In this report I will be reviewing the present situation at the Broadway Theatre.
Report 2 - Review of the Broadway Theatre
In this report I will be reviewing the present situation at the Broadway Theatre.
The staffing structure
This staffing structure shows that the Owner is in charge of the Manager even though he plays no part in the running of the business. In turn the Manager has a span of control over of his 3 assistant managers. The 3 assistant managers are each in charge of the department managers.
This means that the Catering Manager is in charge of the Barperson; the Sales Manager is in charge of the Bookings Clerk and the Administrator is in charge of the Secretary.
Their is a clear chain of command shown by this organisation chart, this is shown by the vertical lines of authority. Orders will passed down the chain until they are carried out.
The horizontal line across the assistant managers shows they are of equal rank.
Staff Responsibilities
Manager - The Manager is responsible for all aspects of day-to-day management; he is also responsible for his 3 assistant managers.
Assistant Manager - The Assistant Manager deputises for the Manager and is responsible for morning and afternoon events.
Assistant Manager - The Assistant Manager deputises for the Manager and is responsible for the administration, sales, and catering staff.
Assistant Manager - The Assistant Manager deputises for the Manager and is responsible for the matinees and evening events.
Administrator - Is responsible for all the administration as well as the supervision of the office staff.
Sales Manager - The Sales Manager is responsible for sales and marketing, promotions and advertising and the supervision of the bookings office.
Catering Manager - The Catering Manager is responsible for the preparation and sale of refreshments.
Secretary - Is responsible for general word processing and office work.
Bookings Clerk - Is responsible for ticket sales.
Barperson - Is responsible for bar sales.
Business costs and revenues
The costs of the business can be split into 4 sections, they are as follows:
buildings, administration, publicity and performances.
EXPENDITURE/COSTS
£'000s
Buildings :
Council rent
40
Non-domestic rates
5
Insurance
0
Water rates
2
Heating
0
Lighting & Electricity
0
Cleaning
5
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Secretary - Is responsible for general word processing and office work.
Bookings Clerk - Is responsible for ticket sales.
Barperson - Is responsible for bar sales.
Business costs and revenues
The costs of the business can be split into 4 sections, they are as follows:
buildings, administration, publicity and performances.
EXPENDITURE/COSTS
£'000s
Buildings :
Council rent
40
Non-domestic rates
5
Insurance
0
Water rates
2
Heating
0
Lighting & Electricity
0
Cleaning
5
Repairs and Maintenance
5
Administration :
Salaries and Wages
10
Stationary
2
Postage
2
Telephone
2
Printing (tickets & programmes)
0
Accountancy fee
2
Publicity :
Advertising
20
Printing (posters & leaflets)
0
Performances :
Consumables - sets, floral displays ect
20
Hire of companies/performers
00
TOTAL EXPENDITURE/COSTS
375
Their are 3 types of costs; fixed costs, variable costs and semi variable costs.
Fixed costs are costs which do not change, they are not affected my the amount of sales or production.
Variable are costs which can vary, they are affected by the amount of sales or production.
Semi variable costs which can be subject to variation.
Sales/revenues
Sources of revenue:
INCOME
£'000s
Grants and sponsorship
00
Advertising
0
Sales :
Box office
250
Foyer events
5
Programmes
5
Catering
50
TOTAL NON-SALES
10
TOTAL SALES
330
TOTAL INCOME
440
To calculate the profit :
Cash flow
Cash flow refers money that is coming into the business (receipts) and money that is being paid out (payments) over a period of time.
A liquidity problem relates to cash flow. A liquidity problem is when a business has a lack of cash when it is needed to pay bills, wages ect. In other words a liquidity problem is when a business's receipts can not keep pace with its payments.
This is one reason why business's produce a cash flow forecast.
A cash flow forecast is a statement that a business will produce of accurate cash receipts and payments over a period of time such as a year.
This forecast will indicate how profitable a business will be over the set period of time.
If the business is doing well the cash flow forecast will show that at the end of the year a substantial profit will be made and that their is a market for the sales to be maintained or increased.
A bank will often require a cash flow forecast when giving a firm an overdraft facility to solve any liquidity problems.
An other way of solving a liquidity problem is to approach a factor. A factor is a firm which will take over a business's debts for a fee. This can be an effective way of solving a liquidity problem as the firm will not have to employ any debt collectors. However, the fee that the factor will charge will be an expensive one. Therefore, the firm may try to delay the payments of their bills or even ask that receipts are paid more promptly.
The components of a cash flow forecast include:
The cash flow forecast breaks down the receipts and payments to give the total receipts at the end of each month and the total payments.
Then, by subtracting the total payments for the end of the month from the total receipts for the end of the month, the net cash flow is calculated.
This net cash flow is added to the opening balance for the month to give the closing balance for the month.
The closing balance for the month then becomes next months opening balance.
Theatre's grounds
Located within the theatre's grounds is a disused bandstand, a car park, and a duck pond. The rest of the area owned by the theatre is made up of open land and trees.
The theatre itself is situated on a road leading to the town centre, however their is no public transport from the town after 8.00 p.m.
Inside the theatre
The theatre has 3 main public entrances and exits. There is one main entrance at the front leading into the foyer; another at the right-hand side of the theatre; and a ramp on the left-hand side of the theatre for wheelchair access.
Performances and shows
For a given week in the theatre these our the opening times:
The theatre is open all day on : Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
It is closed all day Monday; in the afternoon on Tuesday; and is only open in the morning on Sunday.
The theatre offers a 2 hour bingo session twice a week. Once on Tuesday morning and once on Thursday morning.
The Broadway comedy "Never a Dull Moment" is on 5 times throughout the week; once on Thursday, twice on Friday, and twice on Saturday.
As it stands the maximum number of events the theatre offers in a day is 3; a morning, afternoon and evening event.
All the events have a charge ranging from £2 to £15 per seat, except for the "Open Morning" on Friday which is open to everyone for no charge.
The rest of the events on offer including "Bop till you Drop" and "All Work and no Play" are largely aimed at the older generation.
Seat prices and Audience Capacity
SEAT PRICES
STALLS
CIRCLE
£
£
Bingo
2
Films
Matin(e
5
7
Evening
7
0
Plays
Matin(e
0
7
Evening
5
0
Entrance fee for all events in Broadway Foyer - £2
AUDIENCE CAPACITY
TOTAL SEATS
Stalls
00
Circle
00
Foyer
00
What appear to be the key problems with the Broadway Theatre
The first problem that came to my attention when reviewing the theatre was the staffing structure.
This appears to be a problem as their are 3 assistant managers all of equal rank, all deputising for the Manager; surely this is not necessary.
To increase the business's profit margins the business needs to make costs cuts. An example of unnecessary costs are a number of the fixed costs, such as consumables which include floral displays totalling £20,000. Clearly the business can not afford to be spending such amounts when the profit retained is marginal.
It appears the theatre is not taking full advantage of what it has to offer the public.
Examples of this include the theatre being closed for what adds up to 2 days in total. This is clearly an area for improvement as whether or not the theatre is open or closed it will have to pay its fixed costs which total a staggering £361,000 per annum. Therefore it would make sense to address this problem.
Also the theatre does not have all of its available seats for sale when the bingo is on. It would make good sense for theatre to use all of its resources available.
The theatre puts on an event called "Never a Dull Moment" this event is on 5 times during the course of the week and surely the same person would not wish to watch the show 5 times. This presents a problem which needs to be addressed in order to encourage people to return to the theatre time and time again. It is not good enough to just attract a customer for a one-off occasion you should aim to gain their regular custom and build up a sound reputation.
Located within the theatre's grounds is a disused bandstand that presents a whole window of opportunity. The theatre would do hard to go wrong if they brought it back into use and made a feature of it primarily for the summer months.
The Broadway Theatre has a lot to offer the public, however if many of the public do not have regular access to theatre after 8.00 p.m. then the theatre can not demonstrate what it has to offer to the public.
It is vital that the theatre address's this problem in order to boost ticket sales.
It also appears that the theatre's target audience is the elder generation. At first glance this may not appear to be a problem, however, their are as many old people as young people who all enjoy attending the theatre it would be an idea to also accomodate younger people.
This concludes my findings for the key problems I have identified.
