Undergraduate Internship Report - Essay Example

? Undergraduate Internship Report 1 Acknowledgements: I would like to give my sincere regards to the Center of Excellence - College of Business Administration for giving me the opportunity to undertake my Internship program in their Marketing Department for six successful weeks. The professionals, staff and the entire workforce in the organization gave me the support that I needed during my internship. They further entrusted me with all my tasks without considering me as a mere learner. I also would like to thank my tutor who is the general director at the Center of Excellence for giving me the recommendations and support during the six weeks of my internship program. Moreover, my regards go to my entire family for giving me emotional and financial support throughout the entire Bachelor’s degree program both in theory and in practical sessions. 1.2 Executive Summary The six weeks’ internship program at the Center of Excellence - College of Business Administration in the marketing department was part of the Bachelor in International Business that is offered by my school. The internship entails working with professionals in the work place and gaining one-on-one experience in the field. During this period of time, I was expected to put most of what I have continuously being taught during the lectures at my school in practice. Moreover, in the beginning of my internship I was asked to come up with a marketing plan that is well researched, and give details on how I am capable of working on it, as well as market the products to current and potential clients. During this period, I learnt several marketing approaches, such as placing products and services on media aimed at the general public who are the current and potential clients. I also learnt how to communicate with potential clients, and acquired the patience that is required during marketing. Moreover, my internship basically entailed attending meetings that were held by my tutor. My colleagues and I continually worked on brainstorming to come up with ways of managing and marketing various services that were being offered by the center. Table of Contents 1.1Acknowledgements: 2 1.2Executive Summary 2 1.3introduction 5 1.3.1Company Description 5 1.3.2My Mission 5 Marketing plan for the Center of Excellence Introduction 7 1about the Center of Excellence 7 1.4Current situation 8 1SWOT Analysis 9 1.4.1Strength 9 1.4.2Weakness 10 1.4.3Opportunities 10 1.4.4Threats 11 1Market segmentation, target market and positioning 16 1.5Methodology 17 1.6Recommendations 18 1.7Summary 19 1.8Learning experience 20 1.9Conclusion 21 1.3 introduction 1.3.1 Company Description This year The University of Business and Technology finally got recognized as an official University from the National Commission for Academic Accreditation & Assessment. Hence, becoming one of the most prestigious universities, and carrying under its name four different colleges: College of Business and Administration, College of Advertising, College of Engineering and Information Technology and college of Master of Business and Administration. My internship was held at the Center of Excellence, which is under the prominent College of Business and Administration. I have created a timeline for the UBT to show its success journey as a business from its early stages when it was no more than a small institute to what it is today a well recognized university in the education market. Please see the UBT timeline below. 1.3.2 My Mission Job description: Responsible of creating the Marketing plan for the Center of Excellence and continuing education for year 2013 Detailed job description 1. Creating SWOT analysis for the Center of Excellence and continuing education. 2. Creating Marketing plan for the center based on the SWOT analysis. 3. Supervise the designing and creating of marketing material and printouts. 4. Responsible of the digital marketing activities of the Center of Excellence: Creating Digital marketing plan, including advertising through the Internet, and using suitable social networking media. Creating the digital marketing budget for the center. Preparing data to be used for digital marketing. Set up social networking accounts and upload suitable data. Manage the center accounts and update information. Review center website and give recommendations. In marketing, there are several options to approach when creating a marketing strategy that include: Sales Management, Marketing Communications, Marketing Research, Product and Brand Management, Managing Channels of Distribution, Retailing, Service Marketing, Global Marketing, Sport Marketing, and E-Marketing. From these options, I chose to focus my work on Product and Brand Management along with Service Marketing (Barney 1991). Marketing plan for the Center of Excellence Introduction Marketing plan in any organization is a vital tool, which cannot be ignored. It is a basic concept that is required for making products/services and corporate branding successful. It should consist of the organization’s strategy on the bases of the section and the expected clientele, as well as trends for making the services successful. Organizations do marketing plans so as to distinguish the relevancy of the current if it exists or present in their current scenario (Benni 2001). The center of excellence can utilize several marketing strategies in order to increase promotion. This should involve prioritizing on using strategies that can reinforce the image of the center. Firstly, the focus should be on targeting the appropriate population. This includes first time freshman, graduate students, non-traditional students, and diverse student body. However, each of these groups requires its own marketing approach. For example, freshmen tend to be attracted by image, reputation, campus location, cost, and campus life. Therefore, the approach for freshmen should be flexible putting into considerations of the above assumptions. In terms of academic programs offered, it is appropriate to concentrate on promoting a small number of academic programs, which can be selected on the basis of assumptions such as quality, high demand, and enrollment flexibility (online, evening and weekend courses). 1 about the Center of Excellence The Center of Excellence has been newly established, it is under the University of Business and Technology, which is a group of colleges and has been known as the College of Business Administration for a period of time. However, since its promotion to a full university, it has now been mandated a number of constituent colleges to handle. This means that the institution will have to come up with ways to expand its facilities in order to have more clients (Creswell 2002). College of Business Administration has a good reputation and a large number of students. The Center of Excellence offers short and long period diplomas, and training that is conducted in English language. Moreover, the center has collaborations with large companies such as Ernst & Young, P&G and many others, which works closely with it in terms of finances and recruitment of fresh graduates into their companies. The main objective is to create a strong and well-known brand that is trustworthy and to develop a better-informed client in order to have a better market opportunity (Creswell 2002). 1.4 Current situation According to Bryan (2003), situation analysis has been used for both, making the marketing plan better and combating challenges in the event marketing. The marketing staff establishes the organization’s mission and the key objectives in order to lay down the work plan towards achieving good and manageable marketing plan. The marketing plan further requires SWOT analysis, product and competitors analysis. This helps in evaluating the market and focusing on clearly identified strategies. Essentially, the strategies should be based on research findings available resources and budget. In this regard, the current situation of the center requires a clear articulation on how best the center can grow. It is apparent that unlike other old universities, the center of excellence is not popular and needs to establish ways of popularizing its programs. The center has not yet developed its corporate branding, and this needs to be promoted through application of corporate social responsibility practices in order to win the confidence of all stakeholders. Since the Center of Excellence was newly established it does not have a good brand image it depends mainly on the CBA’s good reputation in the education sector. Use: Q1: how did you know about the Center of Excellence? Friends & family 88% Rollup stands 2% Newspaper 4% Online 4% Other 2% Q2; why did you choose the Center of excellence? CBA's good reputation 60% Interest in a particular diploma 36% Price of the course 4% Other 0% 1 SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis is vital in a marketing plan and is used in determining the organization’s strengths prospects, possible weaknesses and the pressures associated with the organization in its future endeavors. 1.4.1 Strength The Center of Excellence having been just promoted from a college to a university enjoys a continuous, good reputation that has been confirmed by the research done by some on the marketing individuals on the ongoing and former students and the neighboring community of the college. It offers a range of programs of high quality both short and long term based including tailor made courses that go according to the organization and market needs. Moreover, it has partnered with well known institutions both at national and international levels. This puts it’s in a better position to capture the market, and develop and maintain competitive advantage. 1.4.2 Weakness The Center suffers from weak brand image reception as most of the people who are not within its environs. There has been the lack of a good marketing strategy for the services that are being offered at the center. This has greatly affected the clients’ awareness, which is necessary in the knowledge of the information required to boost the center through the brand loyalty. In addition, lack of enrollment flexibility has made the center to lock out some students who might require evening or weekend programs. 1.4.3 Opportunities There is a growing demand for more educated employees who are high skilled both nationally and internationally. Students are now aware of the competitive employment market thus pushing them into learning institutions for self-development. In fact, a lot of companies are demanding to employ fresh graduates from known institutions hence, the need to improve their students’ workforce. Additionally, there is rising number of entrepreneurs who need people to run their businesses. Needless to mention, there is a shortage of leadership and managerial skills in the young students that must require them to further their education in various institutions (Stewart 2009). The Center of Business Administration is creating a link between the MBA programs, and the Excellency Center, as well as, ensuring that summer or winter courses have short trips. 1.4.4 Threats The major challenge that is been faced by the Center of Business Administration is that other competing institution are offering similar courses for lower quality but with lower prices. The world is also moving fast in terms of technology to extent of people getting more familiar with online training centers which they view as cheap and time convenient. This has been a big blow to the newly established institution which might take sometime to embrace and be able to work with online courses and training centers. Marketing Objectives and Issues To create a strong and well known brand that is trust worthy and to develop a more well-informed customer To provide quality education and training to embody the aspirations of our customers Core messages: (success, happiness...) Q3: how satisfied are you with the current availability of information about the center and its offered diplomas? Very satisfied 4% Somewhat satisfied 6% Neutral 28% Not very satisfied 44% Not at all satisfied 18% Marketing Strategy Product, Price, Promotion, Place Improving the website so customers and potential customers can refer to it. Use social media to attract people to the website. Use electronic media to inform potential customers about the brand Provide quality education to attract and retain customers Set competitive prices to promote your brand Diversify your brand by opening several colleges Action Plans To develop a strong brand image we need to do the following: Videos: for the website Videos for the website can highly impact the center in several ways: they can indicate several activities and tutorial programs, which can help potential customers to build confidence and loyalty to the brand. 1. Current students or graduates (why did they choose CBA? - their experience – how they benefited from the program professionally) 2. Someone from the staff (e.g. head of department or program coordinator) Q7: do you prefer written or verbal communication? Written 32% Verbal 68% Social Media: Social media can help the already existing students to connect with other potential students in the bid to promote the brand. The center can also connect with several social media cites like twitter and face book, which will facilitate dissemination of information regarding the center. Q6; in your opinion, how beneficial would it be for you to be able to communicate with the center through social media? Very beneficial 76% Somewhat beneficial 12% Neutral 10% Not really beneficial 0% Not at all beneficial 2% 1. Create a page. Face book + twitter 2. Asked the CBA official existing page to subscribe. 3. Invite people via email 4. Advertise the page Website 1. Clear indications to the Centers website on CBA/ UBT website. 2. Creating the feeling of originality by using the classic yet modern logo colors. (Gold and blue) 3. Direct links to the centers Facebook page, Twitter account, Linkedin profile and Youtube) 4. Videos: (2 videos for the website(also, YouTube & social media) The first video should illustrate and explain the centers services.     The second video would be about the students experience at the Center. (We can have some student talk about their experience and how they benefited from the diplomas in their personal and professional lives). a) Illustration of the centers services. b) Students experience and benefits in the work place.) 5. Photos to create a psychological bond between the current & potential students and the Center of Excellence. 6. Short description of each diploma. With nice images. 7. Link to Facebook, twitter, linked in profile of the center. 8. Use QR codes Phone Application: That has information about the center and its offered diplomas. That can keep the customer updated and well informed. It is a faster way through which customers can obtain information about the center. Fliers: Highlight the important information Pictures/ photos of the college Fliers have the potential of reaching many potential customers. They easily disseminate organization’s information, which suits many people who have little time to consult online. Use “quotations” from professors or faculty members. More efforts in strengthening the brand image (bazaars, malls etc.) make people more aware about the center. Resources Required (people, money and technology) In order to have a successful brand promotion, the center requires having adequate resources, marketing personnel, and innovation. These three aspects have to go hand in hand in order to produce top results. For example, having people in the department of marketing is not enough; there is a need to have resources to support their operations. In addition, the personnel have to ensure that they employ innovative ideas in updating their marketing strategies. Hiring more people in the marketing department More investment in expansion and development of the center of excellence. Acquire new technology to keep track of all activities. To have more accurate data about the center. Monitoring In order to have the whole process run smoothly, there is a need to have evaluation panel that oversees that the laid down process and objectives are followed and accomplished. Monitoring also helps to identify new ideas that can be incorporated with the existing strategies. 1 Market segmentation, target market and positioning There are various universities that have been established in the recent past. Other institutions have been promoted from colleges to university due to the high demand of education that is increasing all over the world. According to Saget (2006), the organization primary age segment is the young adults (15-19) since this group of clients demand that is required by the brand. The others include the (35-50) middle aged adults who want to advance their career due to the advancement in technology and the dire need of a market that is up to date with the work force and the market. The young adults want to pursue diploma courses in their field of interest, while the middle aged adults who are the working lot are in dire need to advance their diplomas to degrees, Masters and PHD hence termed as the potential client to the Center of Business Administration (Stewart 2009). The clients are also categorized depending geographically by country or region since environmental variables vary from one place to place thus different clients have different education drivers. Some of the common courses include business, environmental, humanities, medicine and engineering. Although some of the constituents colleges have not began offering the courses due to the fact that potential client is not aware of the developments. However, the marketing fraternity within the college is working tirelessly in ensuring that the college has been marketed to their best. 1.5 Methodology As soon as I began my internship at the Center of excellence, I was acquainted to the office where most of information concerning the center was kept. Going through the files, records, and magazines gave me knowledge about the institution. On the other hand, the files gave the figures of the students who have attended the institution since its inception with most of the information showing a slight increase in the margin of the number of students who joined the institution year after year. Moreover, it showed the number of those who were able to successfully complete their courses, the certificates of graduations, and the grades that they were awarded (Benni 2001). However, a large percentage of the total population of those who had graduated from the center got accepted in the job market. Survey Findings: According to the findings, 88% of the respondents came to know about the center of excellence through friends and family. This means that there is a need to diversify promotion strategies. This should include advertisement through newspaper, television, and online services. This assertion supported by the fact that the rest of the respondents (12%) noted that they came to know about the center through other means. In regard to reasons for choosing the center of excellence, according to the results, 60% of the respondents indicated that CBA has a good reputation. 36 % indicated that they were interested in a particular diploma. 4 percent indicated that price of the course was a driving force. In this regard, it is apparent that there is a need for the center to diversify its programs in order to attract more customers. It also means that pricing has little influence to customers. However, there is also a need to review prices in order to make the center competitive. Only 4% of the respondents indicated that they were very satisfied with center’s availability of information and its offered diplomas. In this case, there is a need for the center to increase information availability. In addition, a total of 90% of respondents indicated that they had an account in various social media websites. This means that if the center can focus on using social media to disseminate its information, many people can benefit from such a move. In fact, 76% of respondents indicated that they believed that social media communication is very beneficial. 1.6 Recommendations With this regard, I recommend that the Center of Excellence focuses on its literature, especially at this crucial time when the University of Business and Technology has been recognized. In essence, the center must come up with ways in which they can market their courses through the Internet, such as social media networking and digital marketing. Moreover, the center also must be able to work through both the print and electronic media to put their information to the general public and potential customers (Wang 2006).The teaching staff should be increased to improve the quality of education although tangible information shows that students’ performance has been relatively good. This could be easily achieved through ensuring that the UBT puts a clear indication of the Center’s website on the official website. Through this, a feeling of originality is perceived by using the classic yet modern logo colors. Additional, social networking should be inclusive of direct links to the center’s face book page, twitter account, LinkedIn profile and YouTube. There should be two videos for the website. The first video should illustrate and explain the services that are been offered at CBA. The second video should be made of the various experiences from the students detailing on their experience, and how they benefited from the courses they have undertaken, and the impact they have made on their personal and professional lives. Photos should appear on the website to create a psychological bond between the current and potential students and the Center of Excellence. Nice images should be presented with each of them carrying short descriptions of the diploma courses that are being offered at the center. Links to face book, twitter and the Center’s profile should be emphasized. 1.7 Summary The Center of Excellence has been newly established. Since its promotion to a full university, it has now been mandated a number of constituent colleges to handle. The Centre of Excellence’s main problem is that it has a poor brand image. Many potential clients have raised concern on the lack of information about the institution. Hence, it doesn’t give them a good reason to join the institution. Unlike other old universities, the center of excellence is not popular and needs to establish ways of popularizing its programs. It can utilize several marketing strategies in order to increase promotion. The center can market their courses through the Internet, such as social media networking and digital marketing. Having been just promoted from a college to a university, the center is in a better position to capture the market, and develop and maintain competitive advantage. 1.8 Learning experience During the six weeks internship, I experienced a pleasant relationship with the institution as a whole. The staff was appreciative and easy to work with. Through this, I was able to develop some personal skills such as patience when trying to contact someone that doesn’t reply quickly therefore delays my workflow. I learned the importance of clarity and simplicity in communicating with clients. The challenges that were present included not having enough information. There were problems with coming up with the best marketing solutions, as well as, financial issues to get started on applying the marketing plan that was set to enhance customer awareness. Having the chance to work at such a respectful firm has given me the courage to face challenges in the marketing fraternity. The internship is linked to my training school in that it is a continuation of what we have learned in class. Additionally, it had given me a wider perspective of the marketing aria of study especially on the practical part, which is the most essential for my personal and professional development. The difference between academic learning and real life is that, academic learning entails the theoretical part of education. While, in real life, one gets to face the handy and practical part that is more challenging and interesting 1.9 Conclusion The internship has given me the best training that I would have desired in the entire course, especially after being given the privilege to handle the marketing plan for a particular institution which happens to be the Center of Excellence. Being able to supervise the ongoing inception of the contents and other related material to bring out the essence of marketing was a real challenge. With this experience, I can confidently handle any marketing field in future with courage. Bibliography: Barney, J., 1991. Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage, Journal of Management, 17, 1: 99-120. Benni, B., 2001.Relationships between personal and corporate reputation, European Journal of Marketing, 35, 34: 316-334. Bryan, A., 2003.Business Research Methods. London: Oxford University. Creswell, J., 2002. Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Merrill Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ. Press. Saget A, 2006.The event marketing handbook: beyond logistics and planning. New York: Kaplan. Stewart, H, 2009. Event Marketing. Journal of Sponsorship, 2, 3: 241-249. Wang, A., 2006.The effects of Expect and Consumer Endorsements on Audience Response, Journal of Advertising Research, 45, 40: 402-412. Read More