Marketing and Competitive Environment of QU

Question: Discuss about the Marketing and Competitive Environment of Queensland University of Australia. Answer: Background The University of Queensland is familiar with the new realities that are occurring in the sector of higher education which would threaten its status in the future and their prosperity. The professor Trevor Grigg has been interviewed in the year 2006 in March where he acknowledges that some of the difficulties are being faced by the university as it is making an attempt for remaining significant in the operating environment globally which is becoming more competitive rapidly. In both domestic and the international markets the recruitment of the student is facing difficulties this is partly because of the competition that is increasing. It has been expressed as a concern by Director Mr. Lindsay parker. Hence, for the university to become successful the new alliances are being developed and the arrangements are made collaboratively for marketing purpose so that it will be complementing the strengths that are already present. In doing so the university needs to evaluate the comparison of the standards against the best universities in the world so that it would remain significant. Market summary The University of Queensland is founded to operate a model of hub and spoke, with the help of the organization of the marketing and the network of communications. This aims atr improving the efficiency of the communications and marketing at the University of Queensland. With the help of network, the consistency of the branding and the messages are making sure where the coordination of the activities is improved (Allen, 2016). It will be helpful in maximizing the resource usage and will provide the network for all who are involved in the marketing and the communications for sharing the plans and the information in order to compete with the other universities in the market. The variety of opportunities for professional development is accessed by them. The major elements of the network will include: Quarterly meetings regarding the network are coordinated The opportunities for professional development in which the annual conference is included The monthly e - newsletter is distributed known as the network. This keeps the staff informed about the various key activities that are undertaken by the management for competitive advantage and marketing For the positions of marketing and communications, they are interviewed and recruited with assistance The email list is created by the management of the University so that staff who so ever are interested will share the information with the network members for marketing Coordination is maintained in such a way that it wants to deliver the continuous support of marketing and communication in order to achieve the major milestones of University of Queensland Demand assessment According to parker the increase of the competition undoubtedly is found to be the factors for assessing the demand of the universities among the population. It is in the argument that the majority of the students from Australia is unwilling to travel for the university study. It is the reason why there is a shortfall in the applications of the university (Bianchi Andrews, 2015). Most of the students according to Parker would prefer for attending the local university even if the reputation and the quality of studies are less when compared with that of the University of Queensland. In addition to these difficulties, the University of Queensland is experiencing the problem of increasing the number of graduating students at the undergraduate level as per the policy of the government. This is the reason why the establishment of new schools has been done in competing for these universities (Cross, Belich Rudelius, 2015). Segmentation and target market The strategic management has provided many frameworks and the conceptual tools that are ranging from the analysis of the indusial techniques that have been popularized by (Eggert, Ulaga Drapier, 2015) to the portfolio analysis metrics that are popular. But this direction of influence was not in one way, rather it has been segmented. The philosophy of marketing that is customer based and the various concepts of segmentation, positioning of the brand, and the product life cycle is also influenced by the strategic management. The University of Queensland has segmented its research not in some particular area rather it wanted to investigate in the sustainable tourism, marketing of tourism, environmental volunteering, under graduation programs, graduation program, etc. and much more. Referring to the target market for universities is mostly the student based population. With the technology that is empowered with the customers the spread of media, channels and the contact points of customers and the data of the students are collected and then the organizations will rethink the need of the role of the marketing in the targeted markets (Grewal, Roggeveen Shankaranarayanan, 2015). It is the responsibility of the marketing managers to reach the students locally, domestically and internationally as these are the targeted areas. Current marketing mix analysis The current marketing mix that is followed by the University of Queensland is based on the target market, the needs of the customer, marketing that is integrated and the success of the organization. These are considered to be the four pillars upon which the concept of the marketing rests. It has been explained by Kotler that the activities of marketing are involved in having an understanding and the selection of the group of customers whose wants and needs that the organization will choose to satisfy. A unique mix of ingredients is created by them, which include the distribution, promotion, price, products and services and the approaches made for valuing the needs of the customers more than that of the competitors. Hence, it is argued by the satisfaction of the customer and their retention will lead to the success of the organization (Griffith Hoppner, 2013). Marketing is treated as the competence of high-level management by making the brand and the customers at their heart. A competitive strategy of marketing that is based on the insight of the customer is considered to be important for the success of the business. The marketing executive uses the customer-centric strategy for developing their university. In this, the potentials and risks of the marketplace are taken into account and the contemporary best practices are incorporated (Hattula, et al., 2015). PEST analysis A PEST analysis is known as the process of identifying the political, economic, social, and technological factors which affect their supply chain of the University of the Queensland, locally and internationally. Political The current local and international legislation Legislation that is planned or future Policies of government Other regulatory agencies Political issues Grants, fundings and other initiatives Economic: The trends and growth of economy Inflation rates, local tax, interest Global economic factors Trends of industry Markets that are growing and declining Environmental factors Social: The trends of the customer The trends of lifestyle Demographics Opinions of media Key events Brand image and marketing Issues related to ethics Technological: RD and research Incentives in technology Advancement in technology Entry barriers SWOT analysis The concepts from the grounds of marketing and the strategic management, which appear to be relevant to the current research include the SWOT analysis along with the strategic formulation, mission, values, needs of customers, marketing mix, etc. the SWOT analysis of the University of Queensland relating to the contributions of their research for development is shown below: Strengths: Independence- it has control over their research and curriculum conducted in the university The academic Morales are high Mainly focuses on the information systems specialization Allocation of resources can be done efficiently It has a collaboration that is beneficial with other academics Selection of students is informed Weaknesses: Economic downturns are faced by the students With the business academics, their collaboration is reduced The business content in the curriculum of information systems is diluted The competitive strength internally is reduced Limitations from other facilities Opportunities: For promoting the information systems discipline separately it has got an opportunity For distinguishing the external abilities opportunity is provided For accessing the industry International reputations are enhanced Threats: During the situation of IT downturn, the threat of damage is increased Hardware and software undesirability threat Apparent Commoditization of IT Value and brand positioning The strategies that are used for developing the value and for positioning the brand will vary markedly. However, the common things are known to exist in the attention that is given by the universities while building the brand and taking initiatives for positioning it (Honeycutt Jr, Ford Clarke, 2015). The value is created by improving the teaching and the outcomes of learning, the services, and support for the student is enhanced, the research in strategic areas is developed, the infrastructure of the campus is developed along with the facilities and the marketing practices are strengthened (White, 2015). The current difficulties in recruiting are being addressed by the University by making an attempt in building the brand positioning of the University of Queensland more specifically in the regional areas. This is done by examining the offerings of the product critically and the amount of time spent on advertising is increased and also promotion (Lantos, 2015). For recruiting the international students who pay fees in more numbers and are of good quality. The University of Queensland is making an attempt in strengthening the arrangements of collaboration with their partners in the nontraditional markets (Lewis SIU, 2015). For instance, for the persistence of the reputation of the university and for maintaining the brand value the university is adhering to their resources and assets which are based on the view from the competition (Marta, et al., 2013). By concentrating the research the recognition of the importance of the maximum outcomes of the quality which is adhering to the core competence is being followed References Allen, J. M. (2016).Marketing matters: A quantitative study regarding whether online universities' marketing messages can affect hiring managers' perceptions of online degrees(Doctoral dissertation, CAPELLA UNIVERSITY). Bianchi, C., Andrews, L. (2015). Investigating marketing managers' perspectives on social media in Chile.Journal of Business Research,68(12), 2552-2559. Cross, J. C., Belich, T. J., Rudelius, W. 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