Marketing Concentration within Extended Academic Programs - PowerPoint Presentation Example

? Feasibility Study: Marketing Concentration within Extended Academic Programs (EAP) Feasibility Study: Marketing Concentration within Extended Academic Programs (EAP) Executive Summary The University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) is a Catholic affiliated private university situated within San Antonio City in Texas. This institution has campus extensions in China and Mexico known as China Incarnate Word and Centro Universitario Incarnate Word respectively (University of the Incarnate Word [UIW], 2011). This university has more than ninety-three Sister schools worldwide and the best study abroad or Extended Academic Program (EAP) ever. This university offers a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) program through its EAP program. This BSBA has seven courses: accounting, banking and finance, General Business, marketing, information systems, international business, and management. The major marketing concentration this institution offers is the ‘General’ specialization. The other four concentrations are; Data mining and social marketing, healthcare marketing, call center/CRM and tourism/Sport. Due to the dynamic nature of today’s marketing environment, most universities and students are searching for courses and specializations that will assure them of immediate placements in the job market. Most of the concentrations in the Marketing specializations were designed to meet the dynamic and ever changing needs of the economy. Specializations like healthcare marketing; a rare and unique combination, was seen necessary to meet the needs of the dynamic healthcare environment due to the numerous reforms that have been seen. Due to these facts, this paper provides a feasibility study that assesses UIW EAP’s ability and viability to offer healthcare marketing specialization within its BSBA Program. Introduction UIW EAP’s program offers the BSBA degree curriculum as; accounting, banking and finance, General Business, marketing, information systems, international business, and management degree programs. The marketing concentration has five specializations: Data mining and social marketing, healthcare marketing, call center/CRM, general and tourism/Sport. The ‘General’ specialization is the one this institution offers. This paper provides a feasibility study assessing UIW EAP’s ability and viability to offer healthcare marketing specialization within its BSBA Program. Healthcare Marketing Healthcare marketing has provided an avenue through which advancements in health-protecting services like insurance and medicine can be widely known (Fortenberry, 2010). The current shift of provision of healthcare information from provider-dominated to patient-directed makes healthcare marketing a necessity in today’s world. According to Fortenberry (2011), success strategies in healthcare have their roots in result-based healthcare marketing (p. 87). Healthcare marketing provides an effective avenue through which healthcare entities can promote themselves through utilizing a variety of methods to entice their customers to purchase and consume their health products. In this information frenzy age, majority of people can self-diagnose themselves, a strategy which helps to reduce the strain on healthcare institutions (Vitberg, 2006). In this respect healthcare marketing is a necessity in this present age. Concerning UIW EAP’s ability and viability of offering healthcare marketing on top of its current general marketing concentration, the following aspects were realized. These facts were obtained from; interviews conducted where the students and lectures were involved, job searches, empirical research and through analysis of data within the city of San Antonio. Realization of Market Issues a. Likelihood of Finding a Job Of the specializations in marketing that is; data mining and social marketing, healthcare marketing, call center/CRM, general and tourism/Sport; healthcare marketing and tourism/sport marketing majors, offers high chances for undergraduates to find jobs in and out of San Antonio. Healthcare marketing creates job opportunities due to the changing trends in the United States and in the City of San Antonio itself (Adams, 2004). According to Haimowitz (2011), utilization of healthcare marketing strategies has risen in the United States by five percent from 2008 to 2009 (p. 1). Sports/tourism is a culture in San Antonio and it is an area that can never lack demand for professionals (Valdes, 2002). Data mining and social marketing requires technical know how and is still unexplored, making it difficult to carry out marketing (Linoff & Berry, 2011). General and CRM have opportunities, but they are few. b. Estimated Demand for Each Specialization The demand for healthcare marketing professionals is rather high in other cities as compared to San Antonio. Like in San Francisco one out of every ten undergraduates will get a job within three months after completing their coursework. In San Antonio, the demand is one out of every twenty undergraduates within a span of four months. The demand for data mining is one out of every fifty undergraduates, for CRM is one out of every twenty, and for the general can is also one out of every twenty, both within a span of six months after completion of studies. c. Target Markets for the Specializations The target markets for the healthcare marketing specialization are the; pharmaceutical manufactures, hospitals, medical device manufacturers, insurance companies, suppliers and retailers of healthcare products, and healthcare training institutions. Target markets for sports/tourism are the sports training institutions, sports clubs, gyms and fitness centers, hotels, and tourism firms among others. Target markets for data mining and social marketing are the computer forensic industries and the online marketing and e-commerce departments of most organizations. The general specialization does not have a specific market but majority of them are absorbed in the sales department of most organizations. The CRM are absorbed in the telecommunications industry, banks, and other which deal on a face-to-face basis with their clients. d. The Competitors for these Specializations The competitors of these specializations are themselves. For example the general specialization can perform what the healthcare marketer, the CRM and the social marketer can do. Other competitors are; Web designers and data mining experts for data mining and social networking Tourism and sports specialists for tourism/sport advertising, and Individual medics and healthcare professionals for healthcare marketing e. Maturing or Growth Industries The specializations that are maturing or growth industries are the data mining and social marketing and the tourism/sports specializations. f. Differentiating each Specialization from Competitors In differentiating each specialization from its competitors, UIW EAP should do the following; Change the names of the specializations Provide unique training in each one of them g. Projected Market share for each Specialization Projected market share for each specialization is as follows Fig. 1: projected market share Operational Pull Off a. Availability of Manpower UIW EAP has the manpower and capacity to offer healthcare marketing, general and tourism/sport effectively. It lacks adequate staff and faculties to offer data mining and social marketing and Call center/CRM. b. Necessary Technology Necessary technology to offer each of these specializations is as follows; Data mining and social marketing requires data mining and forensics knowhow Healthcare marketing requires knowledge on the operation of the healthcare industry, knowledge of effects of the medication, and knowledge on different types of illnesses. c. Internal Structure UIW EAP is organizationally structured internally to offer the healthcare management and sports/tourism marketing specializations. This is because these specializations can be offered in collaboration with the degree courses in sports management and healthcare that are provided in the university. d. Staff and Faculty Experiences The experiences that the faculty and staff like the advisors should be having include knowledge and experience in healthcare settings and healthcare marketing situations. The ones handling sports/tourism should be knowledgeable in both sports and tourism spheres. e. Partners in San Antonio to help Offer Students In offering these specializations, UIW EAP should partner with the following organizations in San Antonio; UT health science center San Antonio School of Nursing and Alamo colleges in offering healthcare marketing specialization In offering Data Mining and social marketing, this institution should partner with the University of Texas at San Antonio, which has the technological knowhow in data mining training. It can also partner with Alamo colleges and Mt. San Antonio college in offering call center/CRM Financial Responsibility   Start-up costs Ongoing costs sources of financing Projected profits/(losses) Data mining & Social marketing 2,750,000 275,000 Grants, fees (20,000) healthcare marketing 600,000 60,000 Grants, fees 50,000 Call center/CRM 189,000 89,000 Grants, fees 4,000 General 89,000 18,000 Grants, fees 1,000 Tourism/Sport 78,000 7,800 Grants, fees 10,000 In conclusion, UIW EAP has the capacity of offering healthcare marketing effectively given that cost, resources, staffing, and technology favors it. The other specializations still require external support and partnerships for them to be offered effectively. References Adams, J. K. (2004). The Austin/San Antonio jobbank. Avon, MA: Adams Media. Fortenberry, J. L. (2010). Health Care Marketing: tools and techniques. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett. Fortenberry, J. L. (2011). Cases in Health care Marketing. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett. Haimowitz, I. J. (2011). Healthcare relationship marketing: Strategy, design, and measurement. Burlington, VT: Gower Publishing Company. Linoff, G. S., & Berry, M. J. (2011). Data mining techniques: For marketing, sales, and customer relationship management. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing. University of the Incarnate Word. 2011. Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Retrieved from http://online.uiw.edu/academics/undergraduate-degrees/bsba-accounting Valdes, M. I. (2002). Marketing to American Latinos: A guide to the in-culture approach, part 2. Ithaca, NY: Paramount Market Publishing. Vitberg, A. K. (2006). Marketing healthcare into the twenty-first century: The changing dynamic. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press. Read More