Strategic planning for increasing profitability: the case of marina industry

Purpose - This paper aims to explore the international marina industry, encompassing both marina customers and managers. It also aims to put forth the argument that marinas as business entities can create and sustain competitive advantage by maximizing the advantages that stem from their superior resources and core competences. Design/methodology/approach - To ensure proper representation for the marina managers worldwide, questionnaires were sent to 200 managers of various marinas on five continents, in order to receive a representative sample. The questionnaires were distributed for the most part via e-mail (where an address was available), some by fax and additional questionnaires were distributed at the international ICOMIA conference for marina managers held in Sydney, Australia. Overall, 138 marina managers replied. The statistical analysis applied in the study is a structural equations analysis, which is known in the literature as covariance structure modeling and structural equations modeling (SEM). Findings - The correlation between government intervention and occupancy is a negative correlation, meaning that the greater government intervention, the lower occupancy rate. The correlation between crowding and occupancy is a positive one. The remaining correlations are not significant. This shows that it is not possible to claim a relationship between the occupancy index and the other variables examined: view, services, level of security/safety, environmental protection, distance from competitors, proximity to customer/city and local community. Research limitations/implications - The study offers a method of classifying variables according to which marinas can be characterized. Second, these criteria are placed in clusters viewed by the marina managers as being related to one another, adding structure to the process of classification, which is similar to the "conceptual map" that exists in the minds of the marina managers. Originality/value - This research provides corroborative empirical evidence to the hypothesis that occupancy can be used as a proxy for marina's profitability. Finally, the model provides tools for strategic planning and ongoing management of an existing marina and/or for the establishing of a new marina.