Business Environmental Analysis A Case Study On Cineworld Plc

Introduction

In the recent era of globalisation, the organisations try to develop new strategic planning for developing product planning and distributing the products and services for expanding the business internationally (Luchese et al., 2017). The entrepreneurs aim at managing the business activities through creativity and innovation in order to sustain in the business and gain high competitive advantage. The study focuses on identifying the impacts of technological innovation in such an era of globalisation in the business operations, sales, profit and growth. Through the study, it is also possible to evaluate the importance of the Corporate Social Responsibility in the organisational operations. The strategic planning of the company Cineworld PLC will be evaluated for analysing the tactics of Cineworld PLC in managing their business operations.

Organisational background

Cineworld PLC is the world’s second largest cinema chain with 9518 screens across 790 sites in the 11 countries across the globe. The company operates across the international nations including UK, USA, Canada, Israel, Romania, and Poland and Slovakia. It is a public company operating in the entertainment and movies industry across the globe, where the organisation is successful to generate revenue and the revenue of the organisation in the last years was £4369.7 million and the operating income is £724.7 million in 2019 (Cineworld, 2020a). The total number of employees is 37482, where the employees are efficient to run the business operations efficiently and manage the customers in long run. The major brands of the organisation are Cineworld, Regal, Cinema city, Picture house and yes planet. The company is also efficient to serve the customers with latest cinema and other additional facilities for maximising the wellbeing of the consumers in long run. Technological innovation and creativity play crucial role in managing the business of Cineworld PLC across the globe (Cineworld, 2020b).

Assessing the impacts of innovation and technology

Due to digital technology, there would diffuse economy, where it has crucial impacts on the economic growth, and cutting edge technology and innovation of the organisation contribute positively in the economy for better management and enhancement of the performance of the firms. In the recent era of digitalisation, all the firms try to utilise cutting edge technology and frugal technology for better management of the organisational activities. Technological innovation brings benefits for the economy, as it increases productivity and provides an opportunity to the citizens to enjoy latest innovative products and services which further enhance the economic activities across the international places. The government and the policy makers are also cooperative for supporting the activities of the organisations and it has direct positive impacts on the economy (Luchese et al., 2017). The standard of living of the customers is also maximising over the years due to introduction of new product varieties and innovative services due to cutting edge technology in such as era of digitalisation. The productivity and efficiency of the organisations are increasing over the period of time and it further influences the entrepreneurs to run their business efficiently which further ensure positive contribution on the economy (Rothaermel, 2016). The technological innovation including the digital media technology for creating cinema is also effective for the organisations to develop proper strategy to provide attractive cinemas to the audiences. The digital technology also has crucial impacts on the operations of Cineworld PLC, where the Cineworld utilise the cutting edge technology for serving the customers efficiently. The company Cineworld also focuses on improving their services for organisational excellence and in this regard the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is effective to run the organisational activities successfully (Cineworld, 2020d).

The ERP system including the customer relationship management (CRM), sales management, marketing activities, CRM and sales, Customer web portal management, distribution network and warehouse management, purchasing and finance management, through implementing the Information and Communication Technology (ICT),GPS system to track the customers are effective for Cineworld to run their operations efficiently. There is strong contribution of the technological advancement on the operations of the company Cineworld, where the mobile technology plays a contributing role for achieving future success. The organisation aims at developing mobile application through tracking the consumers as well as helps them to place their orders through simple mobile application. 24*7 services are provided to all the customers where the sales executives can manage the consumers across the globe through the online customer’s web portal. The organisation is also efficient to manage the customers through the organisational website, which is also another efficient technological innovation for better management of the customers (Cineworld, 2020c).

On the other hand, the franchisee and subsidiaries of the Cineworld are also managed well where the managers try to create values for all the stakeholders by providing them high return on investment as well as manage the operations efficiently. There is also a great role of the ICT to enhance the internal and external communication, where the staff members can interact with all the stakeholders through developed technology, as well as communicate with customers worldwide (Rothaermel, 2016). Hereby, there is connection between the operational efficiency and the technological advancement where the customers can get better services from the organisation and Cineworld is efficient to serve the consumers with latest technology by creating innovative services. The technological advancement and creativity to serve the customers in the entertainment industry further provide a scope to the organisations engaged in the entertainment industry to ensure future sustainable growth (Boddy, 2016). For example, the organisation Cineworld is also successful to secure future development and growth and gain high competitive advantage over other competitive brands in the market. The market growth and expansion of the brand Cineworld is possible in the recent era of digitalisation where the organisation is efficient to maximise excellence to serve the customers in a better and unique way (Cineworld, 2020d).

On the other hand, it further boosts the sales volume of Cineworld, where the customers are happy and satisfied with the services and the quality of the screens at the theatre. Hence, the company is efficient to service the customers with latest technology and innovation and it further helps the organisation to boost their sales volume and maximises its profitability which is the major aim of the company (Boddy, 2016). The organisation also focuses on managing the operations through implementing the latest technology such as ERP, customer web portal and sales and production management where all the operations can be handled proficiently (Morrison, 2017). Hereby, the technological advancement and innovation are playing crucial role for the organisation Cineworld PLC to maximise their profitability and strengthen the customer’s base for securing future sustainable development (Cineworld, 2020b). The company is successful to create strong customers base as well as employee’s base that are efficient to manage the operations. Hence, technological changes throughout the digitalisation era provides an opportunity to the firm Cineworld to contribute positively in the economy, where the profitability and sales volume further enhance the country’s GDP as well as influence the customers to make effective purchase decision for spending their leisure time (Needle, 2015). The innovation technology and efficient service of Cineworld also influence the consumers worldwide to enjoy their leisure time and contribute in maximising the GDP of the economy. Hereby, the technological advancement is effective to create economic values and ensure social development in long run (Morrison, 2017). Economic changes progress economic condition and it further enhances the employment and purchasing power parity of the customers. Due to technological advancement and the creativity, the organisation Cineworld is also efficient to hire more efficient employees and improve employment rate of the country and it is also another factor for contributing positively in the economy. High sales volume and profitability further ensure increasing national Income of the country and hence, the organisational development and technological advancement have positive impacts on the economy growth and social development (Cineworld, 2020e).

Evaluating the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

The multinational corporate firms in the recent era of globalisation try to be responsible towards the business, stakeholders and the social communities as a whole to secure future sustainable development. It is the responsibility of the organisations to be ethical, legal, and fulfil the commercial commitment towards their stakeholders, engaged with the business (Aiello and Dueñas, 2019). In this regard, the organisation Cineworld is also focusing on the management of the stakeholders to be responsible and act efficiently in the market. the major stakeholders engaged with the organisation Cineworld are, the managers and employees, staff members at the cinemas, finance sales manager and team members, board members, shareholders, franchise, customers, government and the social communities as a whole where the organisation Cineworld aims at creating the values or them and retaining them for long run. The importance of managing CSR at Cineworld is to develop the operational efficiency by maintaining the corporate responsibility, secreting future sustainable development, maximising values for all he stakeholders and improving brand image in the market. Cineworld focuses on creating good brand image and provide green environmental footprint for the benefits of the social communities worldwide (Cineworld, 2020d). As per the Carroll’s pyramid, the responsibilities of the company are such as economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic (Starosielski and Walker, 2016). Economic responsibility needs to be managed well by the company to fulfil the organisational commitment and in this regard Cineworld focuses on maximising the profitability of the firm in order to be responsible economically. By maximising the firm’s profitability, the company tries to provide high return on investment of the stakeholders including the shareholders, employees, suppliers and management team of Cineworld (Cineworld, 2020e).

Additionally, the legal and ethical responsibility must be ensured by the organisation to be sustainable in the market (Rosnan and Abdullah, 2018). In this regard, Cineworld tries to fulfil legal responsibility by implementing the employment laws and other legal compliances. Modern Slavery Act 2015 is implemented by the organisation to fulfil the commitment towards their suppliers where the CEO and the management team try to develop strong corporate relationship with all the suppliers and encourage them to participate productively (Cineworld, 2020f). The ethical code of conduct is also mandatory for the corporate firms to run their business sustainably, and in this regard the company Cineworld focuses on the ethics policy which is to guide the behaviour of the people by specifying the principles and establish common values. The company strive to be efficient in the market by managing their ethical code and legal compliances to run their business across the globe (Hendrickson and Stanley Niaah, 2018). Honesty and integrity management, maintaining transparency and accountability at the workplace of Cineworld are effective to deal the customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, regulators and the wide community. The group of Cineworld ensures to protect the intellectual property rights of the films and event cinema where polices and the procedures are constantly reviewed by monitoring and preventing the film piracy (Cineworld, 2020e).

The customers are the key success factors of the business of Cineworld where the company focuses on listening the customer’s feedback and responding efficiently are the major way to handle their strong customer’s base worldwide. The company ensures that this is the best place to enjoy the movies where it is successful to deliver cinema experience to each customer in the market. In 2018, customer’s feedback program has been launched by the organisation with participation and cooperation with the market leading customer’s solution provider “Rant and Rave” and behind the program, the ambition of Cineworld is to amplify the customer’s feedback to generate actionable insights. Empowerment of the customers is ensured to deliver measurable improvement to the customer’s satisfaction and brand loyalty. To ensure high quality customers service, the organisation provide a wide variety of movie genre as well as a choice to watch movies in modern state-of-the-art cinemas, with the latest technology and a variety of retail offerings. There are also fixed membership services and the company also review the customer’s feedback and ensure to provide the formats of ScreenX, IMAX or 4DX for creating customer’s values. Regal Crown Club in the USA earn credit and they are willing to invest on Cineworld for better management and expansion of the organisation where the company Cineworld is successful to introduce new services such as online application management, credit for movie tickets, movie memorabilia at the cinema and concession items. These services are effective contribution of the organisation where it is successful to offer discounts and allow proper interaction between the organisational sales representative and the consumers across the international markets (Cineworld, 2020f).

Philanthropic responsibility is another important factor for acting responsibly in the market, where the organisations try to be good corporate citizen and contribute resources to the community for maximising the quality of life. In this context, the organisation Cineworld is also efficient to invest in the social development programs and charitable organisations for better management of the standard of living of the individuals across the world. In 2003, Regal Foundation has been developed as a charitable and non-profit organisation to maintain the commitment to improve the quality of life of the individuals through providing funds and other resources for initiating the national and local charitable activities (Cineworld, 2020e). Regal Foundation is successful to develop strong corporate bonding with the charitable partners and in the USA; there is strong contribution of the Regal Foundation for social development and improving the standard of living. In the UK also, the company Cineworld is also responsible to contribute in the society by providing charity, free shows for the organisations and working with local schools and non-profit foundations. Hereby, the charitable investment, partnership with schools and local non-profit foundations are effective where Cineworld aims at creating values for the local communities around the globe (Cineworld, 2020f). In 2018, Cineworld developed partnership with BBC’s children in need initiative and in this context, it invests approximately £600,000. The Cineworld PLC is also efficient to work with film festivals in certain countries and group partnership and sponsorship are effective for the organisation to encourage the development of the future talent by supporting the social communities. The organisation is also efficient to implement environmental protection activities to be response towards environment and natural resources. The strategy of renewable resource utilisation, waste management, introducing e-tickets for avoiding printed tickets as well as refurbished cinemas and digital posters for promoting are useful for minimising the operational cost and improving carbon footprint (Cineworld, 2020g).

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, the organisation Cineworld is successful to manage their financial position by acting responsibly. There is strong technological innovation and creativity to serve the customers and it further provides a scope to the company to contribute in the economic growth and national income growth of the countries across the globe. The organisation is also efficient to manage their CSR by contributing in the local developmental project and charitable organisations for social development and maximising the quality of life. Cineworld is also responsible towards their stakeholders including customers, employees, regulators, shareholders and suppliers by providing them high return on investment through maximising its profitability as well as managing the ethical code of conduct to secure future sustainable growth.

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