1. SCHOOL MARKETING RESEARCH DPUIC BANGKOK
THAILAND
By
Garvin Boonsong
http://www.linkedin.com/in/garvinboonsong
(626) 607-4349, garvingaryboonsong@gmail.com
A Independent Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the
Degree of Master in Integrated Marketing Communication, DPU International
College Dhurakij Pundit University Year 2012
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2. FACTORS INFLUENCING STUDENT DECISION MAKING TO STUDY IN
DPUIC
Garvin Boonsong
Dr. Leela Tiangsoongnern
Masters in Integrated Marketing Communication
Academic Year 2012
ABSTRACT
DPUIC is an international business program that is competing in an increasingly
competitive Thailand educational market place. To survive in the Thailand
educational market place, DPUIC must not only compete with other schools to recruit
and get more students to attend their students but also increase the satisfaction of the
current customers which are students. The objective of this study is listed as follows:
1. To identify the influence of student demographic profiles on their decision
making to study at DPUIC
2. To identify the influences of Integrated Marketing Communication tools on
student decision making to study at DPUIC
3. To identify the influences of schools satisfaction on their decision making to
study at DPUIC
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3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I want to thank Dr. Leela Tiangsoongnern, the faculty and staff of DPUIC and all
my family, friends who provided the support to help me finish this independent study.
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4. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract
Acknowledgements
List of Tables
List of Figures
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Trends in the global economy
Attracting new students
Marketing research
Doing research to understand the different profiles of customer portfolio
Factors influencing decision making of students
Research problem
Objectives of the study
Hypothesis of the study
Conceptual framework of the study
Scopes and the limitation of the study
Study variables
Significance of the study
CHAPTER #2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Marketing
Relationship marketing and enrollment management
Marketing mix
Image
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5. Marketing research
Customer portfolio and customer satisfaction
Consumer behavior
Search process and how do students choose school
Factors in choosing college and Criteria in choosing schools
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Population and sample
Marketing research framework
Marketing mix
Data collection method
Part #1: personal information
Part #2: imc tools
Part #3: customer satisfaction
Part #4: decision making
Data analysis
Testing the different criteria and factors that prospect used to come to school and the
different levels of influence
CHAPTER 4
Part 1. Personal information
Part 2: IMC tools
Part 3: Customer satisfaction
Part 4: Decision making
Part 5:Analysis using chi-square test
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6. CHAPTER 5
Population and sample
Data collection tools
Introduction to chapter 5
.data collection methods
Discussion of part 1 of research: demographics
Introduction to discussion of IMC tools
IMC tools
Marketing mix
Discussing results of information source
Discussion on of level of marketing mix
Overview of consumer behavior
Factors in choosing college and criteria in choosing schools
Decision making
Below are the following reasons why students came to DPUIC
Below is level of importance in terms of importance of factors influencing people to
come to Dpuic
Discussion on satisfaction
Satisfaction of Dpuic
Other schools that students would go
Correlations based on chi-square
Other suggestion
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7. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Dhurakij Pundit University International College (DPUIC) is an international English
business private education program in Thailand. Unlike public universities DPUIC
doesn’t receive funding from the government. Therefore in order to stay afloat
DPUIC must keep on recruiting new students
Like all public and private university faces a lot of competition in both Thailand and
overseas. DPUIC is not only competing for prospective students that might stay in
Thailand for international program but overseas prospective.
Due to the fact there is greater and greater competition, DPUIC need to find more and
more way to attract new students as well keep current and existing customers
satisfied.
The business of higher education has become more and more competitive. There is an
increased competition higher education university to recruited highly-motivated,
academically accomplished students. (Bunzel, 2007, pg 152) Many more traditional,
independent, and private universities are offering MBA programs forcing these
programs to distinguish and differentiate themselves from the competition the from
other programs (Ivy, 2008, p. 288)
According to Bunzel “With the Internet and email, today’s high school students are
inundated with information from hundreds of colleges and universities” (Bunzel,
2007, p. 152)
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8. In order to survive, Religious-afflicted, private, four year colleges are depending on
tuition revenue due to the increasing higher costs as well decrease government
support. Attracting and retaining existing students is becoming more important to
Religious-afflicted, private, four year colleges because they often lack sizable
endowment, don’t have direct support from government, as compete less than 1% of
potential college student market (Schee, 2009, p. 1)
In order to survive, Religious-afflicted, private, four year colleges are depending on
tuition revenue due to the increasing higher costs as well decrease government
support. Attracting and retaining existing students is becoming more important to
Religious-afflicted, private, four year colleges because they often lack sizable
endowment, don’t have direct support from government, as compete less than 1% of
potential college student market (Schee, 2009, pg. 1)
Just like oversees higher education market, Thailand education has experiment
increase competition, affects of world depression, as well decrease enrollment. This
is forcing Thai universities to change recruitment strategies as well as think of having
sound recruitment marketing strategies, differentiate themselves both domestically
and internationally from the competition, and address quality development assurance
(James 2011)
Trends in the global economy
Attracting New Students
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9. Schools like DPUIC need to develop and use an integrated marketing plan as well as
enrollment plan. The integrated marketing plan and enrollment plan will direct and coordinate
all school marketing effort.
The integrated marketing plan and student enrollment plan will be composed of marketing
mix such as advertising, public Relations, Sales promotion, road show, direct marketing,
Word of mouth, Sponsorship, scholarship, . Webpages, Facebook, Twitter, Blog to achieve
several objectives
1. Build brand awareness
2. Communicate the features and benefits of the school and each benefit
3. Communicate their value proposition
4. Communicate why should students come to this school
5. Get to know people with a specific need to know and trust them
6. Communicate the way they are different from other schools
This will lead to new prospects and new students
MARKETING RESEARCH
One of the things that all schools must do to compete an increasing competitive higher
education marketing environment is research. Doing research will help school
administrators and people in charge of marketing to answer many questions about that
pertains to their schools.
By constantly doing research, people in schools can make better decisions in things
such as customer satisfaction, product development, areas of improvement,
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10. communication messages, marketing mix to use. Doing research will be basis of
sound strategies to attract, recruit and retain existing students.
Like all business the university customer portfolio consist of many existing customer
segments. To be successful in retaining and attracting students like the one in the
customer portfolio, schools must conduct research for each of the customer segments
because often the needs, desires, the people who influence them, what they want to
achieve and how to reach them are different from other in the customer portfolio.
Some of the research that schools can might conduct for each of the customer segment
includes research to understand characteristics of customers, competitor analysis,
satisfaction, and brand insight research. Other type of research that schools might do
include whether schools deliver on brand promise, the people that influence to go
school, why they choose to go university, what they are looking for the school
One of the types of research that schools must do is to truly understand their current
student portfolio and the different
Doing research to understand the different profiles of customer portfolio
Schools and all organizations have different people they want to influence. For each
of the people that schools want to influence, schools might want to collect research
and insight by doing things such as analyze customer database, conduct survey,
conduct focus groups, read what they read, read blogs,
The Information collected through formal and informal research can be used to create
a portfolio for each of the buyer personas which might compose of
1. demographics, psychographics, technographics, psychographics and Value
and Lifestyles (VALS)
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11. 2. their goals and aspirations, their fear, how do they see the world, their
problems, why they go to university,
The more organizations can know about the groups of people they want to influence,
the better they can write marketing materials in terms of social media, print
advertising, brochures, post card, website.
By taking the time and effort to truly understand buyer personas, organization will
have a chance to empathize your buyer personas, eliminate the agony the guessing of
what to say to where and how you communicate with your buyer personas.
Universities must also must focus on positioning their school by effectively
differentiating their school and different programs from direct and indirect
competitor.
Factors Influencing Decision Making of Students
Universities can use many IMC tools to get people to come to their schools.
Advertising mix that universities can use get people to come to school include Print,
Radio, TV, Billboard, Catalog, Brochure, Flyer. The Public Relations that school can
use include Trade Show, Sponsorship, Newspaper,Magazine/Journal article. The
Online tools that schools can use to website, blog, Twitter, Facebook. The other social
networks that schools can use include Personal Selling, Front line Staff, Professors,
Sales Promotion, Scholarship.
To get people to come to their schools, schools must find ways to distinguish schools
from other schools such through criteria such as class availability, type of classes,
class times and location, the quality of their curriculum, their prices, their teachers,
the reputation our school what their alumni have achieved, the quality of people.
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12. To deal with competition schools not only must attract new students but must focus
on meeting and exceeding the need their customers. This is important because
customers are the most important group of people in any organization including
schools, and university. Without getting new students and keeping current existing
students satisfied, much university might not be financially viable.
To attract new students and get increase customer satisfaction, schools must take a
customer orientation or customer centric approach their business by understanding,
meeting and exceeding the needs of their customers. This is important for several
reasons.
If student’s needs or expectations of the DPUIC are not satisfied, customers will not
only come back to school or attend class, they will tell lots of people not to come but
will tell lots of people not to come.
If student’s needs or expectations of the DPUIC are satisfied, customers will not only
come back to school or attend class, they will tell lots of people to come but will tell
lots of people not to come.
If DPUIC fails to deliver a value, students will not only stop going to DPUIC but tell
other people not to go our school.
RESEARCH PROBLEM
DPUIC is an international business program that is competing in an increasingly
competitive Thailand educational market place. To survive in the Thailand
educational market place, DPUIC must not only compete with other schools to recruit
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13. and get more students to attend their students but also increase the satisfaction of the
current customers which are students.
This study propose the following research question:What are the factors influencing
the decision making DPUIC students
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objective of this study is listed as follows:
4. To identify the influence of student demographic profiles on their decision
making to study at DPUIC
5. To identify the influences of Integrated Marketing Communication tools on
student decision making to study at DPUIC
6. To identify the influences of schools satisfaction on their decision making to
study at DPUIC
HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY
H1: Students from different demographics profiles are likely to perform different
making when choosing to study at DPUIC
H2: There is an influence of Integrated Marketing Communication tools on student
decision making to study at DPUIC
H3: There is an influence of student’s satisfaction on student decision making to
study at DPUIC
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14. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY
Independent Variables Dependent Variables
Decision Making to Study at
Demographic DPUIC
Variables (H1)
IMC Tools (H2)
Customer
Satisfaction (H3)
SCOPES AND THE LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
• This study is limited by the fact that it didn’t get all the undergraduate and
graduate students at DPUIC.
• This research is more skewed to DPUIC undergraduate because there are more
DPUIC undergraduate students than master and doctoral students
• Due to the small scale of this study, this study might not be generalizable to all
DPUIC customer base.
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15. • This research wasn’t based on doing focus groups and interviews, instead it
was based on assumptions and things we wanted to find out
• The results of this research can be only applied to DPUIC and not generalized
to other Thailand university.
• Depending on the questions and statistics and information we wanted, we
could have written questions in different forms and use different wording.
STUDY VARIABLES
The study explores the relationship between two type of variables . The
demographics variables include
1. Independent variables consist of
1.1 Gender, age, class level, major at DPUIC, Country, place where they are living,
work type, occupation, income
1.2 IMC Tools
• Information sources to apply to DPUIC
• Rating IMC tools on their influence to come to DPUIC
1.3 Customer Satisfaction
• Level of agreement
Professors and Staff at DPUIC
Teaching Organization
University Environment
University Facilities
2. Dependent Variable is
• Level of Satisfaction
Qualities of DPUIC
Service of Staff
Teaching Organization
School Environment
3. Decision Making of Students
o Reasons why they come to DPUIC
o Who influenced them to come to DPUIC
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16. o Factors they would consider when making a university choice
o Level of importance of people that influenced them to come to DPUIC
o Would they come to DPUIC
o Which universities would they come
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This research is important because Thailand educational market is becoming more
and more competitive. This means that DPUIC will continue to face more challenges
in recruiting more students.
Schools need to prove their worth to families in cost benefit analysis due to economic
downturn, the rise of tuition costs,
The economic pressures will force many Thai universities and all university more
targeted, more optimized in their marketing efforts to get return on investment on
their marketing dollars
Universities must demonstrate their value by addressing quality of education, the
possible jobs they can get the cost
In the USA, there is high rate of unemployment, as well a lot of people having high
debt loads. This is making students and families focus on the practicality of earning a
college. Students are not only expected to finish college years, but expect to be
employable in four years
Students might want outcome based, they are thinking return on time, money, and
they expect universities to demonstrate they will get from out come
Families want proof of the outcome, they want practical value of their educational
offering
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17. Cost of schools is important but also about value
Later on Thai students will evaluate the cost of the college in return what they can get
from their degree in the job market. They might look at less expensive education
This research is intended to help DPUIC management deal with the competitive
environment by providing insights and information to develop, implement, and
improve present and future DPUIC marketing plans by focusing on annual
recruitment target, increase student satisfaction.
This research is intended to help DPUIC with the following items
• Provide alternative marketing communication strategies to recruit new
students
• Provide alternative strategies to better satisfy current students and prospectives
• Nature relationships with current students
• Provide components of different customer profiles at DPUIC
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18. CHAPTER #2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Marketing
To deal with competition, a lot of universities are already doing marketing.
Marketing is becoming more and important. Many authors point to different ways at
looking at marketing.
Marketing according to the American Marketing Association is “a set of procedures
and organizational functions to create, communicate and transmit to customers” (Tai,
2007, p. 192) According to Schiffman, one of the things that marketing does is
differentiate products by stressing the attribute that will fulfill needs better than
competition (Schiffman, 1999, p. 141).
Higher education marketing is not a new phenomenon, institution have tried to help
students to make informed decisions for what schools that should go to help to
increase enquire about their programs, increase school applications and increase
enrollment through use of the various aspects of marketing mix such as product,
price, place and promotion for (Ivy, 2008, p. 289)
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19. School marketing according to Wu can be defined as “the process whereby school
members analyze school environments, education business, and target customers, and
make a right marketing plan and strategies to enhance the school image, build its
brand, strengthen its efficiency, and then meet its educational goals” (Tai, 2007, p.
192).
Lay describes college marketing as “College student marketing describes the
organized efforts to advance a college’s mission and goals through targeted
communications and the recruitment, selection, and retention of students whose
capabilities will contribute to their own development and that of others” (Schee, 2009,
p.2 )
Very few higher education institutions have mastered integrated marketing approach
(Schee, 2009, p.2) A longitudinal study of marketing indicate that there is not a
consistent, coordinated effort among colleges to implement a comprehensive
marketing plan. (Schee, 2009, p. 2)
Due to trends mention marketing is become more and more important. “Higher
education institutions today are facing a conflation of challenges that can be overcome
through more effective marketing. Increased competition for students, deep tuition
discounting, demographic pressures that put many traditional markets at risk, a highly
charged and incredibly nervous philanthropic environment— all have a huge impact
on the institution’s bottom line. Across the board, institutions have realized the truth
of an old aphorism: Smart marketing doesn’t cost money, it makes money.” (Lipman,
2010, p. 2)
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20. Relationship marketing and Enrollment Management
Along with marketing schools, two concepts that are important to deal with
competition include strategic enrollment management and relationship marketing.
Relationship marketing is a market orientation (MO) customer orientated approach
focus on customers’ needs, desires, and circumstances (Brown 293) Schools are
using relationship marketing (RM) approach in devising and implementing a
marketing plan and strategy in schools (and other educational organizations) (Brown,
2007, p. 292)
Market orientation is positively correlated with innovation; business profitability;
increased sales; high perceptions of service quality – excellence; employees’ high
levels of satisfaction and commitment; customers’ satisfaction, and brand loyalty.”
(Brown, 2007, p. 295)
Strategic Enrollment can be defined as “a comprehensive process designed to help an
institution achieve and maintain the optimum recruitment, retention, and graduation
rates of students, where ‘optimum’ is defined within the academic context of the
institution”(Schee. 2009. p 3).
The three areas that enrollment management focus on are 1) Recruiting, 2) Admission
and 3) retention. Enrollment management involves tracking and interacting with
students from the point of their initial contact with the institution until their
graduation or departure from the institution as well as attracts and retains students
(Schee, 2009, p. 2)
The people that are involved in enrollment management are enrollment management
officers. The different aspect of enrollment officer job include
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21. 1. Student marketing and recruitment
2. pricing and financial aid
3. academic and career advising
4. academic assistance programs
5. institutional research, orientation,
6. retention programs,
7. student services.
(Schee, 2009, p. 3)
Marketing Mix
The use of marketing mix is important way for universities to achieve their goals. The
marketing mix, “controllable marketing tools that an institution uses to produce the
response it wants from its various target markets. It consists of everything that the
university can do to influence the demand for the services that it offers.” (Ivy, 2008,
p. 289-290)
Different authors propose their understanding of what university marketing mix is.
Ivy proposes that business school have 7P marketing mix including Premiums,
Promotion, Program, Prospectus, Price, People, Prominence (Ivy, 2008, p. 294). Tai
proposes other definition of marketing mix.
The different components of a university marketing mix include
1. Product: For MBA program, the student is the customer, and the product is
the MBA degree is the product (Ivy, 2008, p. 289).
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22. 2. The price charged for a degree or tuition fee is the price part for the 7P
marketing mix of Business school. Price that MBA programs affects not only
revenue but also affect student quality (Iv, 2008, p. 289).
3. Promotion are tool such as advertising, public, public relations and sale
promotional efforts are tools that colleges use to provide people who might be
interested to come to university (Ivy, 2008, p. 290).
4. The people in the MBA marketing mix include all the people that prospective
and current students interact including professors, administrative staff adds
support staff. At a graduate level, the perception that prospective have of the
staff of university can affect the choice of schools they go t (Ivy, 2008, p.
290).
5. Premium is things that schools can add value to the program in the eyes of
people who might go the program (Iv 292). Prominence is the name of the
university or the reputation of school(Ivy, 2008, p. 292).
Ivy talks about different aspect of marketing mix for MBA program. According to
Ivy,
Product for MBA programs is the degree, and student’s customers, design of the
degree are important. This means “curriculum must be appropriately developed and
adapted to meet the needs of the students” (Ivy, 2008, p. 289). The price in an MBA
marketing mix is tuition fees. Tuition fees affects many things including revenue
derived from getting students, perception of quality. Promotion is tools such as
advertising, publicity, public relations and sales
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23. Promotional effort, open days, higher education exhibitions, conventions, direct mail.
These tools are used to provide the market what the tools and information has to offer.
In the university marketing mix, people include all the staff of the university such as
academic, administrative and support staff. Although is undecided whether staff plays
important role in getting undergraduate students, perception of teaching staff can
important role in getting student to come to a university (Ivy, 2008, p. 289).
IMAGE
According to Paramewaran and Glowacka, it is important for university to develop
and maintain a unique or distinctive image due to the increase competitive
marketplace (Russell, 2005, p. 66)
Developing and maintain a unique or distinctive image is important to the marketing
of school, because images even those limited and inaccurate image can influence the
chance of going to the school and recommending the schools to others (Russell, 2005,
p. 66)
In terms of image, according to an article by Marilyn Russell, “An institution actual
quality is seen by Gavin as often being “less important than its prestige or reputation
for quality, because is the university perceived excellence which in fact, guided the
decisions of prospective students and scholars considering offers. He suggests that the
main focus of attention should be on the customers perceived service quality in order
to assist in differentiation.” (Russell, 2005, p. 66)
The six elements of the school image are:
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24. 1. The quality of teachers: professional knowledge, the level of further education
and the teaching attitudes of teachers
2. The quality of students: student attitudes about studying and personality
3. Physical facilities: the physical facilities in schools such as equipment and
signs
4. The atmosphere of schools: how the overall morale is in a school
5. The environment of schools: the physical setting in and around schools
6. The accomplishments of the schools: the entire performance of schools such
as effiency of admistration, the percentage of students entering advanced level
ad finding jobs, the achievements of special skill of attending contexts, and
alumni accomplishments
(Tai, 2007, p. 194)
Marketing Research
As Lipman Hearne’s COO and director of the firm’s research practice, Donna Van De
Water who has conducted hundreds of quantitative and qualitative research studies
with our higher education clients,
“I’m struck by the fact that what works for one institution doesn’t necessarily work
for another. Of course there are variabilities between types and sizes of institutions,
but there are also significant differences within groups. Every institution has to
calibrate its marketing and communications to their market’s needs, the relative
strength of their brand, and the bottom-line needs of the institution. So while it’s
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25. important to compare yourself to other institutions, you still have to know your own
institution and audiences very well.
“Marketing is very complex. It’s not just what’s on a website, in an ad, or what your
campus looks like. It’s all the interactions you have with people, at every touch point
along the way throughout the constituent lifecycle. It’s hard to determine exactly what
brought in that student or that donor. That’s where research comes in: You have to
find out when and how people learned about an institution, what softened them up,
and what motivated them to take action. There needs to be tracking and follow up.
Sometimes institutions are afraid to ask these questions because they don’t want to get
bad news. But having the metrics helps an institution understand where it” (Litman,
2010, p. 17)
CUSTOMER PORTFOLIO AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Customers are important to many business including schools. All the customers or
students in the university consist of customer portfolio which is the collection of
mutually exclusive customer groups that compromise a business entire customer
base” (Buttle, 2008, p. 125)
Doing research for each of the segments of customer’s portfolio is important because
“customers not only have different needs, preferences and expectations, but also
different revenue and cost profiles, and therefore should be managed in different
ways” (Buttle, 2008. p 125)
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26. In Western Australia, there are three segments that is composed of university
marketing portfolio” international students (offshore and onshore), mature age
students, and high school leavers.
Each segment considers different factors when making their choice of program and
university. For example, mature age students, who generally work full time and study
part time, are likely to consider the availability of evening classes a high priority,
whereas students have entered university straight from high school, which tends to
work part time, are likely to consider job prospects as more important. (Soutar, 2002,
p. 40)
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Search process and how do students choose school
Hoffman states that “marketing managers need to understand the thought process used
by consumers during the three stages of the consumer decision process: the pre-
purchase choice among alternatives, the consumer reaction during consumption, the
post purchase evaluation of satisfaction” (Hoffman, 2006, p. 82)
At this point, there is not enough research or insufficient research about understanding
how prospective students/ and applications choice making (Maringe, 2006, p. 466)
Hoffman talks about the concept of choosing. When consumers decide to buy or get
something, prospective customers start collecting information about the different
alternatives to products they want to based options they have in their mind by past
experience, convince, and knowledge. ( Hoffman, 2006, p. 85)
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27. After using internal and external sources to gather information about alternatives to
the products and service they are looking in purchasing they will evaluate the
alternatives through such techniques as a gut level feeling, or a systematic evaluation
technique to evaluate the model such as multi-attribute model. (Hoffman, 2006, p.
85-87)
In terms when deciding what university go to and what major to study, students and
parents go through five phases include pre-search, search behavior, application stage,
choice decision, registration (Maringe, 2005, p. 468)
These five stages involve different actions. Students start thinking about their future
and where to study and start to recall or think about where to study during the pre-
search stage. During the search behavior, prospects and parents make a list of
potential place to study and then use various tools to get information about potential
places to study. After the search phase, prospects go through 3 phases, the application,
the choice and registration phase. (Maringe, 2005, p. 468)
Factors in choosing college and Criteria in Choosing schools
Research has shown that there are factors that influence whether a prospective comes
to a university.
Librare three very important factors that positively influence whether a person comes
to a university include national academic reputation, the quality of educational majors
available and the prestige of the university. The other factors that positively influence
whether a person comes to a university include students decision are quality of
facilities, variety of majors, degree of academic competition, social climate of the
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28. campus, quality of faculty, quality of social life, and the distance the college is from
home.
The factors that negatively decide whether a student comes to a university include the
amount of financial aid, percentage of costs covered by financial aid, the enrollment
deposit, access to faculty, speed in communication and the total costs.
(Libare, 2006, p.102)
There are a number of factors that students look at when choosing where to study
including The type of course that they want to do; The academic reputation of the
institution; The campus atmosphere; The quality of the teaching staff; The type of
university. There are personal factors that people might use to choose university
including Distance from home; what their family thinks about each university; The
University their friends wish to attend (Soutar, 2002, p. 40)
According to Zuker, the Vice President and Dean of Student at University of Dallas,
high schools use seven factors in choosing what a college to attend including the size
of the school, the academic environment, the social environment, the majors, the
extracurricular activities and cost
(Libare, 2006, p. 102)
According to Ivy, the top 7 factors (from most important to least important in terms of
influence to come to university ) of university mix of the eyes of MBA students that
positively affected whether they attend a university are Programme, Prominence ,
Price, Prospectus , People, Promotion, Premium .
(Ivy, 2008, p 296)
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29. Some examples of the criteria that students use to make choices for university include
programme, price, promotion, people, and prominence and place (Maringe, 2005, p.
475)
Another study by Marriage shows the top the top 7 factors (from most important to
least important in terms of influence to come to university ) of university mix are
Program , Price (, Place; Prominence ; Promotion , Prospectus, People (Maringe,
2005, p. 475)
Mazzarol in a study that examined the factors choice of study destination, using a
sample of students in Australia. found the most important factors in student choice to
study in a particular institution was the reorganization of their qualifications by future
employers, this f followed by intuition reputation for quality, its willingness to
recognize previous qualifications and the staff eruption for quality and expertise.
(Soutar, 2006, p. 41)
The most significant reasons for a student choice of an education institution in the
Netherlands include the quality of education offered, career opportunities, the school
reputation, opportunity for traineeships, faculty qualification, academic standards
(Soutar, 2006, p. 41)
The most important factors of business undergraduate to determine their reasons for
choosing to enroll at a particular university include factors such as future job
prospects, obtaining qualification that were valued by employers, being able to use
modern facilities, the standard of teaching and the international recognition of the
university program (Soutar, 2006, p. 41)
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30. A conjoint analysis of 259 final year high school students from a various government
and non government high school students in Western Australia prefer schools to a
university that
• Has course they really want
• Has a strong academic reputation
• Has good teaching quality
• Provides good job prospects at the end of their course
• Has a great campus atmosphere
• Has a technology bias
• Is close to home
• Is favored by their family
• Enables articulation or transfer between TAFT and the university
• Has friends are going to attend (Soutar, 2002, p. 44)
When students must make a decision to attend college, they tend to consult family,
friends, peers, teachers, counselors, college recruits for assistance (Libare, 2006, p.
101)
Most recently, Hu and Hossler found that students were most influenced by family
input and finance related factors”. (Libare, 2006, p 102)”
36
32. CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
POPULATION AND SAMPLE
The population for this indepedent study is all the DPUIC undergradate and graduate
and PHD students. This study used a quantitative to collect the data.
MARKETING RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
The major focus of this research is the study and analysis of DPUIC customer or
student base.
Customers are important to many business including schools. All the customers or
students in the university consist of customer portfolio which is the collection of
mutually exclusive customer groups that compromise a business entire customer
base” (Buttle, 125)
Doing research for each of the segments of customer’s portfolio is important because
“customers not only have different needs, preferences and expectations, but also
different revenue and cost profiles, and therefore should be managed in different
ways” (Buttle, 125)
In Western Australia, there are three segments that is composed of university
marketing portfolio” international students (offshore and onshore), mature age
students, and high school leavers.
Each segment considers different factors when making their choice of program and
university. For example, mature age students, who generally work full time and study
part time, are likely to consider the availability of evening classes a high priority,
38
33. whereas students have entered university straight from high school, which tend to
work part time, are likely to consider job prospects as more important. (Soutar 40)
The other areas that is important for this research
1. DPUIC marketing Mix
2. DPUIC Stated and unstated Brand Promise
3. Factors and Criteria that are important to decision making for DPUIC
marketing mix
Marketing Mix
As part of the research, I’m testing what previous research says are the components of
the marketing mix including DPUIC Premiums, Promotion, Program, Prospectus,
Price, People, Prominence
As part of the research, I’m testing the different aspects of DPUIC product which
include Professors and Staff at DPUIC, Teaching Organization, and University
environment. This information will be used to figure out which areas needs
improvement, because research has shown customer satisfaction is really important.
In terms of university product, A conjoint analysis of 259 final year high school
students from a various government and non government high school students in
Western Australia prefer schools to a university that
• Has course they really want
39
34. • Has a strong academic reputation
• Has good teaching quality
• Provides good job prospects at the end of their course
• Has a great campus atmosphere
• Has a technology bias
• Is close to home
• Is favored by their family
• Enables articulation or transfer between TAFT and the university
• Has friends are going to attend (Soutar 44)
40
35. DATA COLLECTION METHOD
The questionare will have four sections including sections dealing with
1. Demographic
2. IMC tools
3. Customer Satisfation
4. Decision Making
The questionare will be collected at DPUIC during the weekday as well as during the
weekend with the help of DPUIC and staff
Part #1: Personal Information
Part #2: IMC Tools
Gender, age, class level, major at DPUIC, country of orgin, whether they work, they
type of job they do, the occupation they do, the monthly income they do
Where they get information to apply to DPUIC, the levels of influence of different
IMC tools on their decision to come to DPUIC (advertising, Public Relationship,
Online, Personal information)
Part #3: Customer Satisfaction
Level of satisfication on different aspects of DPUIC product including, Professors and
Staff at DPUIC, Teaching Organization, University Facilities,
Part #4: Decision Making
Reasons why they come to DPUIC, Who influenced them to come to DPUIC, the
factors they considered in making a choice to come to DPUIC, whether they would
come to DPUIC are not
Data Analysis
This study used two types of data analysis techniques
Descriptive statistics such as percentage, mean, frequency, standard deviation
to describe the variable
Inferential statistics which are Chi Square and X2 tests
41
36. Testing the different criteria and factors that prospect used to come to school
and the different levels of influence
Research has shown some factors of the university marketing mix that positive affect
whether they attend university include Programme , Prominence, Price, Prospectus ,
People, Promotion , Premium.
According to research, the other factors that positively influence whether a person
comes to a university include students decision are quality of facilities, variety of
majors, degree of academic competition, social climate of the campus, quality of
faculty, quality of social life, and the distance the college is from home.
The factors that negatively decide whether a student comes to a university include the
amount of financial aid, percentage of costs covered by financial aid, the enrollment
deposit, access to faculty, speed in communication and the total costs.
Mazzarol in a study that examined the factors choice of study destination, using a
sample of students in Australia. found the most important factors in student choice to
study in a particular institution was the reorganization of their qualifications by future
employers, this f followed by intuition reputation for quality, its willingness to
recognize previous qualifications and the staff eruption for quality and expertise
(Soutar, 2002, p.41).
The most significant reasons for a student choice of an education institution in the
Netherlands include the quality of education offered, career opportunities, the school
reputation, opportunity for traineeships, faculty qualification, academic standards
(Soutar, 2002, p.41).
42
37. The most important factors of business undergraduate to determine their reasons for
choosing to enroll at a particular university include factors such as future job
prospects, obtaining qualification that were valued by employers, being able to use
modern facilities, the standard of teaching and the international recognition of the
university program (Soutar, 2002, p.41).
In terms of influence, when students must make a decision to attend college, they tend
to consult family, friends, peers, teachers, counselors, college recruits for assistance .
43
38. CHAPTER 4
PART 1. PERSONAL INFORMATION
GENDER
47 people respondent to this question. Out of the people that responded, 51 % were
male and 49% were Female.
AGE
49 people responded to this question. The mean age is 25, the median age is 22, the
minimum age is 16, and the maximum age is 47.
CLASS LEVEL
49 people respondent to this question. Out of the people that responded, 70%
undergraduate, 20% are master degree, 10% are doctorate.
MAJOR FOR UNDEGRADAUTE
34 people responded to this question. Out of the people that responded, 65% are from
English for Business Communications, 30%, 5 percent are from International
Business.
MAJOR FOR MASTERS DEGREE
7 people respondent to this question. Out of the people that responded, 72% are from
Integrated and marketing communications, 14% are Business Administration with
Concentration of IMC, 14% are from Strategy and Intelligence
MAJOR FOR CLASS DOCTORATE
There were 6 people that indicated they were doctorate students. Out of the people
that responded, 83% are DBA, 17% out of Strategy and Intelligence.
CLASS MAJORS FOR TOTAL SURVEY
46 % are Undergraduate for Business Comm, 21% are Undegrad Hospitality, 11% are
Master IMC, 11% are Doctorate Business Admiration DBA, 4 % are Undergrad
International Business, 2 percent are Master Business Informatics, 2 percent are
Master BA with IMC, 2 percent are Master Business Intelligence, 2 percent are
Doctorate Intelligence
WHERE ARE YOU FROM
44
39. 49 people responded to this question. 67% are from Thailand, 12 % are from China,
8% are from Sweden, 4% are from Cameron, 2% are Belgium’s, 2% are from
Germany, 2% are from USA, 2 % are from Cambodia
WHERE ARE YOU LIVING
49 people responded to this question. All are living in Thailand. 75.5% are living in
Bangkok,
20 % are living in Nontaburi, 2 % are living in Chantuburi, 2 % are living Songkla,
2% are living in Trat, 2% are living in Yala.
WORK
50 people responded to the section answering whether work. Out of the people that
responded, 66% don’t work, 18% work part time, and 16% work full time.
.TYPE OF WORK
15 people responded to type of work. Out of the people that respondent, 33% are
Private Employees, 27% are other, 20 % are Private Business, 20% are Government
OCCUPATION
15 people responded the question concerning to occupation. Out of the people that
responded, 26% are Education, 26% are in Management, 13% are in sports, 13% are
in IT, 6.6% are in Science, 6.6% are in Politics, 6.6% are in Marketing
INCOME
17 people responded. Out of the people that responded, 47% are less than 15,000,
17% make between 15,000 to 25,000, 11.76% make it 25,001 to 35,000, 11.76%
make it more than 55,000, 5.8% make 35,0001 to 45,000, 5.8% make more than
55,000+
PART 2: IMC TOOLS
INFORMATION SOURCE
The 5 most common sources that people get for DPUIC include friends (35.3%), web
(13.7%), parents (11.8%), Exhibition (11.8%), former students (9.8%), Brochure
45
40. (7.8%), Current students (5.9%), Print (5.9%), Members of industry (5.9 % ), Boss
(2%), Newspaper (2%)
Level of importance Print
49 people responded to this question concerning the level of influence of Print on
coming to DPUIC. 30.6% says Print is important, 20.4% says Print is very important,
28.5 % says Print neither important nor or important. 14.28 % is moderately
important, 6.12 % is not important at
Level of importance Radio
49 people responded to this question concerning the level of influence of Radio on
coming to DPUIC. 30.6% says Radio not important, 24.5 percent says Radio is not
important tall, 25.5% says Radio is neither important nor or important, 10% says
Radio is important, 10% says Radio is very important in decision to come to DPUIC
Level of importance TV
49 people responded to this question concerning the level of influence of TV on
coming to DPUIC. 32.65% says TV is very important, 24.45 % is very important,
16.32 % says TV is not important, 14.2% says TV is not important all, 12.22% says
TV Neither important or important
Level of importance Catalog
49 people responded the level of influence of Catalog on coming to DPUIC, 39% says
catalog neither important or not important, Important 22%) says Catalog is important,
Not important (16%), Not important at all (14%), Very important (8%)
Level of importance Brochure
49 people responded the level of influence of Brochure on coming to DPUIC. (12%)
says Brochure is Not important at all, (8%) says Brochure is Not important, (24.48%)
says Brochure is neither important or not important, (45%) says Brochure is
Important, (10%) says Brochure is Very important
Level of importance Flyer
49 people responded the level of influence of Flyer on coming to DPUIC. (39%) says
flyer is neither important nor not important, 28.57% says Flyer is important, 16.32%
says Flyer Not important at all, 12.24% says Flyer is not important, 4.08% says Flyer
is Very important
Level of importance Tradeshow
46
41. 49 people responded the level of influence of Trade Show on coming to DPUIC.
30.61% says Trade Show is Important, 24.48% says Trade Show is Very important,
20.40% says Trade Show is Neither important or not important, 14.28% says Trade
Show is Not important, 10.20% says Trade Show is Not important at all
Level of importance Sponsor
49 people responded the level of influence of Show on coming to DPUIC. 35% says
Sponsor is Important, 24.48% says Sponsor is neither important or nor important,
18.36% says Sponsor is Very important, 12.24% says Sponsor is Not important at
all, 10.20% says Sponsor is Not important
Level of importance Newspaper
49 people responded the level of influence of Newspaper on coming to DPUIC. 45%
says Newspaper is Important, 20% says Newspaper is Neither important nor not
important, 12% says Newspaper is Not important, 12% says Newspaper is Very
important, 10% says Newspaper is Not important at all
Level of importance Magazine
49 people responded the level of influence of magazine are coming to DPUIC, 44.5%
says Magazine is Important, 20.4% says Magazine is Neither important nor not
important, 16.32% says Magazine is Very important, 10.20% says Magazine is Not
important at all, 8.16% says Magazine is Not important
Level of Importance Website
49 people responded the level of influence of website are coming to DPUIC, 47%
says website is Very important, 29% says website is Important, 12% says website is
Neither important nor not important, 6% says website is Not important at all, 6%
says website is Not important
Level of Importance Blog
49 people responded the level of influence Blog in coming to DPUIC. 35% says blog
is Important, 24% % says blog is Very important, 16% % says blog is neither
important nor than important, 12% % says blog is Not important at all, 12% % says
blog is Not important
47
42. Level of importance Twitter
49 people responded the level of influence Twitter in coming to DPUIC. 28.57% says
Twitter is neither important nor not important, 26.5% says Twitter is Important,
16.32% says Twitter is Not important at all, 16.32% says Twitter is Very important,
12.24% says Twitter is Not important
Level of importance Facebook
49 people responded the level of influence of Facebook in coming to DPUIC. 30.61%
says Facebook is Important, 29% says Facebook is Very important, 20.40% says
Facebook is neither important nor not important, 12.24% says Facebook is Not
important, 8.16 % says Facebook is Not important at all
Level of importance: other social network
45 responded to the level of social network in coming to DPUIC. 33% says other
social network Is Neither important nor not important, 27% says other social
network Is Important, 16% says other social network Is Very important, 13.3% says
other social network Is Not important, 11.11% says other social network Is Not
important at all
Level of Importance Front line Staff
49 people responded to the level of influence of Front Line Staff in coming to
DPUIC. 47% says Front Line Staff is Important, 22% says Front Line Staff is Very
important, 12.24% says Front Line Staff is Not important at all, 12.24% says Front
Line Staff is Neither important nor not important, 6.12% says Front Line Staff is Not
important
Level of Importance Administrator
49 people responded the question of the level of Administrator in coming to DPUIC.
45% says Administrator is Important, 22.44% says Administrator is Very important,
20.40% says Administrator is neither important nor not important, 12.24% says
Administrator is Not important at all
Level of Importance Professors
49 people responded to the question of the level of influence of Professors in coming
to DPUIC.43% says professors is Very important, 35% says professors is Important,
10.20% says professors is Neither important nor not important, 8% says professors is
Not important at all, 4% says professors is Not important
48
43. Level of Scholarship
50 people responded to the question of the level of influence on Scholarships in
coming to DPUIC. 42% says scholarship is Very important, 34% says scholarship is
Important, 10% says scholarship is neither important nor not important, 8% says
scholarship is Not important at all
PART 3: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Professor and Staff at DPUIC
Agree or disagree: Professor Knowledge
50 people responded to this question.
• 38% Agree with DPUIC professors are knowledgeable about their subjects
• 32% Strong agree with DPUIC professors are knowledgeable about their
subjects
• 20% neither agree or disagree DPUIC professors are knowledgeable about
their subjects
• 6% Disagree with DPUIC professors are knowledgeable about their subjects
• 4% strongly disagree with DPUIC professors are knowledgeable about their
subjects
Agree or disagree: Professor up to date
50 people responded to this question.
• 46% agree with DPUIC professors are update to the latest knowledge
• 32% Strong agree with DPUIC professors are update to the latest knowledge
• 18% neither agree nor disagree with DPUIC professors are update to the latest
knowledge
• 2% strongly disagree with DPUIC professors are update to the latest
knowledge
49
44. • 2% disagree with DPUIC professors are update to the latest knowledge
Agree or disagree: Professor Care for student
50 people responded to this question.
• 44% agree with DPUIC professors care for students as individuals
• 26% Strong agree with DPUIC professors care for students as individuals
• 24% neither agree nor disagree DPUIC professors care for students as
individuals
• 4% strongly disagree with DPUIC professors care for students as individuals
• 2% disagree with DPUIC professors care for students as individuals
Agree or disagree: Staff Helpful
• 50 people responded to this question.
• 42% Strong agree with DPUIC staff is extremely helpful and nice
• 34% Agree with DPUIC staff is extremely helpful and nice
• 14% neither agree or disagree DPUIC staff is extremely helpful and nice
• 8% Disagree with DPUIC staff is extremely helpful and nice
• 2% strongly disagree with DPUIC staff is extremely helpful and nice
TEACHING ORGANIZATION
Agree or disagree: Class Size
50 people responded to this question.
• 36% Strong agree with DPUIC class size allows me to learn optimally
• 32% Agree with DPUIC class size allows me to learn optimally
50
45. • 22% neither agree or disagree DPUIC class size allows me to learn optimally
• 6% Disagree with DPUIC class size allows me to learn optimally
• 4% strongly disagree with DPUIC class size allows me to learn optimally
Agree or disagree: Class meets my needs
50 people responded to this question
• 38% Agree with DPUIC has classes that meet my schedule
• 28% strongly agree with DPUIC has classes that meets my schedule
• 24% neither agree or disagree DPUIC has classes that meets my schedule
• 6% strongly disagree with DPUIC has classes that meets my schedule
• 4% Disagree with DPUIC has classes that meet my schedule
Agree or disagree: DPUICExtra
50 people responded to this question
• 32% Agree with DPUIC has extra circular activities interaction that
supplement learning
• 26% Neither agree or disagree with DPUIC has extra circular activities
interaction that supplement learning
• 26% strongly agree with DPUIC has extra circular activities interaction that
supplement learning
• 14% Disagree with DPUIC has extra circular activities interaction that
supplement learning
• 2% strongly disagree with DPUIC has extra circular activities interaction that
supplement learning
51
46. Agree or disagree: DPUICExposure
50 people responded to this question
• 30% neither agree or disagree DPUIC provides students with exposure to meet
people with real world business people and academic
• 28% Agree with DPUIC provides students with exposure to meet people with
real world business people and academic
• 28% Strong agree with DPUIC provides students with exposure to meet
people with real world business people and academic
• 8% Disagree with DPUIC provides students with exposure to meet people
with real world business people and academic
• 6% strongly disagree with DPUIC provides students with exposure to meet
people with real world business people and academic
Agree or disagree: DPUICexpos
48 responded to this question
• 40% neither agree or disagree DPUIC has books, magazines and other
resources that supplement my learning
• 35% Agree with DPUIC has books, magazines and other resources that
supplement my learning
• 21% Strong agree with DPUIC has books, magazines and other resources that
supplement my learning
• 4% disagree with DPUIC has books, magazines and other resources that
supplement my learning
Agree or disagree: DPUICBooks
49 people responded to this question.
• 2% strongly disagree with DPUIC has activities interaction that supplement
my learning
• 12% Disagree with has activities interaction that supplement my learning
52
47. • 22% neither agree or disagree has activities interaction that supplement my
learning
• 45% Agree with has activities interaction that supplement my learning
• 18% Strong agree with Agree with has activities interaction that supplement
my learning
Agree_Diagree DPUIC modernclass
49 people responded to this question.
• 16% strongly disagree with DPUIC has modern classrooms with adequate
class room technologies
• 8% disagree with DPUIC has modern classrooms with adequate class room
technologies
• 24 % neither agree or disagree DPUIC has modern classrooms with adequate
class room technologies
• 44% strongly agree with DPUIC has modern classrooms with adequate class
room technologies
Level of Satisfaction Quality of Professors
49 people responded to this question
• 45% are satisfied with quality of Professors at DPUIC
• 35% are Strongly Satisfied with quality of Professors at DPUIC
• 12% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with quality of Professors at DPUIC
• 4% are strongly dissatisfied with quality of Professors at DPUIC
• 4% are dissatisfied with quality of Professors at DPUIC
Level of Satisfaction: Service Staff
50 responded to this question
• 47% are satisfied with Service Staff
53
48. • 33% are Strongly Satisfied with Service Staff
• 14% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with Service Staff
• 4% are strongly dissatisfied with Service Staff
• 4% are dissatisfied with Service Staff
Level of Satsification:Teachininorg
50 responded to this question
• 54% are Satisfied with teaching organization
• 22% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with teaching organization
• 18% are Strongly Satisfied with teaching organization
• 4% are strongly dissatisfied with teaching organization
• 4% are dissatisfied with teaching organization
Level of Satsification: School environment
50 responded to this question
• 36% are satisfied with school environment
• 32% are Strongly Satisfied with school environment
• 24% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with school environment
• 6% are dissatisfied with school environment
• 2% are strongly dissatisfied with school environment
Level of Satsification: Schoolfacilities
• 50 responded to this question
• 46% are satisfied with school facilities
• 22% are Strongly Satisfied with school facilities
• 18% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with school facilities
54
49. • 8% are dissatisfied with school facilities
• 6% are strongly dissatisfied with school facilities
PART 4: DECISION MAKING
Reasons why they come
Advance Career:
49 responded to this question. 45% came to advance their career.
Start a business:
49 people responded this question. Out of the people that responded. 22% said yes
about coming to DPUIC to start a business
Change Career:
50 people responded to this question. Out of the people that responded, 24% said yes
about coming to DPUIC to change a career
Personal Enrich:
50 people responded to this question.
56 % came to DPUIC for personal enrichment.
Start First career: 50 people responded to this question.
12% came to start a career.
Make more money: 50 people responded to this question.
38% came to make money at DPUIC
Required employment: 49 responded to this question.
78% reason to come to DPUIC for required employment
Keep up to date: 50 responded to this question
30% did come to keep up to date with career
55
50. LEVELS OF INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT PEOPLE
Out of the people that responded, the people who influenced other (45.1%), Friends
(31.4%), Parents (19.6%), Former College (15.7%), Current College (5.9%)
LEVEL OF IMPORTANCE OF DIFFERENT FACTORS:
Close to home
50 people responded to the question of level of importance of close to home in
choosing university. 32% says being close to home is important; 24% says being close
to home is neither important nor important, 20% says being close to home is not
important at all, 18% says being close to home is very important; 6% says being close
to home not important
Tuition Cost
50 people responded to the question of the level of importance of Tuition close in
choosing university. 38% says Tuition cost is important, 26% says Tuition cost is Not
important nor important, 14% says Tuition cost is very important,12% says Tuition
cost is Not important at all , 10% says Tuition cost is Not important ,
Level of importance: Reputation of institution
50 people responded to this question of the level of importance of reputation of
institution in choosing a university. 6% says reputation of institution is not important
at all, 14% says reputation of institution is not important, 30% says reputation of
institution is not important nor important, 30% says reputation of institution is
Important, 20% says reputation of institution is Very important,
Level of importance: Reputation of Professors
48 responded to this question of the level of importance of reputation of professors in
choosing a university. 33% says reputation of professors is very important, 31% says
reputation of professors is important, 19% says reputation of professors is Not
important nor important, 10% says reputation of professors is not important at all,
6% says reputation of professors is not important
Level of importance: Size of university
49 people responded to this question of the level of importance of the size of the
university in choosing a university. 41% says Size of University is Not important nor
56
51. important, 31% says Size of University is important, 17% says Size of University is
not important, 13% says Size of University is not important at all, 2% says Size of
University is very important
Level of importance: Class Size
50 people responded to this question of the level of importance of class size in
choosing a university. 47% says class size is important, 21% says class size is not
important nor important, 19% says class size is very important, 10.41% says class size
is not important at all, 6.25% says class size is not important
Level of importance: Influence of Parents
50 people responded to this question on the level of importance of parents in coming
to DPUIC.28% says Parents is not important at all, 29% says Parents is Important,
17% says Parents is Not important nor important, 17% says Parents is Very
important, 12% says Parents is Not important
Level of importance: Friends
50 people responded to this question on the level of importance of Friends in coming
to DPUIC, 26% says Friends is Not important at all, 27% says Friends is Important,
23% says Friends is Not important neither not important, 15% says Friends is Not
important, 13% says Friends is Very important
Level of importance: Current College
49 people responded to this question on the level of importance of current college
students coming to DPUIC. 26% says current college students is Important, 23%
says current college students is Not important at all, 23% says current college students
is Not important nor important, 21% says current college students is Not important,
8% says current college students is Very important
Level of importance: Influence Former College
50 people responded to this question on the level of importance of former college
students coming to DPUIC. 26% say former students is Not important at all, 25% say
former students is Not important nor important, 23% say former students is
Important,17% say former students is Not important, 13% say former students is
Very important
Level of importance: Boss
57
52. 48 responded to this question on the level of importance of boss coming to DPUIC.
46% says boss is Not important at all, 21% says boss is Not important nor important,
13% says boss is Not important, 13% says boss is Important, 6% says boss is Very
important
Go to DPUIC
32 people respondent. Out of the people that responded, 84% said yes they would go
to DPUIC. 16% they said no that they don’t go to DPUIC
Below is the table showing what schools that the people would go to
School Name Frequency
Thammsat 21
Chula 19
Mahidol 17
Assumption University 15
Stamford 8
Ramkaheang 7
Rangit 7
Dusit Thani 6
Sasin 4
Weber State 4
Bangkok University 3
Asian University 2
Siam University 2
Western University 2
Thailand Chamber 2
Nida 2
Sripatum 1
58
53. Abroad 1
Asian Institute 1
Go Abroad 1
Silpakorn 1
The other, who influenced,
The other people who influenced them to come to DPUIC, themselves (5 response),
Program (2 response), Partner (1 response), Administrator (1 response), Chinese
Teacher (1 response), Uncle (1 response)
ANALYSIS USING CHI-SQUARE TEST
The original intent of the study is to test whether there is a relationship between
1. Demographic variables (H1) and Decision Making to Study at DPUIC
2. IMC tools (H2) and Decision Making to Study at DPUIC
3. Customer Satisfaction (H3) and Decision Making to Study at DPUIC
I wanted to test the relationship based the relationship between Significant and alpha
value of .005
If Significant value or P value > alpha, I would accept H0 meaning there is no
relationship between the two variables
If Significant value or P value < alpha, I would accept H0 meaning there is a
relationship between the two variables
Demographic variables (H1) and Decision Making to Study at DPUIC
There is a correlation between class level and making money
P value Df
.012 2
There is a correlation between class level and keep up to date
59
54. P value Df
040 2
There is a correlation between gender and first career
P value Df
.20 1
There is a correlation between gender and size university
P value Df
.024 4
There is a correlation between gender and level influence Boss
P value Df
.044 4
There is a correlation between age and required employment
P value Df
.003 38
There is a correlation between graduate and required employment
P value Df
.046 3
There is a correlation between graduate and influence current college
P value Df
60
55. .046 3
There is a correlation between graduate and Asian university
P value Df
.046 3
There is a correlation between graduate and Thamasat university
P value Df
.046 3
There is a correlation between doctorate and Dusit Tani
P value Df
.014 3
There is a correlation between doctorate and Thailand Chamber
P value Df
.014 1
There is a correlation between work and Influence of Parents
P value Df
.031 2
There is a correlation between type of work and influence parents
P value Df
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56. .003 4
There is a correlation between occupation and start first career
P value Df
.025 7
There is a correlation between occupation and influence of parents
P value Df
.025 7
There is a correlation between occupation and tuition costs
P value Df
.043 28
There is a correlation between occupation and tuition costs
P value Df
.045 28
There is a correlation between occupation and Weber state
P value Df
.020 6
There is a correlation between income and influence of boss
62
57. P value Df
.015 20
There is a correlation between income and Thailand Chamber
P value Df
.004 5
IMC tools (H2) and Decision Making to Study at DPUIC
There is a correlation between infoparents and influence parents
P value Df
.002 1
There is a correlation between infoparents and Chula
P value Df
.025 1
There is a correlation between infoparents and Kasem Bundit
P value Df
.012 1
There is a correlation between infoparents and Dusit Thani
P value Df
.033 2
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58. There is a correlation between infoparents and Mahidol
P value Df
.033 2
There is a correlation between infoparents and Ramkamheang
P value Df
.28 2
There is a correlation between infoparents and Ramkamheang
P value Df
.031 2
There is a correlation between infoparents and Sasin Graduate
P value Df
.031 2
There is a correlation between infoparents and Siam University
P value Df
.038 2
There is a correlation between infoparents and Sripatum
P value Df
.012 2
There is a correlation between infoparents and Stamford Internation U
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59. P value Df
.043 2
There is a correlation between infoparents and Thammsat
P value Df
.017 2
There is a correlation between infoparents and Webstate
P value Df
.031 2
There is a correlation between infoparents and Western University
P value Df
.012 2
There is a correlation between infoparents and Thailand Chamber
P value Df
.038 2
There is a correlation between infoparents and Other
P value Df
.019 2
There is a correlation between info friends and advance career
P value Df
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60. .000 4
There is a correlation between info friends and start a business
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between info friends and influence friends
P value Df
.001 2
There is a correlation between info friends and Sripatum
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between info Current student and advanced career
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between info Current student and start a business
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between info Current student and influence Current College
P value Df
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61. .000 2
There is a correlation between info Current student and Asian University
P value Df
.039 2
There is a correlation between info Current student and Sripatum
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between info former student and advance career
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between info former student and start a buisness
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between info former student and influence former college
P value Df
.000 2
There is a correlation between info former student and Go to DPUIC
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62. P value Df
.006 2
There is a correlation between info former student and Chula
P value Df
.028 4
There is a correlation between info former student and Kasem Bundit
P value Df
.015 2
There is a correlation between info former student and Mahidol
P value Df
.020 2
There is a correlation between info former student and Rangsit
P value Df
.004 4
There is a correlation between info former student and Sripatum
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between inform Exhib and advance Career
P value Df
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63. .000 4
There is a correlation between inform Exhib and start a business
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between inform Exhib and Sripatum
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between infowebsite and advance career
P value Df
.010 2
There is a correlation between infowebsite and start a business
P value Df
.042 2
There is a correlation between infowebsite and change a career
P value Df
.034 2
There is a correlation between info boss and advance career
P value Df
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64. .000 4
There is a correlation between info boss and start a buisness
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between infoBoss and Influence Former College
P value Df
.047 2
There is a correlation between infoBoss and Sripatum
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between Brochure and advance career
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between Brochure and start a buisness
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between Brochure and required employment
P value Df
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65. .016 4
There is a correlation between Brochure and Sripatum
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between print and advance career
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between print and start a business
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between print and tuition cost
P value Df
.024 8
There is a correlation between infoprint and Sripatum
P value Df
.000 .05
There is a correlation between radio and advance career
P value Df
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66. .000 4
There is a correlation between info prints and advance career
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between info-print and start a business
P value Df
.000 4
There is a correlation between info-print and required employment
P value Df
.003 4
There is a correlation between infoprint and tuition cost
P value Df
.024 8
There is a correlation between infoprint and Sripatum
P value Df
.000 4
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67. There is a correlation between info radio and start a business
P value Df
.000 .05
There is a correlation between info radio and asian university
P value Df
.046 1
There is a correlation between info radio and Kasem Bundit
P value Df
.023 1
There is a correlation between inforfacebook and Asian University
P value Df
.046 1
There is a correlation between inforfacebook and Kasem bundit
P value Df
.023 1
There is a correlation between info newspaper and kasem bundit
P value Df
.046 2
There is a correlation between infomemberind and Kasem Bundit
P value Df
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69. CHAPTER 5
POPULATION AND SAMPLE
The population for this independent study is DPUIC undergraduate (UG) students and
postgraduate students (PG: Masters and Doctoral). This study used a questionnaire to
collect the data
The sample of this study is the undergraduate and graduate students (masters and
doctorate) student at DPUIC. A total of 50 surveys were collected. 49 out of the 50
students indicated their class level. Out of the 49 people that indicated their class
level, a total of 34 undergraduate, 10 Master degrees, and 5 Doctorate was collected
Data Collection Tools
The questionnaire was used to collect data. It consisted of 4 parts as follows:
5. Demographic
6. IMC tools
7. Customer Satisfaction
8. Decision Making
Data collection was conducted at DPUIC during the weekday for UG level as well as
during the weekend for PG level with the help of DPUIC staff e.g. distributing the
questionnaire in the class room
Part 1: Personal Information comprised questions about gender, age, class level,
major at DPUIC, country of origin, whether they work, they type of job they do, the
occupation they do, the monthly income they do
Part 2: IMC Tools comprised questions about which tools / media they received
information to apply to DPUIC; the IMC tools that students have considered when
making decision to study at DPUIC (advertising, Public Relationship, Online,
Personal information)
Part 3: Customer Satisfaction comprised questions about level of satisfaction on
different aspects of DPUIC product including, professors, staff, teaching organization,
and university Facilities,
Part 4: Decision Making comprised questions about reasons why they come to
DPUIC, who influenced them to come to DPUIC, the factors they considered in
making a decision to come to DPUIC, whether they would come to DPUIC or not.
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70. Data collection was conducted at DPUIC during the weekday for UG level as well as
during the weekend for PG level with the help of DPUIC’s professors (Mr. Dominic
Bone and Mr. David Common) e.g. distributing the questionnaire in the class room.
A total of 50 surveys were collected. 49 out of the 50 students indicated their class
level. Out of the 49 people that indicated their class level, a total of 34 undergraduate,
10 Master degrees, and 5 Doctorate was collected
Introduction to Chapter 5
The purpose of collecting this research is not to collect research for research sake, its
done to help DPUIC recruit, keep students, professors, build the brand and increase
the reputation of DPUIC of an excellent academic institution.
This is more and more important because DPUIC is not only competing for
prospective students that might stay in Thailand for international program but
overseas prospective.
Since DPUIC is a private institution, DPUIC needs constantly find ways to recruit
new students, retain new students, improve the different aspect of brand, develop win-
win relationships with business. Constantly collecting surveys such as this one as well
formal and informal research can provide insights and information to help
One of the major purpose of conducting this survey is to analyze the current DPUIC
marketing portfolio which consist of undergraduate, master, and PhD.
The better that DPUIC understands their current customer base the better chance
DPUIC has to
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71. empathize with their customer base. This will help create more persuasive marketing
material to help DPUIC achieve its major goals. eliminate the agony the guessing of
what to say to where and how you communicate with your buyer personas.
Analyzing current base is important because like all business the university customer
portfolio consist of many existing customer segments. To be successful in retaining
and attracting students like the one in the customer portfolio, schools must conduct
research for each of the customer segments because often the needs, desires, the
people who influence them, what they want to achieve and how to reach them are
different from other in the customer portfolio.
DATA COLLECTION METHODS
DISCUSSION OF PART 1 of Research: Demographics
As expected we have more data that turned out to be undegradate students than
graduate student. This is expected we have more undergraduate than graduate student
Based on what collected, about 50% of people that is surveyed was male and 50% of
surveyed was female. The sample showed that DPUIC students varies among ages
from 16 to 47. My assumption proved true that most of the people that will fill out
survey is undergraduate.
I expected that the location that students would come from would be from Thailand
and China, that proved true. 67% are from Thailand, 12 % are from China. My
assumption proved true that most students would either live in Bangkok (75.5%) or
Nontaburi (20%).
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72. In terms of work, 66% of the students surveyed don’t work. It can be assumed why a
high percentage don’t work is that most of the students are undergraduate and
undergraduates in Thailand don’t work.
There wasn’t any real difference between the type of occupations, , 33% are Private
Employees, 27% are other, 20 % are Private Business, 20% are Government
Introduction to DISCUSSION OF IMC TOOLS
IMC tools
Most Academic institutions have integrated marketing plan and student enrollment plan
composed of marketing mix such as advertising, public Relations, Sales promotion, road
show, direct marketing, Word of mouth, Sponsorship, scholarship, . Webpages, Facebook,
Twitter, Blog to achieve several objectives
7. Build brand awareness
8. Communicate the features and benefits of the school and each benefit
9. Communicate their value proposition
10. Communicate why should students come to this school
11. Get to know people with a specific need to know and trust them
12. Communicate the way they are different from other schools
13. Get new students
14. Get new prospects
To be successful, schools such as DPUIC needs to improve the use of IMC mix as well look
as new tools and tactics to achieve objective tools.
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73. Academic institution must understand which IMC tool mix appeals and used for each
the major segments of the customer portfolio which for this study is undergraduate,
graduate, PHD.
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74. Marketing Mix
According to research The different components of a university marketing mix
include Product: For MBA program, the student is the customer, and the product is
the MBA degree is the product, The price charged for a degree or tuition fee,
promotion, people such as professors, administrative staff adds support staff. At a
graduate level, the perception that prospective have of the staff of university can
affect the choice of school, premium.
Discussing results of Information Source
The top 5 information Source that people used to get information for DPUIC include
friends (35.3%), web (13.7%), parents (11.8%), Exhibition (11.8%), former students
(9.8%). This means that that DPUIC should focus marketing efforts on include friends
, web , parents, Exhibition, former students through thing such as having open house
where prospective students can meet with parents of alumni, and current students,
creating marketing material to deal with parents, improve and enhance DPUIC
website.
Discussion on of level of marketing mix
Below % of Level of importance of different marketing mix that is important +
very importance
Media mix %
Professors 78%
Website 76%
Level of Scholarship 76%
Front line Staff 69%
Administrator 67.44%
Magazine 60.73%
Facebook 60%
TV 60.1
Blog 59%
Newspaper 57%
Trade Show 55.09%
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75. Brochure 55%
Sponsor 53.06%
Print 51.04
Other social network 43%
Twitter 43%
Flyer 32.65%
Catalog 38
% agree + % disagree
Statement strongly agree +strongly agree
DPUIC professors are knowledge about their topics 68% 10%
DPUIC professors are update to the latest knowledge 78% 4%
DPUIC professors care for students as individuals 70% 6%
DPUIC staff is extremely helpful and nice 78% 10%
DPUIC class size allows me to learn optimally 68% 10%
DPUIC has classes that meet my schedule 66% 10%
DPUIC has extra circular activities interaction that supplement learning 58% 16%
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76. DPUIC provides students with exposure to meet people with real world business people and
academic 56% 14%
DPUIC has books, magazines and other resources that supplement my learning 56% 4%
DPUIC has activities interaction that supplement my learning 63% 14%
DPUIC has modern classrooms with adequate class room technologies 44% 28%
% agree + % disagree
Statement strongly agree +strongly agree
DPUIC professors are knowledge about their topics 68% 10%
DPUIC professors are update to the latest knowledge 78% 4%
DPUIC professors care for students as individuals 70% 6%
DPUIC staff is extremely helpful and nice 78% 10%
DPUIC class size allows me to learn optimally 68% 10%
DPUIC has classes that meet my schedule 66% 10%
DPUIC has extra circular activities interaction that supplement learning 58% 16%
DPUIC provides students with exposure to meet people with real world business people and
academic 56% 14%
DPUIC has books, magazines and other resources that supplement my learning 56% 4%
DPUIC has activities interaction that supplement my learning 63% 14%
DPUIC has modern classrooms with adequate class room technologies 44% 28%
This means that the marketing DPUIC should focus on several things. In terms of
professor I would recommend that DPUIC marketing team 1) keep on recruiting
higher quality professors, stress the professors at DPUIC in all marketing professors,
have professors come as part of open house, have professors create you tube videos
showcasing their knowledge
In terms of other marketing mix, I would recommend having front line staff and meet
with, meet with prospective students, offer more scholarships.
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77. In terms of marketing mix. I would recommend that DPUIC focus on developing
more effective website by having a more search engine optimized website, having
sections such as for parents, current students, former students. I would have more
content that can be used to persuade people to come to DPUIC. I would recommend
DPUIC try to look at magazines that prospective students as well as parents read to
advertise them. I would recommend DPUIC to more effective ways to use DPUIC
website. I would really focus on developing a great DPUIC Facebook page and find
ways to use DPUIC facebook page more effectively.
OVERVIEW OF COSUMER BEHAVIOR
Factors in choosing college and Criteria in Choosing schools
There are many factors when people choose to go university. Librare three very
important factors that positively influence whether a person comes to a university
include national academic reputation, the quality of educational majors available and
the prestige of the university. The other factors that positively influence whether a
person comes to a university include students decision are quality of facilities, variety
of majors, degree of academic competition, social climate of the campus, quality of
faculty, quality of social life, and the distance the college is from home.
The factors that negatively decide whether a student comes to a university include the
amount of financial aid, percentage of costs covered by financial aid, the enrollment
deposit, access to faculty, speed in communication and the total costs.
(Libare, 2006, p.102)
83
78. Based on the statistics I would recommend DPUIC find ways to have 1) Have extra
circular activities that supplement learning, provide students exposure to meet people
with real world real world business people and academic, have activities interaction
that supplement learning, have has modern classrooms with adequate class room
technologies, books, magazines and other resources that supplement my learning
This means I would recommend that DPUIC set a budget for students to regularly
have field trips to business, and other organizations related to the majors, have
additional seminars, a couple of hours, one or two day workshop to give a better in
dept understanding of topics related to sales, marketing, business, strategy,
government. I would recommend that DPUIC invest the money to buy the latest
magazines, books, journal on marketing, business, strategy, politics. I would
recommend that DPUIC develop better relationship with business people, marketing,
sales, government. I would recommend that DPUIC invite and many guess speakers
to constantly talk and share their ideas, their experience with staff.
Below shows the table the level of satisfaction
Satisfied +Strongly
Statement Satisfied Dissatisfied + Strongly Dissatisfied
quality of Professors at DPUIC 78% 8%
Service Staff 78% 8%
Teaching organization 78% 8%
School environment 68% 8%
School Facilities 68% 14%
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79. This table shows that the students most students are quality of professors, service
staff, teaching staff, the major areas that I would recommend DPUIC work on
improving include teaching organization, school environment, school facilities.
DECISION MAKING
Below are the following reasons why students came to DPUIC
Reasons why they come %
Required employment 78%
Personal Enrichment 56%
Make more money 38%
Keep up to date 30%
Start First Career 12%
This means that DPUIC marketing should finds ways to stress in the marketing
material how coming to DPUIC can help them to improve on their job, enrich their
lives, make money
In terms of who influenced people to come to DPUIC, below is a description of who
influenced the students to come to DPUIC: other (45.1%), Friends (31.4%), Parents
(19.6%), Former College (15.7%), Current College (5.9%)
The implications is of high level of others is that either they don’t know who
influenced them to come to DPUIC. The results also how DPUIC should find ways to
harness friends, parents, former students through the utilization of facebook, parties,
outreach, alumni events, lots of social where prospect students are invited to attend.
Below is Level of importance in terms of importance of factors influencing
people to come to DPUIC
Important + Very
Level of Importance influence important Not important + Not important at all
Class Size 66% 31%
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