Discuss about the Marketing and Competitive Environment for Potential Customers.
This paper is about marketing in a competitive environment. The context covers the way to do marketing in a competitive environment to counter for external forces affecting businesses. The paper presents marketing in a competitive environment in case study case. The case study is carried out on a university in Australia, CQUniversity. The case is that, the CQUniversity is an institution located in Australia and faces stiff competition from other well established institutions in the region, international and local based institutions. A good marketing strategy has enabled the CQUniversity to compete favorably with the other preexisting universities.
In summary, this paper is about how to market a firm to withstand the forces of market completion. The latter is a case study of the marketing case of CQUniversity. In a detailed manner, the mechanism enabling the CQUniversity to survive in its venture is captured. Different methods of adapting to a competitive environment such as the PEST approach are captured. Moreover, self-evaluative measures in an organization such as the SWOT analysis are also in context. The position branding of the CQUniversity is a part of this works. Segmentation and target market for the CQUniversity are also discussed. Moreover, market mix for this institution are discussed in depth.
Marketing is the act of publicizing a good or a service to potential customers. Marketing involves commutating convincingly the value of a product to the buyers as captured by Hollensen, S. (2015). A producer has to market the product or service offered to the potential buyers and win their trust on the quality of the latter. On the other hand, a competitive environment refers to the dynamism of the external forces that “drive the performance of the business in its venture” (Farahani et al., 2014). The forces include competition for customers with the similar business operatives among others. A business firm must acknowledge the competitiveness of its operational environment and device mechanism to counter the same.
The CQUniversity is one of the most fast growing institutions of higher learning in Australia. The university has depicted a commendable growth trajectory as from the year 2009. The growth is characterized by a launch of new constituent campuses, new courses, excellent performance and a good public reputation. The infrastructure has grown and a rapid increase in the number of students witnessed for the past few years. The CQUniversity was crowned the full status in 1992, and therefore it’s not as old in this status as many other universities in Australia. The university “pioneers a unique program like the distance learning in Australia” (McMillan, Kinnear & Babovic 2015). Other courses by this great university include; engineering, visual arts, trades and training among many other courses.
The launch of CQUniversity into a university status put this institution into a pool of competition with the other existing universities in Australia and the world. The competitive environment for the CQUniversity includes the University of Newcastle, Queensland University of Technology, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and the University of Wollongong among other institutions. The CQUniversity is therefore faced with stiff completion from the preexisting universities prior its launch. However, the CQUniversity has strived and overcame the external forces to a great institution in Australia.
The success of the CQUniversity is attributed to its effective marketing strategy. The university has its marketing department or directorate bestowed with the mandate of publicizing the institution to the potential customers. The effectiveness of marketing for this university is that the management of the University encourages every department to share the goals of the university with everyone in a bid to effectively reach as many people as possible and make the CQUniversity well known. The marketing directorate for the CQUniversity is responsible for the branding of the latter, recruitment of new students, advertising as well as the devising the marketing policies.
The demand for the CQUniversity can be termed as high, citing the rapid growth of this university within a relatively short period. The university capacity has grown to more than 30,000 students reaching the capacity for some of the oldest universities in Australia. Moreover, the demand for the quality of education offered by the CQUniversity has led to the creation of new courses, and the introduction of a virtual learning environment which “caters for the distance learning enrolled program students” (Seary, K., Willans, J., & Cook, C. 2016).
The segmentation of the CQUniversity is that the university has several constituent campuses specialized in offering specified courses and “hence improving quality” of education (Cross, Belich & Rudelius, 2015). Segmentation has seen improvement in the administration of this university and therefore quality policy making for a smooth running of the institution. The target market for the CQUniversity is the education enthusiasts in all levels of learning including undergraduates, masters as well as Ph.D. students. The university launched the distance learning program to complement the old style of learning and therefore to target the technology lovers who wish to learn online without stepping to the university premises physically.
Market mix refers to the variety of products or services that make a customer purchase from a given producer or business (Dolnicar & Leisch, 2017). Several factors have led to the increased customer base for the CQUniversity. The main factors behind the success of this institution include; pioneering the distance learning in Australia and hence attracting many scholars. The commitment to excellence by ensuring quality education and diversification of the university’s programs has also led to increased number of scholars. The Australian population is in a quest for quality education and hence the CQUniversity has launched several universities across the country to reach many people.
The CQUniversity gives academic promotions to scholars and the staff to motivate the stakeholders of the university to perform to their best. The promotions drive the working habit for the staff as well as the students and therefore quality education. Moreover, the student fees for the CQUniversity is relatively low compared to other universities like the Queensland University of Technology, and therefore the CQUniversity has a “competitive strategy against its competitors” (Albayrak, 2015).
The PEST analysis refers to the analysis of the “Political, Economic, social as well as the Technological orientation” of a given business firm, (Ho, J. K. K. 2014). The PEST analysis mainly focusses on the external factors affecting the performance of business. Since the launch of the CQUniversity, it has abided to the requirements for quality educations as stated by the Australian government. Moreover, the CQUniversity is fully branded, lawfully and hence it can operate anywhere in Australia. The compliance with the governmental regulations was the first step in the success journey by the CQUniversity.
The economic orientation of the CQUniversity is that the university has a comparatively huge capital base to fund its operations. The latter is drawn from the student fee, research program donation as well as government funding. The university has therefore been able to fund its expansion programs and start new programs. The CQUniversity success history is associated with the institution’s understanding of the social requirement for affordable and quality education in Australia. The CQUniversity put into consideration the trend in the social life of digitization and launched the distance learning program for the digital age. Moreover, the CQUniversity has considered the trends in technology in its launch of the virtual learning environment. Use of internet in learning has been key, and therefore the CQUniversity has embraced the technological trend and hence attracting many students.
The CQUniversity has quite a number of competitors. Competitor analysis is very important to “ensure continued strategy to beat the competitors” (Shabanova, et al. 2015). The main competitor institution to the CQUniversity is the Queensland University of Technology. The competition is evident in the courses offered, the number of students and of course the quality of education. The Queensland University of Technology has a relatively larger number of students than the CQUniversity. Moreover, the Queensland University has number of courses than the CQUniversity. Contrarily, the CQUniversity offsets the Queensland University on the quality of education according to the QS university ranking. Moreover, the CQUniversity has unique courses offered like the distant learning compared to the Queensland University of Technology.
The SWOT analysis is a detailed review of the Strengths, Weaknesses Opportunities and the Threats of an organization. The CQUniversity strengths are that the institutions have unique courses like the distant learning that attract a good percentage of students into the institution. Moreover, the institution has relatively low fees charge per unit compared to the competitors like the Queensland University of Technology. Besides, the CQUniversity has embraced segmentation and “hence diversified its operation and customer base” (Shabanova, et al., 2015).
The weaknesses for the CQUniversity are that the University has comparatively less advanced infrastructure compared to the other advanced institutions like the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. This means that the university cannot offer some technical courses in a more professional way like the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and therefore it’s outcompeted for some courses. However, the CQUniversity has opportunities for growth which includes the enthusiastic generation of learners are ready to embrace technology backed learning programs, and therefore the CQUniversity should advance its distance learning more to offer quality virtual learning environment. Contrarily, the CQUniversity faces stiff competition from the foreign-based institution the region, and therefore its growth is somehow limited. The stiff competition is a threat to the growth of the institution.
The CQUniversity is highly valued in Australia. The university has a long history of its successful alumni. Delgado-Ballester and Fernandez (2015) has it that brand positioning is the position a given company or business firm has in the minds of customers. The CQUniversity has a good brand position in Australia as and yonder. The University is positioned as a good option to study at for among the students in Australia. The university has a sustainable position in the “minds of its customers due to its marketing strategy” (Fung et al., 2013).
Conclusively, the CQUniversity has a good marketing team and an effective strategy. The marketing team has driven the CQUniversity to great heights in spite of its few years in a university status. It’s important for an organization to align itself with its PEST orientation to enhance and smoothen its interactivity with the environment. Moreover, the SWOT analysis is crucial determining a firm’s position in business.
References
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McMillan, G., Kinnear, S., & Babovic, N. (2015). Comprehensive universities and the role of the national TAFE system: the CQUniversity context. About the research, 16.
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