International marketing for the UK business school-英國(guó)商學(xué)院的國(guó)際市場(chǎng)
03-21, 2014
International marketing for the UK business school
英國(guó)商學(xué)院的國(guó)際市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷
1. Introduction
1.引言
1.引言
Nowadays, the enrollment of international students for a business school is facing fierce competition, especially in the backgroud of the financial crisis. All the business schools over different countries adopt various strategies to attract outstanding students from around the world. This article will discuss what appropriate marketing strategies the British business schools can take to attract international students, using the marketing techniques and practices which have been discussed by our group. Besides, as an international student from China, I will talk about the application of international marketing concepts and practices of the UK business education based on my own experience.
如今，國(guó)際學(xué)生對(duì)商學(xué)院的招生面臨著激烈的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，尤其是在金融危機(jī)的成立背景。所有的商學(xué)院在不同的國(guó)家采用不同的策略來吸引優(yōu)秀學(xué)生來自世界各地。本文將討論什么合適的營(yíng)銷策略，英國(guó)的商學(xué)院可以采取吸引國(guó)際學(xué)生，利用已經(jīng)由我們小組討論的營(yíng)銷技巧和做法。此外，作為一個(gè)來自中國(guó)的國(guó)際學(xué)生，我將談?wù)摰母鶕?jù)我自己的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，英國(guó)商業(yè)教育的國(guó)際營(yíng)銷理念和手法的應(yīng)用。
2. Business education opportunities evaluation
2.商業(yè)教育機(jī)會(huì)的評(píng)估
2.商業(yè)教育機(jī)會(huì)的評(píng)估
Students are the lifeblood of the university, and the quality of the students plays a vital role in the development of the university. When the university education was on the elite education stage, there were no lack of outstanding students in British universities, however, since the elite education change to mass education, together with other factors, British universities are facing more and more competition in the enrollment of excellent students. Many universities choose to provide education to students from abroad, especially business education, which is very popular among international students. Therefore the UK business schools are entering a new era. Firstly, the schools can overcome the fierce competition in the education industry, secondly, the schools will attract students from different culture, which will diverse business education and enhance the competitiveness of the schools. Thirdly, the overseas students are often smart and diligent. It is obvious that the opportunities to provide business education to international students are attractive, but the problem is how a business school can evaluate and catch these opportunities. In fact, providing international education is like supplying products in the global markets, or we can say, the concepts and techniques and practices of international marketing also can be applied to the business education opportunities evaluation.
學(xué)生是學(xué)校的生命線，而學(xué)生的素質(zhì)起著大學(xué)的發(fā)展至關(guān)重要的作用。當(dāng)大學(xué)教育是在精英教育階段，有不乏優(yōu)秀的學(xué)生在英國(guó)大學(xué)，但是，因?yàn)榫⒔逃D(zhuǎn)變?yōu)榇蟊娊逃偌由掀渌蛩兀?guó)的大學(xué)正面臨越來越多的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)中招生優(yōu)秀的學(xué)生。許多大學(xué)選擇提供教育，從國(guó)外的學(xué)生，尤其是商務(wù)教育，這是國(guó)際學(xué)生中很受歡迎。因此，英國(guó)的商學(xué)院正在進(jìn)入一個(gè)新的時(shí)代。首先，學(xué)校可以克服的激烈競(jìng)爭(zhēng)在教育行業(yè)，其次，學(xué)校將吸引來自不同文化背景的學(xué)生，這將多元化的業(yè)務(wù)教育，提高學(xué)校的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力。第三，海外學(xué)生往往聰明和勤奮。很明顯，該機(jī)會(huì)提供商業(yè)教育國(guó)際學(xué)生是有吸引力的，但問題是商學(xué)院如何評(píng)估和捕捉這些機(jī)會(huì)。事實(shí)上，提供國(guó)際教育就像是在全球市場(chǎng)供應(yīng)的產(chǎn)品，或者我們可以說，概念和國(guó)際市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷的技術(shù)和做法也可以被應(yīng)用到商業(yè)教育機(jī)會(huì)的評(píng)估。#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
2.1 PEST analysis
PEST analysis, which is also called macro environmental analysis, is a model to identify the macro environment of an organization, including the Politics, Economic, Society and Technology. Now we will use this model to see what settings the UK business school is in.
Politics: Nearly all the British universities are funded by the government. We can analyze the political factor of the customer market to see how it influences the business education. Take China for example, the Chinese government has been encouraging the development of education and adopts a strategy called “develop the country through science and education”. Chinese government emphasizes that it is necessary to develop talents who are familiar with the international rules, which means it encourages international education and actually many parents send their children to study in the UK. Over the years, the investment of state-funded study abroad is increasing.
Economic: For the national economic, British is hard hit in the financial crisis, which in turn, boosts the development of international education. The exchange rate of British pound has come down and the cost of studying in the UK is relatively lower. As for the single family, with the increasing in revenues, parents will invest more in their children’s education, which is, undoubtedly bring chances to the business education. Furthermore, the parents prefer their children to enter business school because it is often easier to find a good job.
Society: The idea of higher education has enjoyed popular support, and the elite education of the UK is famous all over the world.
Technology: With the development of internet, telecommunication and transportation, the trend of overseas education is intensifying. At least, parents will be more reassured for the safety of their children because it is easy to keep in contact wherever their children are.
2.2 Five forces analysis
Now we will use “Michael Porters Five Forces Model “ to identify the strengths and competitive forces for an UK business school to provide education for foreign students.
Porter's five forces is a framework for the industry analysis and business strategy development. (Wikipedia.2010) The five forces are the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of buyers, the threat of the entry of new competitors, the threat of substitute products or services, and the intensity of competitive rivalry.( P. J. Smit.1999) The supplier dimension may not be suitable for the analysis , because the business education, as service, need not material supply. As for customer dimension, which means that the students can pose pressure on the business education ,especially its charges . According to the latest data shown by British Universities and Colleges Admissions Office (UCAS), the number of Chinese students who applied for admission of the UK colleges submitted to UCAS increased by 1 / 5 in 2008, which was a total of 7880, and the figure was only 6423 in 2007. (China-b, 2010) As the customer group is expanding, it is possible that the students may have power on the price of the business education. On the one hand, Business schools may adopt all kinds of measures in order to attract more students , so they should offer a larger sum of scholarship , or collect lower tuition fee. For example, from 2009 on, the ESOL of Cambridge, together with the Overseas Students Foundation, establishes a new scholarship in China. This international scholarship program is specifically for the outstanding Chinese PhD applicants. The scholarship is over 25,000 pounds annually and the University of Cambridge will provide full scholarship for a consecutive three years to help them complete their degree.( Eduglobal,2010 )On the other hand, students who choose to study abroad are generally from rich families, so they can accept expense business education. Therefore, the bargaining power of buyers is not so strong for the UK business schools, if it can offer high-quality education. The threat of the entry of new competitors, from my point of view, is weak. Although nearly all the universities offer business education, but the brand and prestige of a business school , just like intangible assets, is difficult to be copied and imitated. If a new school wants to enter the business education industry, it will have to spend a long time to build its famousness prong. When a student decides to apply for an UK business school , he or she will pay much attention to the college ranking , and those famous schools with a long history will have a competitive advantage over those new schools. The forth dimension, the threat of substitute products or services, is very important for a business school. As we all know, colleges in other regions, like the USA, the Australia, Japan, Singapore and HongKong , also offer business education for international students. What’s more, the American business education is more famous and popular all over the world. Harvard and Wharton provide the most erstklassig business education. In the background of the ongoing finance crisis, it’s now easier to apply for an USA business school , therefore the threat of substitute service is vital for an British business school. As the above analysis has shown, the intensity of competitive rivalry is strong. If the UK business school wants to catch the opportunities to provide international education, it is necessary to offer characteristic, high-quality education. Britain is the birthplace of modern culture. For many courses, the students can not only get the degree but also certificates of relevant vocational areas. For example, students of accounting major will get ACCA, human resources management major will get CIPT and logistics major will get CIPS. These certificates will enhance their competitiveness when finding a job so it is actually very attractive. China is now lack of talents of finance and corporate management, and this is opportunities for the UK business schools.#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
2.3 The Boston matrix
It is estimated that there are about 75,000 Chinese students studying in the UK. It is traditional for Warwick University, Manchester University and Loughborough University to accept Chinese students. Besides China, the number of students applying for UK universities in Bulgaria, Romania and other new EU member countries has also increased. The United Kingdom has become one of the most popular countries for Chinese overseas students, and it has the largest number of non-EU international students. So far, there are at least 38 million Chinese students studying abroad, and British has accounted for a total of 13%. Considering the potential of this market, the British universities have begun to adopt various strategies to attract Chinese students. (neworiental.2010)
Using the the Boston matrix model (John A. Seeger.1984), we can obviously conclude that the business education belongs to stars. More and more students choose to study in the UK ,and business education is often their first choice , so the market for the products of business school , or the international business education is growing and has gained a large market share. Since the business education is stars products, what strategy an UK business school can resort to? It should take advantage of the opportunities positively, increase the market share and enhance its position. As is shown in our group work, the business school can adopt practices like cooperation projects. Universities also provide scholarship for international students but undergraduate students can seldom get a scholarship, and some schools offer an extra bursary and some offer job opportunities.
2.4 SWOT analysis
Nowadays cooperation projects are getting more and more popular among foreign students. The students study at their home country for 2 or 3 years and then study in the UK, the cooperation school, for 2 or 1 years. They will take an UK degree. We can use SWOT analysis(Weihrich,1982)to see the strength of this mode of education. SOWT means strengths, weakness, opportunities and threaten. Firstly, we will discuss the external elements of British business education, that is, opportunities and threaten. For the opportunities, as we have analyzed in the “five forces” and “the Boston matrix” , the market of business education is growing and the UK business school has its edge on this market. Cooperation projects will be a popular form of overseas business education, which links the advanced educational resources of the UK with local education concepts. Take China for example, now more and more Chinese students want to elevate their values but local business schools cannot satisfy them, so they choose to study in a British business school.For the threaten, apart from intense competition of other countries, successful cooperation projects require that the business school should build collaborative relationship with a good local school, and this is not an easy thing. In the expected country, for example , a good business school is also scarce resources .What’s more, we should also consider the form of cooperation and the selection of students. Secondly, we will discuss the internal elements, strengths and weakness. Cooperation projects will attract students for the following reasons : 1) they do not have to study at a preparatory school , which will shorten the study time and reduce education costs 2) they also receive local education, together with the international business education , will improve their employability when they go back to their home-country 3) the requirement of English exam scores may be lower 4) the business school can select those excellent students in the local school for the cooperation projects. For the weakness, tuition fee is still a problem because the costof business school education in a foreign nation is much higher than the local education. In addition, the education system has only one or two years so it is difficult for the students to adapt to the cultural and educational difference. In a word, the cooperation projects have pros and cons but it is a good practice for the UK business schools to attract international students. I think it is the most appropriate marketing practice an UK business school could adopt. Many British schools actively seek opportunities to cooperate with China's top universities to develop this biggest market in the world, including opening branch school, collaboration degree programs. For example, the University of Nottingham is the first British school to open branch in China as early as 2006. (neworiental.2010)#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
3. Application of international marketing
As an international student from China, I will discuss my standpoint on the application of international concepts and practice of the UK business school based on my own learning experience.
The marketing concept states that the social and economic justification for an organization’s existence is the satisfaction of customer wants and need while meeting organizational objectives.( Brassington & Pettitt, 2004) Marketing is not only sells the product or service to the customer but also satisfy their wants and needs. Therefore Brownlie & Saren (1991) said that the marketing concept is a useful philosophy which can be applied to both profit and non-profit organizations. With the development of economic and technology, domestic market is constrained and then global market appears. Global marketing is the process of finding and satisfying global customer needs better than the competition, and of coordinating marketing activities within the constraints of the global environment. (Christopher,1983) The UK business school has to overcome fierce competition in the education industry. Therefore the marketing concept should be applied to the provision of international business education. Aron (1996) said that marketing concept holds that the needs of consumers are of primary concern and should be identified, and attempts made to satisfy the identified needs. That is to satisfy the international students’ wants and needs. I think the British business school does well in the education marketing. For example, the Chinese students want to study abroad because they hope to get high-quality education in finance and business administration. The British education system is relatively flexible, no matter what the students have learnt in their home-country, it is generally accepted by the UK universities. What’s more important, every year, the British international education system will be improved and incentives policies will be adopted for the convenience of applicants. In addition, the pattern of business education in the UK is very distinctive. For example , the two-year education system shorten the study time and save cost, the small-class system contributes to the interaction within teachers and students, which is very different from that of China’s business education.
All the business schools try to adopt all kinds of marketing practices to snatch market share in the lucrative business education field .Marketing has been seen as a kind of magic wand for making businesses succeed. Sucessful Strategy is not necessarily easy to define, in most cases, marketing strategy is concerned with creating competitive advantage (Jim Blythe, 2006 )Competitive advantage is the outcome of differentiation strategy whereby the organization offers something that competitors are unable to match.( Jim Blythe , 2009) If we relate these marketing ideas to the matters of British business education, we may make a conclusion that the business school should offer unique service to international students to establish its brand identity. For example, the cooperation project is innovation in the business education, but for a business school, how to design a specific cooperation project to make it favorable and appealing is a marketing strategy to consider. Many students hope to learn theory and attain knowledge in the school and get social practice at the same time. Some schools offer job opportunities or internship, which is to the taste of these students.#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
The UK business school has had many successful marketing practice in Chinese business education market. One of them is advertising n.Advertising is positive to the differentiation of an organization.( William et al ,1994) In the long term , advertising has a positive effect on “brand equity” (Kamel et al,1999) Business schools do not advertise by the traditional TV or newspaper. They cooperate with overseas enrollment agency and will often hold all kinds of events and conferences to promote their feature of courses , ranking in the United Kingdom or in the world , the long history, competitiveness and requirements of enrollment. This has help them attract many undergraduate students or middle school students. Those overseas enrollment agencies will offer service from application to getting passport visa. Sometimes these agencies can help students apply for scholarship or bursary. The business school also make the best use of the Internet. Some schools employ staff who speak Chinese and design additional Chinese web page to provide information to the Chinese applicants. Many applicants of the UK business schools get their information from the Internet.
4. Conclusion
We have now used PEST analysis, five forces model, the Boston matrix and SWOT analysis to study the environment and competiveness of the British business education, the international marketing practices like cooperation projects have also been analyzed. The application of marketing concepts and practices is researched based on my own learning experience as an international student in the UK business school. From all the analysis above, we can make a conclusion that the UK business school should and could catch the opportunities to provide business education to international students and cooperation project, for its strengths , is the best marketing strategy. Other marketing strategies like adverting , scholarship and job opportunities are also successful.
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