Table of Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................. 5
2. Business Idea and Value Preposition ........................................... 5
The Idea ......................................................................................... 5
How does it work ........................................................................... 6
Value Proposition: Why Viva! ......................................................... 7
3. Research Design and Results........................................................ 8
Methodology.................................................................................. 8
UK Questionnaire .................................................................... 8
Ecuador Questionnaire ........................................................... 8
Research Results ............................................................................ 9
Key Findings in the UK .......................................................... 10
Key Findings in Ecuador ........................................................ 10
4. Main industry vulnerabilities and market dependencies .......... 11
Micro-environment Analysis ........................................................ 11
Macro-environment Analysis ....................................................... 11
5. Customer Requirements ............................................................ 12
6. Business Strategy ....................................................................... 15
Viva!´s Strategy ............................................................................ 15
Top Objectives ............................................................................. 16
Implementation ........................................................................... 17
7. Main Marketing Aspects ............................................................ 17
Target Market .............................................................................. 17

3
 Routes to Market ......................................................................... 18
Presentations and Exhibitions .............................................. 18
Email Campaigns .................................................................. 18
Online Platforms................................................................... 18
Influencers and Endorsements ............................................. 18
8. Financing and Revenue Model ................................................... 19
Financing ...................................................................................... 19
Revenue Model ............................................................................ 20
Extra Sources of Income ............................................................... 20
Sponsorships ........................................................................ 21
Monetarised Platforms......................................................... 21
9. Business Suppliers and Partners ................................................ 21
Universities in the UK and Ecuador .............................................. 21
Businesses in the UK and Ecuador................................................ 21
Travel Agencies in Ecuador .......................................................... 21
Others .......................................................................................... 21
10. Kind of People the Business will Recruit ................................. 22
11. Scalability ................................................................................. 22
12. Conclusion ............................................................................... 23
13. References ................................................................................ 24
14. Appendix .................................................................................. 26

4
 1. Introduction

According to American Express Travel, learning about new cultures was the top
travel goal for 72% of people in that year. In addition to this, the Association of
British Travel Agents (ABTA) has highlighted that almost 70% of people
believe travel companies should ensure their holidays help the local community
and contribute positively to their economy. Furthermore, AIG Travel's 2017
Pulse Pole, based on 1,300 respondent travellers, revealed that 78% indicated
that sustainable travel is ´very important´ or ´somewhat important´, compared
to 52% of respondents back in 2016.
On the other hand, Education First has highlighted that most Latin American
countries have a low English proficiency level, including Ecuador that has been
ranked 65 among 88 countries from different regions considered in this study.
As a consequence, the purpose of Viva! would be solving two problems: helping
students and young professionals in the UK who want to volunteer or travel
outside Europe, but cannot afford to pay between 540 GBP and even 3000 GBP
without even including flights as well as helping students and young
professionals in Ecuador to have access to improve their English level given
that English is not very strong in the educational curriculum in the region and
most people cannot afford English courses and exchange programmes.
This report will focus on analysing Viva!´s value proposition and find out
whether the idea would be feasible and if it could achieve financial success.
Both primary and secondary data will be taken into account to do the market
analysis, understanding how to meet the customer requirements and what
marketing and financial strategies would be appropriate, what suppliers could
be needed and recognise the team that could fit the idea´s values and purpose.

5
2. Business Idea and Value Preposition

2.1 The Idea

Viva! would offer a service that allows students and young professionals in the
UK, aged 18 – 25, to travel to Ecuador and receive meals and accommodation
for free in exchange of helping young university students or young
professionals, also aged 18 – 25, to practice their English two hours a day –
Monday to Friday – for a period of two weeks.
2.2 How does it work?
a) Application: Potential hosts and guests, need to
submit an application form containing basic information
as well as a short statement with their motivation to join
the programme.

b) Interview & Background Check: Once the

application is reviewed, an interview will be conducted,
face to face or online if the applicant is not local, to find
out more about the person (e.g. preferences,
expectations). Additionally, a background check will be
conducted for hosts and guests cases to ensure guest and
host safety.

c) Matching Process: If successful, the applicant will be

matched to a guest/host depending in different factors and
preferences such as age (e.g. some applicants may want
to be matched with someone from the same age).

6
 d) Pre-departure Meeting: Guest and host will have
one last meeting with Viva! before the programme starts
to receive extra information and ensure all doubts are
cleared. Furthermore, guests will receive more
information about extra activities that they can add to the
programme (e.g. day trips in partnership with local tourist
agents).

e) Programme Starts: Once everything has been

coordinated, the experience will start!
Support from Viva! will still be offered throughout the
duration of the programme.

2.3 Value Proposition: Why Viva?

Mission
´To make traveling and volunteering more affordable and fun by promoting
culture exchange whilst benefitting local communities´
Vision
´To expand the programme to different countries to support more young people
who wish to travel and volunteer abroad´

Given that there are over 900 international volunteer organisations and
thousands of travel agencies worldwide, Viva! needs to create customer value
by creating a powerful value proposition that can help customers to understand
why they should choose Viva! over competitors.
Hence, Viva!´s purpose is encouraging young UK residents to explore and
volunteer in a different country at an affordable price, whilst helping local
young people to improve their English proficiency level.
Guests would be required to spend only two hours a day teaching English to the
host (Monday – Friday) in exchange for free meals and accommodation. This
7
is important to consider as in most cases, volunteer programmes require
participants to volunteer at least 20 hours a week five or six days a week on
average.
Therefore the guest could have more time to explore the city and other
attractions, or if preferred, guest and host have the flexibility to help each
beyond those two hours; for example, guests could keep on practicing English
whilst taking the host to different tourist attractions.
Hence, guests could feel safer (especially those travelling abroad for the first
time) and have the chance to discover places that only locals know about.
Moreover, based on the comparative table with examples of popular
international volunteering organisations and ´in-budget´ travel agencies for
young people with two-week experiences in Ecuador (Appendix 2A), it can be
noted that 1) volunteering is cheaper than paying a holidays package and 2) but
most organisations often require an application fee (usually around 250 GBP)
plus at least 250 GBP per week; furthermore, WYSE Travel Confederation
(2017) has highlighted that young volunteers traveling overseas spend on
average 67 EUR (938 EUR for two weeks), whereas with Viva!, participants
would only pay 267 GBP for the programme fee and that would include meals
and accommodation.

3. Research Design and Results

3.1 Methodology
As part of the analysis to discover if the idea is feasible in both countries, there
were two different questionnaires for each one, as it is essential to understand
guest and hosts´ perspectives considering that both would be in different
scenarios and the approach to each group would be slightly different, beginning
with the fact that guests are the ones paying the programme fee, whereas hosts
would be the ones practicing English, but even if hosts do not pay a fee, they
would be the ones offering free meals and accommodation.
The questionnaires were performed online and in-person. In the UK, there were
68 responses overall; 58 online and 10 in-person. In Ecuador, there were 74
responses overall. 44 online and 30 in-person.
8
Both questionnaires were designed on Bristol Online Surveys and the links to
each were shared on Facebook LinkedIn, but it was highlighted participants had
to be 18-28 years old. Regarding the in-person questionnaires, in the UK they
were shared with final year students from the Business Faculty at the University
of Greenwich and in Ecuador they were shared with final year students from the
Social Sciences Faculty at the Central University of Ecuador.
Both questionnaires were kept short and concise to ensure participants do not
drop the survey and answers are the most accurate possible.
3.1.1 UK Questionnaire: The first part of the questionnaire focused on
the participant´s background (age and occupation) to ensure the
participant matches the profile of potential guest that Viva! would target.

The second part of the questionnaire evaluated the participant´s travel

preferences to find out if the programme could fit customer requirements.
For example, if the participant is actually willing to travel outside the UK
or Europe, travel frequency, how much the participant is willing to spend
if travelling outside Europe as well as the preferred destination based in
six regions.

The final part of the questionnaire focuses more directly on the business
idea proposed by Viva! to find out if there are participants that would
consider teaching English in exchange of free meals and accommodation
and for how long they would like to carry out this activity.

3.1.2 Ecuador Questionnaire: Similarly to the other questionnaire, the

first part focused on the participant´s background (age and occupation)
to ensure the participant matches the profile of potential guest that Viva!
would target.

However, the second part focused on finding out the English proficiency
level of the participant, where the participant learned the language and
whether or not the participant is interested in improving that proficiency
level.

The final part is also more directly linked to Viva!´s idea, but in contrast
to the other questionnaire, the intention was finding out if the participant

9
 would be keen to offer free meals and accommodation to a foreign
national in exchange of English lessons.
3.2 Research Results
The results of the primary research have been useful to find out if the idea would
be feasible in both countries, as well as understanding why in some cases
participants may not be interested (either as hosts or guests) and if there is
something that can be done.
The full results of both questionnaires can be found in Appendix 3A.
Nevertheless, the following section will summarise and analyse the key findings
and discuss their impact and relation to the business idea.
3.2.1 Key Findings in the UK:

 The programme would be affordable for at least 84.5% participants

due to the affordable programme fee cost. However, it may be also
reach a portion of the 13.8% of participants who said they would
pay 500 – 700 GBP if a small discount is applied and depending
on how much flights costs.
 69% are directly interested in teaching English in exchange for free
meals and accommodation.
 Although only 77.6% of participants said they would like their trip
outside of Europe, this increased to 82% with the option of
teaching English in exchange for free meals and accommodation,
as this percentage of participants would be keen to carry out this
activity two weeks or more.
 Latin America is the second largest preferred destination with
30%, ONLY 1.1% behind Asia, which is good as Ecuador is
located in Latin America. However, in the future Viva! could think
about expanding to other regions, being Asia the first one in the
list.

3.2.2 Key Findings in Ecuador:

 Most participant (58.1%) depend on high school to learn English.

10
  86% of participants would like to improve their English
proficiency level which demonstrates the awareness and interest in
a foreign language that young people in Ecuador has.
 69% of participants are directly interested in offering free meals
and accommodation in exchange for English lessons.
 82.3% of participants who said they would be interested in
becoming hosts has said that they would be happy to carry out this
activity for two weeks or more and given that there is a similar
result from the UK side, Viva! should consider to at least add
another option for a three-week programme.

4. Main industry vulnerabilities and market dependencies

In order to have a clear scenario of the main industry vulnerabilities and market
dependencies, it is important to carry out the micro-environment and macro-
environment analysis taking into account that the company will operate in two
industries: travel and volunteering.
4.1 Micro-Environment Analysis:
Based on a full Porter´s Five Forces Analysis (Appendix 4A), which is mainly
used to determine the competitive intensity, attractiveness of an industry and
find out if a firm can be profitable (CGMA 2013); several factors have been
highlighted about the within the travel and volunteering industries.
In summary, it can be noted that although the industry is highly competitive due
to the large number of competitors and significant number of substitutes, it is
possible to enter as there are not many barriers and it is possible to make profit
in a billionaire industry as far as the company finds its niche, especially
considering that tourist arrivals are going to increase by almost 60% in 2020,
therefore new entrants have medium level of power
However, suppliers have low level of power as there are several universities,
business and tourist agencies that Viva! could partner with. Moreover, tourist
agencies that would offer day trips in Ecuador have similar tour prices – 45 GBP
on average for day trips including food, guide and transport – which means
switching costs are low.

11
Furthermore, substitutes, buyers and competitive rivalry have high level of
power given that: although there are not as many substitutes as competitors,
substitutes offer great options for customisation and considering most are online
platforms, customers can book their holidays any time without following any
application process, and in fact, this is one of the reasons why 79% of travellers
in the UK prefer booking their holidays online compared to 19% who still prefer
using a local travel agent (Kayak 2016); buyers have high level of power mainly
due to the large number of competitors and significant number of substitutes
available as well as the relatively low switching costs among all; competitive
rivalry also has a high level due to what it has already been mentioned regarding
number of competitors, substitutes and switching costs.
4.1 Macro-Environment Analysis:
Based on the PESTEL analysis – a framework that analyses key factors
affecting the organisation from the outside (CIPD 2018) – which can be found
in the Appendix 4B, it can be noted that there are some relevant factors that
would have a significant impact in the company within the travel and
volunteering industries.
For example, although millennials – who are part of the company´s target
market – have demonstrated that even if their average salary is not high enough
to save money, a high percentage of millennials are keen to travel, and in fact,
most would prefer going on holidays rather than buying a car. Moreover,
nowadays young people have more awareness about sustainable travel and
contributing to the communities they are visiting when they go on holidays and
most also focus on getting a truly local experience; hence, Viva! would be a
great option for those who would like to focus on travelling, but at the same
time contributing the local community by helping locals to improve their
English proficiency as well as having a great local experience by spending two
weeks with a local family.
Furthermore, technology is changing significantly the way the travel industry
works as people now prefer booking anything related to their holidays online.
However, Viva! will actually take this as an opportunity to reach potential
guests in other countries using the power of the internet.

12
 5. Customer Requirements

Viva! will focus in the travel and volunteering industries which means that the
company will consider customer requirements in both sectors.
After doing the market research through the PESTEL and Porter´s Five Forces
analysis, the most relevant facts to consider when building a powerful strategy
that could attract customers are the following:
Given that 60% of millennials in the UK agree that the most important
thing when going on holidays is to experience the local culture (Expedia
2016) and 70% of people have indicated that travel companies should
ensure their holidays help the local people and the local economy
(American Express Travel 2018), Viva! would be a great option as
customers would have the opportunity to stay with locals and get to
experience what is like living like a local.

Considering that 55.5% of millennials intended to use a credit card to

cover travel expenses in 2017, Viva! should also consider to give
customers the opportunity to pay their experience in quotes to become
more attractive for those who cannot afford to pay the programme in one
payment. Furthermore, 13.8% of participants in the UK questionnaire as
part of the primary research have said they would not spend more than
500 – 700 GBP to travel outside Europe (including flights), therefore if
additional payment methods are implemented, some in this group may
consider to spend slightly more.

As mentioned in the PESTEL analysis, 42% millennials have said that

photos of destinations shared on social media have influenced their
destination choice (Expedia 2016), therefore Viva! is also considering to
have a very strong digital presence with great quality content that could
inspire young people not only to join the programme, but experiencing a
different culture and help a local community. Additionally, Viva! has also
thought about monetising its online platforms with adverts to get an extra
source of income.

13
It has been also mentioned in the PESTEL analysis that 84% of
millennials would consider travelling abroad to engage in volunteer
activities (Marriott Rewards 2018), this means that there is a high number
of possible participants that Viva! could target considering that in the
primary research 69% of participants in the UK said they would be
consider teaching English a couple of hours a day in exchange for free
meals and accommodation.

Furthermore, based also in the PESTEL analysis 79% of travellers in the

UK said they prefer booking their holidays online compared to only 19%
who still use local travel agencies (Kayak 2016) and Viva! would like to
take this as an opportunity, considering that if the business is successful
the UK, it could recruit participants from all over the world online in the
future, similar to how several international travel and volunteering
companies operate.

Legal requirements are essential for guests and hosts, therefore Viva! will
invest on certified background checks to guarantee safety. Additionally,
each guest applicant will be ask to book a travel insurance to avoid any
problem during their stay abroad. Travel insurance can be found for less
than 19.20 GBP (Forchione et al 2019).

Finally, based also on the PESTEL analysis 52% of people have indicated
that sustainable tourism is important to them (Trekk Soft 2018), therefore
Viva! should consider some eco-travel options as part of the day trips that
the company would offer in partnership with local tourism agencies.

14
 6. Business Strategy

According to Henry (2008), a firm must be able to produce value that is

considered superior to that of its competitors, therefore after analysing the
competitive environment and have an idea of the company´s current situation
(context) and where it wants to go (content), it is time to plan how it will get
there (process) by formulating long-term goals and a sustainable strategy that
will make out the best out of the company´s resources and capabilities.
Moreover, it is important to have a clear focus from the beginning to avoid
´getting stuck in the middle´ (Porter, 1985) which means not trying to please
everyone, but focus on a target group.
6.1 Viva!´s Business Strategy
Considering the primary and secondary research, Viva! will have a hybrid
strategy to succeed using the Strategy Clock which provides a way of
approaching Porter´s generic strategies that gives more scope for a hybrid
strategies (Johnson et al, 2015) and Viva! will use a combination of
differentiation and low-price (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The Company´s Position in the Strategy Clock

15
 Differentiation: Although more overseas volunteering require
volunteers to work at least 20 hours a week – Viva! will only require 10,
considering that on one side the programme focuses on helping young
people in Ecuador to improve their English proficiency, but it also
focuses on giving young travellers the opportunity to discover a different
country as much as possible during the programme duration, and if they
would work 5/6 hours a day, it means that they may not have time to
enjoy day trips to other interesting destinations such as Cotopaxi National
Park, Quilotoa or even the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Low-Price: Viva! will try to cut costs as much as possible so it can

become the most affordable option in the market, especially considering
that based on the primary research most participants (34.5%) said they
would pay between 700 GBP to 100 GBP if travelling outside Europe
including flights. Furthermore, 13.8% of participants said they would pay
only between 500 GBP to 700 GBP (including flights), and it is important
to mention that due to the programme fee and promotions, if tickets are
booked in advance, the programme could also be available for some
people in this group as sometimes flight tickets to Ecuador can be found
for 400 GBP – 450 GBP, which means that there is a possibility that some
participants may end up paying as low as 640 GBP including flights (also
based on a 10% discount of the programme fee).
6.2 Top Objectives
Reaching at least 180 guests in the UK and 90 hosts in Ecuador (who
could receive guests twice a year), by partnering with universities and
companies in both countries where Viva! could find potential guests and
hosts.

Expand to other cities in Ecuador – Cuenca and Guayaquil – by year two

depending on the business performance and also consider reaching other
counties in the first five years taking into account that a high number of
participants in the primary research have highlighted their interest in Asia
as well, but additional primary research would be useful to discover what
countries are the most popular.

16
 In order to keep feasible prices, Viva! would like to get some extra
sources of income such as sponsorships as well as monetising its digital
platforms for which focus on creative content will be high. Ideally, the
company would be looking forward to have these extra sources of income
by the second half of year one, after trying to reach potential sponsors
and developing a high volume of quality content in the first half.
6.3 Implementation
Effective implementation is essential as even if the strategy is great, if
implementation fails, then Viva! may risk losing customers, money and
opportunities, therefore Viva! will focus on using relationship marketing to
create bonds and build long-term relationships with customers and partners as
well as working on getting valuable feedback to have a better performance.
Furthermore, Viva! understands that building a brand is essential and the digital
world has a high level of influence on millennials, the company´s target market,
hence digital marketing tools such as analytics and data bases will be used to
offer more customisation and ensure potential customers get the right message
at the right time.
Moreover, integrated marketing communications will be used to ensure all the
messages the company is sending are consistent and concise so they can result
in a good conversion rate (getting customers).

7. Main Marketing Aspects

7.1 Target Market

Ecuador: Young students or professionals, aged 18-28, who wish to improve
their English proficiency level and have a cultural exchange experience.
UK: Young students or professionals, aged 18-28, who would like to travel to
a different country and have a truly local experience, but cannot afford to pay
between 540 – 3000 GBP for an experience that does not even include flights.

17
7.2 Routes to Market

7.2.1 Presentations and Exhibitions

Considering the company´s target market, one of the best ways to reach
potential guests and hosts would be doing exhibitions and presentations for
students in universities and young professionals in companies. Hence, Viva!
will visit several universities in the UK, focusing in London and nearby cities
with high number of students, whereas in Ecuador the initial focus will be in 11
universities located in Ecuador´s capital where the programme is going to take
place.

Regarding businesses, Viva! will start visiting mainly big companies in both
countries considering that the bigger the company it is, the higher the chances
are to find potential guests and hosts.

7.2.2 Email Campaigns

During presentations and exhibitions in businesses and universities, Viva! will

gather contact information of those who are interested in the programme and
then keep in touch with them with informative content, updates and promotions.

7.2.3 Online Platforms:

Based on the PESTEL analysis it is clear how important digital platforms have
become in the travel and volunteering sectors. Therefore, it is key to have up to
date and consistent content throughout all social media channels and other
platforms including the company´s website to ensure a brand identity and
community is being built. Viva! will use the following platforms: Facebook,
Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and website powered by WordPress.

7.2.4 Influencers and Endorsements:

Influencers are individuals who have the power to affect purchase decisions of
others due to their popularity, knowledge, position or relationship with their
audience (Influencer Marketing Hub 2019). Influencer marketing, in fact, is
estimated to become a 10 billion USD industry by 2020 and there are several

18
websites where influencers can be found based on their marketing channels,
location, audience size and more (Matthews 2019). Hence, Viva! will focus on
finding influencers, aged 18 – 28, with high popularity in the travel and tourism
sector and passion for supporting local communities.

Moreover, although financial support may not be possible, there has been a
discussion with a member of the Consulate of Ecuador in London that has
highlighted that the entity supports Ecuadorian entrepreneurs in the country to
start their business in different ways such as providing a space for events and
networking. This would be very helpful as potential customers may feel more
confident about the programme if there is support from a governmental body.

*Several routes to the company´s target market have been based on what has
been suggested as part of VIVA!´S AIDA model (Appendix 7A), model used to
identify the stages that a person goes through during the buying process. It's a
purchasing funnel that ´pushes´ customers in making the final purchase
(Hanlon 2013).

8. Financing and Revenue Model

8.1 Financing
After working on a cash flow statement considering all essential and main costs
during the first three years of growth, it was calculated that Viva! would need
17,500 GBP that could be obtained with a bank loan with and interest rate of
11.83% and 12.49% APR, to five years and eight months, which means monthly
payments of £346.98 (NatWest 2019). This option is considered as several
banks in the UK offer business loans to small businesses for up to 25,000 GBP
with decent rates and is the most straight forward option.
* Cash flow with all information can be found in Appendix 8A.

19
8.2 Revenue Model
1. Lead Magnet: Free in-person and Skype 1-2-1
informative meetings to attract potential customers.

2. Trip Wire: The price has been slightly increased in

order to have more promotions such as ´bring a friend to
travel together and have 15% discount´ or ´start your
application now and get a free day trip´.

3. Core Offering: This would be the programme Viva!

is offering at £267 without any hidden extra fees.

4. Profit Maximizer: Day trips offered to guests to

different attractions throughout the country from which
Viva! could get 10% commission.

8.3 Extra Income

Extra sources of income have been found possible throughout the development
of the business including:

20
 8.3.1 Sponsorships: Viva! will look for potential sponsors such as
Ecuadorian local business that would like to advertise in our welcome
handbooks for guests and hosts.

8.3.2 Monetarised Digital Platforms: Viva! will also use the content on
the digital platforms such as videos or blog articles not only to promote
the experience, but also to get an extra source of income through adverts.
Based on the cash flow, the high positive impact of these sources on the
company is clear if achieving an increasing income of 250 GBP every six
months from both sources together.

9. Business Suppliers and Partners

In order to be successful and achieve the expected number of participants, the

key is building partnerships with institutions and companies in both countries
and also with tourist agencies in Ecuador.
9.1 Universities in the UK and Ecuador: Best places to find potential
hosts and guests given that university students is our target market.
There are 144 higher institutions in the UK that will be considered,
starting with the ones in London, whereas in Ecuador the focus will be
in 11 higher institutions located in the capital where the programme will
take place.
9.2 Companies in the UK and Ecuador: Big business will be the main
target in both countries as more young professionals could be found than
in smaller business. However, small business will also be considered.
9.3 Travel Agencies in Ecuador: Day trips would be the profit
maximizer and a great way to contribute to the local economy. Hence,
Viva! will be keen to build strong relationships with local travel
agencies to promote day trips to the guests in exchange of a small
commission (10%).
9.4 Others: Viva! will also be looking for potential sponsors who wish
to invest in the company such as Ecuadorian business that wish to
advertise their product to the guests in the digital catalogues that will be

21
 given as part of their ´welcome kit´. Moreover, the company will be also
monetizing its digital platforms with sponsor adverts.
Furthermore, Viva! would also be keen to partner with either an airline
or a travel metasearch engine to offer more affordable flight prices to
guests.

10. Kind of people the business should recruit

Although this project may start as ´something small´, at least two people are
needed, one in the UK and another one in Ecuador.
The CEO and founder, Maite Jimenez, would focus in the UK market trying to
reach potential guests by doing exhibitions and presentations across the UK in
different universities and business. Moreover, she would be managing the
marketing campaigns and finance for both countries as well as the whole
application process in the UK.
Nevertheless, it is very important to spread the word in Ecuador and recruit
potential hosts, hence the company will recruit another person with similar
interests in supporting young people and passion for travelling (Appendix 10A).
This person will manage the universities and companies partnerships in Ecuador
to recruit hosts as well as building partnerships with local tourist agencies that
could offer guests day trips to attractions outside the city.
Furthermore, as mentioned before there is also the initiative to find potential
sponsorships in both countries that could help Viva! get some extra revenue to
keep affordable prices, therefore both members will have to explore different
options and find the best approach to them.

11. Scalability

Based on the primary and secondary research as well as the PESTLE, Porter´s
Five Forces, SWOT analysis (Appendix 11A) – to understand the company´s
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats – and risk register analysis
(Appendix 11B) – to be aware of potential risks and how to avoid or minimise

22
their impacts, it can be highlighted that the company will have more
opportunities than threats. There is a clear demand for the business idea and
there is also the possibility for market development, especially in other Latin
American and Asian countries, but this should be looked further to know what
countries in each region are the most popular. Furthermore, there is the
possibility for product development if the company knows how to use its digital
platforms effectively and develop excellent content that can be monetarised.
Nevertheless, the company should keep in mind some relevant risks such as
ensuring enough hosts cover the guest demand and vice versa. Besides this, the
company should focus significantly on ensuring guests and hosts behaviour is
going to be appropriate during the application process, as if there is any
problem, the company´s name could be put at risk.

12. Conclusion

Based on the entire research, it can be concluded that Viva! is offering a feasible
idea for which there is a demand. However, the fact that the company is starting
with only one option, it needs to be aware to market this option effectively and
on the meantime, consider other opportunities based on more primary research
that could lead to other regions such as Asia.
Furthermore, the company has found that there is a strong possibility to have
other sources of income that did not consider before and these could be helpful
as feasible programme fees could be kept. In fact, based on the financial
analysis, it can be noted how helpful that extra income becomes throughout the
years if targets are met.
In addition, it has been highlighted how important partnerships will be for the
company (universities, businesses and travel agencies) to ensure enough guests
and hosts are recruited for the company´s survival.
Finally, it is clear that the company will not have a very easy way to achieving
its objectives considering the high number of international competitors and
significant number of substitutes, but given the affordable price that the
programme has, it may be possible reaching groups that other volunteering
organisations and travel agencies do not.

23
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Henry, A. (2008). Understanding Strategic Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Vandenber, S. (2019). 2019 Best Volunteer Abroad Programs, Organizations, & Projects.
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travel.pdf. Last accessed 4th April 2019.

14. Appendix

Appendix 2A
Comparative Table of Popular Volunteering Organisations and Travel
Agencies Packages to Ecuador for a two-week experience
Volunteering Experiences Travel Agencies

 Rustic Pathways – Peru for 3,596 GBP  Intrepid Travel – Ecuador from 935
 Volunteer HQ – Ecuador for 544 GBP GBP
 Plan My Gap Year – Ecuador 570  G Adventures – Ecuador from 909 GBP
GBP  Contiki – Ecuador from 675 GBP
 Love Volunteers – Ecuador for 603 (ONLY ONE WEEK)
GBP  STA – Ecuador from 983 GBP

26
Appendix 3A
UK Results

1) PARTICIPANTS AGE GROUP

18 - 22 23 - 25 26 - 28

14%

55%
31%

2) PARTICIPANTS CURRENT OCCUPATION

Student Professional Both

24%

48%

28%

27
 3) HOW OFTEN PARTICIPANTS TRAVEL PER YEAR

More

4 - 6 times a year

1 - 3 times a year

I don´t usually travel

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

4) WHERE PARTICIPANT PREFER TO TRAVEL

Inside the UK Europe Outside Europe

17% 12%

71%

5) HOW MUCH PARTICIPANTS USUALLY

SPEND WHEN TRAVELLING ABROAD
41,4

24,1

13,8
12,1
8,6

100 - 150 GBP 150 - 300 GBP 300 - 500 GBP 500 - 700 GBP MORE

28
 6) PARTICIPANTS PREFERRED DESTINATION OUTSIDE
EUROPE
35
30 31,1
30

25
20
20

15
8,9 7,8
10

5 2,2

0
North America Latin America Africa Asia Oceania I am not sure

7) HOW MUCH PARTICIPANTS WOULD SPEND IF TRAVELLING

OUTSIDE EUROPE
40
34,5
35

30 27,6

25

20
13,8
15 12,1
10,3
10

5 1,7
0
350 - 500 GBP 500 - 700 GBP 700 - 1000 GBP 1000 - 2000 GBP More than 2000 I am not currently
GBP considering to
travel outside
Europe

29
 8) HOW LONG PARTICIPANTS WOULD CONSIDER
TO SPEND IN THEIR TRIP OUTSIDE EUROPE

58,6
13,8

19

6,9
1,7

LESS THAN A ONE WEEK TWO WEEKS MORE I AM NOT

WEEK CUR R E N T LY
CONSIDERING TO
TRAVEL OUTSIDE
EUROPE

9) PREFERRED ACCOMMODATION TYPE WHEN

TRAVELLING
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Hotel/Hostel Airbnb Friends/Family Other

10) PERCENTAGE OF PARTICIPANTS WHO

WOULD CONSIDER TEACHING ENGLISH IN
EXCHANGE FOR MEALS AND
ACCOMMODATION

31%
69%

Yes No

30
 11) FOR HOW LONG PARTICIPANTS WOULD LIKE
TO TEACH ENGLISH
35
31
29,3 29,3
30

25
20

15
10,3
10

5
0
One Hour Two Hours Three Hours I would´t like to teach
English

12) FOR HOW LONG THEY WOULD LIKE TO

CARRY OUT THIS ACTIVITY

21% 18%

26%
35%

Less Than a Week Two Weeks Three Weeks More

31
 Ecuador Results

1) PARTICIPANTS AGE GROUP

18 - 22 23 - 25 26 - 28

20%

51%
29%

2) PARTICIPANTS CURRENT OCCUPATION

Student Professional Both

14%

24%
62%

3) PARTICIPANTS ENGLISH PROFICIENCY

LEVEL BASED ON THEIR OWN JUDGEMENT
Basic Intermidiate Advanced

12%
30%

58%

32
 4) WHERE PARTICIPANTS HAVE LEARNED
ENGLISH
70
58,1
60

50

40

30 24,3
20
12,2
10 5,4

0
High School English Course Exchange Programme Self-taught

5) PERCENTAGE OF PARTICIPANTS WHO WISH TO

IMPROVE THEIR ENGLISH LEVEL

14%

86%

Yes No

6) PERCENTAGE OF PARTICIPANTS WHO WOULD

OFFER MEALS AND A PLACE TO STAY IN EXCHANGE OF
ENGLISH LESSONS

31%

69%

Yes No

33
 7) FOR HOW LONG PARTICIPANTS
WOULD LIKE CARRY OUT THIS ACTIVITY

62,7
19,6
13,7
3,9

LES THAN ONE ONE WEEK TWO WEEKS MORE

WEEK

8) WHY PARTICIPANTS WOULD NOT LIKE TO

OFFER MEALS AND A PLACE TO STAY IN
EXCHANGE OF ENGLISH LESSONS
51,9

37

11,1

I DON´T HAVE ENOUGH I DON´T FEEL SAFE OTHER

SPACE HOSTING SOMEONE I
DON´T KNOW

34
 Appendix 4A
Porter´s Five Forces
Force Main Impacts Strenght
New 1. Global Tourism Industry was 1.34 trillion USD in 2017 (World Bank Medium
Entrants 2017), whereas the UK Volunteering Sector: £73.1 billion (Charity
Commission 2016).
2. There are almost 1 billion tourist arrivals worldwide every year. That’s
30 every single second. By 2020 the number may increase almost
60% (The World Counts 2019).
3. There are over 900 international volunteering organisations with a
wide range of destinations and years of experience for which new
entrants that wish to focus exclusively on this area should find a good
niche to enter to be successful.
4. Customers have several options to choose from either if they want to
travel, volunteer or both.

Suppliers 1. Large number of travel agencies in Ecuador to choose from to offer Low
day trips to potential guests.
2. Relatively affordable prices of suppliers due to the high
competitiveness of the industry.
3. A large number of organisations, universities and big business to
partner with to find potential guests and hosts. In the UK, for example,
there are over 8,000 large business in the UK (250+ employees) and
162 higher education institutions in the UK.

Buyers 1. Many international volunteering organisations and travel agencies to High

choose from, and considering that as most bookings are made online,
now organisations do not have to have an office in the UK to attract
buyers in the country, therefore an organization would have foreign
competitors as well.
2. High number of substitutes given in the travel and tourism industry.

Substitutes 1. Significant number substitutes readily available for alternative travel High
options such as Airbnb or Couchsurfing.
2. Very affordable prices of substitutes compared to current competitors.
3. Substitutes offer high level of personalization and customization to
customers.

Competitive 1. Many competitors in the market as there are over 900 international High
Rivalry volunteer organisations and thousands of travel agencies in the UK
and abroad that operate online worldwide.
2. Switching costs among travel agencies and volunteering
organisations are relatively low.
3. Both the tourism and volunteering industries are very fragmented.
4. Competitors use different strategies. For example, some travel
agencies offer solo travel experiences, others luxury experiences,
eco-tourism travel and more.
5. Nowadays, customization and a sustainable experience is very
important when trying to reach new customers.

35
 Appendix 4A
PESTEL Analysis
Factor Main Impacts Comments
Political 1) The voluntary sector received £13.3 Current state is offered to volunteering
billion in 2012/13 (NCVO 2015) organisations, but it may reduce after
2) UK charities may lose £258m of EU Brexit as the European Commission may
stop contributing.
money after Brexit (Schweppenstedde
2017) This means that although current support
4) The European Union also offers fund is offered by the European Union through
opportunities to volunteer locally or the British Council and Ecorys, these two
overseas through the Erasmus+ entities may mainly depend on the UK
National Agency, a partnership government only and other funds.
between the British Council and Ecorys Nevertheless, the UK also has some
UK (European Solidarity Corps 2019 volunteering organisations that may look
3) UK Government has its own safer for volunteers as they are promoted
overseas volunteering organisations by the government, but despite being
and some of these opportunities are partly funded by the government,
partly funded by the government itself participants still need to fundraise a
minimum amount of money. For example,
such as the International Citizen
the International Citizen Service requires a
Service (ICS 2019) minimum of 800 fundraising goal to
participate in the programme.

Economic 1) Millennials usually spend an Although millennials struggle to save

average £416.73 on holidays (Finder money due to their salary in comparison
2017) with their expenses, it is still a group that is
2) 55.5% of millennials intended to use very keen to travel and this may actually
a credit card to cover travel expenses be the reason why at least half prefer to
(Finder 2017) use credit card to pay for their expenses
3) The median salary for UK graduates when traveling.
in 2018-2019 was between £19,000
and £22,000 and the average earnings In addition, millennials may consider
of young people aged 22 – 29 is almost different ways to save money when
£24,000 (Baker 2018). traveling such as choosing more
4) Currency rates have a powerful affordable destinations where they can get
impact on the tourism sector. a good exchange rate.

Socio-cultural 1) 72% of millennials prefer to go on a This section may have one of the highest
dream holiday compared to 65% that impacts in the industry given that
want to buy a new car (Expedia 2016) customers are highly focusing on the
2) 60%of millennials in the UK agree or experience more than anything else.
strongly agree that when going on
holidays, the most important thing for This can also demonstrate the popularity
them is to experience the authentic of international volunteering and
culture of the place (Expedia 2016) millennials high interest in traveling.
3) 42% millennials have said that
photos of destinations shared on social

36
 media have influenced their destination
choice (Expedia 2016).
4) 75% of millennials are interested in
a service that could surprise holiday
recommendations based on their
budget (Expedia 2016).
5) According to American Express
Travel (2018), learning about new
cultures is the top travel goal for 72%
of people in 2018.
6) 80% of travelers are saying local
and personalised travel is the most
important aspect in their travel
experiences (Trekk Soft 2018).
7) 84% of millennials mentioned that
they would travel abroad to engage in
volunteer activities (Marriott Rewards
2018).

Technological 1) 77% of travelers in the UK still use Technology is also playing an important
the computer to purchase their role in this industry as it has changed
holidays (Kayak 2016) significantly the way it works such as the
2) 74% of travelers in the UK prefer to percentage of customers booking online
use their computer to search for compared to the ones that would still use a
inspiration for their next trip, whereas travel agent.
16% turn to either a tablet or
Smartphone (Kayak 2016) Moreover, it means that nowadays
3) 79% travelers in the UK mentioned customers can organize and customize
they prefer booking their holidays their trips more independently than before
online compared to 73% in the rest of due to the high number of applications and
Europe, and only 19% still using a local websites available.
travel agent (Kayak 2016)
4) Traveling with a mobile phone and Nowadays, travelers don’t have to pay
mobile data as more countries are tourist guides as they can use mobile
becoming roaming-free has become an internet to have access to GPS, find local
advantage for travelers (Vidal 2018). attractions and more.
5) Travel & tourism industry apps have
ranked 7th among the most
downloaded category of apps given
that they have become extremely
useful for travelers in different ways
including: having access to trip reviews
or weather forecasting.
Environmental 1) There are almost 1 billion tourist Environmental aspects are very important
arrivals worldwide every year. That’s among millennial travelers as they have
30 every single second. By 2020 the more consideration for the environment.
number may increase almost 60%.
Tourism often puts pressure on natural Companies and organisations should be
resources through over-consumption, more responsible and focus on having as
often in places where resources are less negative impacts to the environment
as possible.

37
 already scarce (The World Counts
2019).
2) Tourism contributions to the global
greenhouse gas emissions are about
5% (The World Counts 2019).
3)52% of people have indicated that
sustainable tourism is important to
them (Trekk Soft 2018).
4) 32% of travelers feel guilty about the
impact their holidays have on the
environment (Booking 2018).
5) 70% of people believe travel
companies should ensure their
holidays help the local people and the
local economy (American Express
Travel 2018).
6) Eco-tourism has become more
popular in recent years, with potential
benefits for the environment and the
local communities where travelers go
(American Express Travel 2018).

Legal 1) Legal implications regarding Volunteering organisations and travel

volunteers (e.g. insurance cover) agencies need to ensure customer safety,
2) Travel agencies need to comply therefore background checks and
policies and privacy terms in order to insurance are basic requirements.
operate to ensure customers´ data is
kept safe (Murison 2018). Furthermore, the company needs to
3) Verizon in 2016 highlighted that the guarantee customer data is going to be
travel and tourism suffers the most safe considering the high number of
number of cyber-attacks of any hacker attracts to the travel and tourism
industry as the data stored could be industry, such as the British Airways in
very sensitive including passport bank 2018 where thousands of customers have
details and passport information their personal information stolen.
(Murison 2018)

38
Appendix 7A
Viva!´s AIDA Model

AWARENESS: Presentations and Exhibitions at

universities and businesses in both countries as well
as online presence.

INTEREST: Content generarion on digital

platmors including high quality videos,
pictures and articles about Ecuador. The
company will focus on growing organically on
social media, but it will also invest on
promoting its posts across all channels

DESIRE: Paying online incluencers

to help the company spread the
word as well as sharing all the
benefits of the programme and
highlight that is the most
affordable option in the market
and offering free 1-2-1
appointments for more
information.

ACTION: Offer exclusive

discount codes to those
applicants get in touch
with us within speficic
dates and have quick
response for those who
show their interest.

39
Appendix 8A
Year 1

40
Year 2

41
Year 3

42
 Costing Explanation
CASH IN
Cash Sales 267 GBP programme fee multiplied by the expected number of
Direct Loans Bank loan used in year one to start up the business
Other specific cash inflow Extra income coming from sponsors and monetarised digital platforms

CASH OUT
Rent in Ecuador (250 GBP for an office) and in the UK (300 GBP for a
Premises work space including bills)
Power Bills in Ecudor (Internet, Electricity, Water)
Telephone Mobile plans all included in both countries
Insurance Company Insurance
Interest and bank charges payable Monthly bank loan payment
Stationery Pencils, Papper and others
1400 GBP for UK and 600 GBP for Ecuador (considering that in
Drawings, wages or salaries Ecuador the minimum wage is 300 GBP)
Equipment Purchases Laptors and printers in year one
Transport Expenses Trains to visit other universities in other UK cities at least teo or three
Accountancy fees Annual payment for financial services to report to the government in
Legal/professional fees Background checks in UK (background checks in Ecuador are free)
Website (240 GBP billed annually), social media ads (200 GBP per
Marketing month) and leaflets to print (300 GBP every six months)

 Number of participants and therefore legal fees expected to grow

annually (the target would be three more participants per month in the
second year and five more in the third year after expanding to Cuenca
and Guayaquil).
 Wages to increase in year three if everything works well to 1600 GBP in
UK and 700 GBP in Ecuador.

43
Appendix 10A
Job Description
Summary:
Do you have passion for travelling? Would you like to contribute to your local
community to grow? Viva! is looking for a motivated and proactive individual
with a background in tourism, marketing or communications to join the team!
Responsibilities:
1. Building partnerships with local businesses and universities to find
potential participants in Ecuador.
2. Once partnerships have been built, visit businesses and universities to
encourage potential applicants to apply as hosts to the programme that
the company is offering.
3. Building partnerships with travel agencies to find exciting day trips
opportunities at an affordable price that can be offer as an extra to
international participants.
4. Searching for potential sponsors that would like to advertise in our
digital platforms and handbooks.
5. Supervising the entire application process of applicants in Ecuador,
including doing interviews and background checks to ensure safety for
UK participants.
6. Creating case studies based on both, guests and hosts that could be share
on our platforms as marketing material.
7. Gathering feedback from both sides once the programme is finished to
improve the company performance in the future.
8. Bringing new ideas. This is a new project so we hope we can grow
together!

44
Appendix 11A
SWOT

Strengths Weaknesses
1. Although it focuses mainly on the culture
exchange programme, the company has
1. Only has one destination to offer which
already planned to get extra sources of income
means it does not have a lot of variety. 2.
such as sponsorships and monetarised digital
New market entrant which means the
platforms with high quality content about
company does not have as many years of
Ecuador and what to do there.
experience as competitors and in the
2. Great level of expertise in the destination
beginning it may not look as reliable. 3.
given that the founder is from Ecuador and has
Limited capital available as the company will
travelled significantly around the country.
have to start with a bank loan and be
3. Powerful immersive cultural experience with
extremely responsible with the expenditure.
locals. 4.
Truly affordable experience

Opportunities Threats

1. High number of potential customers

2. Great acceptability of the business idea in
both countries based on the primary research. 1. Although background checks and
3. Opportunities to expand to other regions interviews are key steps in the application
(Asia) as based on the primary research there process, there is always the risk of having a
could be a potential demand. person that may cause trouble and could
4. Possibilities to grow in other industries such damage the company´s reputation.
as online journalism if there is a high level of 2. High number of international competitors
audience that is interested in the company´s and significant number of substitutes that
content on digital platforms. offer a wide range of experiences.
5. Online companies are having a great 3. Travel and tourism companies are the
demand as now most customers prefer to book most attacked by hackers as they receive
holidays and experiences online. This could very private information including passports.
help Viva! to reach potential guests in other
countries besides in the UK in the future.

45
 Appendix 11B
Risk Register

ID Risk Description Likehood Impact Severity Supervisor Mitigation Action Contingent Action
1 Not to have enough Moderate High High Maite Increase the number of university Prepare excellent material such as
interested participants in and business visits besides the videos and photographs that can
Ecuador marketing investment and quality show all what Ecuador has to offer.
to ensure Ecuador is shown as a
hidden gem. In addition, ask for
support to Ecuadorian entities.

2 Not enough hosts to cover Moderate High High Company Thinking about expanding to Viva! Is aware that recruiting hosts
guest demand Representative Guayaquil and Cuenca - the may result harder as although the
in Ecuador second biggest cities in Ecuador - company will bring guests from all
as these places also have a lot to over the UK, hosts will have to be
offer and they can be monitored located in Quito where Viva! Plans
from the office in Quito. to start the project, therefore the
company would focus first on
having at least 45 hosts, half of
what is expected, before recruiting
guests.

3 Not enough guests to cover Low High High Maite Similar as if there wes not Similar as risk one prepare
host demand demand for Ecuador, the company excellent material such as videos
will try to increase its visits to and photographs that can show all
universities and business what Ecuador has to offer as well as
throughout the UK. In addition, doing a good research of what
the company may organise a focus universities significantly encourage
group with young students and their students to do volunteering
professionals in the country to and the same with businesses, start
understand what´s wrong. visiting companies that have strong
ethics and sustainable
commitment.
4 No host satisfaction Low Moderate Moderate Company Add extra preparation sessions to Ensure hosts are enough motivated
regarding English Representative train guests and advice what and have some basic knowledge of
improvement in Ecuador methods can be used for teaching the activities they want to do to
a foreign language. help locals learn English.
5 No host satisfaction Low Moderate Moderate Maite Offer support 7 days a week to Throughout the application
regarding local experience ensure everything is working fine process, hosts will have the
and if someone is not having a opportunity to discuss their
nice experience, the company expectations and find out all what
should have an inmmediate they can do in Ecuador, therefore
meeting to find out what´s wrong the company has the opportunity to
and ensure the host expectations suggest valuable experiences
are met. based on the host preferences.
6 Low High High Both If the host is the one having the Guests and hosts will have to sign
negative experience, the guest documents indicting that they are
will be sent to a hostel inmediatly aware of the behaviour they need
Negative experience in any until further notice. If the guest is to have and that if they do not
case (e.g. problematic guest having a bad experience, it will be follow the rules, there will be
or host) matched to another family consequences. The company will
inmediatly. look for legal advice to ensure all
possible scenarios can be managed.

46