Marketing Plan for Attracting Business School Investors and School Boards Activities - Research Proposal Example

BUSINESSP Potential investors and rationale The potential investors for the business school will come from the private sector, although the school will also pursue public funding. “Schools are feeling pressure to shift from public to private sector norms. Standardized assessments and top-down accountability systems are forcing public education to pay more attention to test scores, which can be tallied, than to the cultivation of learning, which is not so amenable to measurement.” (Lieberman, 2005). Investors will need to know that business curriculum development methods concentrate on achieving student understanding not just through having students choose the right answer in a multiple-choice format, but also through understanding that displays an active individual and social engagement with the presented material, which is often highlighted in the real world application of business knowledge, especially when the student is able to relate the material to their own life in a way that is productive and proactive for them, and helps them really retain the knowledge which they garner. The funding focused on by the business school leader is also influenced by the positive and communicative relationship that they have with the private investor, bringing the level of communication to not just embrace intra-professional dynamics, but also other dynamics. The overall vision of the business school development process reflects a willingness to accept change and work in positive patterns of leadership, teamwork, and dynamism. In assessments, the investor can pay more attention to the process of learning as a stage based paradigm reflected by the business school. Investors also include members of the business school’s school board. The school board makes the plan of action and evaluation. Evaluations are plans of action or actions specially tailored to achieve goals, and they differ from individual to individual and often involve self-regulation on the part of the business school board member who is looking to enhance their leadership abilities. Strategies are not often directly reactionary and are most likely to be performed in advance of the action or situation in which the goal is sought. Along these lines, if the strategy proves to be a good one, it can be repeated. Business school board investors may employ increasingly sophisticated strategies throughout the evaluative process in developing different skills assessments in relation to the situation. Strategies may also be looked at in and of themselves without a record of growth involved, such as various techniques for assessing student progress (portfolios, summaries, traditional tests, etc.) as a method of self-regulation in the evaluation procedure. There is no “process over product” if the process is not beneficial to the student. According to the investor relationship, leadership is very important for the business school board to agree upon as a baseline. Marketing approach One main point that needs to be addressed by the business school is the difference between formal and informal market research. Formal market research appears to be more common because it is often described in more depth, in terms of how companies can listen and learn through formal means of observation such as experiments, surveys, and focus groups. Informal market research is more about establishing close customer contact. The business school must also realize how companies can follow lead users. Lead users are companies or individuals who are ahead of the curve in terms of their needs. Another important point is the explanation of empathetic design, which focuses on observing how customers really use things and then responding. The business school overall needs to go through many interesting ideas such as stating the impact of price on demand and how important it is for marketers to understand this relationship, so that they can be successful in real world situations. Another solution is to use Customer Relationship Management to market more effectively and reach the client better. “When customer relationship management CRM) came on the health scene approximately six years ago, some viewed it with skepticism and primarily saw it as a way to refine rather than reinvent marketing. More progressive marketers adopted the CRM techniques of compiling all consumer and market data into a centralized database and used data mining to more narrowly define target audiences based on characteristics rather than general demographics” (Paddison, 2004). Overall it is important for the article to look at different methods that companies can use to analyze customer preferences. Branding is often treated as something almost superfluous or all about image by many companies, but for the business school it is important that branding is not supplementary; it is an essential part of the marketing mix. One interesting point is how brands are more than just labels and logos, they are more like cultures. Another main point is that brands are a key part of the marketing mix because they are unique- they come from companies as well as pop culture. As brands build more of an image over time, they become almost like something bigger than the brand itself, and become integrated into the society more. Another major point is that customers are looking for simplification of the world, and branding the business school can help to fill this need and also reflect on competition. The business school also needs to address the necessity for branding to be ethical in today’s environment. This leads to a situation in which, “Under this interpretation, teachers assume roles as researchers, mentors, scholars, and developers; they expand the meaning of what it means to be a teacher. They are leaders and intellectuals who can make a difference in their schools and profession. We clearly advocate the cosmopolitan response: the building of capacity to transform schooling” (Lieberman, 2005). This invovles the teacher’s role explicitly as a leader to the student body, but it also invovles student attitudes towards such things as motivation levels, self efficacy, and other factors which relate to how they feel about the class environment, the authority of the teacher, and their respect for this authority, in relation to how they are going to perform on any sort of assessment. Constructing a website will also be a crucial part of the advertising and promotional campaign, and will represent a significant initial investment that will afterwards optimally only be an economic drain in less significant terms of updating and maintenance. No matter what sort of school is being proposed, working in the twenty-first century means having access to and control over technology, and the business school’s website will reflect its standing in the new world of networked business and information technology. From the introductory stage onwards, then, the business school will utilize the possession of its own website, which will contain readily accessible and user-friendly information about the store and its products. the business school’s web domain name will also be a major part of the print ad campaign, and will be displayed prominently alongside the school’s phone number. The main tenets planned for the website operationally are as follows. Contact information- the business school will want to display its contact information prominently on the website- its address, hours of operation, phone numbers, and driving directions should be clearly available and easily accessible for the web-surfing customer. Purchasing- Highlights will be displayed on the main page, and a clearly marked link will take customers and potential investors to a downloadable application form, available in both Adobe Acrobat PDF format and in .html format. Customers will thus be able to print or download the form as desired. Mailing list- Given the dynamic competition among business schools, it is very possible that the business school will be holding special events on a fairly frequent basis. This option will allow customers to be emailed events, news, and product updates. Customer feedback- This form would be fairly easy to set up and would give the business school vital information about customer suggestions and feedback. A filter would limit the completed forms to those with a name and phone number filled in, to cut down on pranks. Future events- As mentioned, the business school will most likely be holding special events on a regular basis. This option on the website will take the customer to an interactive calendar, updated quarterly, which displays these events for clarification and elucidation. Photo gallery- This section will display photos of some of the business school’s campus and classes. Furthermore, we would prefer to also have a photo gallery depicting events and special the business school guests. Critical praise- It is entirely possible that the business school will not gain universal critical praise, although this is hoped for. Therefore, this section will most amenably limit itself to praise. There is no sense in posting bad press on one’s own website. Links- These links will take the customer to non-competitive businesses with the same general target market, such as seminars, furniture dealerships, travel agencies, car rentals, etc. Business plan The business will focus on segmentation, target market selection, and positioning. The first point is market segmentation. This is basically the process of dividing the market for the business school into categories or groups, based on demographics and other indicators that make each member of a group. For example, the business school might divide their market of customers (by age, income, gender, etc.) into smaller groups. The second point is target market selection. This basically the process that a company or marketing professional goes through to focus on a group of customers, in terms of being able to reach them with marketing messages. The third point for the business school is outlining positioning. Positioning is the way that a product is separated from its competition or other products, or the way the company is separated from its competition. These are all key marketing concepts. “CRM has come to mean different things to different people. For some managers, CRM means sales force contact software like salesforce.com. For others, it means telephone call centers for contact management. Many attention focus their loyalties on software programs like Total Rewards” (Winer, 2007). For the hypothetical company, CRM must mean all of these things and more for the marketing strategy to really work. Many solutions must be foreseen. One solution is to use CRM to bolster the company internally. Yet another solution could focus more on the management of the company than the client, and highlight management having a working knowledge of marketing and being able to work with marketers and consultants in a proactive manner that reflects the abovementioned external dynamism of the educational and business school market. “Work with someone from your marketing or planning department to develop a series of questions that will determine the baseline financial savvy of your department heads. Then conduct one or two focus groups with a representative cross section… A key goal of the focus group should be determining how well your managers understand the reports they receive” (Macevicuiate, 2001). These solutions can work in both long-term and short-term formats to help the company remain competitive. If the school board for the business school does not move forward, the process bogs. Vital to communication is an understanding of the pros and cons of a given issue, and without knowing a lot about the ins and outs of, say, a classroom situation, really without this kind of communication, one can really only make guesses as to what’s going on. Essentially, the need for the school board is a baseline consideration from which the experiment can hope to attain goals of demonstrating the effectiveness of such methods, when compared to traditions. The process of planning and strategizing ways in which to evaluate school board changes takes significant amounts of time, training, and money, and any attempts at including this aspect of assessment into a teacher’s daily operations would not be official at first, and would rather act as a sort of complement to established assessment structures that would continue to work in the classroom. There are a lot of changes going on in education today which the investor must be aware of. Some schools want to stick with traditional professional development and in-service workshops along with perpetuating the sink or swim situation for new teachers and not addressing issues of burnout in more established ones. Teachers need inspiration and motivation as an ongoing process, not as a one day workshop. The system as it exists does not show a lot of attention to establishing strong leadership and communication links, and acts more like a one-shot deal in which teachers are expected to bring their own continuity to the system or be lost (sink or swim). Despite how obviously transitory these workshop programs are, most teachers find that they are their only outlets for development. The superintendent as leader should provide them with more choice. “Although formal hiring and selection policies and practices are typically weak, effective school principals worry about who their teachers are and do things to recruit and retain good teacher prospects. In the hiring process, principals in effective schools are more likely to ask teacher applicants about creativity, flexibility, concern and caring for children, and to talk about their own goals for student achievement, time on task and instructional leadership” (Teacher, 2007). Financial projections Current Assets Cash $5000 Accounts Receivable $4375 Inventory $150 Prepaid Expenses $550 Total Current Assets $10,075 Fixed Assets Inventory/Equipment $1400 Leasehold Improvements $6450 Vehicles $0 Net Fixed Assets $7,850 TOTAL ASSETS $17,925 Current Liabilities Accrued Expenses $1673 Accounts Payable $833 Loans Payable $950 TOTAL CURRENT LIABILITIES $3,641.94 NET WORTH $14,283.05 Start up costs Capitol equipment Computer--------------------------------------------- $250 Inventory---------------------------------------------- $2500 Accessories------------------------------------------- $100 Office misc.------------------------------------------ $50 Filing system----------------------------------------- $50 Audio systems---------------------------------------- $150 Telephone--------------------------------------------- $100 Security system--------------------------------------- $200 Total $3,400 Rent $10/sq.ft. x 200sq.ft. / 12 x 3----------------------- $2,000 Utilities Telephony---------------------------------------------- $200 Electricity--------------------------------------------- $150 Total $350 Licenses Business Permit--------------------------------------- $100 Certificate of Occupancy---------------------------- $100 Architect----------------------------------------------- $3500 Total $3,700 Insurance (1 year) Liability------------------------------------------------ $1200 Fire----------------------------------------------------- $800 Total $2,000 Salaries 4 employees @ $40/wk./ 10 mo.------------------- $6400 4 employees @ $200/wk./ 12 mo.----------------- $6400 Total $12,800 Materials Start-up inventory------------------------------------- $2,500 Total $2,500 Total start up costs $27,250 General Assumptions Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Short-term interest rate 14% 14% 14% Long-term interest rate 10% 10% 10% Payment days estimator 0 0 0 Collection days estimator 45 45 45 Tax Rate 25% 25% 25% Expenses in Cash 10% 10% 10% Sales on Credit 75% 75% 75% Personnel burden 15% 15% 15% Profit and Loss Statement Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Gross (margin) profit $41,275 $57,235 $72,150 $85,535 $95,025 Total operation expenses $43,087.80 47,531.78 $49,108.75 $48,780.65 $50,032.20 Net Profit/Loss $5,696.80 $13,287.22 $27,625.25 $38,338.35 $48,176.72 Sensitivity Analysis Worst Case Probable Case Best Case Net Sales $1250 $4375 $18,750 Cost of Goods Sold Gross Profit Margin $1250 $4375 $18,750 Expenses $3574 $3574 $3374 Profit Before Taxes ($2324) $801 $15,176 The prognostication for the business school will contain a number of statements reflecting, among other things, investor schedules, balance sheet assumptions, sales forecasts, and operating expenses. Since the business school is still in the planning stage, it is difficult in some instances to reflect an accurate measure of accounts receivable and accounts payable, and in these instances, predicted data can be balanced against the given dearth. This may also effect predictions of net income in terms of accuracy, since, as one source states in a concise and cautionary manner, “Net Income does not always mean cash since money is tied up in accounts receivable and inventory” (The Plan, 2000). That is, the bottom line is not always its actual cash value, and this is an important factor to keep in mind. External factors, as mentioned above, also must be kept in mind, since changes and shifts in the external environment are often very difficult, if even possible, to predict. “The strategic nimbleness and superior growth rates that have been the hallmarks of many rising stars among the industrys second-tier chains have been stunted in part by recession and war” (Liddle, 2002, p. 101). Advertising can also be used as a competitive tool for the business school. In many cases, people want to focus on a point of difference that makes one retail store stand out from the competition in a positive way. “The strong, positive aspects of the competition are to be avoided and emphasis placed on what is not being done well or what is not available at all in the current market” (The Plan, 2000). Following this advice, advertising should again focus on two main parameters: product quality and the superior quality of service presented. REFERENCE Liddle, Alan J. (2003). Second 100: Economy Blunts Growth vs. Top 100. Nation’s Industry News, pp. 101-115. The Plan: A Step-by-Step Business Plan Workbook (2000). New York: New Ground Publications. Lieberman, A (2005). Teachers as leaders. The Educational Forum. Muirhead, B (2002). Relevant Assessment Strategies. http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/FEB02_Issue/article04.html Myceviciute, E., and T.D. Wilson (2002). The development of the information management research area. Information Research 7(3). Padisson, N. (2004). CRM grows up: CRM can transform the role and financial impact of organizations marketing initiatives. Health Management Technology.   Rigby and Ledingham (2004). CRM Done Right. Harvard Business Review. Volker, M. (2000). Marketing: The 4 Ps. http://www.sfu.ca/~mvolker/biz/mktintro.htm. Winer, R. (2007). Marketing Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. CRM Software is deployed on-premesis or as hosted service (2005). Product News Network. School plans to extend superintendants’ authority (2010). http://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/01/nyregion/schools-plan-would-extend-superintendents-authority.html?pagewanted=1 Teacher Motivation (2007). http://mdk12.org/process/benchmark/improve/study/phaseone/esss-2.html Read More