All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Limited And Wimbledon Championships Essay.

Explain who are they ? What did they do ? What have they done ?

Part A: Stakeholder analysis

Define stakeholders and stakeholder analysis

Identify the stakeholders of the Wimbledon championships and categorize them into groups 
Outline the importance of the Power/Interest matrix and explain how the matrix works 

Using the Power/Interest matrix place each earlier identified stakeholder in the appropriate quadrant of the matrix and comment on each stakeholder's likely level of interest in and type of influence on Wimbledon Championships

Part B: Relationship marketing

Choose one stakeholder from quadrant C (Keep satisfied) that AELTC should aim to develop a relationship approach with. Give reasons for your choice.

Using the five stage model or levels of a relationship comment on the current stage of the relationship between AELTC and the stakeholder from quadrant C 

Explain the importance of AELTC building trust and commitment, with the identified stakeholder and provide examples of how trust and commitment may be achieved
Create a communications plan that will add value to the relationship with the identified stakeholder. A minimum of FOUR communications is required. Ensure the key messages and types of mediums are clearly explained
Explain how the role of the account manager will aid in developing relations with the identified stakeholder.

Ownership of The Championships

The AELTC is a completely owned subsidiary of The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Limited (“the Club”). On 2011 August, 1, it acquired all the assets as well as undertaking of the club in regards to The Championships. The daily operations of The Championships are under the leadership and operation of the AELTC. The Club was established in1868 July, 23 as The All England Croquet Club. The name was altered in 1877 to The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. In 1899, the name shifted to The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. In 2011 August, 1, the Club was the converted into a Company limited by the guarantee under the name The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Limited. The Cub’s activities as the private club members, are carried out distinctly from The Championships.   

Stakeholders in simple terms are the people with interests or concern in a particular thing. A stakeholder can be a person, group or organization with interest or concern in an organizations. Stakeholder are able to affect or be affected by the actions of the organization, policies and objectives.  For example, generally, stakeholders include creditors, directors, employees, government alongside its agencies, suppliers, owners (shareholders), unions, and the community from where the business derives its resources. Stakeholders Analysis refers to a systematic manner by which stakeholders are analysed by their interest and power. High power and high interest stakeholders remain Key Players. Low power and low interest stakeholders describes least significant stakeholders (Bowdin et al. 2006).   

The membership of the championship is categorized in to five different categories. The first category is the Full Members, then Life Members, then Honorary Members, then Temporary Members and then Junior Temporary Members. The Full, Life and Honorary Members are confined to 500 members in number (Caires 2012).

The Honorary members entail the past Singles Champions, additional eminent Lawn Tennis players, benefactors of the Club/The Championships, along with individuals who have provided special service to the Lawn Tennis. The Temporary Members are elected yearly and generally remain active players who make frequent utilization of the facilities along with play in the matches in the course of their Membership period (Carmeli et al. 2017).

The stakeholders include: (i) Management (President of Wimbledon Tennis Tournament-Jacques Schwartz) (ii)Television, Press, Fans, (iii) Players, (iv)Staff: chair umpires, medical people, caterers, (v)long time volunteers, (vi)Tournament directors-Janet Gibson, (vii)Tournament Officials, (viii)International Tennis Federation, (ix)Board of Directors, (x)Tennis Association, (xi)England Tennis Club, (xii)shareholders, Interest groups, community, the public, suppliers, lenders and Trade Associations.    

Five Categories of Membership

The 12 categories have been highlighted above. Each category can be explained and putting them where they belong. For example, the system must ensure schedule is availed and coverage of The Wimbledon Tennis Tournament by the television, press as well as fans. It must allow update players’ info by the tournament officials and it has to create draws the director prior to the deadline the tournament begin. It has to indicate on a timely manner that courts are ready to the director for the matches to take place. It has to receive the indications of the tournament officials from the International Tennis Federations on time for effective tournament planning (Dowson and Bassett 2015).

It has to support the info of caterers for the designation by the director prior to which match. It has to receive scores of the matches by the chair umpires till the lapse of the match. The systems has to get outcomes by tournament officials within ten minutes or so of matches’ completion. It has to receive scores of matches transmitted by the tournament officials via hand-held computers. The Wimbledon Tennis Tournament management system (WTTMS) has to deliver in 9 months (Fama and French 2017).   

The matrix is significant in helping effectively undertake stakeholders’ analysis. Through this tool, stakeholders analysis is enabled that helps in the identification of the key individuals that organization has won over. It then allows the use of stakeholders planning to build support which helps the organization to succeed. The tool enables the stakeholder-oriented approach is quite beneficial. It enables the use of opinions of the most powerful stakeholders in shaping the project at initial phase (Ferrand, Torrigiani and Povill 2006). Not only does this tool makes it more probably that the stakeholders will support the organization, but also that their input can further improve the product and service quality.

Using this tool allows the organization to gain support from powerful stakeholders that is helpful in winning more resources thereby making it increasingly likely that organization’s project will be accomplished successfully (Yu 2012). It enables the organization to communicate with the stakeholders early as well as regularly thereby ensuring that stakeholders full fathom what the organization is doing as well as comprehend the benefits of the organization’s project hence making them able to support the organization actively where necessary (Hill, Moore and Wood 2012). The organization can then anticipate what the reaction of people will be about its project and in turn build into the plan of the organization actions that will win the support of the stakeholders.

Stakeholders and their Categories

The above matrix operates on the basis of the four quadrant. It is based on low/ high interest/power. Once the stakeholders have been identified via brainstorming that organization work affects, those with influence or power over the work, and those with interest in the successful or unsuccessful completion, the matrix helps prioritize the stakeholders from the long list of stakeholders via the interactive screen app (Klöckner 2017).

The four quadrant can now be explained. At the Minimum Effort-the individual that least interest in the organizations initiative are placed her pooled with least power who put less strains on the management teams of stakeholders and communication.  At the Keep Informed- requires increasingly demands, especially on the communication side. Such individuals showcase higher interest in the organization’s undertakings, though comparatively low-slung power. Nevertheless, organization must not be satisfied, the merged upshot of several discontented persons can develop. Moreover, the single person’s opinion might be feeding up into additionally influential entities like press or unions. At the Keep Satisfied, are individuals who require to be maintained excited! These are such people with high degrees of power, yet stumpy degree of interest and must be reserved pleased. Abide in your mind that degree of interest can alter swiftly where a stakeholder turn out to be disgruntled.  Manage Closely entail people that are organization’s strategic players. They need to be central focus of the stakeholder management effort and time. They must be give the best listening to frequently (Özer and Zheng 2017).  

This section places stakeholders in power/interest matrix and commenting stakeholder’s likely interest level and influence type on Wimbledon Championships      

Suppliers have been chosen as the stakeholders from the quadrant C (Keep Satisfied) for AELTC to aim to develop a relationship approach. The Club official suppliers must be sought always to retain the distinct image as well as character of The Championships. It has to develop the relationship market with these suppliers to successful achieve the goal of satisfying these suppliers so as not to be taken by the rivals (Bowdin 2012). The relationship marketing approach will help the Club develop a lasting jointly beneficial agreements with Official Suppliers based on a diversity of the top-notch brands alongside particularly not commercializing Grounds obviously. The revenue /income derived from the Official Suppliers remains an essential portion of surplus of The Championships that remits again into the development of tennis game via The Lawn Tennis Association (Parker, 2007).

The Official Suppliers will give services and goods, that are both necessary for The Championships’ staging as well as helping the Club to achieve its objective of enhancing delivery of quality service to the performers (players), fans (spectators), media  and the workforce (staff) engaged in the event organization as well as operation (running). By embracing the relationship marketing approach, the Official Suppliers will be kept satisfied and hence they will be more than willing to supply the Club. The Slazenger has remained the Official Supplier of the balls (tennis) to The Championships right from 1902 as part of the longest partnerships in the sporting goods history. By having the relationship approach adopted, Slazenger’s team of experts will be motivated to work along with the topmost sports scientist at the Loughborough University thereby guaranteeing The All England Lawn Tennis Club’s extraordinary standards adherence. Therefore, based on the Hagans Associates marketing approach, that appreciates marketing as beyond a clever words and images, it will help brand brands to life. This will be based on marketing strategy, design, advertising, and then public relations that are for naught where there is no ROI. Thus, the suppliers will be kept excited as suppliers have to be reserved enthusiastic as well as people with great level of power, yet stumpy level of interest and must be reserved gratified. The relation marketing will help the Club keep in mind that the degree of interest of suppliers can alter speedily when a suppliers become dissatisfied.

Power/Interest Matrix

The five stage model or levels of a relationship is used in this section to comment on the present phase of the relationship between AELTC and the Official Suppliers selected from quadrant C. Relationship goes via five predictable relationship phases, each advancing on the last. By fathoming the five stages of relationship, the Club can better be prepared to navigate via each stage successful without getting stuck in any phase. The five stages of relationships as acknowledged by Dr Susan Campbell include The Romance, The Power Struggle, The Stability, The Commitment and The Co-Creation or Bliss Stage.  

As has been observed above, the stage at which the Club and the suppliers are in currently is The Bliss/Co-Creation Phase. This is because, in this phase, the two parties in a relationship have converted into 2 entities with a decision to become team going out into the world. The two entities move past the association and their connexion becomes a talent to the realm. The parties work on the project collaboratively-some type of a common ingenious work which is envisioned to donate to the world in certain means for example, enterprise. It is, however, noted that where the parties have been together for several years and are in already in the Bliss Phase, care has to be taken never to invest much energy into the external world that they forget to nurture the relationship (Ogunlowo, Bristow and Sohail 2017).     

The rationale for choosing the Bliss Stage is that AELTC and the Official Suppliers have been in a relationship for several years and are now currently just engaging in activities that nurture the relationship. For example, Slazenger and AELTC have the elongated partnership in sporting commodities antiquity whereby Slazenger has stood as the Official Supplier of balls (tennis) to The Championships right from 1902. It is supplying over fifty-two thousand balls for the 2017 competition each undergoing compression, bounce and weight tests. Slazenger has armour-plated its repute in the field of tennis with corresponding assurance to sustained edge design of product, obligation to childhood development as well as topmost world-wide players endorsement like Tim Henman (Taylor 2011).

Moreover, Robinson which is the Official Supplier of Soft Drink since 1935 is known and loved after being born at The Championship in 1935 with the Lemon Barley Water’s invention for quenching the thirst of every player. Further, there has been a lasting relationship between AELTC and the IBM which is the Official Supplier for Official Information Technology right from 1990. The IBM has supported the All England Lawn Tennis Club for 26 years and The Championships in its vow to remain the leading tennis competition in the globe. They have persistently innovated and go extra mile to validate how technologies can enhance fan experience without contemptuous from it.      

Relationship Marketing Approach

The identified stakeholder include the suppliers. Various suppliers have been acknowledged including IBM (Official Information Technology), Lanson (Official Champagne), Ralph Lauren (Official Outfitter), HSBC (Official Bank), Evian (Official Water), Lavazza (Official Coffee), Stella Artois (Official Beer), Jaguar Land Rover (Official Car), Haagen-Dazs (Official Ice Cream), Robinsons (Official Soft Drink) and Slazenger (Official Ball). With these suppliers, AELTC must sought out to build trust and commitment to achieve its goal of retaining the distinct character and image of The Championships. It has accomplished this efficaciously over the years via the growth of longstanding reciprocally beneficial Official Suppliers agreements with the array of first-class brands.

AELTC also does this by specifically not commercializing the Grounds overtly. It is important for AELTC to build trust and commitment with the suppliers since the income from these Official Suppliers remain significant part of The Championships’ surplus that is further remitted again into the Tennis game the development via The Lawn Tennis Association.  The Official Suppliers are key to success of the AELTC as they provide services and goods that are not only essential for staging The Championships but also which meet the objective of the Club for the service quality provided improvement to the media , fans, staff, and players taking part in organizing as well as running the event.

These essentials are the backbone for the success of The Championships and hence the inevitability by the AELTC to build trust and commitment via the development of long-term conjointly beneficial agreements with Official Suppliers with the array of top-grade brands alongside never commercializing the Grounds blatantly. A typical example of how trust and commitment between the AELTC and Slazenger (Official Ball Supplier) is where the team of experts of the Slazenger work together with the top sports scientist at the Loughborough University. The close working together guarantees The All England Lawn Tennis Club’s extraordinary standards are complied with strictly. Therefore, AELTC has partnered with its suppliers to cultivate deep, conjointly helpful relationship over the longstanding as a mechanism to reduce risk as well as establish true supply chain excellence (Leonidou et al. 2017).  

The plan will have the summary of the annual report published to the strategic suppliers. The strategic account managers will already be dissecting the annual reports and the quarterly statements of the customers. The top suppliers identified will be proactively notified that the new-fangled annual report and/or quarterly statements are available and accessible. The Club will spare time highlighting sections that are foremost relevant to the suppliers. The result will be increasingly informed supplier base with escalated understanding of the Club’s present business strategy alongside a deeper knowledge of the business environment. The Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) will send this communication to the suppliers (Magnan et al. 2017).

The communication of the definition of the supplier innovation alongside the innovation strategy by the organization will be communicated. The suppliers require to be aware of what innovation especially imply to the organization to enable suppliers to deliver the business innovation. This will be accomplished by the definition as well as sharing the characterization of the supplier innovations, workflow and innovation strategy of the organization. Supplier will then fathom the organization’s internal processes as well as acknowledge where suppliers fit in. The communication will be sent by CFO and where necessary will include the statement from the Chief Executive Officer on the significance of innovation as well as the importance of the contribution of the supplier (McEvily, Zaheer and Kamal 2017).  

The supplier innovation success stories will be publicized. Following the supplier innovation alongside innovation strategy definition and communicated, the success stories will be shared. The email/ single page PDF document detailing or highlighting a case study where the business worked with a given supplier and initiated new-fangled innovation will be sent. This will significantly drive other suppliers to follow suite (Lake 2016). The case studies will be spread crossways diverse categories of suppliers alongside supplier innovation. Such success stories will be linked to the supplier awards (Tao 2014).

Sharing success stories will be made an annual event as innovation required to be observed as an ongoing process. The monthly/ bi-monthly case study upgrades will be used to highlight the commitment of the organization to the supplier innovation program alongside its internal capability to execute ideas. This communication will be sent by supplier innovation lead/ CPO. The senior executives will comment on how innovation has aided the business. Suppliers will subsequently understand better their contributors as well as acknowledged and valued over and above the procurement function. This will eventually provide additional strength and backbone to the organization cause (McCurdie et al. 2017).  

The future product and service roadmap of the Club will be shared alongside changes in the strategy. The more a suppliers is aware of the organization’s future business, the more opportunity they would support and innovate. The origin of the delivery of these communication will be particular to the case at hand, however, the organization will need coordination of the team for continuity (Kubik 2013). A monthly supplier newspaper will also be created to make the communication habit with such messages as relevant company press releases and articles that entail contribution from senior executives, and article linked to the business environment which will impact the organization.

The account manager has a central to play in development of relations with the suppliers. The Account Manager will be key in ensuring effective communication plan. This is because he is the one who will avail the information that will be summarized in the communication plan on the annual report published to the strategic suppliers. The strategic account managers will be central in dissecting the annual reports and the quarterly statements of the customers. Such a dissection will enable the top suppliers identified in the Official Suppliers above to proactively get notified that the new-fangled annual report and/or quarterly statements are available and accessible (Bouzon, Govindan and Rodriguez 2017).

Through the Account Manager, the organization will be able to spare time highlighting sections that in the availed annual report that are foremost relevant to the suppliers. The outcome of this will be increasingly informed supplier base with escalated comprehension of the Organization’s current business strategy alongside an in-depth knowledge of the business environment (Egan 2012). The Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) will then be able to use the information from the Account Manager to send this communication to the suppliers thereby improving the relation between the organisation and its suppliers for effective supply chain (Lake 2016).

Conclusion

The AELTC is an exclusively possessed supplementary of The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club Limited (“the Club”). It undertook an acquisition of every asset along with operation of the Club in regards to The Championships. The discussion presented in this paper is an in-depth dissections of the Club right from the background, stakeholders’ analysis and to the recommending effective communication plan to improve relations with the suppliers. The power/interest matrix has been used in stakeholders and has helped identify the how much interest and powers different stakeholders have in the Club (Fill 2009).

Official Suppliers have been selected from the “Keep Satisfied” Quadrant advance the discussion. The five stage model has been used to showcase the phases in which the relationship between the Club and Suppliers as the Bliss Stage. The Club appreciates the need for trust and commitment building with suppliers and does this by signing long-term mutual agreements. This paper thus presents an interesting insights about the AELTC. 

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