Name:MOHAMMED MUZAMMIL AHMED Student Number:12021910 Subject:Marketing for Managers Assignment No:02 Unit Coordinator:Parvez Sultan([email protected]) Campus:Sydney Abstract Most universities focus on enhancing their brands to grow and attract high numbers of students in each of their enrollment. This report focuses on CQUniversity, based in Australia by analyzing the marketing and competitive environment of the institution. CQUniversity is the leading research institute and the leading benchmark organization based on how campuses should engage with the society at large. This report analysis the market summary, demand assessment, target market and segmentation, marketing mix, PEST, competitor, SWOT, and value and brand positioning analysis of CQUniversity. Keywords: marketing, competitive environment, marketing mix, target market Table of Contents Introduction and Background 4 Market Summary and Demand Assessment 5 Segmentation and Target Market 5 Current Marketing Mix 6 Product Strategy 6 Pricing Strategy 6 Promotion Strategy 6 Place Strategy 6 PEST Analysis 7 Political factors 7 Economic factors 7 Social factors 7 Technological factors 7 Competitor Analysis 8 SWOT Analysis 8 Strengths 8 Weaknesses 8 Opportunities 8 Threats 9 Value and Brand Positioning Analysis 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction and Background The marketing and competitive environment form the dynamic system in which an institution competes. Branding, a marketing strategy that incorporates the creation of unique image and name of an organization, is a critical marketing competitive strategy utilized by various universities in Australia (Brown & Osborne, 2012). Australian based universities have continually shown innovativeness to improve the quality of service delivery to the clients in a more competitive approach. Cental Queensland University (CQUniversity), an Australian based university founded in 1967 was awarded full university charter in 1992 and now commands more than 30,000 students across 25 branches in Australia. CQUniversity has turned to be competitive since 2009 due to its high focus on excellence, equity, and engagement that has resulted in notable growth in the student population, infrastructure, new degree and diploma programs, and extensive research. This strong branding of CQUniversity has positively impacted on the public image of the institution and thus making the university one of the greatest across Australia. Market Summary and Demand Assessment CQUniversity has a potential market of Australian cities and different locations. The marketing niche of CQUniversity has been an interdisciplinary student-centered university that offers quality academic support programs and degree credentials to the students. When marketing its educational programs and services, the university uses website, social media, billboards, and history. The power of place, attractive infrastructure, social innovation, and student experience makes the college get preferred by most students who want to join tertiary institutions after their secondary education (Crouch & Housden, 2012). This provides the university with the adequate market for its education services due to the diverse communities all over the country. Under the demand assessment, education has been in high demand not only in Australia but also in the whole world. To meet the demand needs of the market, the management of the university continually keep on engaging the diverse communities in building strong public relationships and reputation (Czinkota & Ronkainen, 2013). Since Australia is full of excellent schools, the market considers joining CQUniversity based on its desire and drive to deliver quality education services to students and give back to the community through CSR projects. Segmentation and Target Market CQUniversity has a wide target market whose continuum provides mature, energetic, and a combination of benefits not present anywhere else for the students. The primary target market for CQUniversity is students, alumni, parents, faculty, and visitors from all demographics and locations all over the world. There are both the existing and prospective students who form the target market of the university who are either enrolled or willing to get enrolled in undergraduate or postgraduate education programs (Mintz & Currim, 2013). The administration of the school recommends that these target markets get segregated into the two categories and in the right subdivision for proper planning and establishment of market campaigns. The market segments of the University are subdivided into various divisions. Under the students, the prospective students either take graduate or undergraduate programs while the current students are enrolled in either the undergraduate or waiting to graduate (Simons, 2013). The other market segments of the university are the alumni students, general administration, lectures and other staff, and donors. Current Marketing Mix CQUniversity employs the 4Ps of the marketing mix to attract the target market and promote its brand to the students across all targeted zones in a distinguishable manner when compared to its competitors (Simons, 2013). The following is the analysis of the university’s current market mix: Product Strategy CQUniversity offers both undergraduate and postgraduate diploma and degree programs to the students. The University has been known as a leading research institute in Australia for it provides quality education, luxurious, and accommodation services to the enrolled students (Fan, Lau, & Zhao, 2015). Since students demand different degree programs, the university provides a variety of diploma and degree programs that suit students need. Pricing Strategy Education is expensive. CQUniversity sets its fee structure with the competition in mind. The university offers quality education at an affordable cost. Value pricing of accommodation, meals, and fees practiced is high to ensure that parents and students feel comfortable when taking their students or studying there (Helms & Nixon, 2010). The university offers regular, module 2, and e-learning services to the students who are priced or charged differently and in a reasonable approach. Promotion Strategy The stiff competition from other well-established universities has made CQUniversity develop promotional strategies of marketing its services and programs to the target market. The school management recommends the use of university website, billboards, newspapers, and social media to market its intakes and academic programs (Menegaki, 2012). Further, the school uses the present students in promoting its educational programs to their colleagues in different locations. Place Strategy The marketing managers of CQUniversity acknowledge that the promotional campaigns of the university programs must get done in the right manner, at the right cost, the right time, and to the right target market (Menegaki, 2012). When engaging in the market campaigns, the university does it in secondary level institutions, job environments, and in cities where large numbers of potential market can get reached. PEST Analysis This refers to the political, economic, social, and technological environment analysis of CQUniversity and is analyzed below: Political factors The operations of the university are affected by political, environmental factors which are beyond the management's control. There are fee setting regulations set by the government where the university has not alternative other than compliance (Helms & Nixon, 2010). Further, the university is confined by mandatory employees benefits set by the ministry as well as wage legislations. Economic factors The economic unpredictable economic factors in Australia constantly affect the operations and delivery of educational services by CQUniversity. The exchange rates, government interventions, skills of the current staff, and labor costs influence the administration of university as a whole (Ho, 2014). The inflation rates, business cycles, and economy’s growth rate in Australia and other currency exchange countries affects the cost of education as well as its quality. Social factors As explained above, the university enrolls students from different programs of regular, module II, and e-learning and this is based on various life standards of the target customers (Menegaki, 2012). The demographic structures of the target market are people who are aged above 18, both male and female. The attitude and perception of the community as a whole have contributed to the growth of the university. Technological factors Being a financially stable institution, CQUniversity has invested in the recent and sophisticated technologies with the aim of improving the quality of education services offered (Ho, 2014). As a result, students can pay fees in banks, and it automatically gets updated to the universities finance details to the particular registration number of the student. Competitor Analysis The education industry in Australia and globally has been extremely competitive. Domestically, CQUniversity faces stiff competition from the University of Sydney, Monash University, The University of Adelaide, The Australian National University, and The University of New South Wales among many others. Globally, CQUniversity faces stiff competition from the most famous world's known universities such as Caltech, Oxford, and Cambridge just to mention a few.There is no monopoly power; this means that the management of Central Queensland University should act fast and develop competitive marketing strategies to find a firm position in the market (Porter, 2011). SWOT Analysis The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis of CQUniversity entails the internal and external environment studies (Brooks, Heffner, & Henderson, 2014). The current marketing concerns for the university is student attraction, retention, programs advancement, and establishing strong partnerships with other institutions. The SWOT is as below: Strengths ⦁ Excellent academic support initiatives ⦁ Leadership studies certificates awarded to all finalists ⦁ E-learning, part-time, and full-time education programs ⦁ Provision of Microsoft studies to all first-year students Weaknesses ⦁ There is unclear connection between individual departments within the university to the institutions marketing community ⦁ Poor understanding of the university’s scope of programs by the target market ⦁ The communication channels used do not reach all students Opportunities ⦁ Central Queensland is strategically located ⦁ Unique university studies position and rebrand the school's programs ⦁ Availability of donor who gives students sponsorships ⦁ Growth in the university’s national reputation and regional public image Threats ⦁ Stiff competition from other prominent universities in Australia ⦁ Perception that there is duplication of educational programs by the Society ⦁ Some staff are unqualified to deliver quality services ⦁ Lack of funding and personnel focus Value and Brand Positioning Analysis The Central Queensland University has firmly positioned itself in the Australian market and continually attracts students from all regions. The quality and value of education offered by the university are high. Further, the university's management has target markets value in their heart, and this contributes to establishing friendly fees, employment of qualified lecturers, and the establishment of the conducive learning environment for the students (Chen, 2014). Students feel proud of the institution and as a result, strive to work hard to achieve their set goals as well as raising the reputation of the institution in the society as a whole. Conclusion Currently, there has been intense competition in the education sector, and this has affected the operations of different educational institutions. Students have different perceptions to different universities based on their names, products, and services. University brands exist in distinguishable attributes of design, symbols, name, web page, and landscape. 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