Assignment title: Strategic Plan for Post Covid-19

Pandemic-A Case Study of Merlin Entertainment

Module title: Strategic Management

Module Code: MBU602

Student ID:

Submission date:
Contents
1.0 Introduction..............................................................................................................................1

2.1 Outline of the company and current situation in business..............................................1

2.2 Aims & objectives................................................................................................................2

2.3 Environmental scan: Key internal/external factors Stakeholder analysis &

management...............................................................................................................................2

2.4 Corporate Governance........................................................................................................4

2.5 Strategic options & feasibility.............................................................................................5

2.6 Research planning and implementation: funding, staffing, information, technology,

marketing monitoring and control...........................................................................................6

2.7 Contingency plans & arrangements...................................................................................8

2.8 Impact of the strategic plan and ethical considerations...................................................9

3.0 Conclusion..............................................................................................................................10

4.0 References...............................................................................................................................10
1.0 Introduction
Strategic plan is a course of action that includes operations, managements, planning, organizing,
training and executing to reach the expected goals of a company. This study will explore such a
scenario where a strategic plan will be required to be made for a company named Merlin
Entertainment and the strategic plan will contain how the company will operate after the
pandemic is over and what they need to analyze before they build any strategic plan. There will
also be a brief discussion on the internal and external stakeholders of the company, its corporate
governance, strategic options, research planning and impact of the chosen strategic plan on its
stakeholders and the company.

2.1 Outline of the company and current situation in business

The topic to be discussed throughout the study is how a strategic plan can be built to operate a
business after the pandemic is over and how that business can overcome the losses or operate
how it used to operate before the pandemic and for this study the chosen company is Merlin
Entertainment which is a global leader in location-based family entertainment and they possess
approximately 130 locations across the globe. As the covid-19 pandemic started in roughly
March, 2020 businesses like Merlin Entertainment which required the presence of their
customers were almost shut down and other businesses started operating online (Hämäläinen,
2020). And this is the current situation for most business and many small and medium size
businesses have encountered losses during the pandemic.

2.2 Aims & objectives

Aim is what a person or a group of people that is a team wish or hope to achieve in near future
and objectives are the activities undertaken by those persons or teams to reach that aim. Here the
aim of the study is to suggest a strategic plan for Merlin environment to overcome their current
state and operate in such a way that they will be able to gain their competitive place in the
market again (Derakhshan et al, 2019). The objective of the study is to explore different strategic
and economic management theories in order to critically evaluate the company’s internal and
external environment to recommend them a suitable action plan.
2.3 Environmental scan: Key internal/external factors Stakeholder analysis & management
Stakeholders of an organization can be defined as the individuals without the support of whom
the company would not even exist and they are the in cores of an organization as they collaborate
in operating and managing each and every decision and activity of an organization. Stakeholders
of an organization can be divided into two categories which are internal and external
stakeholders. As the company Merlin entertainment will try to follow a strategic approach when
the pandemic is over their first concern should be their stakeholders and it holds a huge
significance for them to consider the factors related to internal and external stakeholders
(Damanpour et al, 2018). To figure out what will be good for the company here we will be
critically analyzing any decisions regarding the stakeholders of the company, hence a brief
discussion on the management system after pandemic relating to the internal and external factors
of stakeholders will be analyzed.

Internal factors stakeholder and management

The individuals participating in the management and direct operations of a company like
production or funding are known as internal stakeholders. Some basic examples are the
employees, owners, managers and supervisors of a company. For Merlin entertainment their
staffs are those that maintain their locations and take good care of them, then there are staffs who
sell tickets to the places and managers who supervise these staffs and in charge of the whole
place. During this pandemic the staffs of the company were mostly unemployed and the
company did not pay them as they had no sales or profits so the staffs would definitely not be as
loyal or dedicated as they were before (Mirakyan and Golomejic, 2019). Even the owners had to
encounter losses during this situation which is why the company has to provide some clarity to
its internal stakeholders that they will surely progress in future and their course of action will be
to divide individual roles and responsibilities and build individual expectations. Finally motivate
the internal stakeholders by ensuring appraisal and rewards for their hard work in future that is
they have to follow Vroom’s theory of expectancy which states that people will be largely
motivated if they believe that their maximum effort will lead to a definite successful outcome
and this effort will be genuinely rewarded in future. Thus, the company can maximize
organizational performance simultaneously use democratic leadership style among its
supervisors to make the staffs feel more involved in the system so that they will start believing in
the company and become dedicated. Thus, the company can manage its internal stakeholders and
management.

External factors stakeholders and management

External stakeholders who are also known to be secondary stakeholders are those who are not
directly involved with the company but their activities and influences have a great impact on the
decision making and outcomes of the company. They even affect the organizational goals and
objectives. Some of the external stakeholders are suppliers, customers, society, governments,
creditors and shareholders. In the case of Merlin Entertainment their suppliers only supply them
equipment of their parks so they do not have a big impact. The government will certainly have an
impact on management decision after the pandemic because there may be new legislations keep
people socially distant until covid is fully gone and due to this fact, the company may need to
follow new procedures which may cost them extra and maybe less customers will be able to visit
the places at the same time (Freudenreich et al, 2020). The most impact will be by the customers
because they will be the ones paying for these costs of the company. So, the company will have
to embrace any decisions remembering that. People will expect safety first, they will have to
follow standard procedures by providing hand sanitizers in every corner and providing no service
without any mask. They will surely have to increase ticket price but it has to be at a standard
level so that customers will not hesitate to go there. The company will have to train their
employees to follow these standard procedures. They will also have to provide a list of cashflow
and net profit sales for at least two years to their shareholders so that they will keep their shares
and spend more on the success of the company (Jauch and Glueck, 2016). Hence the company
will be able to get back in track.
 Fig: Internal and External Stakeholders of a company

2.4 Corporate Governance

Corporate governance is a sum of rules and regulations that is build upon the controlling and
operations of a business firm and collaborate with keeping the balance of interests of
stakeholders such as owners, shareholders, employees, customers suppliers, governments and the
surrounding community. Corporate governance includes lots of policies, practices and processes
to ensure a beneficial outcome for the stakeholders like stock ownership guidelines, bylaws and
articles of incorporation. Shareholders mainly require these types of governance because for
many stakeholders, being profitable for a company is not good enough and they have to
demonstrate a level of corporate citizenship, environmental awareness, ethical behavior and
fulfilling their corporate social responsibilities (Yawson, 2020). Even other external stakeholders
like suppliers and customers also look up to those companies that are environment friendly and
does a lot of charity. A good impression is created through such works. So, the company Merlin
entertainment will have to ensure their corporate citizenship and ethical behavior as well as
remember CSR activities and in this situation of covid-19 pandemic where social distancing is a
must, they can put up banners saying slogans like ‘Wear mask, be safe’ or ‘Be socially distant’
so that people would comprehend the weight of the issue at hand and appreciate their activities
(Gasmi et al, 2020). The company can also arrange charity at their different locations to raise
fund for people with no jobs and having trouble getting foods daily. They can even measure
body temperature of people before entering their arena as a safety measure which will definitely
be appreciated by shareholders, customers and employees because everyone is afraid of this
deadly virus. So, the company has to embrace an approach which will definitely take into
account the new legislations made by government and beneficial for customers and employees
(Thompson, 2017). Their corporate social responsibilities have to be maintained efficiently
towards creating a safe surrounding in their location-based entertainment venues.

2.5 Strategic options & feasibility

Strategic options are the action-based planning that is required to face a certain challenge that
may be encountered by a company in their path of achieving organizational goals and objectives.
Strategic options are contemplated based on the current situation and future goals of an
organization and in this case of Merlin Entertainment, their current state is not really quite good
as they have been out of business since March, 2020 and it has been more than a year. They have
encountered tremendous loss in business and have even fired most of the employees as they
could not provide them regular wages (Bhagat and Bolton, 2019). But now due to the fact that
lockdown will soon be over and people will start to visit places like Merlin Entertainment to
spend quality time with family and friends and most importantly get out of their houses to
annihilate their monotony and finally make everything normal again.

Now in this case the company have certain strategic options and feasibility in their hand to get
back on track like before the pandemic. To do that the company has to take some measures and
they can conduct a survey to figure out how many people would visit such public places after the
pandemic is over and how often they would visit. From their result they can comprehend their
next step and if the result is positive then they need to rethink about their entry fee. As they have
encountered so much loss, they need to increase the entry free amount but not at a large level
because that would definitely discourage the customers (Naciti, 2019). Their pricing strategy has
to be subtle and slowly increase the fee. They can start with a lower fee than pandemic to attract
customers first and when the customers will start visiting regularly, they need to gradually
increase the entry fees and other riding fees to balance their losses and maintain all those staffs
and managers.
They have another option that is to close some of their venues and let open some of them. This
will reduce the extra maintenance cost and labor cost for the company and when more customers
demand to open those spots, then the company can open all of the venues and start the business
fully (Crick and Crick, 2020). The reason behind embracing this approach is to minimize risks
because the virus is continuously changing its genome sequence to turn into a deadlier one and
this may happen in future too. So, this would definitely be a rational idea to open some of the
venues and let all the other ones be closed. The company also have to think about their staffs and
corporate social responsibilities. To manage their staffs as most of them were either jobless or
working from home, they are definitely demotivated or mentally stressed because many of them
were living alone or with a roommate for a long time which can be quite frustrating (Paniagua et
al, 2018). The company will have to take measures to motivate and bring order and balance in
their work. These are the strategic options and feasibility present before the company to take
advantage of when the pandemic will be over and certainly, they have the take any one of the
strategic options based on the situation which will be present at that moment. The company will
have to analyze data and conduct research on how they will be more profitable and which
strategy would best suit their situation.

2.6 Research planning and implementation: funding, staffing, information, technology,

marketing monitoring and control
Research planning can be compared to a map which would lead to the final goal or expectation
of and individual or a group or organization but to do that the first thing to consider is which
elements will be present in the research and for conducting a research for Merlin Entertainment
there are certain sectors to consider here such as funding, staffing, information, technology,
market monitoring and control. So, let’s discuss them one by one and how effective use of each
element will be beneficial for the company after the pandemic is over.

Funding and staffing

Any type of business that is large or small require capital resources to run the business and these
funding mainly come from either owners or external bodies like shareholders. These capital
resources are to be invested in business and the profit made from there are used to give salaries
to staffs and a portion of it goes to owner’s account and shareholders. So, this is quite a
significant aspect of a company and for Merlin Entertainment, their owners have gone through a
lot and investors and shareholders are also not happy. The company has to conduct a research on
how their investors are reacting to the current situation and what would they expect from the
company in response. To make the investors happy, the company has to provide them with some
clarity like cashflow and estimated net profit sales in the next few years and more importantly
show some potential that the company will be profitable in future so that they will get the
funding that is required to start the business again (Chofreh et al, 2017). When they get the
funding, they have to give their attention on their staffs and it would be logical to say that most
of their employees are gone because of no wages for a long time so they have to recruit people
where most of them will not be trained or skilled. They have to conduct a research on the ability
of their workforce. They have to hire a HR manager with such expertise to turn those staffs into
skilled ones and start working as soon as possible.

Information and technology

The world is running through data and data manipulation which clearly states the significance of
information and technology. The company has to conduct a research on the current usage of
technology in their venues and how it can be improved to offer better customer service. They can
gather information from their customers by sending google forms through e-mails and other
social platforms if they are added with the company’s official pages in different social platforms.
Then they can analyze those data to figure out which technology can be added to their venues to
provide a better experience and it can be a better payment method through smartphones or better
security with technology (VORONKOVA et al, 2017). The company can even use these
technologies to establish better communication within and outside the company. They can even
start options for buying tickets online and refunding before three days of cancelling. Usage of
these technologies can be of great help to bring them back in track and run their business
properly.

Marketing monitoring and control

Marketing is one of the major aspects of a company because developing a better product or
service will be worthless if the customers do not know about them. As discussed before the
changes to be made by the company will be effective if maximum number of regular and
potential customers know about it. To achieve that the company can arrange online campaigns
and provide ads in different social platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and other blogs
to let people know about the changes and new services (Payne, 2019). They can also have a
research on how the company should be controlled that is what type of leadership would
everyone prefer and nowadays staffs mostly prefer democratic leadership and the company can
embrace such leadership to enhance organizational performance.

Overall research planning should be the company’s first step and from those researches they can
get an idea on a specific sector and change them to attract more customers but in this situation,
they need to let people know what they have changed for them and definitely present the changes
as positively as possible.

2.7 Contingency plans & arrangements

A contingency plan can be defined as a plan B which is for a different outcome rather than the
usual one and the plan is also different from the usual one. Now as the covid-19 pandemic is full
of uncertainty because there is no exact date of when everything will be normal and the only
thing to be thought is the expected date when everything will start to become normal. If
everything becomes fully normal then the company embrace strategic plan discussed in the
previous part of the report but they should have an alternate plan for a different situation where
the virus is not fully gone but the lockdown is over and people would start to visit places like this
but while being socially distant from each other and maintaining all the safety measures given by
government, medical professionals and experts (Westergaard, 2008). Now to successfully
implement such a contingency plan, they need to consider their costs, profits and arrangements
required to be made. This plan will also have to contain the safety measures because without
them customers would not feel safe to visit such places which would create a negative
impression about the company.

Now to build a contingency plan first thing the company can do is to find out what type of
arrangements are required to be made and how much extra this would cost them. If Covid-19
virus is required to be stopped from spreading the company has to provide hand sanitizers in
every corner, and clean place where people sit and usually touch at least twice a day. They also
have to check body temperature of people before entering and provide no service without any
mask. They can encourage people not to get too close to other people to maintain safe distance so
that the virus would not spread (Dudgeon, 2006). Now for this plan they need to demonstrate
another cashflow to their investors and net sales for some months. They have increase entry fee
to tackle these costs but not drastically increase it because it may reduce the number of
customers. Now their final step would be to build a marketing plan regarding these new changes
made and how it will help prevent people from spreading the virus and get affected by it. This
will attract sensible customers and they will feel free to come with whole families which would
increase sales of the company. So keeping a contingency plan in this situation is a must for the
company.

2.8 Impact of the strategic plan and ethical considerations

The company from the case study Merlin Entertainment has been out of business since this
global pandemic started and they have not been able to get back in their course ever since but
now this will change as the government is thinking about ending the lockdown fully and make
everything normal again. But the virus is not fully gone and the vaccines are not one hundred
percent effective. So, the company has to create a basic strategic plan when the pandemic is fully
over and another contingency plan where the pandemic is not fully over but everything will start
to become normal and meanwhile people will maintain social distance and washing hands or
sanitizing before touching mouth, nose or eyes (Akinyele and Fasogbon, 2010). These strategic
plans will certainly have an impact on both the company and its stakeholders whether they are
internal or external.

The company has not able to gain profits for more than a year and if they can execute their plan
after pandemic successfully, they can become profitable as they are thinking about opening some
of the venues as an experiment to see how people react and how many customers visit their
places daily. They have taken necessary steps to keep people socially distant and safe which may
attract more conscious people with families. If the company can advertise what they have done
for the safety of their customers they can expect many customers and maybe a small raise in the
entry fee can cover their extra expenses and eventually they will become profitable if the
pandemic does not become worse (Schoeffler et al, 2014). Their strategic plan will also have
impact on their employees, suppliers, shareholders and owners. Their employees will get good
wages if the plan is successful and this will be a mental relief for them as well as their families.
The owners and other investors will also remain happy as long as the business is open and the
company is making profit. So, if the strategic plan is successful then all the stakeholders will
benefit from it and if it is not then this may be a huge loss of the company and its stakeholders
both economically and mentally.

There has to be some ethical considerations present in the strategic plan like when a staff will
measure the body temperature of a person, he has to be very careful and expert at it because it is
a matter of life and death. The company also need to hire responsible people who will clean
everything with attention and hand sanitizers and handwashes should also be of better quality.
The company should also pay good wages to its staffs because it will motivate them to work
harder and attentively. They have to maintain their ethics during this time of pandemic because
people’s lives depend on it and their customers would come to visit their venues trusting in their
measure of safety and social distancing. So, they have to keep in mind the ethical considerations
to be made.

3.0 Conclusion
The study has clearly demonstrated in impact of global covid-19 pandemic on organizations but
it is time that they have to build a strategic plan for post covid situations and they have to
consider many aspects in this case that is their stakeholders, their course of action, safety
measures, new laws and legislations made by the government and what their customers and
employees would think best for their health. It would be much better for the company to embrace
ethical approach by providing tools to prevent covid-19 and think about both social and
economic sectors to get back in track and they can embrace different strategic management
theories like administrative management and analyze their stakeholders to comprehend which
theory would suit them the best during this situation and thus they can again gain competitive
advantage in the marketplace.
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