Marketing Audit And Strategic Plan For Toowoomba Chamber Of Commerce & Industry Report Samples

PURPOSE OF REPORT

The underlying report is based on the strategic planning of Toowoomba Chamber of commerce and industry. The purpose of the report is formulated a comprehensive plan that will highlight the significant areas to promote the vision and mission of the chamber and suggested a roadmap to accomplish the goals and objective of the chamber. The report has been prepared to facilitate the concern authorities with the ways to increase the membership and widen the operations and activities of the chamber in a comprehensive and effective manner.

SCOPE OF REPORT

The report is based on the strategic planning of Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The report presents and highlights several different areas that cover both macro level and micro level aspects with which the chamber is performing its operations and activities.The report has thoroughly examined that and covers the action plan to strengthen the marketing and promotional activities TCCI.

LIMITATION

The below presented report poses certain limitations, and these are in the way that the report has covered the commerce and industry of a certain region that is Toowoomba and nearby regional areas. It cannot be taken in relation to other areas of the country. Hence, the report has provided a good scope but limited on a regional basis.

Summary of the situation

-4.1 TCCI Macro Environmental Analysis
The macroeconomic environment faced by Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce is very diverse and delineates a very big picture. The Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce has exposed with the issues at state level as well at national level. The main areas at macro level include political aspects, economic aspects, social and technical aspects along with environmental and legal aspects. For many years, Toowoomba is like a center of resources and have witnessed many era of success and prosperity, and now it has also become the center for health, education and agriculture. With these milestones, it has also come across with many challenges, including the infrastructure and the utilization of the potential that the region has (Toowoomba, 2013a).

Political Aspects:

Among several political aspects, the important one is the change in the government of Queensland for next few years, with this change some new policies and procedures are expected to be implemented. Further, the political aspect has seen changes in councilors and mayor of the region, Toowoomba along with the relationship of Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce with Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) and Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise (TSBE), the purpose of TSBE is to ensure that the survival and prosperity of the local business community (Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise, 2015; Toowoomba, 2013b). The political aspects also include the relationship of TCCI with CCIQ (Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland) along with the relationship with the Federal Government of the country (CCIQ, n.d.).

Economic aspects:

Economic aspects related with the TCCI includes growth rate of Toowoomba and associated region, interest and inflation rate that will include the cost of capital and exchange rate with the Australian dollar strength. The main economic aspect will involve the overall strength of Australian economy and the impact if the international economy followed with labor cost and supply and unemployment in the country in general and in the region in specific.

Social Aspects:

The social dynamics of Toowoomba region is the significant social aspect that has potential to influence the TCCI. Other social aspects include the joint ventures, team building, cross-cultural communication and virtual interactions of the entity. TCCI also keep itself in relation to its target market and many businesses networking organizations to deal with the availability of the labor force and meeting different skill levels.

Technological Aspects:

Technical aspect involves the technical advancements in the Toowoomba region, the increase in mobile technology along with the facilitation of e-commerce. The technology will influence the operations and activities of TCCI in the form of accessing the networks of transportation and services along with the technological infrastructure for the region.

Environmental Aspects:

The environmental aspects include climate fluctuations all over the world and the issue of global warming. These fluctuations have caused many floods and droughts in some areas. The environmental aspects also include the infrastructure of the water supply at local level with the impact on farming and mining.

Legal Aspects:

This section covers the rules and regulations made for the entire country in general and this state, in particular. The laws and aspects included are consumer and corporations law, employment, health and safety law and the constitution of the chamber(Toowoomba, 2013c).
-4.2 TCCI Micro Environmental Analysis
The microenvironmental analysis for TCCI will be done with the help of five force model presented by Michael Porter, the model provides a comprehensive analysis of the industry (Grundy, 2006).

Threat of New Entrants - Moderate (rate: 3)

The threats for new entrants is relatively moderate. This is because the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce and Industry belongs to the group of companies and business that have strong and holding position in the business sector of the region. In addition, the role of chamber is to formulate the strategies for the facilitation of the business. Further, there are other bodies at federal, state and at private level that caters the business sectors with many provisions.

Bargaining Power of Customers - High (rate: 4)

The bargaining power of the customers or members of the chambers is relatively high. TCCI works at city level and deals with the business networks of the city because there are other chambers that cover a large number and a wide range of business. Hence in this perspective, the potential members are likely to join other business networks.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers – Medium (rate: 3)

The suppliers of TCCI are the sources that generate funds for the chamber. The bargaining power of the suppliers is moderate as it is the tradeoff between both the parties in a way that the sponsors want to be part of the chamber to enhance their networking and vice versa.

Threat of Substitutes –High (rate: 4)

The threat of substitute of Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce and Industry is very high. This is because the TCCI covers the businesses of Toowoomba. On the other hand, the CCIQ (Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland) covers the businesses of the entire region. All the new and old businesses of the city are the target market of Chamber of Commerce Queensland.

Competitive Rivalry within the Industry - High- (rate: 4)

The competitive rivalry in the industry for Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce and industry is relatively high. This is mainly because of the presence of other business and organizational network that are working for the benefits, survival and prosperity of the businesses at national, state and metropolitan level.
-4.3 TCCI Internal Environmental Analysis (use Threshold/Unique/core Resources &Threshold/Unique, Core Competencies to determine Strengths and weakness)

TCCI is supported by wide range and a good number of its sponsors and supporters

TCCI have a larger number of members from different industries and economic sectors
The members include small, medium as well as large organizations
The chamber covers the Toowoomba, which is among the major region of Queensland.
The chamber has good relations with TRC
- 4.4 TCCI Organization Situation (using SWOT)
The situation of the organization can be best described with the help of SWOT analysis. The analysis will incorporate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Toowoomba Chamber of commerce and industry.

Strengths:

The core strengths of the chamber include its staff with great potential, serving skills and capabilities, its basis of trusted members. The good relationship of TCCI with Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) along with the availability of the people and its affordability is the strength of the chamber. The TCCI has established its good credibility and reputation and also possesses good member value. The chamber maintains comprehensive and strong financial statements that reflect the strong financial position of the entity. The chamber provides good value to its member and has a comprehensive succession strategy.

Weaknesses:

Among the weaknesses of TCCI come it is perceived as business communities and networks. There are certain members of the chamber that are hesitate in networking; this has turned out to be the weakness of the chamber. The existing functions of the chamber are not incorporative of newcomers. Further, the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce is witnessing a regular turnover of the chamber staff. With that, the turnover of board members hinders the continuity and emergence of new ideas and energy for the chamber. It has been also observed that the TCCI is underfunded because the chamber does not have enough sponsors and the existing sponsors are not paying enough, this result in the lack of facilities on long term basis. The chamber is incapable of doing good advocacy, and that is TCCI is itself a small business with limited staff.

Opportunities:

The opportunities for TCCI lie in making several policies and comprehensive advocacy of its facilities for the business sector along with the advocacy of the members. In order to increase the membership, the TCCI can put its contribution in the membership initiatives of the several business entities. There is still a large and untapped market to explore the potential members for the TCCI, with that the networking with smaller chambers in several different towns will bring new opportunities for TCCI. Further, the constitution of the chamber itself has great opportunities, in due course NBN also possess huge opportunities in terms of video conferencing, webinars, and developmental series by professionals. Opportunities also lie in dealing and corporate connections with large and leading companies, in mining industries, in building partnerships with CCIQ and TSBE along with generating value for sponsors.

Threats:

The biggest threats to TCCI lie by the TSBE and CCIQ. In the absence of the memorandum of understanding, Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise get them in the region and then TCCI have to take care of them. With that the businesses of Toowoomba are the target market of Chamber of Commerce of Queensland, which is a great threat to the membership base of TCCI. Macroeconomic changes also have a potential to impact TCCI.
5.0 OVERVIEW OF TCCI MARKET ENVIRONMENTS
-5.1 Competitive Analysis
The competitive analysis of Toowoomba Chamber of commerce and industry has been done with the help of Porter’s five forces model. Each force has been granted with a certain rate out of 5, with number 5 being the highest. Threat of New Entrants is foundModeratewith the rate3, Bargaining Power of Customers is high with the rate 4, Bargaining Power of Suppliers is relatively medium with rate 3. The threat of substitutes and Competitive Rivalry within the Industry is comparatively high with rate of4 that makes total of 18 (3+4+3+4+4) out of a total of 25. The figure shows that there is strong competition in the industry among several other players. In addition, that can be seen that there are TSBE and Chambers of commerce and industry of Queensland and other private business networking bodies that have a potential to influence the activities of Toowoomba Chamber of commerce and industry.
- 5.2 Customer’s Analysis:
The aim of the Chamber is to serve the businesses in the region and to address and advocate the issues faced by them. In due course, there are many members of the chamber that are also the customers of Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce. The customers belong to a wide range of industries and a variety of businesses, and this would include but not limited to:

Several community groups,

Manufacturing sectors and industries,
Several professional and business entities
field of accountancy,

Consultancy services,

Training and education,
Banking and finance,
Human resources,
Health and wellbeing,
Legal companies,
Software and it related services,
Several media groups and communications,
Trade,
Real estate,
transport and logistics.
In the domain of wholesale and retail business, the Chamber of Commerce is the advocate of fashion industry, several corporations of automotive and machinery, food and grocery, lifestyle along with several customers belonging to tourism and hospitality of the region. The TCCI facilitates its customers by advocating their business interest at many governmental and private platforms (Toowoomba, 2013d).
-5.3 Stakeholders Analysis:
The stakeholders of the company include the parties that are in some relationship with the business entity and have a certain influence over it. At present, the stakeholders of TCCI includes its member businesses, supporting partners, sponsors, future leaders, associates, media groups, TRC, CCIQ, and TSBE. That are part of the chamber are the internal stakeholders because the other ones the external stakeholders. Sponsors, members, and supporting partners have a very positive role in strengthening the chamber among them the role of TRC and media group is also very comprehensive. Media group assists the Chamber to address and facilitate the issues of Toowoomba businesses. However, TSBE and CCIQ provide a competitive environment to the chamber.
6.0 TCCI MARKETING OBJECTIVES
6.1 TCCI goals

The goals of Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce and industry include

Increase in membership of different business entities.
6.2 TCCI Objectives
The aim and objective of TCCI are to make Toowoomba an attractive region to set up businesses, to invest in the area. In addition, to facilitate the members with many opportunities to develop new skills and expertise, market promote and grow their businesses. As an entity, the main objective of TCCI is to increase the members of the chamber and become strengthen to strongly campaign its members. Moreover, another objective is to highlight the issues and challenges inform of federal and state governments that are faced by the business sector of the region along with the increase of grants that will accelerate the productive operations and activities of the chamber.
7.0 MARKETING STRATEGIES
The marketing strategies are very important for accomplishing the goals (Kotler, and Keller, 2009; Fill, 2009). For the chamber, the marketing strategies would be to review the entire constitution and to bring up comprehensive recommendations that promote the agenda of the chamber. In order to increase the number of memberships, some of the strategies adapted will be:

The networking strategy will be implemented

With that several promotional campaign will be conducted to spread the word
Channels will be strengthened with the chambers of comers of other regions.
In order to grow and nurture the future leaders, several developmental events will be conducted to develop the personal and professional attributes, skills and capabilities in them. These events will facilitate the mentoring and coaching of future leaders along with their future planning. Regular surveys are planned to be conducted; feedback from networks and forums will be taken, and the relationship with government and TRC will be revived and strengthen for improving the advocacy of the chamber.
Further assistance of media including electronic and print will be taken into consideration as well as social media campaigns on different social media platforms. Alliances will be built with other regional chamber and creating new experiences for the members. These initiatives will be followed by the meetings board of the chamber with different state and constituency politicians and Mayor.
8.0 MARKETING TACTICS (4Ps)

Product, Price, Place & Promotion:

The chamber is in the service business and facilitates several different businesses with its services in order to protect the interest of the business and give the community a secure future. The chamber provides a platform, for business entities to interact and negotiate with other business members at local and regional level that, can turn out to be their potential customers.
As a company, Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce charges its members (customers) a certain membership fee. The chamber also provides certain discount offering to its members and with several other benefits. At present, TCCI represents the businesses of Toowoomba city however it is planning to interact with other regional chambers, to create new platforms and to tap new market for its members. To promote the services, the Chamber will conduct several campaigns and events that facilities the interaction and association of its members.
9.0 TIMELINE (Gantt chart)
10.0 CONCLUSION
The above-presented report on the external and internal analysis of TCCI has presented that the chamber is in a competitive environment. However, it is associated with the main region of Queensland, it has its significance, the strengths of the chamber lies in its supporters, sponsors, members and in the internal staff. However, in order to meet the challenges, it is important for the chamber to make its alliances nearby region, good relationships with other chambers and provide its members with a great platform to promote their businesses.

References

CCIQ. (n.d.). About. Available from https://www.cciq.com.au/about/ [Accessed 22nd January, 2015]
Fill, C. (2009). Marketing Communications: Interactivity, Communities and Content (5th Ed.) London: FT Prentice Hall
Grundy, T. (2006). Rethinking and reinventing Michael Porter's five forces model. Strategic Change, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 213-229.
Kotler, P., and Keller, K. (2009). A Framework for Marketing Management. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise. (2015). Who are TSBE. Available from http://www.tsbe.com.au/who-are-tsbe.html [Accessed 22nd January, 2015]
Toowoomba. (2013a). Welcome to the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce. Available from http://www.toowoombachamber.com.au/ [Accessed 22nd January, 2015]
Toowoomba. (2013b). About council. Available from http://www.toowoombarc.qld.gov.au/about-council [Accessed 22nd January, 2015]
Toowoomba. (2013c). Strategic Plan. Available from http://www.toowoombachamber.com.au/strategic-plan/ [Accessed 22nd January, 2015]
Toowoomba. (2013d). Members. Available from http://www.toowoombachamber.com.au/members-2/ [Accessed 22nd January, 2015]
Appendix
SWOT analysis
Porter Five Forces