Rangers

Bring Your Own Luxury. It was a chilled winter morning in 2004 and Mr. Sanjaya Samantaray was sipping hot tea sitting on the balcony of the cottage at Rangers, the construction of which got finished just recently. With every sip he was taking in he remembered the hardship he had under gone to build Rangers to the present state. This was also complemented with the smiles of contentment he has got by seeing his dreams coming true. In the year 2000 Mr. Sanjay Samantaray the promoter and the present CEO of Rangers had a small dream to venture in to out door eco tourism sector and as his first step in this direction was to purchase a land measuring 24000 square feet on Puri - Konark marine drive. He was not very sure then about what exactly he should start at that place to facilitate his dreams of Out Door Eco Tourism. More over the location of the land is such, to do any activity he has to depend on Puri market which was 14 kilometers away. Even all kinds of governmental clearances were also to be obtained from Puri as all the offices were located there. The other major problem Sanjaya had then was funds crunch to go ahead with any activity at the site. All his savings were invested in the purchase of the land. Having the background of a conservative family Sanjay was not very keen to go for any kind of loan. However all these could not deter him from being obsessed with the idea to do something there in line with tourism promotion. He was always restless and busy mentally to work his way out to start his business venture. In the process he had to wait for two more years to accumulate some funds and finally started Rangers. On April 14th, 2002 Rangers came to existence with the opening of a small coffee shop cum information center for tourists about different tourists locations in Orissa. Incidentally this was declared as The Year of Eco Tourism by United Nation. This case is authored by Prof Kamlesh Mishra, Faculty Member, Academy of Management Studies, Bhubaneswar.

Sanjay at the site before construction

Coffee shop nearing completion

Before starting the construction work at the site Mr. Sanjaya Samantaray got a formal approval from the department of tourism Government of Orissa, and was well aware of the fact that the place where he was starting his dream project was not having access to any utility including the most important of them the power connections. So smartly enough he had applied for the same almost four months before starting the construction and he knew that it will take some time to get the power connection as the power lines will be drawn from near the engineering college which was about km. from Rangers site. This move of Mr. Samantaray bore fruit and he got the power connection soon after the construction for the coffee shop got over. How ever when Sanjay recounts the process he had to pass through to get the power connection, he fumes with grumble about the whole system which is certainly not very congenial for any entrepreneur. From the date of application it took almost seven months to get the power connection. The business of the coffee shop soon picked up and in almost three months time it was breaking even. The coffee shop also became a decent hang out for the engineering students of the near by engineering college and was a major source to read customers expectation. The opening of the coffee shop also provided valuable insights about what the commuters on the road are looking for. This however added to the restlessness of Sanjay as he had almost decided about his next course of action. The action started in 2003 to develop a restaurant at Rangers. Sanjay decided to start the restaurant from an ethnically designed cottage with a thatched roof. The construction of the same was completed in less than three months and the restaurant was made operational. Initially the restaurant started serving Indian dishes and subsequently added international menu keeping in view the growing inflow of foreign tourists.

The coffee shop at Rangers

The restaurant in operation

Now the manpower of rangers had gone up to ten. The man power requirement was met by recruiting the local youths followed by regular training. The only trained staff taken in was the cook. The food served from the restaurant at Rangers added delight for the tourists on the marine drive and the students of the engineering college. The ethnic decoration in and around the restaurant also prompted the students to celebrate their birth day there and Sanjay spotted a new business opportunity. To make the birthday parties memorable Sanjay left no effort to chance and arranged every small necessity for the same. Soon it was observed that some foreign tourists also celebrated their birth day there. Recent Developments As the restaurant was doing well Sanjay started looking for more business proposition where he can make a more profitable utilization of the restaurant. Soon he worked on the idea of organizing Picnic for schools, colleges, and the corporate. He was aware of the attraction in around Rangers. As the location is the marine drive, it is having a very easy access to the sea beach. The most amusing part was the walk one has to undertake to reach the beach which takes almost 20 to 25 minutes in side the dense casuarinas forest which is declared as reserve forest by the government of Orissa for some rare breed of deer and rabbits. It is also close to the delta created by a small river as it confluences with the Bay of Bengal there. The scenic beauty around Rangers is just mesmerizing and its proximity to the world famous Konark temple as well as the famous Hindu pilgrimage Puri closeted by the blue water of the Bay of Bengal soon made it a popular picnic destination for many schools, colleges and corporate clients. To add to the attraction Sanjay also worked out various activities such as beach volley ball, kite flying on the beach, Treasure hunt for students, and for the groups opting for Picnic at the site. The biggest advantage offered by rangers to the Picnic parties was the hassle free arrangement of every necessity at the spot. It was offered as a package which has also the flexibility to get tailor made for parties wishing to incorporate any specific requirement.

Students enjoying picnic at the beach

Tourists interaction

As Rangers evolved in to a Picnic destination Sanjay was keenly observing the development and could realize the possible disturbance to the eco system in and around Rangers. Personally being very concerned about the ecology soon Sanjay decided to ban 3

the use plastic and tried to educate the tourists to restrain themselves from all such activities which may harm the nature and its balance. To this effect a slogan was developed which also reflected the philosophy and concern of Rangers towards the eco system. The slogan that reads as under also encouraged one and all coming to Rangers to discourage the purchase of any artifacts made out of the skin or body part of any endangered species. Leave Only Foot Prints. Take only Foto Prints. At this point of time the mission statement of Rangers was also developed which clearly depicts the future course of action and the concern for the eco system. Mission To make the best possible utilization of the natural attractions such as the sea beach, the hill tops, the waterfalls and the forests for fun, pleasure and adventure without causing slightest harm to the eco system. Innovative Thinking. Now with the coffee shop, restaurant, Picnic parties, and birth day parties Rangers has already become a happening place. Every body at Rangers is geared up to render the best possible services to its visitors and guests. Sanjay is still not a contended person and trying to find out if anything is missing at Rangers. Once while reading a tourist magazine Sanjaya came across a definition of tourism outlined by World Tourism Organization, and there after he could spot the missing link at Rangers. Tourism comprises the activities of people traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business, and other purposes. ---WTO. The next course of action was to develop accommodation facility at Rangers. Sanjay had a fair idea about the limitations he would face. The place with coffee shop and restaurant was left with hardly any vacant land for construction of the accommodation facility. So Sanjay finally decided to develop two cottages with attached toilets and a balcony above the roof. This was constructed in 2004, and Rangers finally got transformed in to a tiny resort. Soon tourists started staying there over night and experienced the charm of staying near the sea beach and the reserve forest. As restless as ever Sanjay was again looking for ideas to do some thing innovative and attractive for the tourists. The location was imprinted in his mind and his experience as a tourist to different locations came in handy to experiment tenting on the beach which was completely a new concept in Orissa. This was initially started with two tents and observing its overnight success Rangers today can accommodate up to 50 persons in the tents.

Sanjay experimenting tenting on the beach

Foreign tourist in tents.

Now Rangers has become a full fledged tourists stop over. However the entire day today management and the marketing are still looked after by Mr. Sanjay Samantray. The approach to marketing was direct. Many tourists also arrived there through the references of old tourists. Internet was also used by Sanjay to market Rangers. This has brought in many foreign tourists to Rangers by now. It was also observed that mostly the international tourists prefer a tent accommodation then their Indian counterparts. But as Sanjay observes the trend is also catching up very fast with Indian tourists too. In the New Year eve of 2007 all the tents were booked by Indian and International tourists to celebrate the same. To day Sanjay Samantray is a happy man to see all his experiments getting through. But the process continues. As it happened recently, while negotiating with some corporate executives who were interested to go for a night out in the tents enquired about various facilities provided. The reply of Mr. Sanjaya was very straight and simple. He informed them about the basic provision they provide in the tent such as a mattress for two, Lunch, Dinner, Morning and evening snacks and the security for a hassle free stay. Any things extra the tourists want have to be arranged by themselves. Thus a new slogan was developed to market the tenting facility that reads as under. Rangers . Bring Your Own Luxury. Drivers of Innovations Though operating in a small scale, constant and continuous innovation has become a practice at Rangers. Some of the steps taken at Rangers that have driven innovation are as under. Feed Back from Customers: The tourists coming in are asked to provide their honest feed back about their feelings and suggestion for improvement of service quality. Interaction with Internal Customers: The staffs and all other stake holders are asked on a regular basis to provide their valued suggestions to improve the service quality.

Observing and Benchmarking: Sanjay Samantray is an avid traveler and loves traveling since his child hood. His exposure through the same is bench marked and implemented at Rangers. Informal Network: The promoter through his net work with elderly persons and different industry association regularly subscribes to various journals and magazines from major tourism associations in the country and the world also contribute to the innovations at Rangers.

The Happy Man Today Sanjay Samantray is a happy man. The success of Rangers is not gone to his head and he attributes its success to all its members and all the customers who have visited the same. Starting with a small concept he has come a long way. But he feels that this is just the beginning and many more attractions are yet to follow. Presently he is working with his latest obsession and hopes it will also come true soon.

The future dreams of Sanjay.

Task This effort of Sanjay Samantaray will be an eye opener for many entrepreneurs and will certainly motivate many to opt for tourism as a sustainable business proposition in Orissa. The real task is to build a strong brand image for Rangers among leisure travelers. Orissa being a poor state is not much talked about among destinations of India. However Mr Saroj is hopeful that he can come up with an integrated marketing communication program for promoting his novel idea. He plans to use Internet and other emerging communication tools for promoting his concept of leisure. Suggest a suitable Integrated Marketing Communication Program.