Final Project: Milestone One: Situational Analysis & Annotated Bibliography

ADV 263 Final Project: Milestone One

Situational Analysis & Annotated Bibliography

Southern New Hampshire University

Situational Analysis

Annotated Bibliography

Brown, T. C., & Fry, M. D. (2014). Motivational Climate, Staff and Members’ Behaviors, and Members’ Psychological Well-Being at a National Fitness Franchise. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 85(2), 208–217. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1027641&site=eds-live&scope=site

“Motivational Climate, Staff, and Members’ Behaviors, and Members’ Psychological Well-Being at a National Fitness Franchise,” is an article going over how important positivity is for a fitness franchise. In the article’s case, it was about a study that a national fitness franchise was involved in. This franchise is unnamed and one of the main components of the franchise is to have instructors who are positive and engaging in the workplace in hopes of encouraging positivity among their clients. The study found that the clients’ thought of the franchise as being: “…highly caring and task-involving and low ego-involving.” (Brown & Fry, 2014, p.1) This created a higher excise commitment and some rises in overall life satisfaction. This source seems reliable as it goes to show how positivity for fitness franchises creates a more motivational climate for clients, which is important to know when creating an advertisement for a gym.

Carter, B. (2009). Environment Plays a Huge Role in Member Retention. Fitness Business Pro, 25(8), 33. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hjh&AN=43936457&site=eds-live&scope=site

This resource goes into detail on the role that environmental psychology plays in getting and keeping members engaged. By creating a motivating, stimulating environment, the fitness club will be able to better penetrate the market. It does this partly through finishes, furnishings, colors, shapes, and materials. It states how important it is to create a workout experience that’s both physically and environmentally stimulating in order to attract new patrons and keep them.

DRĂGAN, A. A. (2013). Segmenting and Profiling Fitness Club Customers: A Case Study. Review of Management & Economic Engineering, 12(1), 125–138. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=egs&AN=86858157&site=eds-live&scope=site

“Segmenting and Profiling Fitness Club Customers: A Case Study,” this source is about a study done in Arad, Romania for a fitness club that was outside the city limits and provides two graphs. The abstract mentions that the aim of the study that was conducted was on shaping the services the fitness club provided to suit the client’s needs. They did this by conducting a survey of a hundred people. The goal was to find out the types of customers who go to fitness clubs and to segment them based on what they want to do. The first graph “Sample Characteristics,” shows the gender, age, profession, and income of the customers. The second graph “Segmentation of Fitness Club Members,” shows the goal the customers want to achieve and their preferred membership type. This is a helpful document as it helps define who the customer is and what the customer would like from the product.

Milton, T. (2002). Membership retention is key to future fitness club success. Leisure & Hospitality Business, 6. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hjh&AN=7147348&site=eds-live&scope=site

This article states touches on how important it is for fitness club owners to focus on membership retention. That it’s as important to keep current members as it is to acquire new members. It touches on the current club retention rates and discusses the keys to getting members outside of peak gym hours. The author states that it’s important to reach out to groups like older age brackets and non-working parents as a way to tap into different markets. Though the article is brief, it contains some valuable insights about membership retention.

Mullen, S. P., & Whaley, D. E. (2010). Age, gender, and fitness club membership: Factors related to initial involvement and sustained participation. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 8(1), 24–35. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1080/1612197X.2010.9671931

“Age, gender and fitness club membership: Factors related to initial involvement and sustained participation,” this article goes over a study that was done to find out how age and gender affect who joins a fitness club and why they join as well as to determine the sustained participation of the customer. The study found that the main reason to join a fitness club was for improving health and appearance. (Mullen & Whaley, 9) This is a good resource as it goes in-depth about why people join a fitness club based on age and gender and what factors were found important amongst the ages and genders to keep their business.

Watts, H. (2012). A psychological approach to predicting membership retention in the fitness industry. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsble&AN=edsble.665697&site=eds-live&scope=site1`

“A Psychological Approach to Predicting Membership Retention in the Fitness Industry” is a comprehensive thesis that delves into the definitions of retention and how it applies to the fitness industry, and how the industry needs to adapt in order to not only survive but succeed. “According to the FIA (2002), the average retention rate for a fitness club is 60.6%; each year a club will lose approximately 40% of its members. Any industry losing nearly 40% of its customers on an annual basis should scrutinize itself.”(Watts, 2012) As this is a scholarly source and an academic thesis, it contains verifiable data(both qualitative and quantitative) about the fitness industry, its retention rates, projected growth and what the results mean.

Woycenko, R. (2006). Fitness Club Membership Sales a to Z. Fitness Business Canada, 7(4), 24–26. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=21997380&site=eds-live&scope=site

“Fitness Club Membership Sales A to Z,” this article provides information on how to sell a fitness club membership. The article is written with a certain topic in mind starting with each letter of the alphabet, giving short advice from A to Z. It mainly goes over how to sell a membership to new clientele and mentions the importance of positivity, finding out consumer’s problems in order to offer a solution, and how to retain their membership in order to get referrals. The article is a good resource in helping to know how to sell a membership to a consumer and how to keep them.