Six Flags Case

Six Flags

A comprehensive written analysis of a company is the study of a company’s internal and external environment. Understanding the company’s environment helps a person understand why the company may be succeeding or failing. In today’s economy there are many corporations that are facing the threat of failure. There are hundreds of studies showing which corporations may not survive much longer in the marketplace. After much research the one corporation that stands out the most of facing failure is the well know amusement park, Six Flags.

Six Flags was founded by Angus Wynne in 1961 with the very first park being in Texas. As time passed on and Mr. Wynne’s vision began to grow, so did the amusement park. Today there are 39 theme and water parks in over 8 different countries. In 2008 when earning results came out the corporation knew that changes needed to be made to their objectives and strategies. Today the park is focusing on several new and different things. The new and improved objectives included getting the parks cleaned up and improving the customer service for an overall better experience for the guests. Some more objectives that came out of the changes were operating at a profit margin, achieve total revenue per capita, become free cash flow positive, and create and grow new high margin and low capital sponsorship and licensing businesses. In the conclusion of all the new objectives and strategies the CEO stated that Six Flags would be expanding as an entertainment company by identifying new revenue streams while revitalizing its core business.

External forces are divided into five categories which include: economic forces, social, cultural, demographic, and natural environment forces, political, governmental, and legal forces, technological forces, and competitive forces. All of these external forces could potentially be a threat to any large corporation. . Many corporations can also put a strategy in play to take advantages of some of these external opportunities. Performing external audits can help not only take advantage of external opportunities but also can be used to address a potential threat to the corporation. An external audit involves not just a few people, but as many managers and employees possibly. Having people that work for the corporation involved in something like an external audit can only help the corporation in the long run. The managers and employees get a real understand of the company, the competition, and what the future may hold for the company. When performing an audit the corporation has to gather information that includes different trends being seen. Once an audit is done the company can then sit down and see what they need to do in order to avoid all possible threats the company could face. An audit has the potential to save a large corporation from going under.

The Competitive Profile Matrix identifies a firm’s major competitors and