The company I choose is Anytime Fitness. Anytime Fitness is a worldwide gym franchise that
offers 24 hour fitness to its members. This company competes with all other gym franchises and strives
to create the BEST facility around to a$ract more members. Anytime Fitness states that their business
mission is to “Enrich lives through be$er health, convenience, community, and inspiration-driven
franchise ownership.” They provide personal training, fitness classes and a positive environment for their
members. The three decisions this company has made over the last 2 years are:
Decisions to Expand – Anytime Fitness is constantly expanding, they are opening
new locations all over the world. Each of those locations are strategically placed
based on potential profitably and need for a fitness facility in that area.
Decisions regarding Specials – There are many fitness facilities that offer many
different things; Anytime Fitness’ biggest selling point is the fact that it is open
24 hours a day. When creating specials they have to consider the best way to
drive in new customers and still remain profitable.
Decisions regarding Products and Services to oer – There are many new
fitness trends and equipment constantly coming into play. Anytime fitness must
always consider what brands, accommodations and products bet suit the wants
and needs of their customers.
Decisions to Expand
1. What types of information did the company’s executives need to support these decisions? Is this
primary or secondary data? What do you think were the sources of this information?
The company’s executives needed to gain information on each of the areas in which they
opened a new facility. Each facility is independently owned but each location still must
be approved. Before opening a “new” facility the prospective owner must a$empt to
show the executives WHY the prospective location will be successful. This data is
primary data. The executives and prospective owners need can gain this information by
finding out how many people live in an area and what other fitness facilities are in that
area as well. The executives are not likely to choose to build a new facility in an area
where there are few people living or where there are many other well established
fitness facilities. In the same aspect they are unlikely to build a facility in an area of low
income or poverty; they need to profit from their new locations.
2. What was the research process that you think was followed to support the decision? Was this
quantitative or qualitative research? How do you think the research was conducted?
The executives and prospective owners will use quantitative research. They will pull
Census data and simply research how many other fitness facilities are within a certain
area. They could perform surveys to find out how many people would join a 24 hour
fitness facility. The fact that Anytime Fitness offers 24 hours fitness is its greatest draw to
most people; clientele that work odd hours are the ones that are most likely to join
immediately upon the opening of a new 24 hour fitness facility. In this case you could go
to local hospitals and other places of employment that are open around the clock and
survey those employees based on how many of them would join. You could also survey
some of the other fitness locations around the area and see how satisfied the current
members of those gyms are with the facilities. The prospective owners are likely from
the area in which they are about to build and they more than likely have an idea of how
well they would do based on simply talking to people in the community about their
fitness.
3. What types of forecasting and what kinds of forecasting methods do you think the company
should have used to support the decision of management?
This would be primarily an Environmental Forecast. All of the choices regarding
expansion would have to do with being profitable in a certain environment or location.
You are not going to open a new facility in a location in which all of the residents live in
poverty nor would you build a location where there are no residents. The company is
not going to open a new facility if they do not believe that it will generate a profit. The
prospective buyers will have to choose the price of memberships and a$empt to figure
out if they will generate enough profit over a set amount of years to make the new
