CLUB MED AND SINGAPORE AIRPLINES

This research compares the strategies of two firmsClub Med, Inc., the Americanbased subsidiary of Club Mediterranee based in Paris, and Singapore International Airlines (SIA). Club Med is responsible for the North American operations of Club Mediterranee. SIA is an international air transportation carrier. Essentially controlled by the Singapore government, SIA, in 1990, sold a substantial share of its ownership to private investors.

This comparison of strategies is presented in the context of five factorsmarket niche, differential advantages, strategic thrusts, organizational culture, and existing cultural gaps. Comparisons between the tow companies are made in the context of each of these factors.

Club Mediterranee, originally founded as a nonprofit vacation club in France in 1950, was quickly successful, and was soon reorganized into a formal shareholding organization providing packaged vacations to exotic locations for all western Europeans. Early on, Club Med adopted a strategy of acquiring ownership of vacation destinations (referred to as villages), and of operating the vacation facilities for its guests, which continue to be referred to as members.

As time passed, Club Med expanded its area for vacation destinations to include sites in most of the desirable areas of the world, and, in the process, the character of some of the villages were transformed from t

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so drawn from an international pool. Club Med depends heavily on the concept of wordofmouth marketing. Satisfied guests are viewed as Club Med's strongest marketing tool. The adoption of a more aggressive marketing strategy for the United States market, however, would better support the Club Med objective of increasing sales than would a continued reliance on selling by the wordofmouth approach. A continued reliance on the wordofmouth approach for selling Club Med, however, would better enable to organization to preserve the innovative character of its vacations than would the adoption of an aggressive marketing strategy for the United States market. Either a continued reliance on the wordofmouth approach to selling Club Med, or the adoption of an aggressive marketing strategy for the United States market would support the attainment of the organization's objective of increasing the internationalization of Club Med. A continued reliance on the wordofmouth approach for the selling of the Club Med concept would better serve the attainment of the organization's objective of preserving the village concept, and of assuring a continuation of the social mixing concept, than would the adoption of an aggressive marketing st
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Approximate Word count = 2935
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)