internship report on business strategy for ha thanh travelmate co ltd

One of the biggest question is what is the right business strategy for a small, start-up company like Hathanh Travelmate.. I took this opportunity to do a research in international touri

UNIVERSITY OF NICE – SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS

IAE School of Business Administration

Assoc.Prof LE THAI PHONG

Dean, Faculty of Business Administration Foreign Trade University

Company supervisor: Mr NGUYEN NGOC HA

Head of Sales and Marketing Department

Ha Thanh Travelmate Co.,Ltd

Acknowledgement

First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks and deep gratitude to all the lectures from University of Nice– Sophia Antipolis and Thang Long University, who have provided me a lot of useful information, valuable knowledge about Business and International management These not only help me to apply in my internship, but also make me more confident and will be more success in the future

Secondly, I would like to express my truly appreciation to Assoc Prof Le Thai Phong, who is very patient and enthusiastic to help complete this internship report I know he was supper busy, but he still spend time to give me his valuable advises, very clear instruction, more than my expectation

During my internship, I had to learn about the tourism sector, that I have no idea before Luckily, I was instructed by Mr.Ha, the Head of Sales and Marketing department of Hathanh Travelmate With more than 10 year experience in tourism, he has given me a lot of useful and interesting information about tour operations, especially, the food tour Thank you so much, Mr.Ha “food tour”

I also thank a lot to all Hathanh Travelmate’s staff, I have received many valuable experiences during the time of studying and working at the company I sincerely thank you for the company did not hesitate to help, I am cultivating both specialized and non-specialized knowledge, and effective working tips to help the work in the future

ABSTRACT

The tourism sector is developing very fast and it is a global business trend Tourism business activities in Vietnam are also taking place vigorously, and high potential But the question on how to succeed in Vietnam's tourism market is still a challenge for domestic companies in general and Hathanh Travelmate in particular It requires the company to have a appropriate strategy in its business operations

Business strategy is no longer a strange concept for tourism business enterprises in Vietnam It plays a very important role in the context of increasingly fierce competition of the market economy recently It contributes greatly to the direction and development of the company's business operations, expanding its market share and increasing profits It likes the first brick laying the foundation, a guiding star, for the operation of the company If it is wrong, it will lead to huge consequences, included losing of time, effort and money

Hathanh Travelmate is a new company, so it is very important to determine the right business strategy from the beginning I am very interesting to spend my internship in this company to bring all my knowledge from AMI course to put in practical in researching market, analysis data, and then propose the right strategy for the company

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 6

CHAPTER I : COMPANY BACKGROUND 7

1.KEYFACTS: 7

2.HISTORYANDDEVELOPMENT: 8

3.PRODUCTSANDSERVICES: 9

6.FINANCIALBASICFIGURE: 11

CHAPTER II : COMPANY STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION CHART 13

1.ORGANIZATIONCHART: 13

2.ORGANIZATIONCHARTEXPLAINATION 14

2.1 Director 14

2.2 Sales and Marketing department 14

2.3 Tour operating department 15

2.4 Accounts/Finance department 16

2.5 Human resource department 16

2.6 Internship position 16

CHAPTER III : THE MISSION - ASSIGNED TASKS & GOALS 17

1.THEASSIGNEDTASKS 17

2.THELINKBETWEENTHESUBJECTMATTERANDTHEMISSION 17

3.THEGOALTOREACH 18

4.THECONTRIBUTIONTOTHECOMPANY 18

5.THEORETICALKNOWLEDGEPUTINTOPRACTICE 18

2.4 Threat of new entrants 30

2.5 Threat of substitute products 31

INTRODUCTION

Following the development trend of international tourism, many countries have put the development of tourism in one of the leading positions and have achieved success in this field for many years Vietnam's economy is accordingly developed by domestic and foreign supply and demand, creating a position in the international market Tourism has become one of the brightest service industries in Vietnam, it contributes to the country's economic growth with 6.7% GDP

Hathanh Travelmate company is tour operator focusing on international tourist As it just established for more than 1 years, there are many challenges for the company One of the biggest question is what is the right business strategy for a small, start-up company like Hathanh

Travelmate

I joined Hathanh Travelmate for my 4 months-internship I took this opportunity to do a research in international tourism sector in Vietnam, then do analysis and propose business strategy to Hathanh Travelmate To reach that goals, I have used some strategy tools that I learnt from my AMI course such as: PEST, Porter’s 5 Forces, SWOT I have also structured my

research in my internship report as order below:

 Chapter I: Understand about company background with some key factors, history, financial data, customers and competitors

 Chapter II: Understand about company organization with organization chart and functions of each department

 Chapter III: Understand about company activities through assigned tasks

 Chapter IV: Analyze Macro environment and Micro environment of tourism industry and international tourism sector, using Strategy analysis tools Understand strengths and weakness of company, as well as opportunities and threats, then propose suiable business strategy

 Chapter V: Review all the achievements and limitations during my internship; give some suggestions to the company

CHAPTER I : COMPANY BACKGROUND

Ha Thanh Travelmate is a tour operator and destination management company in Vietnam It provides tourism services to the international visitors who want to discover amazing attractions in Vietnam like: Halong bay, Mekong Delta, Sapa Terraces, Nha Trang, Cu Chi Tunnels, Hoi An Ancient town, Phu Quoc island, Hanoi Capital, Ho Chi Minh city, … The main duty of the company is offering travel services include: tour operating, accommodation, restaurant, tour guide, transport (cars, trains, boats, airplanes, etc.) and making visas procedure

Hathanh Travelmate wants to bring to customers a good service, build a spirit of friendship for all customers during the journey to conquer the tourist destinations, bring true happiness to customers and unforgettable experiences Hathanh Travelmate always strives to be a leading and reputable travel service company in Vietnam

Here is some basic information about Ha Thanh Travelmate Company:

1 KEY FACTS:

 Registered company name: Ha Thanh Travelmate Co.,Ltd

 Headquarters: Den Rong Street, Dinh Bang ward, Tu Son, Bac Ninh  Representative Office: 19D Chan Cam st., Hoan Kiem dist., Hanoi

 Scope of business licensed: Tour operator, Travel agency, Catering services  Number of employees: 10 employees (+ more than 15 collaborators)

 Contact details:

 Email: sales@hathanhtravelmate.com Website: https://hathanhtravelmate.com

 Logo:

2 HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT:

“Hà Thành” is an abbreviation of Hanoi City used in poetry to refer to Hanoi Ha Thanh Travelmate Vietnamese was established by a group of Vietnamese friends who love Hanoi and also are passionate in tourism This is a startup company with only more than one-year experience However, it was build up by the experienced people

Mr Nguyen Ngoc Ha, who is former director of company, and now is head of sales and marketing department, has more than 10 year experience in tourism industry Mr Ha – a food lover – with his inherent agility had given up the opportunity of advancement in the field of hospitality to become a foodie tour guide after 5 years managed hotels He and some of his friends together realized the idea of creating a unique tourism product relates with street foods of Hanoi

In 2014, this group created their first website https://hanoifoodtastingtours.com Through this website, they have brought the Hanoi street food culture to thousands of tourists from many countries such as French, UK, US, Japan… It always recognized as one of the best website for the food tour in Hanoi with top 10 TripAdvisor ranking for the food and drink in Hanoi

In 2017, they continue their success with the second website https://hafoodtours.com , the top 5 of Hanoi outdoor activities on Tripadvisor This is really strengthen and confirmed their leading position in the niche market of tourism industry – Food tours Their success has contributed to bringing Vietnamese cuisine closer to foreign visitors Today, street food tour has really become famous in Hanoi and known by more and more tourist Mr Ha and his friends were considered as the first group to organize street food tours in Hanoi

In 2018, Mr.Ha collaborated with Mr.Thanh, an expert on IT and marketing online, to start their new journey with a startup company, Ha Thanh Travelmate Mr.Thanh became a Co-founder, and now, the director of company The Food tour still maintains as the main product but it also expands to other services such as inbound tours for its long-term development

3 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES:

3.1.Tour Package

 Small Group Tours: This package was designed for option of a small groups such as a group of friends, a family or a group of people who want to share experience of discovering Vietnam The advantage of this option is cost-savings, but also maximizing the benefit of the group There are many options with this package, depend on destination and the duration of tour For example, company offers up to 143 tours in Halong bay  Customized Private Tours: This package is offered for both individual and group,

especially for a couple There are many many options with this package, including motorbike tours, home stay with local people, boat tours with on-board tour guides , …  Food tours in Hanoi: Vietnamese cuisine in general and Hanoi in particular really have

so many unique points that more and more tourists and foreign food bloggers come to enjoy and write articles Recently, the prestigious British newspaper The Guardian has put Hanoi on the list of 20 cities with the most attractive food tour (culinary tour) in the world Another British newspaper, Telegraph, said: President Barack Obama has discovered and enjoyed a vermicelli noodle dish with Chef Anthony Bourdain for only 6 USD Obviously, he realized the culinary power of this city Besides, the Telegraph did not forget to mention some other attractive dishes in Hanoi as sandwiches, cucumbers, herbs, onions and chili; or broken rice made from broken grain served with grilled pork, fried egg, fried egg and fish sauce "You can end the meal with a cup of egg coffee - made from coffee, egg whites and sugar, served hot or cold," the article's author suggested Hathanh Travelmate is one of the best provider offers a street food tour package with variety of particular food in Hanoi This package included 3 hours walking around Hanoi Old Spare to discover Hanoian cuisines with local food experts

3.2.Hotel Booking

Ha Thanh Travelmate is a preferred partner for many of the most reputable hotels in Vietnam, allowing it to offer some of the most competitive rates in the industry Even though this is not the main service of company, but it helps to build the good relationship with other partners, especially, the local hotels

3.3.Other Travel services

Offer various travel services included visa process, train tickets, transportation arrangement, quickly and reliably Ha Thanh Travelmate commits to support the customers in every moment

4 CUSTOMERS:

As a tour operator, Hathanh travelmate provides its services directly to the tourists or indirectly by working in partnership with other local travel agencies, online travel agencies, and local hotels They are also the biggest customers for Hathanh travelmate

Top 10 customers:

o Elegance Hospitality Group (http://www.elegancehospitality.com ) o Oriental Hospitality Group (http://www.orientalhospitality.com.vn ) o Hanoi Marvellous Hotel (http://www.hanoimarvelloushotel.com ) o Hanoi Tirant Hotel (http://www.tiranthotel.com )

o Emerald Hotel Hanoi ( http://www.emeraldhotel.com.vn ) o Get Up & Go Vietnam (http://getupandgovietnam.com ) o Go Asia Travel (http://goasiatravel.com )

o Indochina Tourist & Trade - IT & T (https://itt.com.vn ) o Halong Tours Booking (https://halongtoursbooking.com ) o Viator - A TripAdvisor Company (https://viator.com )

Among top ten partners/customers above, Viator- a TripAdvisor Company (the world’s leading online distribution platform for tours) is the most important partner for Hathanh Travelmate as it provides around 250 visitors/month (around 20%) Following it is Halong Tours

Booking (an online booking website focusing on SIC Tours) with around 100 visitors/month

o Vietnam Travel Heaven (http://vietnamtravelheaven.com ) o Vietnam Awesome Travel (http://vietnamawesometravel.com) o Hanoi Explore Travel (https://hanoiexploretravel.com )

Among competitors above, Hanoi Street Food Tour is the biggest competitors in Food tour It is the market leader in Food tour in Hanoi, with around 40% market share The main reason they became market leader because they offer lowest price to compare with other company like Hathanh Travelmate

6 FINANCIAL BASIC FIGURE:

Hathanh Travelmate served more than 8,000 international tourists last year It came from the four main sources: Local hotels, Local travel agencies, online agencies and direct booking tourists These sources bring the difference contribution to the total revenue:

Figure 1: Sales contribution by group of clients in 2018

Even the group of hotels contributed the highest with 40% of sales and remains as the main client group, but it’s quite low profit as company has to offer them the discounts up to 35% The revenue came from 5 main serivces:

Figure 2: Sales contribution by Service packages in 2018

This graph shows that the Food tours is still the main service of the company with the highest contribution of 54%, but the good signal from Small Group Tours and Customized Private Tours

makes the leaders have to think about the stratergy for the long-term development of company

CHAPTER II : COMPANY STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION CHART

Ha Thanh Travelmate Company Limited is a newly established company with medium

size, limited capital It needs to exist in a competitive environment by a different creative, simple structure with low management costs

1 ORGANIZATION CHART:

In order to ensure high flexibility and effective operation requirements, the company has organized its operation apparatus with the most reasonable and optimal scale, all errors and difficulties in business are promptly overcome The departments have the support of each other to accomplish the goals set The online management method, the director manages the entire operations of the company, has a timely adjustment plan and the functional departments are directly directed by the director The task is defined by the principle of democratic centralism in management, this structure ensures resources to solve key issues The organizational structure is shown in the following diagram:

(Source: Hathanh Travelmate Co., Ltd)

2 ORGANIZATION CHART EXPLAINATION

2.1.Director

The current director of Hathanh Travelmate Company is Mr Nguyen Doan Thanh In generally, he takes entire responsibility for business activities and finance of company that include:

 Responsible for managing the entire operations of the company, managing employees, making decisions on important issues, making the final decision to the entire company strategy in short-term as well as long-term The director is also the one who makes business plans to achieve the company's objectives

 Pushing and supporting each departments to perform specific tasks assigned; on behalf of the company to work and sign contracts with partners, deal with daily administrative affairs; take responsibility for the problems of the company, take responsibility for the business results of the business

 Responsible for the personnel of the company, ensuring that the company always has a workforce that meets the business objectives set out, along with the support of other departments, especially the Sales & Marketing department and Tour Operation department

2.2.Sales and Marketing department

This department has three people Head of department is Mr.Nguyen Ngoc Ha, who is also the deputy director of the company He takes responsibility for managing employees of his department, along with employees in the department to fulfill the tasks assigned by the director and the representative of the company when the director is absent

The functions of this department are:

 Researching the tourism market, finding out the needs of customers as well as what businesses have done and need to do to have appropriate business strategy, both meet the right products, and collect high profits with low risks

 Conducting other market research at the request; implementing professional measures and building promotion programs for each tourism product with prices and quality for easy access by customers

 Responsible for sales of travel related to travel services of Travel Agents

 Coordinating with the tour operation department to build tourism programs from content to the price suitable to customer needs, proactively give ideas about new travel products of the enterprise

 Providing necessary travel information to the tourists with accurately and timely information regarding destinations, accommodation, sightseeing, immigration, health and security rules in a particular area etc

 Establishing and maintaining close relationships with relevant agencies Choose suppliers who have products that ensure credibility, quality, and reasonable prices  Establishing and maintaining business relationships with customers, generating new

client to develop business through reviewing customer’s feedback and responding timely and appropriately, as well as creating online adverting

 Maintaining and updating company’s website

2.3.Tour operating department

This department has only five permanent staffs, but it also has more than 15 collaborators who are tour guides to cover all tour packages This department plays the role of organizing production of enterprises as a bridge between businesses and the market to provide clients goods and services Its functions are:

 Providing tourism services, including tour guides, transportation, hotels, air/train tickets…to the customers

 Planning and implementing work related to the implementation of tourism programs  Arranging the tour package and various tourists activities to provide the best

2.4.Accounts/Finance department

This department has only one person who is responsible for the finance of the company and manages the cash flows The functions of this department are:

 Performing the company's finance and accounting

 Record, keep track and control all financial issues such as business expenses, cash flow and payment

 Implement periodical and timely reporting regime to reflect changes to the director  Paying salaries for employees

 Preparing annual finance reports

2.5.Human resource department

As mention above, this is a just small company, so the director of company is also the head of Human Resource department The director and the vice director are responsible for seeking, interviewing the new employees as requires of business

2.6.Internship position

I started my internship in Hathanh Travelmate Company on 31May 2019 I was assigned to work in Sales & Marketing department My supervisor is Mr.Ha, head of department and vice director of company

Although this is a new small company just entering the market, its long-term goal is to become the leading domestic travel company in Hanoi and nationwide market It has created a truly professional working environment from the beginning, with young and dynamic staff All the staff of company worked with each other very interaction and transparence It helps to enhance the management capacity and creativity of employees and the company itself I am very happy to use my internship with this company

CHAPTER III : THE MISSION - ASSIGNED TASKS & GOALS

1 THE ASSIGNED TASKS

As mention above, I was very lucky to have an internship at the Sales & Marketing department of Hathanh Travelmate Company During 4 moths in this department, I have done several tasks:

 Preparing agenda and organizing the meeting with customers and suppliers  Checking and answering customers’ email

 Reply the call from customers or supplier  Receiving and collecting the client’s feedback

 Searching tourism information and information about competitors  Proposing the business strategy to the director board

2 THE LINK BETWEEN THE SUBJECT MATTER AND THE MISSION

Before the internship, I did not really understand the theory about Intenational business management, that I had learnt from AMI program I was really lucky to have 4 month internship at Hathanh Travelmate After 4 months of practicing here, I have applied my knowledge into the assigned tasks The knowledge from International Communication subject has helped me

confident to work with foreign clients and partners I found that the international toursim market very big, especially from European countries They are often very straightforward but also very polite For Asian customers, although China is still a big market, Chinese customers are often less restrained than European customers

With the main task is proposing an approriated business strategy for the company, the knowledge from the AMI program helped me a lot to accomplish this task Especially tools like PEST, SWOT from international strategic subjects have helped me analyze the market and propose strategies for the company

3 THE GOAL TO REACH

The main goal for my internship is collecting data and proposing a suitable business strategy for company Besides that, I also want to understand about tourism industry, understand about operation of a company, the difficulty and challenge when working with difference teams To reach these goals, I have used all useful knowledge from AMI program to put in practical through my tasks and activities during the internship

4 THE CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMPANY

During my internship, I have worked as a team member in Sales and Marketing department of Hathanh Travelmate company I have checked and answered many customer emails, customer’s comments on TripAdvisor, contributed to reach and maintain Top ten of TripAdvisor ranking I also involved in meeting with partners like hotels, other travel agency…contributed my knowledge about negotiation to gains more partners and strength partnership with them And as I mentioned above, my main goal is propose a right strategy for the company, I have collected many useful information for the company’s business like new technology in tourism, new regulation, the challenges and opportunities… After understand the company and tourism market, I have given some suggestions to the director to boost business of company All these my contributions were recognized by company director and his staffs

5 THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE PUT INTO PRACTICE

I have learnt lot knowledge about international business management from AMI program However, after 4 months internship, I have found that some of subjects are very useful for my assigned tasks:

International Strategy

This subject provides me the most useful knowledge that I can put into practice during my internship The tools like PEST and Porter’s 5 force help me to do market research and analysis, while SWOT analysis helps me to understand about company and its potential From that I can build up and propose the business strategy for the company

International Business Communication

This subject helps me to understand the difference culture from the difference country This also helps me to structure and know how to communicate with the foreigners Both of these things are very important for my job during my internship, as I have to communicate with many international customers from difference countries

Industrial Property Right

This subject provided me the important thing that not much Vietnamese company care about, it’s industrial properties rights included: design, copyrights, patterns, geographic indication This help me to avoid using photo, logo, slogan…that have copy right or not clear the source

International and Intercultural Negotiations

As working in Sales and Marketing department, I involved in the negotiation with customers and suppliers This subject provided me the knowledge on how to deal with the international customers and suppliers like Aviator in appropriate way and gains the good results

International Globalization

It gave me an overview of global trend, understand the opportunities when we join WTO, CPTPP…

Financial Risk Management

This subject is very useful to help me understand about the potential risks on business, then I can aware company about the risks and prepare the backup solution For example: to arrange a small tour, I suggest company contact at least 2 vendors for transportation In case the first one cannot provide one time, we can have the second one

Some risks are difficult to control like economic war between USA and China, but I was not suspired as I aware that some unexpected something can happen

International business game

This subject gave me a chance to practice like a director of company From this game, I can understand the needs of the director of company, to work align with it