Hanif Rajput Catering Services Management Essay

Hanif Rajput Catering Services, a renowned, immaculate, trust worthy and qualified service provider holds a well-known name amongst the elite group of people in Pakistan for its reputation and excellence in catering and cuisines for weddings, business events and other ceremonies.

“Hanif Rajput has an exceptional management team and a flawless service”

Its success depends on the fact that it aims to provide highest standards in terms of quality to their valued customers. The company takes help of different marketing techniques to stay on top of its business area.

Despite what the company claims to offer, it is experiencing stagnant sales over the past few years.

This research will provide answers to the problem identified.

Now what are the reasons for this decline was the main purpose of this study. Interviews and questionnaire surveys were conducted to get the clear picture.

Hanif Rajput, an event management company is one of the best and the largest companies in Pakistan. Hanif Rajput being one of the biggest and best companies in this industry does not escape from having internal flaws and inside management clashes. Company’s management style has changed from what it was followed before and the employees are not adjusting to it.

Vendors on the company’s panel were directly dealing with the clients Direct contact of clients with vendors through company’s booking managers has played a vital role in decreased sales. Money instead of coming into the company is going into their pockets.

Managers are omitting minute details during planning and organizing of an event. Those minute details are frequently among the most imp factors that determine the success and failure of an event. Mr. Ali Ehsan(GM of the company) said that Hanif Rajput Company try’s its best to eliminate such minute errors to make their events perfect.

Introduction:

Marketing Guru, Philip Kotler, defines events as occurrences designed to communicate particular messages to target audiences. Suresh Pillai, Managing Director, Eventus Management, considers events as an additional media whereby two-way or active communication is possible.

Entertainment is the irrefutable need of us humans, but for Pakistanis and to be more precise ‘Lahori’s’ food and weddings takes away the biggest portion in the pie.

Hanif Rajput being in the event management sector (mainly catering) for so long serves the same purpose.

HRCS was formed 14 years ago through a partnership between late Mr. Hanif Rajput and Mr. Rana Ashraf Khan in 1991. Since 1994, Hanif Rajput Catering Services sole ownership was legally transferred to Mr. Rana Ashraf Khan and since then it has become even more successful with its high quality services to the residents of the twin cities and its surroundings.

In addition to the residents of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, HRCS has provided high quality services to a multicultural clientele varying from the lively Punjabis in Lahore to the exuberant Pathans in Peshawar, from Dera Ismail Khan to Muzaffarabad as well as Gilgit. (Hanif Rajput 1979, Tender Bid Offer)

Hanif Rajput an Overview

Hanif Rajput, caterers was launched in 1979 by (late) Muhammad Hanif Rajput at Karachi. Since its inception, the company has emerged as the leading and fastest growing catering organization in the country. The rapid expansion and continued diversification of the business are attributable to three essential factors: precise planning, adherence to quality standards enthusiastic teamwork.

The remarkable record of business growth and company’s recognition in the area of catering owes largely to the management’s commitment to stay on top in catering organization. Today Hanif Rajput is the finest catering organization in terms of quality food and it enjoys a vast range of clientele. (Hanif Rajput, 1979, Tender Bid Offer)

Today the company has diversified its business to further stream line its operations.

Hanif Rajput caterers

Hanif Rajput Industrial and Field Management Service

HR Mobiles (Pvt.) Ltd

Quality Policy

The management and staff of Hanif Rajput industrial and Field Management Services strongly believe that there is no substitute of hard work and honesty for providing highest standard of services to their valued customers.

Business Ethics

Hanif Rajput industrial and felid management services is strongly committed to ethical business relationships based on mutual trust and providing qualitative services at competitive price . in the context of this commitment, the company’s employees are not permitted to accept any type of gratification whatsoever from the suppliers and vendors. Similarly, Hanif Rajput does not expect from its clients

Vision

“To stay on top in our business area”

Hanif Rajput is committed mentioned vision through these under mentioned pointers.

Quality Management

High Standard of Food

Customer Satisfaction

A positive impact on the people we serve

Mission

“Right from the beginning we have had a mission to maintain quality. The kind of quality that one is recognized by. That is why to meet the ever increasing demands of our customers; we have laid down certain principles that ensure consistently better services and a satisfied customer base.

Quality food at competitive cost

Dependable operation by qualified professionals and wireless network systems

Assured Prompt Service

Company’s Objectives

To provide services to our valued customers to the best of our ability based on internationally recognized standards.

To ensure reliable and sustainable operations

To provide quality services at sustainable costs

To pursue and maintain consistent improvement in quality systems

Strategy

HR corporate strategy is to build out existing competencies within the group and to establish a culture of exceptional performance with a view to set a platform from future market expansion.

Hanif Rajput Services

Wedding Lawns

Outdoor Catering

Avenues

HR Mobiles (Pvt.) Ltd

Garrison Banquet Halls (GBH)

Industry Overview

Miss. P. PIRAKATHEESWARI, Lecturer in Commerce, Sri Sarada College for Women in her article says that management of an event encompasses all activities involved in planning, organizing, staffing, leading and evaluation of an event. In fact, all operational task for an event such as the ground work, viz., venue selection and stage design, arranging the infrastructural facilities required, liaison with artists/ performers and networking with other activities such as advertising, PR, ticket sales, etc., fall under the purview of event management.

Events industry is extremely diverse and fragmented and might overlap with other industries such as hotels. This industry comprise of wedding events, business/ corporate events, outdoor events and tradeshows.

Pakistani event Management Industry includes about 4000 companies with combined annual revenue of Rs 100 billion.

Major companies include Hanif Rajput, Jalal and Sethi, Iris, Harman Events, Al Waseem events, Ali Hodges events, Spark and Sparkles, Impact productions etc. This industry is fragmented. The top companies make about 50% of the industry revenue.

Demand is driven by overall economic activity and profits. Small companies manage their profits by retaining valuable staff and managing costs where as large companies have the advantage of negotiating labor, they have multiple locations, multiple suppliers and transportation. (Aug. 27, 2012, Trade shows and event planning services)

This industry’s primary function is producing and managing different events, trade shows, conferences etc. other than that this industry design, builds, ships booths for tradeshows for individual exhibitors.

Event management industry overall is growing at a fast pace. Prior to rescission and even in the rescission season this industry was experiencing growth. This industry has shown considerable boom in the past 10 years and has outperformed many sectors in the economy.

According to a research conducted by (Eventia’s Member Survey February 2009), we have seen that events are down by more than 10%. Public sector despite the recession is still sending money on the events. There is an increase in public events and spending on festivals is increasing drastically.

Despite inflation, public spending is increasing. With this increase and with rising trend towards event management, a lot of event management companies are emerging. Due to this, competition between event organizers has also amplified because they are all invited to deal for the same purpose.

Event industry is diversifying to increase their offer and improving their customer service skills to deal with this elevated competition.

Industry’s outstanding current performance is a hint for its future success. Being an international industry, some sort of international standards can be put into place for events in the future. Technology being developed we see that the technological trends will continue to grow along with face to face customer interactions.

Furthermore in the next ten to fifteen years, Pakistan is seen hosting several high profile events which will provide organizers to gain ample experience and skills to organize events on enormous scale.

Literature Review

Moise Daniela *, Georgescu Bogdanb, ZgurÄƒ Danielc in their article “The use of event marketing management strategies” tells that events evolve and changes with the development of mankind. Events are part of social, cultural and economic factors in accordance to various tertiary sectors.

Events can be defined as nonstandard services in which knowledge, behavior commitment to service providers is very crucial. Contentment of customers comprises of well integrated communication with clients, event venue, design, the management system and the staff. Organizations should take into account the types of customers that they address with new events, so they have to develop new events or to diversify the actual ones.

(Rutherford, 2008) considers that the event marketing management process is a cross complex of flows of management processes with management and marketing functions. As shown, the functional units – grouped by subject area, form the fabric to manufacture an event.

The process starts with a lot of research, continuing with event planning, the organization implementation and at the end of event the final evaluation. Departments from the administration, operations, marketing and risk management and not only, are involved in a greater or less matter of carrying out the tasks. As all of them have met different problems in setting up an event, and can come with various solutions or proposals. Constantly bringing together the various creative disciplines in new areas of experience transforms any event into a unique experience. When combining different sensory impressions, receptors are taken in other worlds, identifying factors and factors of the event experience can hardly be overcome. Their enormous power of attraction combined with deep emotions; determine harmonious events to become important aspects of marketing communication. They create customer loyalty and enhance the sense of group, or “we”, members of a team (Daab, 2007).The increase of involvement of commercial customers and the increase of number of events, illustrate their significant importance in advertising (Filip, 2011). Managing and organizing an event properly requires well incorporation of disciplines, but in order to produce effective results and implementation two fields are very crucial: marketing and management. Without these the event can never exist.

Event marketing addresses both to customers and business partners of an organization as well as employees working in a company. Marketing is followed by conduction of two kinds of researches. On one hand it address to stakeholders and the extent to which it outsources or moves to other companies for their effective implementation of these events, and on the other hand, the employees opinion about the effectiveness of events, and also proposals, to really become perfect Marketing Events, in terms of participants (Olteanu, 2005).

In terms of organizing events that address to target customers and other business partners (Davidson & Rogers, 2007): Accessible locations, with enough parking spaces, large spaces; Greater attention to detail, in providing maps of presentation to all participants; Innovative and exciting ideas, approaching broader and more complex themes, with a high degree of novelty; Compliance with the program and the exact start and end. Strict timing of presentation sessions, without any exception; The menu to take account also of the needs of all participants the vegetarians The best possible sound system, enjoyable music, more prepared speakers; The use of translators, because not every participant may know the international language spoken; The events to be the most concise possible and to be transmitted only the most important, late minute

information concerning the specified domain; The guests to be successful people at least in the certain domain, either from abroad or national ones, and the contact information of the speakers for a subsequent collaboration or for an explanation of some problems; The events to be unique, in order to catch the attention of the participants, but also to have a direct approach and the message to be a simple one; A proper environment to be created for the networking development, by organizing some sessions between the participants in order to exchange experience.

The success of an event depends of the efficiency of the event marketing and management. It is therefore crucial for marketing managers to give sufficient time and energy for future planning; as the realization of the marketing management is the manifestation of the event. Marketing management strategy of the planning process comprises of practical value and it defines and forms the future of the organization and responds to changes in technology, environmental conditions and meets the needs of customers, and also the employees.

“Strategies for interactive communication, with external and internal stakeholders, in events’ marketing” by Moise Daniela *, Georgescu Bogdanb, ZgurÄƒ Danielc confers that interactive communication is a key element in the development of events including the company that creates events, organizations that order invents and the participants/employees within the company. The success of any event highly depends upon the properly managed and good communication with the clients as well as the employees in a company. The effect of the communications can be positive or negative. Any company that sends across the information or message about their products and services must be integrated well in order for the consumers to have a succinct image of the offer of the organization.

According strictly from this point of view of the proper interactive communication, the organizers of events have available the following strategic options (Goldblatt, 2005):

The use of some “media” communication means of the type: advertising at the place of sale (posters, billboards, flyers), information indicators, user guides, environment;

The use of some “interpersonal: communication means of the type: personnel in contact, commercial contact (in case of fairs,, exhibitions, etc.), clients (“orally” promotion).

Companies appeal to a large number of target audience while creating events, the means of communication can be external or internal. The most important criteria that is taken into account while conducting events and outlining a budget depends upon the type of event, the way in which it is realized (in direct labor, outsourced or joint), the location where the event takes place ( must be taken into account if the organization has space assigned and sufficient for the development of the event because in case that the space is too small for the number of participants their experience can be unpleasant), the period in which the event takes place (it firstly must be considered also the availability of the participants to come to the event) and the participation tax ( if for some events the participation or the entrance is free, for other events there exists a participation tax of which quantum increases in direct proportion with the demand for such an event).

The internal communication is an important component of marketing mix which represents the interior of a company which plays an essential role in ensuring the proper management of events to the audience from the internal environment and the ones created and delivered in the interactive marketing. Internal communication is indissolubly related to the communicates through the event. (Filip, 2011) Therefore, it aims at the attraction, support and agreement of the personnel, the increase of the degree of its involvement in the realization of the event. Communication is preferred with the employees, introducing the new employee once he/she enters in the organization, and even when they leave the organization.

In this way, the internal communication of the marketing ranks with the managerial communication, at the superior management level, having a specific role, the one of contributing to the attaining of the objectives stipulated in the marketing plans of the organization. Its objectives are derived from the ones of the marketing, being included in some specific programs, using specific means of internal communication. (Olteanu, 2005).

There are various means of internal communication that are or can be used by the companies for effective results.

Newsletters in a written form, Web sites, Blogs, Other printed materials such as brochures, internal notes, announcements posted on the bulletin board etc. The organizations that communicate with their own employees can recourse to a wide range of events through which they can send a diversity of messages for attaining the marketing objectives. (Masterman & Wood, 2006)

Jonathan Reynold in his writing “Common Problems Faced by Event Organizers: What Is the Solution?” states that event Management is a business that is on its boom. But on the other hand event organizers are facing a lot of problems these days. The main problem faced by them is the competition. Before the emergence of the internet people had no concept social media platforms and online promotions of events, activities and other things. However with the internet and awareness of social media, enterprises are now facing a tough challenge merging their traditional marketing strategies with the more advanced online promotional tactics.

Event organizers now days face a lot of problems managing events.

The basic problem faced in arranging events is budget. People are not spending more money on their events and designers on the other hand have to keep the clients budget in mind and give them the best they could. Due to inflation and other recessionary economic problems planners are not being able to cater to the clients requirements with the given budgets. Event planners must keep in mind the amount of money required to book and decorate the venue. Moreover there is a dire need to recruit additional staff to manage the business.

Event attendance is also going down due to the worldwide economic crises. People are showing reluctance in attending corporate meetings and trade shows and because of this many companies/ organizers are failing to sell their entire inventory.

Conference or meeting management problems are also seen. Companies are also seen hiring outsiders for help because one person cannot manage logistical aspects of a conference for their attendees. This outsourcing takes a lot of time because suitable staff is not easy to find. And even if they find it it takes time to make them understand the work flow system.

These problems and issues can be managed easily now. Social media integration has become a common need now. Individuals are no longer using social media sites for personal reasons. They are using these social networking sites such as facebook, twitter, MySpace etc to meet urgent business needs. To address these growing issues and effectively manage events, organizers are seen taking the help of various types of online event management solutions.

This article, Business Development in the Event Management Industry written by Himanshu Sharma discusses the different techniques of developing business. For successful business development a keen eye on the market should be maintained, every move of your competitor must be monitored, every new product in the market must be considered while making marketing decisions and different marketing strategies should be adopted.

In the event management industry most of the work is done via outsourcing. There could be different kind of outsourcing for example social event outsourcing, corporate event outsourcing, charitable event outsourcing and so on. Companies often outsource their marketing campaigns to different event management companies as these companies are well equipped for the job. They usually consist the right logistic, man power, equipment’s for the job. If for a company the event management activities are an integral part then those companies can open up their very own event management department decrease their production and marketing cost.

Over the years there is a drastic increase in the growth of event management companies and now it’s a 500 billion dollar industry. Social networking sites can prove to be very helpful to get business for such companies. Facebook, MySpace, Orkut are few examples that are used for business development. Event-management is mostly about networking, the more contacts you have the more you can attract business for your event management company.

I think this article correctly identifies the key factors which are needed to be their for the success of any event management company. An event manager must be very vigilant about the market scenarios and remain updated about the new companies that are entering the market.

Financial Analysis

Hanif Rajput Company’s financial highlights for the years 2008-2010 are as follows.

Revenues/Turnover

CGS

HR Caterers

2010′

Rupees

171,324,351

(130,548,831)

HR Decorators

2010

Rupees

72,047,886

(47,838,441)

HR Caterers

2009′

Rupees

173,095,820

(131,930,397)

HR Decorators

2009

Rupees

94,267,977

(68,492,287)

HR Caterers

2008′

Rupees

181,541,591

(138,367,606)

HR Decorators

2008

Rupees

84,561,589

(63,334,485)

Gross Profit

Admin Expenses

40,775,520

(32,138,680)

20,209,445

(16,054,646)

41,165,432

(35,360,319)

25,775,690

(19,184,929)

43,173,985

(39,005,804)

21,227,104

(18,288,862)

Profit/loss from Operations

Less: financial Charges

8,636,840

(6,041,058)

8,154,799

(5,852,669)

5,805,105

(3,223,674)

6,590,761

(4,116,154)

4,168,181

(1,370,165)

2,938,242

(695,405)

NET PROFIT

2,595,782

2,302,130

2,581,431

2,474,607

2,798,016

2,242,837

Measuring company’s profitability over a period of time is very important. From the above stated financial highlights of Hanif Rajput we can see that sales are decreasing slowly over the years. Expenses and cost of sales are not decreasing with the same ratio.

Research Question

The following basic questions will be addressed in this study:

“Why Hanif Rajput is not meeting the sales target for the last three years?”

Methodology:

Research Significance

Methodology is an integral part of research and emphasis is given on research theories along with discussing the validity and reliability of data so as to provide a general view about how the research is conducted. The objective of the researchers is to use specific tools for collecting primary and secondary data in order to systematically generate knowledge of the world.

According to Evered and Louis (1981) the methodology has been clarified by two distinguishing research stances: “inquiry from the outside

In general terms, Quantitative and qualitative methodologies are linked, respectively, with the two principal research paradigms which are generally labeled Positivism and Interpretivism (Mangan et al, 2004). Positivism and Interpretivism totally contradict each other. Positivism obeys the law of nature and is based on factual information like the sun rises and sets every day.

Data Type:

There are two types of data, quantitative and qualitative. My data type will be qualitative as questionnaires will be filled by the employees. And interviews will be conducted by the CEO and GM of the company and other employees. The information gathered will then be analyzed and In order to run the regression and analyze the statistical data I will convert the data into numbers through coding to make it more feasible.

Research Design:

Research design is a framework for conducting the research project. It tends to discover new insights as well as describe the functions of existing variables. These kinds of designs are flexible and versatile in data collection and analysis. The main methods under these designs are qualitative like interviews, case studies and participant observation.

The aim of the study is to figure out why are Hanif Rajput’s sales stagnant since the past few years. What are the reasons and factors causing this status quo?, although this industry is so attractive in Pakistan and is constantly growing.

The design of this study is employee survey and two interviews.

Sampling and sampling technique:

Sample Size

Due to limitation of resources and time constraints on part of both the researcher and the respondents, the whole population cannot be studied therefore; a sample would be selected from the total target population.

A total of 30 surveys questionnaires will be conducted. Managers and employees of the company will be asked questions about the research and information will be collected.

Sampling Procedure

There are two types of sampling methods used in collecting the data; probability sampling and non-probability sampling.

Sample size will also be based on the convenience sampling due to the ease of access that the researcher had in communicating with the respondents in the company.

Research Tools

The Primary research methodology for my paper will entail both written and oral surveys. i.e. Data collection though questionnaires and surveys.

Data Collection Procedure

Both primary as well as secondary data collection techniques would be used, for the research to present an authentic and a more comprehensive view. A primary data refers to information collected by oneself which is original and reliable through direct observation or questionnaires. Whereas a secondary data refers to information collected from sources which already exists, through facts, figures, journals, articles and books. This study was based on primary data collection approach.

Data was collected from a sample population of employees by means of questionnaires which will form the annexure. They were distributed to a total of 30 respondents of different ages, gender and income. Once the questionnaires will be filled they’ll be collected. Interviews of senior employees e.g. the CEO and GM operations will also be conducted to get the in depth information.

Questionnaires employed close ended questions in order to induce quick decisions from the respondents. The questionnaire design was also key to producing efficient results.

In Depth Interviews

Interviews are the leading means for acquiring detailed information from test subjects. In depth interviews for the purpose of this study were either unstructured or semi-structured so as to avoid inducing generic responses that fall in the median. The underlying views, concerns and cognitive processes of the participant’s responses were the primary objective of my research. Unstructured and semi-structured interviews allow us to gain detailed information about a respondent’s opinion, views, feelings, beliefs and behaviors so as to derive a holistic picture for the research rather than rudimentary outcomes. According to some sociologists, interviews are prone to be biased and the results cannot be generalized due to the small size of the sample. However, these issues can be mitigated by carefully selecting a representative sample population and by being well versed in interviewing techniques so as to induce efficient responses.

While conducting in depth interviews, it is important that the researcher should be patient and calm and also make the participant feel comfortable, secure, and at ease enough to speak openly. There should be a good communication between the researcher, and participant and it is better to avoid yes/no questions,. Which tend to, stifle detail. One of the main issue is to try not to guide try not to guide course of the interview to preconceived questions, but to follow what is on subjects’ minds.

Keeping in mind all the guidelines two in depth interviews were conducted which gave new insights to the data collection procedure as well as the main research. Semi structured interviews were conducted where participants were asked ten questions on growing event management business and their company’s performance.

The questions were clear and succinct. The questions used were open ended, and probe technique was used so many answers of the participants lead to another interview question.

Each of the interview lasted for about twenty minutes. In depth interviews has the unique feature of having an open situation, allowing new research direction to appear through different techniques like probing. The actual interview comprised of main questions, follow-up questions, and probes. The main questions, which were thought through before the interview, were developed from the research topic so as not to confine and predetermine the answers but to cover all aspects of the research areas (Rubin and Rubin 2005).

Findings and Discussions

In the following section results of the employee survey conducted within the company will be presented.

A total of 30 respondents were questioned. Out of which 27 were male and the remaining 3 were females.

10%

90%

The first question asked was ‘What is your gender?”

Majority of the employees in the company were males. Only 10% of the population comprised of females.

Q2. What is your monthly income?

According to the survey conducted, 40% of the sample surveyed had the monthly income of 45,000 to 55,000 excluding commissions. 35% had monthly income more than 55,000. 20% of the sample were earning between 35,000-45,000. Only a minor portion (5%) of the population had monthly incomes between 25,000-35000. None had wages below 25000.

Q3. Does Hanif Rajput have a proper sales target setting process?

First company related question asked was does Hanif Rajput have a proper sales target setting process?

Majority of the respondents (67%) agreed to this and were all males. Females either agreed or were neutral about this. 10% of the sample surveyed disagreed that there wasn’t any proper sales target setting process followed by the company.

Q4. Are sales people taken into account during sales target setting?

According to the results it is seen that half of the population disagreed to the question that sales people are not taken into account during sales target setting. 13% strongly disagreed to this.

Females were either positive or neutral about this.

Q5. What is the sales target of Hanif Rajput?

According to most of the employees that make 73% of the sample population the sales target of the company is 15-20 events per month. However 10% said that for them the sales target was 10- 15 events. Only 10% of the sample population had the sales target of more than 20 events per month.

Q6. Are employees aware of their sales targets?

According to the information gathered it is seen that all of the employees were aware of their sales target. There was no miscommunication regarding that.

Q7. Is achievement of sales targets rewarded in your company?

Achievements of sales target is rewarded in our company said all the employees.

Q8. Do incentives play an important role in high sales or increase in profit?

100% of the sample population said that yes, incentives play an important role in generating higher profits. This also helps employers in retaining their employees and also keeping them happy.

Q9. Are you (sales reps) satisfied with the compensation on achievement of sales targets?

This question coupled with the last one is indicative of the fact that a more than half of the employee (60% of the sample) is satisfied with the compensation they receive. 40% of the employees still were not happy with the compensation they were getting.

Q10. Do you think the sales targets realistic?

According to the survey Hanif Rajput’s sales targets are realistic, with 93% of the sample agreeing to the question. Whereas 7% of the employees disagreed to this. This distribution seems to be slightly skewed with a stronger weight towards the positive side.

Q11. Do you achieve your sales targets?

As the sales targets according to the employees were realistic, most of them were able to achieve their targets always. 7% of the employees said that they often achieve their targets. Whereas rest if the 7% were neutral about this.

Q12. What in your opinion is the problem that Hanif Rajput is facing?

2nd last question that was asked was “What in your opinion is the problem that Hanif Rajput is facing?”, which was one of the most important question . According to the survey conducted the main problem that the company was facing was lower client budget. Clients are not willing to spend more and seek the lowest service delivering companies.

Collaboration with suppliers and unexpected situations was another problem. By unexpected situations we mean when things do not go as planned. An immediate reaction is needed to solve the issues. This could be caused by changes in weather conditions, technical problems, problems with food, lights, generators etc. Also Hanif Rajput is a little set back with innovation and creativity and following set objectives. Respondents stressed that since the event is going to take place only once, so there should be no errors in planning and organizing .Customers need to experience what you want them to experience. Also the event that is going to take place should be different from what is already happening. Creativity and innovation is badly needed to attract attention of the clients.

Customers want to be surprised and they want their expectations to be surpassed. Organizer’s and planner’s ideas should be communicated well to the audience and that too in a surprising manner.

Capturing the actual target market was never a problem for the company. Hanif Rajput knows who its customers are and how to target them exactly.

Q12. What do you think is the main reason for the company not able to meet its sales targets?

The last question asked summed the discussion. According to the employees of the company the main reason why company’s sales is stagnant is because employees are not motivated and also competition has increased over all with a lot of event management companies emerging.

Management has also become a little weak after the death of Mr. Hanif Rajput so this is also a reason sales are where they were 3 years back. Inflation also plays a little part in that.

Overall Analysis:

The event management sector in Pakistan is vibrant and growing. It holds a plenty of employment opportunities for people and at the same time copious opportunities for trained professionals to grow and manage all sorts of events. With this increase and with rising trend towards event management, a lot of event management companies are emerging. Due to this, competition between event organizers has also amplified because they are all invited to deal for the same purpose.

Like every other sector or industry, this sector is such in which relevant knowledge of the field is very important. Contentment of customers is also very important and this can never be attained without reducing the communication gaps between the client and the manager.

Marketing and management though are two different fields but they are very crucial for the overall success of any event. Hanif Rajput, an event management company is one of the best and the largest companies in Pakistan. Its success depends on the fact that it aims to provide highest standards in terms of quality to their valued customers. Hanif Rajput takes help of different marketing techniques to stay on top of its business area.

Despite what the company claims to offer, it is experiencing stagnant sales over the past few years.

Now what are the reasons for this decline was the main purpose of this study. Interviews and questionnaire surveys were conducted to get the clear picture.

Employees of the company are generally males and most of them are related to the owner’s family. They have been working with Hanif Rajput since forever.

Employees of the company were satisfied and happy with their performance and most of them were achieving their targets within the given time frame. Booking managers are rewarded on achieving their targets and also on every booking that they bring in; they receive a 3% commission. This is one of the biggest motivations for them. The more bookings they bring the more money they get. This tactic helps both the company and its workers to succeed because obviously incentives play an important role in high sales and more profits.

The main problem in this study is “why isn’t the company able to exceed its current sales?” why are the sales stagnant? Or declining? Employees are happy with the incentives and their overall performance so obviously employee motivation factor is not the main cause.

There are a lot of other factors leading to this stagnancy as mentioned by the employees and my observation in 3 months stay in the company.

Hanif Rajput being one of the biggest and best companies in this industry does not escape from having internal flaws and inside management clashes. Company’s management style has changed from what it was followed before. Division of labor has been done, different departments made i.e. accounts, marketing, design, bookings, catering, lights etc. Every employee is responsible for his/her own work. Employees have been working there for more than 10 years. They fail to understand that the changes have been made for their and the company’s betterment. They are resistant to change and feel that taking a few responsibilities off their shoulder is making them less wanted in the company. Employees do not have the mindset that they are working for one main cause that is “higher profits for the company”. They have started working for themselves, finding loopholes to earn more though practices not tolerated by the company.

Vendors on the company’s panel were directly dealing with the clients. Booking managers were introducing the clients directly to vendors that were on company’s panel and taking their share out of it. So the money that actually had to come into the company was no longer coming.

According to GM of the company MR. Ali Ehsan ,”Decisions are made too quickly and without a serious consideration of different aspects”. Booking managers keep on booking and do not keep a track that a particular thing is available at that particular time or not. Every decision that is not well considered can negatively affect the day of the event.

Another error that mostly people make is omitting minute details during planning and organizing of an event. Those minute details are frequently among the most imp factors that determine the success and failure of an event. Mr. Ali Ehsan said that Hanif Rajput Company try’s its best to eliminate such minute errors to make their events perfect.

Increased level of competition, inflation, changes in the market demand, unexpected situations, lower client budget, collaboration with suppliers, creativity and innovation in its designs are other obvious problems faced by almost all the companies. Hanif Rajput must try to work on these issues too to make an impeccable mark in this industry.

Conclusion

This section is going to summaries what has been investigated before and enforce what has been determined through academic and managerial implications. Limitations of the study and further research will also be put forward.

The purpose of the study was to investigate employee’s opinions and perspectives about their performance and how is overall company’s performance influenced by it.

Furthermore the study discussed the main issue as to why Hanif Rajput is not been able to meet its sales target and the reasons for stagnant sales of the company over the past few years.

Findings show that despite the fact that Hanif Rajput Company is one of the largest and renowned events Management Company it is still facing difficulties managing their sales.

Hanif Rajput apart from the problems that everybody else sees has a lot of internal flaws and inside management clashes. The company’s management style has changed which the employees are not adjusting to. Direct contact of clients with vendors through company’s booking managers has played a vital role in decreased sales. Money instead of coming into the company is going into their pockets.

Creativity and innovation is a major problem that the company is facing. It is the only thing that attracts customer’s attention. HRC unfortunately is lacking behind in that but with a strong company name, good repute Hanif Rajput can cater to this issue. All they need is fresh blood, educated and creative people on the panel.

Recommendations

Increased profitability, business expansion and improved customer satisfaction is the main goal of Hanif Rajput Company.

In order to achieve all this HR needs to:

-Upgrade its operations and need to invest in in making its own inventory.

-Hanif Rajput is dependent on outside suppliers and vendors for its decor. Too much dependency on outside vendors is harmful for the company in the long run. Décor setups and inventory should be our own property and all the operations should be in-house.

-A need exists for databases that are focused on target audiences and their behavioral traits. Information that has been organized and stored in databases can be very profitable when sold as a product in this information age. A database of this nature could be web based or physically maintained and could include a host of information such as names, contact numbers, addresses, behavioral traits, purchasing history and purchasing trends, etc.

-Focusing on the existing customer base is very important. We need to make sure that we are giving a courteous service and all the queries in their mind are taken care of.

References

Courses for Event Managers,

[On-line]Available: http://www.seeklearning.com.au/event-manager.asp?CampaignCode=LRN:SEM:SEMG:DS11&s_kwcid=TC|1028311|event%20management||S|p|16395103274&gclid=CJCx4OqlhrQCFe7MtAodBAsApQ

Event Marketing in IMC, (2007)

[On-line] Available: http://catarina.udlap.mx/u_dl_a/tales/documentos/bce/erlenmaier_vs/capitulo4.pdf

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Himanshu Sharma, Business Development in the Event Management Industry, (2012)

[On-line]Available: http://ezinearticles.com/?Business-Development-in-the-Event-Management-Industry&id=4746045

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[On-line] Available: http://ezinearticles.com/?Event-Management-Tools:-Custom-Applications-for-Events&id=7101057

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[On-line] Available: http://ezinearticles.com/?Common-Problems-Faced-By-Event-Organizers:-What-Is-the-Solution?&id=7028572

Labour Market Review of the Events Industry, (January, 2010)

[On-line]Available:

http://www.businesstourismpartnership.com/pubs/Labour%20Market%20Review%20of%20the%20events%20Industry%20January%202010.pdf

Moise Daniela *, Georgescu Bogdanb, ZgurÄƒ Danielc, (2012), “The use of event marketing management strategies”, journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences,Vol 46, pp.5361-5365.

Moise Daniela *, Georgescu Bogdanb, ZgurÄƒ Danielc , (2012),”Strategies for interactive communication, with external and internal stakeholders, in events’ marketing” , “, journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences,Vol 46 5361- 5365.

“Recent Trends in Event Management”, (2012)

[On-line] Available: http://www.articlesalley.com/article.detail.php/258426/95/Software/Computers-and-Technology/10/Recent_Trends_in_Event_Management

Rubin, H. & Rubin, I. (1995), Qualitative Interviewing – The Art of Hearing, London: Sage.

Tender Bid Offer, (1979), Hanif Rajput’s Official Documents.

Trade shows and event planning services, (Aug. 27, 2012,)

[On-line] Available: http://www.hoovers.com/industry-factstrade-show-event-planning-services.1062.html#megamenu_0.html

Sonia Ospina (2004), Qualitative Research, Sage Publications London, Thousand Oaks CA, New Delhi.

Thomas, D.R. (2003), ‘A general inductive approach for qualitative data analysis’, University of Auckland

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