The time frame for this case is 1977. At that time, Club Mediterranee (Club Med) was evaluating its marketing approach to the United States market.
The Club Med concept was to provide a complete vacation package for club members within the Club Med villages. The cost of the complete vacation would be included in the price for the time booked into a village.
Club Med operated three different types of villages. The lowest priced and those with fewest amenities were the Hut Villages. Typically, these villages operated only in the sum mer months, and were the oldest of the facilities owned by Club Med. The other village types were Bungalow Villages, and Hotel Villages, which were characterized by greater amenity levels, and higher prices.
By 1977, Club Med was operating on an international level in several aspects. Its villages were located in a number of different countries, its customers came from a long list of countries, and its employees were also drawn from an interna tional pool. Annual sales exceeded F2 billion, and were climbing steadily. The number of members, also climbing steadily, exceeded 500 thousand by 1980, while the number of
holiday beds exceeded 50 thousand. With all this growth, how ever, the organization's top management felt that it had not yet effectively exploited the United States market.
In any revision of its marketing strategy for the United States market, Club Med top management wished to insure that five objectives were met. These objectives were (1) to con tinue to significantly increase both capacity and sales every five years, (2) to continue to be an innovative vacation alter native, (3) to continue the internationalization of its opera tions, (4) to increase organizational productivity, and (5) to maintain the village concept, and continue the social mixing approach.
The major strategic marketing issues confronting Club Med with respect to improving its exploitation of the ...