Business Strategy

Five Forces
Force
Force Strength
Analysis
Bargaining power of customers
Medium
The Kids Academy does not have too many customers that put too much pressure on the business with lower prices or providing better services. The customers also cannot have power over the rules of the academy, which is why the bargaining power of customers rate is at a medium.
Threat of substitutes
Medium
Parents has other options rather than leaving their children at a daycare such as asking friends or families for assistance as well as hiring nannies.
Bargaining power of suppliers
Medium
The Kids Academy needs supplies in order to run events such as the Parents Night Out event. The company places orders for supplies by taking advantage of a business account that offers discounts for bulk purchases.
Threat of new entrants
High
This business is easy to replicate as anyone can start their own Kids Academy from scratch. This makes the threat of new entrants high.
Rivalry
Medium
As the threat of new entrants is medium, this allows for a chance of rivalry to start but the Kids Academy offers more service than other daycares.

This industry is profitable as a business can make a substantial amount of money from providing their customers with a daycare or Kids Academy. Ways to make a profit from this industry are to increase the enrollment of customers and to accept assistance programs as not everyone can afford daycare services. Overall, the industry is profitable as this is a very in-demand industry.

The competitive strategy that the business follows is an industry-wide differentiation strategy because the Kids Academy is a national service that provides its customers with better service across the industry. This strategy is the way the organization chooses to succeed in the industry. Although there are many daycares to choose from, the Kids Academy at LifeTime Fitness provides its customers with high-quality services and easy-to-use services in order to make appointments or reservations. The Kids Academy differentiates its services by creating events such as birthday parties and summer camps for the parents so they can have time off from their children in order to focus on work or other tasks. This addresses threats from the five forces with a business that has a standout service. Not every daycare provides their customers with events that can distract their children and allow them to have fun while they are at daycare. With the Kids Academy providing a service that stands out to their customers, it allows them to simultaneously provide great customer satisfaction as well.

The value chain is a network of value creating activities. At LifeTime, a customer walks in with their child and adds them to the membership, parents pay extra fee and deposits for any reserve events, financial transaction is processed though LT Suite, and parents go to gym while the child is at the Kids Academy engaging in events. But LifeTime does sell merchandise such as supplements, apparel, beauty products and equipment that also is part of a significant process which includes:
Inbound Logistics: Ordering merchandise materials from manufacturer.
Operations: Transforming material into finished goods such as assembling products together.
Outbound Logistics: Merchandise is ready to be physically distributed to customers.
Marketing and Sales: Promoting products and services to customers for them to buy.
Service: Assisting customers after purchase of a product while strengthening customer relationships.

A company’s business process is a network of activities that generate value by transforming inputs into outputs. A structured business process refers to a predetermined set of activities that take place regularly, such as processing returns and placing orders. The structured process at LifeTime Kids Academy which is used for everyday operations would be the sales process.The LifeTime app is used for payments and data storage, this is their main information system. Customers are able to use this through their mobile device and make payments. However the organization also uses the LT Suite application as one of their day to day information systems to store data. A dynamic business process is characterized by being adaptable and flexible, and does not rely heavily on a fixed structure. The dynamic process at LifeTime Kids Academy would be the marketing process. LifeTime uses Instagram as an information system to do its marketing.

The Kids Academy at LifeTime is made up of a few parts. The main information system of LifeTime is the LifeTime Fitness app. As everything is on the app, there are up-to-date promotions and everything going on such as classes and events. The name of the child/children gets put into the main app that we use as supervisors called Excerpt. The application automatically cuts off after a certain amount of kids are entered so we do not exceed the numbers we need so that we can stay in line with our team members-to-kids ratio. For birthday parties and summer camp, where we have to book everything and take payments, we take payments through the LT Suite application. This is something that all clubs use for taking payments. This way all Life Time numbers and payment tracking are kept in one general

Force	Force Strength	Analysis
Bargaining power of customers	Medium	The Kids Academy does not have too many customers that put too much pressure on the business with lower prices or providing better services. The customers also cannot have power over the rules of the academy, which is why the bargaining power of customers rate is at a medium.
Threat of substitutes	Medium	Parents has other options rather than leaving their children at a daycare such as asking friends or families for assistance as well as hiring nannies.
Bargaining power of suppliers	Medium	The Kids Academy needs supplies in order to run events such as the Parents Night Out event. The company places orders for supplies by taking advantage of a business account that offers discounts for bulk purchases.
Threat of new entrants	High	This business is easy to replicate as anyone can start their own Kids Academy from scratch. This makes the threat of new entrants high.
Rivalry	Medium	As the threat of new entrants is medium, this allows for a chance of rivalry to start but the Kids Academy offers more service than other daycares.