Marketing and competitive environment of Flinders University, Adelaide Executive summary This study is associated with the development of appropriate marketing strategies that would efficient for Flinders University in Adelaide to achieve the competitive advantage. The proper marketing mix and promotional tools have been taken into consideration in the present study to increase the awareness of students and drawing their attention. The demographic segmentation has been selected to find out the target market for Flinders University in Adelaide. PEST analysis and competitor analysis have been conducted to assess the external business environment of education firms and presence of competitors in Australia. The various competitors of Flinders University in Adelaide are Australian National University and Australian Catholic University, which can be problematic for the university to attract more students. In this context, the university needs to provide the high quality and different educational course to attract students and fulfil their increasing demands. Table of Contents Executive summary 2 Background 5 Market summary and demand assessment 5 Market analysis 5 Demand assessment 6 Segmentation and target markets 7 Current marketing mix 8 PEST analysis 9 Competitor analysis 10 SWOT analysis 11 Value and brand propositioning analysis 11 Conclusion 12 References 13 Figure 1: Higher education enrolment in Australia 6 Figure 2: Market segmentation 7 Figure 3: 4P's of marketing mix 8 Figure 4: PEST analysis 9 Background The following project is based on the concept of marketing and competitive advantage. The idea of marketing majorly helps in identifying the various effective strategies and implements the same to launch the new products or services in the market. To obtain the relevant information, Flinders University in Adelaide has been selected in this study. Flinders University is known as the private university and it is located in South Australia, which provides the degree of higher education to the national and international students (Flinders University, 2017). The university was established in the year 1996. In the present day, the university has near about 31, 000 students within campus. The major motive of this report is to develop an appropriate marketing plan for Flinders University so that the university can attain the competitive advantage. This report would evaluate the market summary and demand assessment along with the segmentation and target market. The current marketing mix and PEST analysis would also discuss in the present report. This report would also highlight the information about the competitor and SWOT analysis including the value and brand positioning analysis. Market summary and demand assessment Market analysis In the present day, several universities of Australia primarily focused on the proper strategic plan to offer the quality services to the students and meet their increasing demands. By providing the various educational courses it is possible to draw the attention of more number of students (Hildenbrand, 2014). According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the entire population of Australia is near about 24,424,166. Out of total population nearly one million students have been enrolled in diverse universities to complete their high education and get the degree of higher education. Figure 1: Higher education enrolment in Australia Source: (ICEF Monitor, 2017) From the above figure, it has been observed that the enrolment of international students in Australia has been increasing year by year due to availability of different educational program. According to this figure, the higher education enrolment has been raised by 65% in 2015 (ICEF Monitor, 2017). Based on this result it has been ascertained that it might be increased in future for example 75% in 2017 approximately. Demand assessment Flinders University in Adelaide basically pay attention on internal education and try to influence the foreign students only because the engagement of foreign and internal students is beneficial for Australia to enhance its economic condition. The development of digital marketing is also helpful for Flinders University to deliver the quality based educational service to large number of students as a time. The recognition is also regarded as the demand driver through which it is possible to draw the attention of more number of students and enhance the demand of education. Flinders University in Adelaide need also need to pay attention on the preferences of students and develop the scholarship program to draw the attraction of large amount of students. Segmentation and target markets Demographic factors like Age, gender and social income are targeted to both male and female, economic class of people, age of people should be between 18-25 years. In this section, the discussion is about the segmentation and the target market to identify the appropriate target customers for Flinders University. Segmentation is regarded as the project, which helps in segmenting entire market into subgroup. Different types of segmentations are demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioural segmentation. Demographic segmentation facilitates in dividing the market based on age, income and gender (Hollensen, 2015). In geographic segmentation, the geographic location has been considered to segment the board market. The behavioural segmentation aids in segmenting the market depends on buying behaviour and buying pattern. In psychographic segmentation, the market has been segmented by considering the aspect of interest and life style of people. Figure 2: Market segmentation Source: (Peteraf, Gamble, & Thompson Jr, 2014) From the above discussion of segmentation, it has been evaluated that demographic segmentation is suitable for Flinders University in Adelaide to find out the proper target market and customers. On the basis of demographic segmentation, both male and female will be the target market of Flinders University in Adelaide. The ages of students should be 18-25 years. Based on social income, economic class of people will be the suitable target market and customers for Flinders University in Adelaide to ensure the effective marketing educational service. Current marketing mix The marketing mix analysis primarily assists in enhancing the business functions of organisation. In this context, the analysis of marketing mix is also benefited for Flinders University in Adelaide to improve it business function successfully. The various aspects of marketing mix are product, price, place and promotion. Figure 3: 4P's of marketing mix Source: (Hollensen, 2015) Product: Flinders University in Adelaide has decided to bring the new and different types of educational courses to attract ample number of students and increase the number of students. The course of inclusion master degree is helpful for universities to improve the position in the market and hold the sustainable position (Khan, 2014). In this context, the university has made the decision to introduce such type of course to attract numerous students at a time. Price: To raise the sale of educational services and satisfy the needs of students, the university has decided to provide discount offer on various educational programs. Place: Flinders University in Adelaide also needs to pay attention on the prime location for ensuring the successful marketing of services and raising the profit margin. Promotion: Promotional and advertising strategy aids in promoting the products or services and increasing the awareness of people towards the brand. Therefore, the university also needs to focus on effective promotional tools such as newspaper, TV advertisement and social media for the promotion of products or services and attracting more students. PEST analysis PEST analysis is a framework through which the information regarding the external business environment can be gained properly. The various factors of PEST analysis are political factor, economic factor, social factor and technological factor. Figure 4: PEST analysis Source: (Hill, Jones, & Schilling, 2014) Political factor: The transparent rules and regulations of government is helpful for universities or educational firms to improve the business functions. Due to the stable and flexible political factor, the educational firms of Australia are also able to deliver the essential educational service to the domestics and international students. Economic factor: The GDP growth rate in Australia high due to which the universities are also capable to take the benefits of available resources such equipment, internal system and workforce and offer the quality educational service to the students (Hill, Jones, & Schilling, 2014). Social factor: The lifestyle of people has been changing based on the changes of current trends, which influences the people to involve in the educational process and increases the demands of education. Therefore, Flinders University in Adelaide also needs to pay attention on the changing lifestyle of people before introducing new educational course (Rothaermel, 2015). Technological factor: There is an opportunity of advanced technology and technological innovation, which is benefited for educational firms or universities to offer the high quality educational service to the students based on their needs and requirements. The Flinders University in Adelaide also ensures the availability of several equipment through which they are able to deliver the successful educational and learning facility to the target market or students. Based on the discussion of PEST analysis it has been observed that external business environment of Australia is good for Flinders University in Adelaide to make sure the accomplishment of business objectives and competitive advantage. Competitor analysis To assess the competitors of Flinders University in Adelaide in the market of Australia, Porter’s five forces model has been taken into consideration in this study. Various aspects of Porter’s five forces model are bargaining power o buyer, bargaining power of supplier, threat of new entrants, competitive rivalry and threat of substitutes. The competitive rivalry is high for the reason of availability other educational sectors, which has the negative impact on the business performance of Flinders University in Adelaide. The bargaining power of buyer is moderate due as students have several options to select their particular university to complete their higher education. The threats of substitute is high but the threat of new entry is low, which is beneficial for Flinders University in Adelaide to improve its business operations and business functions (Peteraf, Gamble, & Thompson Jr, 2014). Due to low threats of entry, Flinders University in Adelaide also faces the issue in terms of high competition. The major competitors of Flinders University in Adelaide are Australian Catholic University, Federation University of Australia, Australian National University and many more, which would create problem in the way of drawing the attention of numerous students and ensuring the effective marketing of educational service. SWOT analysis In the present discussion, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Flinders University in Adelaide has been provided. Strengths  Skilled and expertise tutors  Implementation of latest technology  Experienced and collaborative workforce Weakness  The policies of Flinders University in Adelaide are quite difficult  Diverse cultural factors  Lack of sufficient budget Opportunities  New and different educational course  Support of government Threats  High competition Value and brand propositioning analysis With the development of brand identify, the changing needs of students can be satisfied successfully. The service branding mode also facilitates in attracting the new students. Flinders University in Adelaide majorly pay attention on increasing the number of campus to raise the number of students. Moreover, by enhancing the number of campus, Flinders University in Adelaide is also expanding the business operations in different locations. To improve the business and brand value, it is essential for the university to improve the accommodation service and offer the quality enhanced accommodations to the students (Eden & Ackermann, 2013). The admission fees need to be flexible so that more students can be attracted and increasing the sale of educational service. The university also needs to focus on the appropriate promotional toll to promote the education services offered by it and enhance the brand value. Conclusion From the overall discussion, it has been concluded that with the implementation of suitable marketing strategies Flinders University in Adelaide is able to improve the business functions and satisfy the demands of national as well as international students by offering them quality educational services. The demographic segmentation is effective for the university to identify the appropriate target markets. The ages of target market need to be 18-25 and they should be from economic class. The prime competitors of Flinders University in Adelaide are Australian National University, Federation University of Australia and so on. The efficient marketing and promotional strategies would also beneficial for Federation University of Australia to draw the attention of ample number of students and raise the selling of products and ensuring the attainment of competitive advantage. References Eden, C., & Ackermann, F. (2013). Making strategy: The journey of strategic management. 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