honey and Mumford "The Manual of Learning Styles" 1986)
43
13. APPENDIX – B (CV)
PRASAD C. PACHAKALE
58, Hadrian Road,
Newcastle Upon
Tyne
NE4 9QH.
Mobile No: 07832739567
E-mail Id : prasad_pachakale@yahoo.com
___________________________________________________________________________
___________
PROFILE:
A bilingual Airline Management and Travel & Tourism Diploma with several years of
customers and administrative experience seeking a challenging role that will develop and add
to the skills. To utilize
my knowledge skills and abilities towards the growth of organization and grow along with it.
EDUCATION:
Degree Name of University Year of Passing Percentage &

Class
BA (HONS) In
44
International Northumbria Sep 2010 to June Pursuing

Hospitality & University 2011
Tourism
Management (Top-
up)
Bachelor in Mumbai University Mar 2005 Pass
Commerce
Intermediate Level A Maharashtra State Feb 2002 53%
Board
High School GCSE Maharashtra State Mar 2000 65 %
Board
ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATION:
Degree Name of Year of Percentage & Specialization/

University Passing Class Subject
Diploma in (IITC) India Tourism,
International International Travel Agency
Airlines & Trade Centre. 2007 76% Management,
Travel Tourism Airline &
Management Airport
through IITC Management,
Cruises
IATA / UFTAA (IITC) India Airline Fares
Foundation International 2007 Pass & Ticketing
Course Trade Centre.
Computer (IITC) India Amadeus,
Reservation International 2007 Pass Sabre
System Trade Centre.
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:
1) Worked with “DIVYA TOURISM PVT LTD.” as a Guest Service Executive (Ground
handling agent for AIR DECCAN) from 1st April 2007 till 30th October 2007.
Key Areas
● Responsible for passenger check in.
● Handling baggage related matters.
45
● Ramp supervision – on time turnaround & departure of aircrafts.
● Assisting arriving passenger with regard to their further itinerary like connecting domestic
/
international flights, baggage retrieval, loss claims & ground transportation
● Managing boarding gate activities.
Cont……..
2) Worked with “AIR DECCAN (KINGFISHER AIRLINES)” as a Guest Service Agent

from 10th October 2007 till 30th April 2008.
Key Areas
● Responsible for passenger check in.
● Handling baggage related matters.
● Ramp supervision – on time turnaround & departures of aircrafts.
● Assisting arriving passenger with regard to their further itinerary like connecting
domestic /international
flights, baggage retrieval, loss claims & ground transportation.
● Managing boarding gate activities.
● Issuing tickets for passengers at the ticketing counter. (Raddix Air Enterprise)
46
3) Worked with “J.R. TECHNOLOGIES (SKYBIRD TRAVEL)” as a Ticketing

Executive from May 2008 till March 2010.
Key Areas & Responsibilities
● Issuing tickets for international airlines in AMADEUS.
● Issuing tickets for US based travel agencies.
● Issuing tickets for SKYBIRD TRAVEL LTD.(US)
● Working on publish fare, bulk fare (net contract), auto price, manual force.
● Checking availability.
● Making reservation as per passenger request.
● Sending email itinerary
REFERENCE
Available on request
Place:
Date:
PRASAD C.
PACHAKALE
47
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Prasad Pachakale Professional Project 08/04/2011

NORTHUMBRIA BUSINESS SCHOOL

“FORMULATING AND SUGGESTING FUTURE STRATEGIC

(A CASE STUDY OF KESARI TOURS)

NAME: PRASAD PACHAKALE

MODULE CODE: NX0315

MODULE NAME: PROFESSIONAL PROJECT

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 08/04/2011

VARK learning style test: Multimodal study strategy

Mental muscle test

Roles that suite my personal nature

In the role of resource investigator I am extrovert, communicative, enthusiastic and develop

My ultimate functioning role is an examiner. In professional terms, it gets close to a role of

2. Implication of career choice

Life-long learning plan

6. Background of Kesari Tours

• Various divisions of Kesari Tours

According to Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2008) the, “elements of strategic

For example, in some circumstance an understanding of strategic position of an organization

outcomes. Hence strategy in action informs understanding of the strategic position of an

Strategy development process of an organization

Basically the strategy developed in an organization is of two types. One is “Intended

Intended strategy development process: It is an appearance of required strategy as

Emergent strategy development process: Although strategic development process is an

Logical incrementalism is the most evidenced strategic development pattern which is

• The Strategic Position

Analysing macro-environment using PESTEL

how environment might influence an organization’s strategies. Scenario building helps

Analysing micro-environment using Porter’s Five Forces framework

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants into an industry

Legislation or government actions: Government restrains some of the industries by keeping

Differentiation of product / service: Product or Service differentiation by the existing

 Which industry to enter and which industry to leave?

Identifying the strength and weakness of an organization in relation to its competitors

Identifying the opportunities and threats

• The Strategic Choices

 The choice of how an organization positions itself in relation to competitors.

Bases of competitive advantage (business-level strategies)

Strategic clock to develop competitive strategy options

Sustaining competitive advantage: Organizations that try to achieve competitive advantage

Sustaining competitive advantage

However if it is pursuing differentiation strategy then it need to obtain sustaining

Strategic direction using Ansoff Matrix

Existing Market Penetration Product development

Source: Ansoff H., (1988) corporate strategy, penguin

BCG Matrix for managing portfolio of products

Methods of pursuing strategies in international context

International market selection and entry modes

• The Strategic Evaluation

8. Strategy proposal for Kesari Tours

• Evaluating the strategy in action of Kesari Tours

Product differentiation a successful strategy for Kesari Tours

Kesari Tours competitive base

International strategy of Kesari Tours and its entry mode

• Current strategic position of Kesari Tours

PESTEL Analysis upon travel and tourism industry

PESTEL is used to analyse the Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Environmental

Fig 6.2 PESTEL analysis using Key Driver technique

 Technological innovation is developing  Health and safety laws becoming

Porter’s five forces

Threat of new Bargaining power

Threat of Substitutes Bargaining power of

Competitive rivalry: Competitive rivalry is quite high in UK market as there is balanced