Scuba Diving Business Task Environment

Question
Hi Mike

I'm a student studying Bcom Accounting and in Business Management we doing an assignment where you have to start your own business. My group and I have decided to go with a Scuba Diving School. So i was hoping you'd outline the Task Environment of a Scuba Diving Business for me in regards with customers, suppliers, competitors, distributors and barriers to entry because I have searched almost everywhere with no luck. Please Mike, your help will be much appreciated.

Regards
Sam

Answer
Hi Sam,

I've covered lots of the details of opening a dive shop, including scuba instruction, in many of my previous posts to this site.  I think you'll find most of what you're looking for in those posts.

I'll give you a brief synopsis of what you'll find.

Customers:  Evaluate your market before starting.  Talk to divers and non-divers to see if they'd be interested in learning to dive or pursuing advanced scuba ratings.  Is there a popular diving site located nearby which would attract divers?

Suppliers:  A scuba school will be much more successful if it is associated with a dive shop.  Students will need to purchase equipment and most suppliers will only associate with a legitimate dive shop.  A school, by definition, is not a retail outlet.

Competitors:  This can be your best asset.  Find out what divers dislike about your competition and be prepared to correct that problem.  Most dissatisfaction stems from two major problems:  (1) unwillingness of the competition to work with students varied work/school schedules and (2) inflated or hidden charges for the scuba school instruction.

Distributors:  See "suppliers" above.

Barriers to Entry:  The only barriers I can forsee would occur if there is no physical dive site for scuba instruction.  If the market exists (see "customers" above)and a dive site exists, then the opportunity for business also exists.

Once again, Sam, this is only a brief outline commenting on your specific points.  There are pages of detailed information contained in my previous posts on the AllExperts site.  Please look them over and contact me again if I've failed to address a specific item.

Best of luck on your project!!

Mike Giles
Mike's Dive Center
mikescuba.com