Improving Competitive Positioning Of Fairfield School Of Business: A Comprehensive Investigation

Consulting Cycle

Fairfield School of Business (FSB is a world-class institution dedicated to improving the community through research excellence, technology, health, as well as entrepreneurship. It has essential internal skills to be a business leader and gain a higher competitive edge. The Research Will Present The Outcomes Of a Comprehensive Investigation Of The Potential And Advantages Of Fsb Embracing And Developing Innovative Approaches to gain a competitive edge. The study’s contents will involve specific methods for increasing brand recognition as well as undergraduate enrollment (Abram, 2019).

 

Figure 1: Consulting life cycle (Source, self-generated)

The consulting life cycle is a framework for organizing consultancy tasks. These processes link the first methodology of a client to the end product, review, as well as exit. Table 1 shows how the cycle is divided into five phases, each with its own set of steps.

Phase Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper	Steps
Pre-Sales	Product/service development Product/service development
Sales	Proposal and contract administration Start making a sales plan  Solicits information from the customer
Research	Research strategy Gathering of information
Delivery	Data evaluation Project planning Project completion Transfer of project
Exit	Withdrawal Follow-up

Table 1: consulting life cycle

The pre-sales and sales phases comprise the first engagement between the consultant group and the client to identify the problem or scenario that the customer needs help with. The relationship between the consultant team and the customer was indirect for this task (Zuerl, 2022). The general data were gathered from a brief that was distributed with the task resources, including a sequence of important questions developed by the three-team participants and shared with the client with the help of the project supervisor (Ansine et al., nd). The responses were crucial in the development of the consultation phases. During these early stages, the consultant team establishes the work plan, the process’s future direction (Zhu et al., 2021).

A slew of new entrants has flooded the private college market in recent years. As a result, FSB, one of the biggest institutions in its cohort, is no longer one of the first choices for customers looking for higher education. The consequences of Britain will be obvious by the end of 2021 when learners from the EU will no longer be eligible for the student loan on which the FSB was wholly reliant (BEISCHL, 2020). Faced with several competitors, the influence of Britain, and a negative repute, the school should change to remain significant. Coming up with a new, powerful strategy that will allow the FSB to strengthen its brand image and attract a new target market will be critical to the company’s future (Benoy et al., 2018).

The process of gathering, evaluating, and presenting data is known as research. The research process is divided into five stages: questioning, research methodologies, data gathering, data analysis, and data presentation.

 

Figure 2: shows the research process (source, self-generated)

The consultancy team must understand five sets of data to provide viable solutions to the problems: the root cause of the problem, the precise influence of the concern, who is accountable for allowing it to occur, significant resistance to change, and the “ripple effect” as change spreads throughout the organization (Bunya et al., 2018). The consulting team carried out secondary and primary research for the task. The questionnaire addressed to the customer is located in the Appendix part of the showcasing proof, inside the portfolio.

Presales and Sales

FSB’s target market comprises mostly of low-income, senior students, primarily from Eastern European nations, who are fully sponsored by Student Finance. The college’s marketing segments are depicted in Graph 3 below.

Geographics 1. Students from developing nations. 2. Eastern European communities in the United Kingdom 3. Rural, urban, and suburban	1. Benefits of a low income 2. Families of migrant workers 3. A multicultural ethnic background 4. Education level
1. Child care or joblessness. 2. Working-class or poor. 3. A limited budget. 4. 100% supported by student loans	1. Inadequate technological capabilities. 2. Poor or no internet connectivity. 3. Attempting to make ends meet in life. 4. Underachievers

Graph 3: shows market segmentation (source, self-generated)

EU citizens will no longer be eligible for tuition fee loans or financial aid for undergraduate or postgraduate programs beginning in September 2021 (Wang et al., 2021). They will charge the highest foreign student fees. In these conditions, FSB must refocus its efforts on local and foreign students living outside of the EU.

International Students

Local Students

Almost 50 percent of Chinese students are interested in learning in the United Kingdom. China is the world’s greatest source of overseas students. In 2020, UCAS reported a 9% increase in the number of students from outside the UK Each estimated a 9percent growth in the number of undergraduates from outside the UK in 2020. Despite the epidemic, the foreign student market expanded. China, India, and Korea account for more than half of all overseas students.

In 2020, 22.5 percent of pupils continued their studies. As a result, a growing number of first-year undergraduates from all across the UK were reported last year. With the arrival of 2020, grades were substituted with the school examination. New government regulation requires that admission grades be assessed using statistical models rather than tests.

Table 2: showing international and local students (Wadsworth et al., 2019).

All of these numbers point to strong potential for FSB, which must target local schools and communities while also improving its internet presence with an emphasis on China.

• Delivery

The project’s production should be adequately funded, regulated, and effectively outlined. Monitoring and scheduling, communications, as well as financing are the three most important aspects of every project delivery (Cha et al., 2018). The plan reflects the solution that the consultant team wants to deliver to the customer. The proposal will also contain a timetable.

Starting a collaboration with an academic firm is a smart approach to become noticed and recruit foreign students. When selecting to study in another country, most international students consult with private organizations. By collaborating with one of these organizations, FSB will be able to deliver the required information directly to prospective students (Fei et al., 2018). For instance, Chinese students, who account for 40percent of overseas students, rely on these organizations to help them locate the best higher education school for their needs. There are hundreds of private or state agencies in China’s main cities, and collaborating with one of them is the best method to get a direct connection to Chinese clients (Haslam and Fleming, 2018).

It is necessary to concentrate on acquiring many more Chinese potential students because this market is abundant and may generate significant money. FSB should have a Chinese version of its site in Chinese whereby parents and students may read the information concerning the institution. They must be able to access entire data, including financial details, job possibilities, and impressive alumni tales (He et al., nd).

FSB must create a plan and launch initiatives on digital analytics venues whereby prospective parents and students may find the institution. The Universities of Sheffield and Exeter cooperated with AdChina, a well-known platform specializing in Chinese advertisements (UJJAWAL, 2019). They achieved their recruiting objectives each year after opting to host an online undergraduate conference geared particularly at Chinese students, even in 2020. Table 3 shows the top social media platforms in China (Jia et al., 2018).

Channel	About	Users
Twitter	Mobile App	Almost 600 million users
NetEase	Search engine	Market share 75%
Sohu	News app	More than 500 million users

Search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) are two basic digital marketing methods to employ (PPC). With the addition of Computer Engineering, FSB is going to be the first private institution to offer such a program. It is going to be the USP and is going to highlight the benefit of having the institution appear on the first page of search results. Data suggests that a 75percent of individuals do not scroll past page one, however being on the first results page is critical (Konagai, 2021).

Problem Statement

FSB should launch a Marketing strategy. The institution should put aside a particular amount of money for Pay Per Click advertising and then become active on all social networking sites. According to Educational Campaign, two-thirds of all significant interest inquiries resulted in a click on a PPC ad (Mondial & Walker, nd).

FSB Academy provides students with a selection of honors and hard programs from which to choose, allowing them to explore personal passions and establish a powerful basis of experience capabilities (Steiner et al., 2018). Learners can choose from a variety of Advanced Placement (AP) courses as well as International Baccalaureate courses. In 2018, imperial University launched a new program, which, as per the customer, “significantly enlarged the sector” and resulted in “75 percent of the BNU programs.” The panel suggests that FSB accept computer science as the future professional credential (Muianga, 2019).

Structured across three years, the school covers topics such as electrical hardware design and software. Computer science is ideal for FSB. It is primarily concerned with the software, scientific, and mathematical components of computers. In the United Kingdom, the technology industry accounts for over 40percent of the gross domestic output. Scientists hold important responsibilities in business and trade. Graduate students have the greatest percentage of job placement (Ngoepe, 2020).

Hardly any of FSB’s direct rivals offer a Computer Science program. There are no special facilities required to handle the modern engineering program during the educational season. The fee for this program is £8000. Several computer science fields are related to those already in use in IT, technology, and innovation (Rowa, 2021).

Positioning is concerned with how successfully a university portrays itself, and strong brand identity is critical to this. The current FSB website is efficient though dull since no particular elements to distinguish it and attract prospective students (Sokolitsyn et al., 2019). The institution must hire a marketing firm to establish a new visual style that is appropriate to the modern demographic that the institution is attempting to attract. FSB implemented this method, and in the year after the launch of the newly branded website, student enrollment has increased by 20% across all programs (Sassa & Konagai, 2018). 

Table four below provides a clear and concise description of what the consulting firm accomplished for the customer.

Goals	Embrace a different vocational credential. Alter the brand image and strategy. Alter your consumer base. Enhance your digital footprint. Increase the number of locally and internationally learners.
Actions	Create a fresh corporate image. Coordinate with a school district. Create a Chinese-language webpage. Recruit the best expert to manage the website regularly on regional and Chinese platforms.
Period	A span of 1.5 years

A stakeholder mapping is suggested to determine who can affect the result of the transformation and how far people might exercise the authority. The Force Field Analysis is a method that assists a consulting team in comprehending company transformation initiatives (Sassa et al., 2020). T two types of forces exist at work behind each project: leading forces that encourage the transformation and constraining factors that tend to stymie the program’s growth. FSB constituents, as per basic research, are still not resistant to change. People appreciate recommendations, support any decent proposal, and fund a lucrative business without reluctance.

The project handover occurs at the exit stage. To fulfill the suggested goals and obtain a competitive edge over its competitors, FSB must take urgent action, as illustrated in table 4.

Conclusion

FSB is facing a slew of important developments. To persist, the institution adapts by implementing certain fundamental modifications in its approach to business. Improving the program portfolio, generating a greater brand image, and recruiting learners from the expanding UK market will improve and expand the institution’s market segment, bringing in the considerable income in the future (Sassa et al., 2018).