Relevance of the Marketing Research for Strategic Decision-Making - Case Study Example

Strategic Marketing Plan: UNE Life Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Course Name Date of Submission Strategic Marketing Plan: UNE Life University education has become very critical for any individual in the U.K. Today, the U.K. prides itself for being amongst the countries that provides the best quality education. University of New England (UNE), however, prides itself for being one of the best universities in Britain, producing highly talented graduates that impact positively on the economy of Britain and the world at large. According to UNE’s mission statement, the institution aims not only provides high quality education, but also gives its students the opportunity to enjoy the best life experience by providing a variety of services through its UNE Life, including fitness, entertainment, business, and excellent relaxation environment. UNE Life’s mission statement has significance to the university as it not only establishes the strategic direction of the university, but also informs the targeted market of its services and products and why they should choose the university. The institution’s SMART objectives are also significant to the institution as it enables UNE life to set goals that are precise, measurable, realistic and achievable. Additionally, the institution has a hierarchy that ensures that communications come from the top downwards for easy decision making. Porters Five Forces Porters Five Forces model is a critical management tool that helps managers to understand the level of competition in an industry or business (Porter, 2008). The five forces identified by Porter include competitive rivalry, buyer power, and seller power, threat of substitution and threat of new entry (Figure 1). Source: Porter (2008) Competitive Rivalry Competitive rivalry in an industry is a very critical factor that marketers must consider to ensure that the business develops effective strategies to ensure competitiveness. Competitive rivalry has to do with the number of competitors and their strength. According to analysis, it has become clear that competitive rivalry in the industry where UNE Life operates is high. Currently, there are about 109 universities in the U.K. that offer almost similar attractive services and products just as UNE (Universities UK, 2015). Competition is majorly based on quality of education and services offered at the institutions to attract many students. Additionally, the universities are competing largely on the amount of tuition fees charged. Buyer Power When developing a marketing strategy, Porter advises firms to consider the buyer power in the industry to see if they have a greater influence over prices or not (Porter, 2008). In Britain, the buyer power in the institutions of higher learning is low. This is because, as much as the students are more than five million students currently enrolled in various universities, buyers are not only highly fragmented, but also diffused. This characteristic limits the ability of any single student to negotiation tuition fees, admission requirements and others services. Nonetheless, buyers have little power in the sense that there are many universities in the country that makes it easy for the students to other universities that offer better products and services at affordable fees (Universities UK, 2015). Seller Power Suppliers contribute immensely to the success of higher education by ensuring that universities do not fall short of supplies. However, understanding the power of suppliers in an industry is very critical because it helps managers understand how to deal with suppliers (Hill and Jones, 2009). Fortunately, because supply contracts in British institutions of higher learning are awarded based on competitive bids as there are many vendors selling similar products, the supplier power in this industry is low. This gives British institutions of higher learning more power over sellers in terms of dictating the prices and terms of engagement. Threat of Substitution The threat of substitution is a critical factor to consider when analyzing the position of a company in an industry. This is because when the threat of substitution is high, then the industry might be unattractive as buyers can easily switch to alternative products and services (Doole and Lowe, 2008). According to assessment, the threat of substitution in British higher education is high. Because of the advancements in technology, students can easily get the services offered in the university through private tuition, with services such as fitness being offered by private ventures. Threat of New Entry The threat of new entry assesses how easy or difficult it is for new learning institutions to enter the industry (Porter, 2008). Starting and operating a university usually require huge capital outlay to ensure effective administration and acquisition of assets. Additionally, starting a university in the U.K. require meeting many legal requirements and accreditation, which puts a lot of barriers to new entry. The large dominant universities in Britain have also created a barrier to new entrants by starting university branches in most parts of the country fitted with the state-of-the-art facilities (Universities UK, 2015). Accordingly, from assessment, the threat of new entry is low. Industry Attractiveness: Micro Level Analysis of the U.K. Higher Education Industry Micro-level defines the immediate environment that impacts a firm and includes aspects, such as suppliers, customers, the community and regulatory bodies (Doole and Lowe, 2008). The U.K. education industry is booming with the industry proving to be the leader in terms of quality education. The U.K. arguably adopts one of the best education curriculums that have seen it produce some of the best talents in the world. With a significant high number of young populations, the U.K. education industry is bound to experience rapid growth. Currently, millions of the U.K. citizens are enrolled to various universities and colleges in the country (Universities UK, 2015). According to Ucas, the U.K. has thousands of students already enrolled in universities and colleges with the number of new admissions increasing very fast due to the rising demand for higher education in the U.K. Ucas 2015 report indicate that there was about 2% increase in the number of applications compared to previous year (Gurney-Read, 2015). Precisely, there were 592,290 applicants in January 2015, which accounted for about 10,000 more compared to the same time the previous year (Gurney-Read, 2015). The increase is being experienced despite the recent increase in tuition fees. The growth is attributed not only to the growing demand of higher education from the U.K. citizens, but also from foreign students. Because of the high quality education offered through U.K. curriculum, many international students are enrolling for courses offered in the U.K. Ucas report shows that the number of admissions of international students has increased significantly in the past years due to advancements in technology that allows for distance learning. Further, the local community has also contributed greatly to the growth of the industry by showing support for education (Gurney-Read, 2015). Further, as much as the government regulates the industry, the government has ensured that accreditation is only awarded to universities that have met the quality requirement. Currently, there are about 133 higher education institutions that are awaiting accreditation to advance to university status (Euromonitor International, 2013). Therefore, from the micro level environment, it becomes apparent that the U.K. education industry is favorable for UNE Life. Like micro environment, effective marketing should involve an understanding of macro environment. Macro environment denotes the things that impact a business but are beyond the control of the management. The U.K. macro environment can be analyzed through PEST analysis. Political Factors Politically, the government of the U.K. has been at the forefront in promoting education industry by allocating large sums of money to institutions of higher learning. Accordingly, this has made it easy for universities and colleges throughout the U.K. to acquire the necessary facilities and resources. However, institutions of higher learning are required to comply with the accreditation requirements in order to offer education (Euromonitor International, 2013). The government’s move to raise tuition fees has also had a huge impact on institutions of higher learning, including UNE. Economic Factors Economic condition of a country has a huge impact on education in a country (Hill and Jones, 2009). The U.K. education industry has suffered since the recent financial crisis of 2007/2008 that has seen demand for higher education fall to a historic low. This is because the economic meltdown meant that many people had no enough disposable income to use to take their children to school as many people lost their jobs. However, the U.K. economy has recovered very well in the recent months. The current growth in economy means more jobs, high disposable income, thus many students will be able to enroll for degree and diploma courses in universities. Social Factors Social factors also have a huge impact on education attainment. The U.K. being a highly civilized society, many value education. In fact, in the U.K., people see education as a way of life. As such, most households invest heavily on the education of their children as this is the norm to ensure their children enjoy high quality life in the future (Gurney-Read, 2015). Technological Factors Technology also has a huge impact on the education industry. The recent technological advancements have had a huge impact on the education industry (Hill and Jones, 2009). With the development of the internet and communication technologies, such as computers and tablets, students no longer have to adopt the traditional classroom method of learning to obtain education. Instead, currently, students can opt for a distance learning mode that provides greater flexibility and low cost. As such, universities are forced to introduce distance learning mode to operate alongside classroom mode in order to remain competitive. Fortunately, the U.K. is a technology savvy country with the majority able to use the latest technologies (Universities UK, 2014). Accordingly, this promotes the adoption of distance learning mode and the use of the latest technologies teaching and learning. Relevance of the Marketing Research for the Strategic Decision-Making of the UNE Life's Business Marketing research is a critical activity that any organization that hopes to succeed must engage. Marketing research are the activities that involves understanding the nature of the market in which an organization operates. Accordingly, for UNE Life to compete effectively, it must conduct marketing research (Kotler et al., 2012). Marketing research is relevant to UNE Life in various ways. Firstly, marketing research will enable the institution know how its products and services are being received by the students and the adjustments needed to enhance the satisfaction level of students and the management. Secondly, marketing research will enable the institution understand the trends in the education industry to ensure that the institution is not left behind. Thirdly, marketing research is relevant to UNE Life as it will enable the institution know the number of competitors in the industry and the strategies they use so that a counter measure can be adopted to ensure that UNE Life gain a competitive advantage. Additionally, marketing research will also enable UNE Life understand the pricing in terms of fees charged by various universities so as to enable the institution charge competitive tuition fees. Further, marketing research will enable UNE Life to understand government regulations to ensure compliance. The Influence of Product, Pricing, Distribution and Promotion Policies on Marketing Decisions Marketing decisions of UNE Life will be greatly influenced by the marketing mix namely product, price, distribution and promotion. Product is one of the most critical elements of a marketing mix. For UNE Life, products include education programs, fitness programs, and entrainment among others. These products will influence the marketing decisions of UNE Life in the sense that, for the institution to become competitive, it will have to ensure that the products are of high quality and available all the time. Price is another important element of a marketing mix that has a huge influence on UNE Life marketing decisions (Kotler et al., 2012). In this respect, for UNE Life to succeed in a highly competitive industry, it must charge affordable prices for the U.K population. Place/distribution is another important marketing mix element that influences greatly the marketing decision of UNE Life. In this respect, UNE Life success will depend on how easy and accessible it makes its products and services available to students. This might include UNE Life opening many branches of the institutions in other parts of the country to make it easily accessible. Additionally, the university has introduced distance learning mode to make the programs accessible to students from all parts of the world (UNE Life, 2015). Promotion also affects the marketing decision of UNE Life in the sense that the institution must conduct aggressive promotional and advertising campaign to make its products and services known to the target market. The Significance Of The Overall Segmentation, Targeting, Differentiation And Positioning Strategies For The SportUNE. UNE provides sports as an extra-curricular activity for the students. SportUNE is important for the institution as it helps nurture and develops the talents of students, as well as improve physical fitness. Accordingly, segmentation is important for SportUNE strategic decisions since it ensures that the students are divided into distinct groups according to their sports of interest (HAVALDAR, 2014). Targeting is also significant to SportUNE strategic decisions since it enables the institution to focus on a given target market with its products. For instance, SportUNE targets mainly the students with interest in sports. Differentiation, however, is significant to SportUNE since it ensures that the services of UNE are distinct from those of rivals in the industry. This helps promote the institutions SportUNE brand awareness. Positioning strategies is significant to SportUNE since it will enable the institution effectively define its consumers on critical attributes. For Instance, SportUNE has positioned itself as the best sporting facility in the U.K. to make it appealing and differentiated from competitors. References Doole, I., & Lowe, R. (2008). International marketing strategy: Analysis, development and implementation. London: Cengage Learning EMEA. Euromonitor International. (2013). Education in United Kingdom: ISIC 80. Retrieved 3 August 2015 from http://www.euromonitor.com/education-in-united-kingdom-isic-80/report Gurney-Read, J. (2015, Jan. 30). Record number of students applying to university. The Telegraph, p. 3. HAVALDAR. (2014). Business marketing: Text and cases. New Delhi: McGraw Hill Education (India) Pvt Ltd. Hill, C., & Jones, G. (2009). Strategic management theory: An integrated approach. London: Cengage Learning. Kotler, P., Burton, S., Deans, K., Brown, L., & Armstrong, G. (2012). Marketing. Cambridge: Pearson Higher Education AU. Porter, M. E. (2008). Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. UNE Life. (2015). Retrieved 3 August 2015 from http://unelife.com.au/ Universities UK. (2015). An overview of the higher education. Retrieved 3 August 2015 from http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/linksforstudents/Pages/Anoverviewofthehighereducationsector.aspx Universities UK. (2014). Patterns and trends in UK higher education 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2015 from http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Pages/PatternsAndTrendsInUKHigherEducation2014.aspx#.Vb8a2rVdJdg Read More