What are two examples where your business demonstrates ethical practice and/ or social responsibility that could be applied to marketing and sales principles and processes. and reasoning.

and two recommendations to the business, discussing how they will improve the ethics and/or social responsibility of the marketing and sales aspect of their business practice.

Business Information:

Overview Pkeko Rentals are a rental car company that provides a limited number of small to medium sized rental cars and small campervans to the NZ tourism market. Pkeko is a family owned business and has grown very slowly from a small fleet of 10 cars in Christchurch in 2012, to having 20 cars in Christchurch another small fleet of 20 cars and 10 campervans in Queenstown. Pukeko are located a short distance from the Christchurch and Queenstown airports but pride themselves on greeting their customers on arrival at the airports and ensuring they get to the vehicle pickup point as quickly and as painlessly as possible. The owners of Pkeko Rentals had an original vision to supply visitors to NZ with a unique travelling experience, where the cost of a rental car shouldn't prohibit the length of stay. The owners wanted the visitors to 'be' like the Pkeko and not fly around the country, but to take it slow, enjoy the scenery and be able to 'park up' at remote and beautiful spots around the country. Their target market has not been the high adventure younger set, but rather the environmentally conscious and 'green' aware traveler who would like to take time out, relax and enjoy natural NZ. Pkeko wants to continue to expand in Queenstown as the business has been struggling to keep up with demand (particularly in the campervan area). They also want to branch out into other tourist destinations in the North Island. Pukeko have their eye on Auckland to capture the international inward bound traveler and Rotorua as a central hub of tourist activity. To achieve their expansion goal, Pkeko realise they will have to increase their campervan fleet. The owners know they must provide something a bit different as this is already a competitive market. They are under no illusion that this will be a challenge. There are over 400 rental companies in Auckland alone. The major rental car companies have fleets of larger campervans everywhere and companies like Jucy have a high profile with the younger, backpacker and budget conscious traveler. Pkeko see themselves as sitting somewhere in the middle of these two markets. They also know there has been a bit of a public backlash around the mess left by freedom campers and there are strict rules to adhere to that are laid out in the Freedom Camping Act 2011. They want to develop a reputation as being an environmentally friendly and sustainable business that really cares about the people and the land. Pukeko are advocates for Sustainable Development of Tourism. Pkeko Rentals have already adopted a family values-based approach to customer care. They know that to survive, they have to treat their customers as whanau (family) and make each and every visitor feel important, supported and part of a family that would take care of them from the moment of enquiry through to the moment of vehicle return and beyond. They adopted this whakatauki (or proverb) as their guiding value "He tangata takahi manuhiri, he marae puehu" - "A person who mistreats his guest has a dusty Marae", in other words, someone who doesn't take care of guests, soon has none at all.

Staff The owners of Pkeko have four employees, including one fulltime and one part time frontline sales staff in each centre. A local automotive service business in each centre is contracted to attend to the mechanical needs of the vehicles and any roadside assist if necessary. Family members take care of the management, HR, and financial aspects of the business from the Christchurch base and so far, this has been working well. Who does what has largely been driven by where their interests and talents lie, however the family recognize that they will need help to ensure their business continues to grow in a planned way, rather than the casual approach they have taken to date. The owners have started this process to grow their business by developing their mission and vision statements and a set of values to work and live by. Owners The Whaitiri family own Pkeko Rentals. Dan and his wife Rose are the owners, and their two adult children are also employed by Pkeko in key customer service roles. The family lost their jobs after the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake. All had been working in hospitality in one of Christchurch's largest hotels. Dan had been the hotels operations manager, Rose worked in HR and Payroll. Mere the oldest child has had various positions from being part of the weekend cleaning team when she was at high school, and after graduating with a Bachelor of Business Studies became part of the financial team. Josh, their son wasn't interested in furthering his education but loved interacting and talking with people. He became a front desk supervisor after also working as a front desk attendant during the weekends while he was at school. Dan and Rose borrowed heavily to set up their business. They knew that it would be difficult to secure new jobs after the earthquake and knowing that hospitality was their 'thing' decided to invest in the rental car business. The rental car business was seen by them as something that could give them quite early gains, didn't require a large infrastructure and they could keep the family earning. They knew they had the skills within the family to manage and run the business on their own. In the first five years of the business, Dan and Rose ran the business and had other jobs to supplement their income and to help pay the loans. Dan is the Pukeko Rentals Operations Manager. He keeps an overall eye on the business and spends time on the road visiting Queenstown and acting as the public relations/sales and marketing representative for the business. Dan ensures the fleet is well maintained by liaising with the mechanic contractors and has developed a system to manage this. Dan also oversees the retiring of the vehicles and any sales and purchases. Rose continued to apply her skills in HR and payroll as well as taking on the role of office manager. Rose sees that the website updates are forwarded to the web company and handles the day to day office duties such as banking, invoicing and sometimes contributing to the Facebook page. Mere works in the Christchurch depot and is the fulltime front desk representative of Pkeko. She loves her job and is an enthusiastic promoter of NZ ecotourism. She has one part-timer working with her. Mere works Saturdays and the part-timer on Sunday and Mondays. Mere contributes to the Facebook page and is usually the one posting interesting videos and responding to any queries. Josh moved to Queenstown to open the branch there in 2015. He is also a keen promoter of NZ ecotourism, loves the mountains and the Queenstown way of life. His personality often carries him, rather than any organisational skills or business acumen. The visitors love his fresh approach and friendly ways. Josh also has one part-timer who mainly works in the weekends, so Josh can go snowboarding. The turnover of the part-timer in Queenstown is high as working weekends is not a popular choice and this sometimes puts pressure on the family members. Even though the family have defined roles, everyone pitches in to help at busy times and will wash and valet the cars during the slow times. Fleet Pkeko have a small fleet of 40 cars and 10 midsized campervans. The cars are all small automatic Toyotas that seat 4 passengers, although the luggage room is a bit tight. The campervans are all 2.2L turbo powered diesel Mercedes Ultima's. These accommodate 2 adult passengers, have a double or two single beds, full kitchen facilities, are fully certified as self-contained and have all the expected extras such as integrated TV/DVD/CD with MP3 input and reversing cameras. The entire fleet is less that 2 years old. Pkeko retire their vehicles at about 60,000km, selling them through TradeMe, an online auction site. New vehicles are purchased as the old ones are retired. In the last 3 years the fleet size has remained the same. Mission Statement Our mission is to consistently provide our customers with an affordable quality product experience and a level of service that makes them feel like they are a valued member of the Pkeko family. Vision Our vision is to grow our business by ensuring we provide our environmentally conscious customers a unique and sustainable NZ experience. Values "He tangata takahi manuhiri, he marae puehu" Whanaungatanga Kaitiakitanga Manaakitanga Whanaungatanga is all about relationships and a sense of belonging. We will work together to ensure our visitors feel a connection to us and to the land. Kaitiakitanga is about our connection and responsibility to the land. We will ensure we are guardians of our place and ensure we educate our customers on environmentally conscious behaviours and promote sustainable practices Manaakitanga is our approach to hospitality. This means we care about each and every one of our customers, treat them with kindness and support and recognize each as an individual.

Marketing and sales activities Pkeko's marketing and sales activities have been done on a shoestring budget. Pkeko have a website where you can find out about the company and their values, see the vehicles they have, get a quote and make a booking. The booking system is simple but secure and requires you to enter your credit card details to book a vehicle. The website has a few testimonials from past customers and has valuable driving information such as a distance calculator and some FAQs about driving in New Zealand. The website appears on the first page of search engine results when using specific search terms such as "budget campervans Queenstown" but under all the major companies when searching for "campervan rental New Zealand" and way down the list when searching for "car rentals New Zealand". Most of the enquiries and sales are generated via the website. The website is where the marketing budget is spent as this is maintained and updated by a small web company in Christchurch. Pkeko have a Facebook Page, where they share interesting tourism videos, links and little snippets about what is going on in the NZ tourism scene. The page is followed by only a small number of previous customers (512) and interactions are few and far between although all are positive and glowing about the service they received. Many reviewers have said they will recommend Pkeko to their friends. All Pkeko employees are admins on the page, but it is usually the sales staff who share the interesting articles and react to any feedback. Pkeko have an Instagram IGTV channel that has been created but not used, and no other social media accounts. Pkeko have brochures at both Christchurch and Queenstown Airports, in some hotel and motel lobbies, Department of Conservation visitors centres, and the iSites in both cities, however sales generated from these is minimal. Pkeko have also had a trade stall at a Christchurch based Tourism Expo where the Dan and Rose spent time talking with stall visitors over a two-day period. Most visitors to the stall were locals who stopped by for a chat and other tourism operators looking for connections. Dan and Rose considered this a good networking opportunity rather than a drive for sales.

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Two examples of ethical practices and social responsibility demonstrated by Pkeko Rentals that could be applied to marketing and sales principles 1 Environmental Consciousness in Fleet Management Pkek... View the full answer