International marketing for the UK business school

英國商學院的國際市場營銷
 

1. Introduction
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，國際學生對商學院的招生面臨著激烈的競爭，尤其是在金融危機的成立背景。所有的商學院在不同的國家采用不同的策略來吸引優秀學生來自世界各地。本文將討論什么合適的營銷策略，英國的商學院可以采取吸引國際學生，利用已經由我們小組討論的營銷技巧和做法。此外，作為一個來自中國的國際學生，我將談論的根據我自己的經驗，英國商業教育的國際營銷理念和手法的應用。
 

2. Business education opportunities evaluation
2.商業教育機會的評估
 

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.

學生是學校的生命線，而學生的素質起著大學的發展至關重要的作用。當大學教育是在精英教育階段，有不乏優秀的學生在英國大學，但是，因為精英教育轉變為大眾教育，再加上其他因素，英國的大學正面臨越來越多的競爭中招生優秀的學生。許多大學選擇提供教育，從國外的學生，尤其是商務教育，這是國際學生中很受歡迎。因此，英國的商學院正在進入一個新的時代。首先，學校可以克服的激烈競爭在教育行業，其次，學校將吸引來自不同文化背景的學生，這將多元化的業務教育，提高學校的競爭力。第三，海外學生往往聰明和勤奮。很明顯，該機會提供商業教育國際學生是有吸引力的，但問題是商學院如何評估和捕捉這些機會。事實上，提供國際教育就像是在全球市場供應的產品，或者我們可以說，概念和國際市場營銷的技術和做法也可以被應用到商業教育機會的評估。#p#分頁標題#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#分頁標題#e#