Business Strategy

Out of the three generic business strategies, Forsgate Country Club uses the Focus strategy. The focus strategy is defined as, “offering products and services (1) to a particular market segment or buyer group, (2) within a segment of a product line, (3) an/or to a specific geographic market.” Forsgate definitely focuses on a particular market segment or buyer group, which are prosperous families, senior citizens, or business groups. When Forsgate first opened, memberships were open to the public for only $25. However, as of 2003, the country club had become a full-service, private club, no longer offering annual golf memberships. An application for membership must be granted and accepted by the club in order to have any affiliation with Forsgate and their amenities.

Porter's Five Forces Model contains buyer power, supplier power, threat of substitute products or services, threat of new entrants, and rivalry among existing competitors. The buying power for the Forsgate Country Club is low because the customer only has three choices of membership which are detailed within what parts of the country club they have access to. As a buyer to other organizations. the supplier power is low because there are many different companies that Forsgate can order from such as food, linen, tables, silverware, glassware, golf clubs, fertilizer, etc,. Forsgate is not limited to one supplier of a specific product. The threat of substitute products or services are high because although the country club offers many different sports areas such as tennis courts, gyms, and swimming pools, etc., other gyms in the area may offer the same things with a much cheaper monthly bill without having to be apart of a country club. Another threat is that not all country clubs are a members only organization, so anyone could go golfing at a public golf course at country clubs if that's the type of sport they are looking for. If the buys enjoys the dining, sports area, and golf all into one there are very few other places that provide that all in one area. The threat of new entrants is low because it is very unlikely, especially in our economy, for more country clubs like Forsgate to open. Country Clubs are very expensive and offer many products and services. Rivalry among existing competitors is a medium low, because country clubs are spread widely among different locations and counties within the state.
They can create switching costs by offering special discounts, like to make an offer that every time you enter the country club and use their services and can gain points that could deduct the price of your membership each month. They can create entry barriers by offering a free first month by just signing up for a membership or a buy one get one free membership.

A major business initiative that Forsgate uses first and foremost is Customer Relationship Management. As defined in the textbook, CRM systems is all about gathering information on the consumers as to what their wants and needs are so your company can serve them better. Almost every single employee from every department at Forsgate interacts with their customers. Whether they’re a server or bartender in the restaurants, one of the golf professionals working with a customer about lessons, or someone getting trained at the gym, every piece of advice or comment that a customer makes is reported back to the superior to learn on how to make their department better. Besides interacting face to face, our members can also interact with us through multi-channel service delivery. Every member has a list of email’s, phone-lines, and fax numbers of every head of each department, and they are more than welcome to approach them in any way to give any feedback they feel the need to. Forsgate also has a Board of Governors, in which certain members who interact the most with every department of the club and interact more importantly with other members are elected and these certain elected members meet once a month at the club to discuss their views and opinions on any changes or any way that we can make the club better for them. The Board of Governors gives Forsgate that Focus Strategy edge because they are the customers and they know exactly what can be changed to make our product better for the targeted group of people that we supply. The Board of Governors also makes our CRM approach a top-line initiative because their meetings are brought to our E-Team meetings (which is Forsgate’s head of each department meeting) and that’s where we decide which are the best ideas from the members that could increase our technology to bring in more revenue and keep our existing members happy.

A recent article, "Country Club of the Future" talks about the new technology that country clubs having been adding to increase Customer Relationship Management within their organization. The economy today is making it harder and harder for country clubs to attract new members and keep their revenues going, which is why clubs are turning to new technology to attract new customers. The article lists types of the new technology, such as GPS installed golf carts to allow you to get the perfect swing on the course by knowing the wind speed or yardage, updated software throughout the club that better recognizes their members as soon as they pull their car into the parking lot, updated technology on better maintenance care and sprinkler systems for the greens, and other technology updates. The article relates highly to Forsgate Country Club's manner of Customer Relationship Management, because FCC is one of those country clubs that is updating internal software’s in every area of the club to better attract new members, young and old, like the new ForsgateTV.

New and improved ways of E-Collaboration within Forsgate are being used as well, mostly social networking. Forsgate has begun to create its own Facebook group, in which members who have Facebook accounts can keep up on any message boards that Forsgate puts up, and it’s the best way where our members can communicate and relate to other members they may not have met before. It also gives them a chance to speak with members from one our cousin country clubs that are operated by Chris Schiavone as well. With that knowledge from other members at other clubs, they can decide to join our reciprocal clubs program and bring in more revenue for our company.

The type of IT organization being used within Forsgate is the matrix approach. In a matrix approach, you will still find a separate IT department or function, but the goal is to maintain IT personnel within the IT department but matrix them across the other functions. In this case, the technologies used are done in concert with significant input from the other functions. This makes everything more collaborative across the organization. For example, Forsgate uses a new technology with in making online videos and DVDs for members to enjoy and keep up to date on important upcoming events and messages from managers of every department throughout the club. The video displayed is a clip from one of Forsgate’s latest episodes of ForsgateTV on their upcoming First Annual Charity Poker Tournament:


The horizontal axis provides a spectrum of philosophy ranging from organizations that are early adopters of IT to organizations that “wait and see: whether emerging technologies prove themselves before adopting them. Along the vertical axis structural placement of the IT function ranges from greatly decentralized, such as the fully integrated approach, to greatly centralized, as in the top-down silo approach. Overall, the IT culture within your organization should match its overall culture and be developed keeping in mind the industry in which your organization competes.

Forsgate Country Club primarily focuses on e-commerce through the internet. Purchasing from other companies on the internet is their biggest accomplishment in e-commerce. Forsgate's website allows a member or guest to browse through a catalog of prices and then make an appointment to try and negotiate with us an ending price in the service they wish to have presented for them. New trends are also starting form in e-commerce at Forsgate, like cell-phone notifications for members on last minute "deals" (event reminders promoting a reduced price on wine or special dinner offers). ForsgateTV has also hit new technology to promote e-commerce to the members as well.

Forsgate has one primary type of internet business model, the most important one, business to business. All purchases that Forsgate makes to other business are through the internet. A lot of different companies provide the country club with the necessary means to put everything together at Forsgate to better suite the members and customers of the club. For example, they purchase from specific food companies through the internet, and receive the shipments of supplies to put the ingredients together for fantastic meals for the restaurants, snack foods for the members on the course, and dinners for banquet functions. Forsgate also orders all their linen products online from a specific business such as any colored napkins or tablecloths they need. Any parts we need for our Micros systems in the restaurants are ordered through the internet so we can have the maintenance to fix the computers and keep the restaurants running, same goes for any parts in the kitchens we need fixed. Those are just a couple of the "behind-the-scenes" business to business interactions that help them interact better with the customer and the suppliers.

Some marketing mix tools that Forsgate could adopt are registering with specific search engines like Google. When someone types in the search for anything related to hospitality, country clubs, golf courses, banquet halls in New Jersey, etc., an ad will also pop up about Forsgate Country Club with special offers about joining, having a function planned, or setting up golf outings for your company. Forsgate mainly uses viral marketing and affiliate programs. Social networking helps FCC to reach out to new members by online word of mouth through their current members. Any members that belong to our cousin clubs (such as Tuscawilla Country Club in Winter Springs, Florida or Olde York Country Club in Chesterfield, New Jersey) will also see ads through social networking as well recommending joining Forsgate or with a reciprocal program through their existing club. That is their main way of an affiliate program.

Forsgates current e-commerce payment system is by way of their "Smart cards" which is the customer’s member card. These cards are used to charge the member with anything that is purchased within the club from either the restaurants, the golf shops, or gym and pool supplies. Every time a member is charged something, their card gets swiped, and our Micros systems will send that information to the main computers in the accounting and membership department. Only these computers will then put together the member’s monthly payment, and send it to their Forsgate email, which then the member can pay through their online account with FCC.

Introduction

Forsgate Country Club is a private, full-service club with many facilities for members to enjoy by having one of the three primary membership accounts. A Social Member account offers the ability to eat in one of the restaurants, The Grille Room or the fine dining Stirlings Room, and also to be able to participate in any monthly events the club offers. A Sports Member account allows access to the restaurants along with access to use the newly constructed Sports Complex, where they can use the gym or swimming pool, and also have access to the tennis courts and locker rooms. A Golf Member can enjoy all of the facilities including access to the two 18 hole courses, the Palmer and the Banks course, along with the amenities of the golf shop, private lessons from the golf professionals on site, and access to the indoor golf practice facility.
Among having a membership, the public can enjoy the highly noted Catering and Banquet staff to hold weddings, sweet 16’s, proms, birthday parties, business meetings, showers, any party of the customer’s choice!

Although not always just for private members, or just for the pleasures of golf, Forsgate was first introduced as Forsgate Farms back in 1913, when all there was to see was grass and dirt roads.

Around 1930, Edith Forster and husband John Abeel take over running the farm and club from John Forster. It was when the clubhouse and Banks course were first constructed. Around 1940, John Forster Abeel became the Chief Executive of Forsgate Country Club and Farms. Fifteen years passes by and Forsgate Farms becomes the largest GRADE A dairy farm in the state, yearly golf memberships were only $25, and the fine dining Stirlings Room was opened to the public. Around 1970, Abeel sells the dairy business to Welsh Farms, and John’s son, Jack Abeel, becomes the new President and Chief Executive Officer of Forsgate Country Club. The late 1970’s comes around and Forsgate begins to see more and more popularity hosting three LPGA tournaments. In 1989, FCC undergoes an extensive $8.9 million restoration that added 4,500 square feet to the clubhouse. In the 1990’s, three new tennis courts were added, the golf shop was expanded with the addition of a practice range, and all courses were upgraded and celebrity tournaments began to take over. Finally around 1997, RDC Golf Group and National Fairways purchased FCC, and then 2 years later, RDC became the sole owners of Forsgate, adding on another 1,300 square feet to the clubhouse. Lastly, in 2003 FCC became an exclusive, full-service, family-oriented and private country club, no longer offering Annual Golf memberships.

Chris Schiavone is the CEO of Forsgate Country Club and the founder and president of RDC Golf Group. RDC was founded in 1994, and currently owns and manages 5 courses in 4 different locations in Florida and New Jersey. Chris Schiavone went to Dartmouth College and received a Bachelor’s Degree of Arts in Government, and was named Entrepreneur of the Year in the hospitality industry by Morris County. Mr. Schiavone has gained his highly regarded experience in operating golf courses simply by the familiarity his family had offered him by having more than 30 years of their own experience by running New Jersey’s largest and most successful country club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Other experiences come from his advantage as a member of the Board of Directors of the Odyssey Golf company, which is company that has based its success off of making top of the line golf clubs. Besides having the intelligence of knowing a thing or two about golf courses, Mr. Schiavone completes his hospitality career by being the co-founder of a company that New Jersey Business Magazine named “one of Northern New Jersey’s Top 20 Privately Held Corporations”. Dartcor Food Service owns and operates corporate food service facilities and full-service restaurants.

“Customer perception of value cannot be easily created with well-manicured turf and fine facilities alone. Consistent commitment to service and attention to market trends are vital in our industry…Today more than ever our goal is to make the experience of every member and guest a memorable one from “bag drop” to “19th Hole’”. -Christopher R. Schiavone. RDC GOLF GROUP

The ethical and social responsibilities at Forsgate Country Club are taken very seriously not only by the management of RDC, but also by the staff members in every department at Forsgate alone. First and foremost to ensure the protection of all of our employees and all of our members of the club, every computer in the building has a specific log-in code for the manager that is operating that machine. These computers have information such as every members account information and status, information on employees, information on billing the public for an upcoming event at the club, etc. Not one person who isn’t considered upper management cannot access that information. All of the computers throughout the building are connected to a main computer in the General Manager’s office. If any new software that could be used to menu making, billing and shipping to other companies or members, payroll, etc, that are uploaded through the main computer and cannot be copied from any other computer, that way no one even able to copy the software that could hold all of the information on our computers. Practicing risk management at Forsgate is just like any other hospitality industry. When any sort of unproductive operational procedure occurs, our management staff is highly trained to reduce any risk that could potentially decrease cost effectiveness and reputation due to the result of poor service and quality.