Marketing Strategy Analysis for Student Nurture Network Concept

1. STRATEGIC MARKETING ANALYSIS FOR:
IMBA 2010/11
BLOCK 1 STUDENT NURTURE NETWORK
(HTTP://WWW.STUDENTSNURTURE.IN/)
Submitted By,
Uday Shankar A B
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2. STUDENT CONNECT NETWORK:
STRATEGIC MARKETING ANALYSIS
Introduction & Understanding The Present:
The education market in India is one of the most active, crowded and growing markets that has helped propel
India to a global arena. The saving habits of middle class people and the government's plan to spend about five
per cent of GDP on education in next five years is estimated to double India's education market size to $50
billion by 2015, according to projections made by Assocham.
The higher education market, in particular the Bachelor's Degree segment that includes courses like B.E, B.Sc,
B.A, B.Tech, BBM, B.Com and B. Architecture, is one of the segments within that is more active and changing in
the recent times compared to other education segments. This market is dominated in urban areas of India and
primarily in cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta, Pune, Trivandrum and few others, and has
less prominence & existence in rural areas due to the relatively higher population and availability of students
in urban areas.
Bangalore's US$ 11.88 billion economy makes it one of the major economic centers in India, with the value
of city's exports totaling US$ 9.81 billion in 2004-05. With an economic growth of 10.3%, Bangalore is the fastest
growing major metropolis in India and is also the country's fourth largest fast moving consumer goods
(FMCG) market. With a per capita income of US$ 1,695.89 in 2006-07, the city is the third largest hub for
high net worth individuals.
Bangalore, also called as the Silicon Valley of India, has the largest number of information technology
companies located in the city which contributed 33% of India's IT exports (of US$ 33 billion in 2006-07).
Infosys (total sales of $4.6 Billion) and Wipro, India's second and third largest software companies are
headquartered in Bangalore, as are many of the global SEI-CMM Level 5 Companies. The headquarters of
several other prestigious government/public sector undertakings such as BEL, HAL, NAL, BHEL, BEML, ISRO
and HMT are also located in Bangalore.
Bangalore is one of the famous cities in Karnataka, India mainly because of the IT revolution that it brought
to the country. It is home to a large number of academic colleges and churn out outstanding students year
after year who make a mark for themselves in a various fields of activity. However, there is a lot of scope for
sports, cultural, soft skills and academic activities in these colleges. The graduates from Bangalore are
absorbed by many reputed industrial houses, multinationals and corporate sector and hence students
come from far and near to the Bangalore colleges. Most of the Bangalore colleges have impressive campuses, so
much so that many films and ad films are shot here.
Who: Understanding the market:
However, the variety and opportunities due to the huge number of colleges is now seen as a major concern for
the students when choosing a college, primarily because the students are not able to consciously, with good
qualitative data, choose a particular bachelor’s college since there are many colleges with not much value
differentiation. It is also seen that, due to the enormous growth, most of the colleges have only been able to play
the number by increasing the number of seats and sadly not in the same spirit the quality of education
especially in soft academic skills like written & spoken communication skills, interview skills, entrepreneurship,
networking and others.
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3. Hence a huge market opportunity exists in serving these customers, who include,
 Primarily, the Students (by helping to choose Colleges before they get in to any bachelor degree,
Platform for providing non-technical/soft skills and also at the end of graduation Help
choosing/applying for Companies) &
 Secondarily,
o Colleges (Wanting to come out of the clutter, market themselves & get the best students by
showcasing their value propositions) and
o Companies (In need of right talents for their expanding workforce)
The new start-up “Student Nurture Network @ http://www.studentsnurture.in/ (hypothetical site)” will explore
this market opportunity to serve the needs of all the 3 customers.
Choosing a Segment
Based on this market opportunity, a business level strategy of Outside-In approach (as per the nomenclature in the
book “Strategy Synthesis” by Bob De Wit and Ron Meyer) is followed to build a customer value proposition. The
initial scope/segmentation strategy will be a Niche Strategy approach (as per the nomenclature in the book
“Marketing Strategy & Organization”) catering only to the Bachelor's Degree Segment of Higher Education.
What: Customer Value Proposition & The Present Business Model
The Customer value proposition targeting the student community consists of 4 competitive advantages as in the
business model below,
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4. • Inter-College Networking • Info of all Bachelor • Career Counseling • Books
• Networking Events with Degree colleges with • Invitation for many • Tuition Fees etc
Alumni’s history, departments, contests like Debate, • Certification Programmes
• Invitation for various courses available, entry Creative Essay Writing,
College requirements, noted Computer Programming,
Cultural/Academic Events alumni’s & testimonials White Paper Contests
• College Ranking (ranked and others.
with inputs from current &
past students, parents,
companies & experts)
• Seminars, Job Fairs etc.
• Industry Workshops.
• Newsletters
communicating Tips,
Testimonials, Interviewse
etc.
3 Months 6 Months 1 Year('s) 2 Year('s) Replicate Success
Performance Measurement / Target against Timeline:
(Numbers in each box below represents the number of Student Base, Colleges (that students come from), Companies in Tie
up with and On-Venue Events Hosted)
Construction Growth Phase
• 250 Students, Phase • 2000 Students,
• 2 Colleges • 10 Colleges
• 750 Students, • 5000 Students,
• 1 Company • 5 Companies • Diversify/Replicate
• 5 Colleges • 30 Colleges Success?
• 2 Events • 8 Events
• 3 Companies • 15 Companies
• 5 Events • 15 Events
Creation Reputation Expansion
Phase Building Phase Phase?
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5. Revenue Generation and Marketing Mechanisms:
•Online Web Ads (Google Ad Sense • Students:
at least for the first 1 year until we Award Credit Points for
have a sizeable user count to start Sign up, Providing
having our own advertisement Testimonial, Responding
support) to a Discussion Forum
•Banners at Events Query, Introducing a
new student, Providing
•Company/College Sponsorship of Information of an
Events (Platinum, Silver & Gold) unreported academic
•Sponsorer of the Month (Prominent event, Sharing
Space in Site & all Information, Responding
events/communications in that month) to a Surveys,
•Charge for space in weekly Participating in
communication emails Seminars, Online Events
•Sponsorship for Promotional/Credit and Any other contests.
Points Redeemable Awards such as • Companies and
T-Shirts & Caps, Books, Mobile Air
Time, Shoes, Pens and Other articles Colleges:
that carry the corresponding Drive advertisement &
sponsorer logo. sponsorship revenues
•Participation to Different On-Venue from companies &
Events is free for the first year and colleges by showcasing
later charged by a minimal amount active student (logged in
of 50 - 100 Indian Rs (1 Euro = 60 at least once the last 7
Rs) to ensure quality participation. days) base and page
hits and Student Value.
Business Environment:
The targeted market segment is underserved and there aren’t any significant players in this arena. Some efforts
have been displayed by few individuals/organizations but they have mostly been stale, intermittent and in-
consistent lacking quality and focus particularly on this segment. Some of the online sites working on this area are
inspirenignite.com, highereducationinindia.com and educationbangalore.com with vtunews.in being the
most active one in relative sense. Though vtunews.in is working towards this, a simple analysis of it revealed it’s
many issues like Badly designed website, Flooded Online Ads, Meager/No marketing efforts, Caters only
to students already in VTU and only for VTU colleges, it’s more like a information aggregator
displaying/connecting information in its website.
With the phenomenal growth of the segment it may attract potential new entrants, who could replicate the model.
Hence a strong focus on continuously increasing, improving & delivering the Customer Value Propositions with
innovations in the interaction mechanisms along with early mover advantage will help the company to establish a
strategic leadership position and competitive advantage.
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6. MABA Analysis in comparison with Medical/MBBS Higher and Pre-University
Education: (Based on the data available from government websites mentioned in the bibliography &
references)
Market Attractiveness Business Advantage
Govnt Regulations (-ve) Market Share
Technology Availability
Customer Loyalty
Entry Barriers
Technological Competence
Competition
Patent
Suppliers Bargaining…
Customers Bargaining… Flexibility
Economic Trends Sensitivity Organization
Size
Image
Acquistion Costs
Location
Market Growth
0 2 4 6 8 10
0 2 4 6 8 10
Pre-University MBBS/Medical Bachelors
Pre-University MBBS/Medical Bachelors
The MABA analysis reveals that the Market Attractiveness is higher in terms of Growth & Size, with Business
Advantage higher in terms of location and market share advantage.
Marketing Intelligence:
The Market Intelligence data will be primarily obtained from the research firm juxtconsult.com that specializes
in market research in the local Indian market. However the specific data pertaining to user/student behavior from
at the websites are tracked and collected using smart IT systems built in to the web site along with usage
of Google Analytics.
The site http://www.studentsnurture.in will itself also have a survey mechanism to collect data directly from the
users/students (encouraged by awarding credit points).
Data related to number of students joining in to the Bachelor degree education system from different
locations will be obtained from KCET (Karnataka Common Entrance Test) board which is made publicly
available based on the RTI (Right to Information) act of Indian Legal System.
All the different market data will be used to target marketing efforts across specific student locations, students
from the dissatisfied colleges, companies seeking huge number of campus recruits and for the
development of organization website. These data will be used by a internal review committee responsible for
analyzing these different data and working out a appropriate strategy along with the respective departments.
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7. Raison D’ètre & The Organization’s Mission:
The reason for existence of this organization, which will be privately held among like minded investors, is not
solely to make money. The primary objective is to serve the interest of the student community. However, the
organization will make enough profits to cater to its going concern/continuity ensuring enough capital and
resources required for wages, website maintenance & development and investment other required assets.
The mission statement of the organization is “Connecting & Nurturing Student Community to Help them
Succeed and Realize their Dreams”. The statement is chosen carefully enough to ensure that it does not limit
the growth ideas of the initiative by limiting solely to a single location or degree. Though a niche segment
targeting is chosen now, it is only to ensure a clear focus and to take advantage of the current market
opportunities.
Sustainability of the Competitive Advantage:
The advantage of entering the market now provides us with an early mover advantage since no dominant player
exists in this market now. The low or near zero entry & exit costs also makes the entry in to this market a strong
go proposition. However, we should also be cautious of the rapid growth in the education segment that could
change the way the education industry is run. Some of the risk factors, though relatively low, are formation of a
similar body by a group of colleges (Comed-K Group of Institutions could pose such a thread due to the already
existing network of colleges) and replicating the offering, Change in laws & legislations by adding certain
minimum basic requirements that need to be met for all the colleges, Threat by the Leaders of the Educational
institutions backed by political leaders and any other factors. Hence the sustainability of this organization requires
that a strategic alliance/understanding along the local government and educational institutions be
established.
Organizational Sustainability also requires that we continuously respond to the new requirements of the corporate
world that are not met by the colleges, because corporations are the ones that ultimately take in these students.
The improvements & innovations can be achieved by via introducing new type of events, virtual
conferences/webinars, website enhancements and other things that are prevalent in the times.
Vision of the Organization (3 Year Vision/By 2014):
 One of the most respected organization’s in Bangalore for its efforts in the area of Education Improvement.
 Nurture & Enhance the lives of 10,000 students with many stories to share.
 Tie up with more than 50% of the companies in Bangalore working in Information Technology Space.
 Students from more than 75% of all the Bachelor Degree colleges in Bangalore.
Market Making, Hunting and Farming:
The start of “Student Nurture” was by itself a classic example of a market making approach where in it created a
market which was not earlier targeted. In exploring further opportunities, in future, to serve the mass, the
organization could create similar markets for other educational streams like MBBS and Pre-University education
along with entering in to rural areas after looking at high growth potentials. The organization could also grow to
start a separate arm that develops technology for innovational methods of teaching in education. It is
estimated, by World Economic Council, that by 2010 approximately 75% of world’s population will live in cities!
A possible Market Hunting approach could involve using the huge student base numbers to get players from
other industries for a win-win relationship, an example could be granting crowd-sourcing projects,
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8. opportunities for part time sales workforce that would help students supplement their income and nurture act
as an intermediary deriving a small percentage of this income which would go directly to the foundation fund.
Mining existing customers for more opportunities is an example of Market Farming. It could involve having
companies sponsor some student’s education for a year or so, that would also help companies bolster their CSR
image. Sell any technologies & products produced/developed by the Student Organization to the customer
companies.
The Future Business Model and The “BHAG”:
•One of the most respected
organization’s in India for its
efforts in the area of Education
Improvement.
•Nurture & Enhance the lives of more
than 150,000 students, with
thousands of stories to share.
•Setup the “Education for ALL”
foundation for funding scholarships,
and improvement of education in
rural areas of Karnataka
(Bangalore is the capital of
Karnataka).
•Run a top notch university under a
separate arm, for higher education
in Bangalore and One other
college in Northern Karnataka that
would revolutionize the way
education is imparted.
•Provide Venture Capital Support
for Entrepreneurship oriented
students.
•Students from all the colleges in
Bangalore along with students from
different parts of Karnataka
Creating & Screening Strategic Options:
“If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got”, is one of the famous quotes from Einstein that
is very much applicable to organizations that do not innovate. In a competitive market this would translate such
that, an organization would always get less than what it earlier got. This is because there will always be many
entrants in the market who will try to replicate the successful business models and reap its benefits. Hence any
organization will have to continuously work to create many new strategic options and screen & implement
them to say ahead of the race and have a competitive edge. In this case it is important for Student Nurture to
innovate its value proposition to students as it grows ahead in future. It could be in terms of usage of
technology, introducing innovative pricing models and any other activities to ensure it’s leadership/early
mover advantage position. It should constantly spot the trend in education and student behavior,
understand and analyze its weakness areas by value auditing, work towards continuous value innovation,
leveraging what could be done, and finding the feasibility & balance.
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9. Seeing, Starting and Sustaining:
Once the BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is created, the organization needs to start working towards it in the
near future. This is the further growth phase in which the organization shift involves moving from Thinking to
Implementation. The want to change need to be communicated in the organization and buy-in from all the
stakeholders need to be obtained. This will ensure success of the overall plan and reduces the risk of anyone
derailing the BHAG mid-way or even before it is started. In this case the BHAG is in line with mission of helping
students and hence it shouldn’t be difficult to work towards it when the time comes.
The Seeing Phase is about starting the process towards realizing the opportunities that exist over and beyond
specific the attributes like Bangalore and Bachelor Degree Higher Education Segment. It is about moving further
and expand the success for a larger reach and serving.
The Starting Phase is about communicating the BHAG to all the employees after seeing the existing or creating
new opportunities to investors, students, Alumnus and others to help them understand and thus in return help the
organization to embrace this BHAG. It is imperative for organization to do this in a way that it also helps it
evaluate the strategic plan towards BHAG by the all the people who will touched by it.
The Sustaining Phase is when the seeing and the subsequent starting phase is achieved successfully and the
organization moves towards sustaining it. It is great to start new initiatives and implementing new programmes
but if that cannot be sustained it is of no use. It requires constant focus and analysis of the market trends, as in
the previous phase, to ensure all the initiatives are sustained and taken forward for the next cycle of growth.
Growth is inevitable for any organization that wants to prosper itself and its customers and to expand doing it
every time.
The above phases could be achieved by making coalitions with any other players, small or big and requires a sense
of urgency within the organization. It requires a concerted effort to knock-off the barriers that exist in the times
to successfully achieve the higher vision or the BHAG.
Balanced Marketing Scorecard:
Balanced Marketing Scorecard is an excellent example of systematized common sense in business life. It translates
business vision in to daily practice by linking actions to measurable objectives, which is a balanced distribution of
finance processes, internal business processes, learning processes, growth and customer response. The primary
underlying principle of the balanced scorecard is to measure the objectives to help track the performance and
evaluate its offerings.
The different metrics corresponding to the values given in the
balanced marketing scorecard can/will be expanded to contain
detailed metrics like number of student’s who were offered a job
in first attempt, who were helped to achieve their entrepreunerial
or higher study dreams, companies whose human resources target
were met to 100% satisfaction and many other factors.
Conclusion: It is apparent that the huge untapped & unserved market segment can be catered by provinding
the much required value services. Later, after the organization grows it could expand its offerings to other
segments and locations and achieve it’s BHAG.
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10. Bibliography & References:
 Higher education, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_education
 Bachelor's degree, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor's_degree
 India's education market projected at $50 billion by 2015: Assocham,
http://www.mynews.in/News/India's_education_market_projected_at_$50_bln_by_2015_Assocham_N
57175.html
 Infosys Revenues, http://www.infosys.com/investors/reports-filings/quarterly-results/2008-
2009/Q4/Documents/IFRS-press-release.pdf
 Strategy Synthesis, by Bob De Wit and Ron Meyer.
 Marketing Strategy & Organization, by Rudy Moenaert & Henry Robben with Peter Gouw.
 Market data from www.juxtconsult.com, http://cet.kar.nic.in/, http://kea.kar.nic.in/,
http://www.karnataka.com/education/cet
 http://www.asianforumcsr.com/
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