Introduction
A marketing plan is a segment of an overall business plan (Buttell 2009, p. 6). A brilliant marketing strategy will lead to a well structured marketing plan (Goetsch 1981, p. 54). Coming up with a solid marketing plan requires one to undertake several procedures (Kotler, Keller & Burton 2009).
Making a marketing plan for the school of business entails several crucial sections. The school has a concrete, strategic plan which enables it to prosper in the market (Delaney 1994, p. 120). The school has a substantial research capability and knowledge exchange centre. Furthermore, the school has established an outstanding educational reputation which has attracted students from all over Australia.
It has also gone further to draft action plans that will assess each step of the marketing plan. In addition, this strategic plan has drawn goals to be achieved by 2020. It has incorporated the general and specific objectives in the mission and vision of the school. This marketing plan will cover situation analysis, market summary and SWOT analysis (Goetsch 1981, p. 54).
In order for this marketing plan to prosper, the administration of this school should to stick to the schedule. The organisational structure has put up a support program for students to get resource and assistance at ease. This school of international business offers diverse disciplines and areas of study such as marketing, economics tourism music, retail, culinary and event management.
Situation analysis
The situation analysis will cover market summary (Kotler, Keller & Burton 2009). The institution aims to achieve certain goals in terms of research, knowledge exchange, learning and teaching. In terms of research, the university aims to be in the top 20 universities in Australia, and they will provide research in economics and marketing. The themes of the research will be within tourism hospitality music and retail in the international business.
The school will also offer a platform for knowledge exchange with business centres, government, and community. This effort will contribute to education the economy and society (Degrees Business across Borders 2012, p. 4).
This will put the institution in the map as the best institution in international business and knowledge exchange program. In addition, the institution has invested in well informed research expertise between Australia and china. This expertise will provide knowledge for tourism, hospitality, retail music and event management.
Another crucial goal for the school is to be recognised as a leading business institution in teaching and high student’s learning standards. The institution also strives to offer distinctive curriculum to produce graduates with relevant skills in the market. With the scarcity of e-learning in the market at the moment, the institution capitalises in offering a well blended e-learning in campus and out of their campuses.
In the current location of the university, it is located in one of the fastest growing region in Australia. The area is adequately populated with students and staff (Degrees Business across Borders 2012, p. 4). This makes it a favourable environment for this institution to prosper. The market also has potential partners who will provide necessary resources for students. So far the university has established seven campuses in the region.
This proves that the market is quite productive. The geographical borders enable the school to conduct business in a global environment and produce professional who can function across the traditional, functional boundaries. The elite graduates are flexible to work across national borders. The seven campuses have shown that the university grows towards a positive direction. The partnership program has popularised the institution as the best platform for investment.
The school has studied the trend in the market. The institution has enhanced its research capability (Degrees Business across Borders 2012, p. 2). This allows students to interact with the best staff in event management and internationally accredited courses. Having such an international standard, the school is able to attract more students in the region and as well as international market. The university has introduced new courses from the historical courses requirement.
This shows the tremendous change in curriculum. The institution has capitalised in the recent food and wine festival hosted at Melbourne. This was an excellent platform for the school to establish proper relationship with the government and local businesses. The students were also given an experience of the workplace. This relationship enables the institution to have an appealing public perception. The school also uses social media trends to be up to date with the current market position (Degrees Business across Borders 2012, p. 19).
There has been a high demand for social infrastructure such as schools roads and medical centres. Establishing the several campuses in the region has helped to cater for this high demand. The market needs are well catered for by this business institution. The university has brought in a new school of business with international standards.
This business school has transformed the region by establishing new socioeconomic transformation in the western region of Australia. This has been a focal point in marketing the institution (Kotler, Keller & Burton 2009). The school has enhanced research in establishing emerging needs of the market. This venture has placed the university and specifically the school of business in a competitive edge.
The market growth has seen all the international businesses tapping into the school of business to acquire expertise in economics, accounting hospitality and tourism industry (Degrees Business across Borders 2012, p. 8). The food and wine festival attracted visitors from all over Australia and Southern Asia.
Most of the visitors developed interest to join the school of business after the impression they got from the whole event. This meant that the market demographics grew since some families opted to bring their children in the next event organised by the institution.
SWOT Analysis
The swot analysis analyses the resources and environment of business (Goetsch 1981, p. 54). SWOT analysis assists by classifying internal features of the business school as strengths or weakness. The external surroundings qualify to be opportunities or threats (Buttell 2009, p. 8).
This swot analysis will help to discover the best way the business can handle its competition in the market (Delaney 1994, p. 120). It will also assess if the business is making the best out of the opportunities available. It will also give the business guidelines to respond to the external environment. At times, the swot analysis can act as an alternative framework for situation analysis (Buttell 2009, p. 7).
Strength in this institution serves as a foundation fro building a strong, competitive advantage for the school in the market (Buttell 2009, p. 8). The school of business enjoys a strong relationship with the local business as well as the government. The institution also enjoys a solid relationship with several non profit making partners in the western region. The institution has gained a strong public perception which makes it a powerful institution.
The school of business has directed most of its energy in building community cohesion and creating an identity that is common in the region. In addition, the merger between the school of Hospitality and Tourism with the school of Applied Economics and Finance added value to the research concerned with tourism future in green economy.
The organisation structure of the institution has come up with five strong pillars that provide a framework to ensure the sub plans in the strategic marketing plan succeeds. Further more the school has developed organisational resource support which is extremely crucial to all students and staff in the business school.
The school has a generous platform for student marketing selection with activities such as benchmarks among other innovative marketing initiatives to diversify the learners’ profile (Degrees Business across Borders 2012, p. 9). The school is best known for building successful carriers in the global business environment.
Weaknesses are not that much in the institution. The ones that are quite vivid include; the placing more that one campus in one region. All these campuses belong to the same university, and they all target the same students in the region. The university should reconsider to relocate some of those campuses in other regions to ease the competition within itself (Degrees Business across Borders 2012, p. 4).
The institution has not fully incorporated international collaboration. By lacking this crucial venture, the school still lag behind in enrolments. At the moment, the school has minimal enrolments in undergraduate and postgraduate. The institution has over emphasised its marketing in the international market and neglected the local market where it has a significant advantage.
In terms of opportunities, the institution has capitalised in establishing partnerships with the existing partners in the region (Delaney 1994, p. 120). The school has also been able to tap in to the various events organised in the region such as the Melbourne food and wine festival. It has also given its students significant exposure by taking them to international tourism and business events.
The school has enhanced relationship with the global business communities hence international businesses are taping in the school to recruit professionals and well trained personnel to join their entities (Degrees Business across Borders 2012, p. 4). The trainees in the different sectors are linked to industry network hence they get first hand exposure to the workplace. The school has established community based tourism in the countries neighbouring Australia in a bid to attract more international students.
The institution faces serious threats since they seem to lose their outstanding students to other well established international business schools when these students go for knowledge exchange programs (Degrees Business across Borders 2012, p. 11). The students decide to join other institutions before they graduate from this school of business.
Another threat is the lack of proper marketing activities that benefit the traditional and contemporary media makes the community despise the institution for overlooking their needs and focusing on the outside world (Degrees Business across Borders 2012, p. 13). With the fast growth of the market, the institution faces the risk of overstretched business facilities.
References
Buttell, A E 2009, ‘4 steps to an effective marketing plan’, Journal of Financial Planning, pp. 6-8.
Degrees Business across Borders: Summer Edition 2012, School of International Business, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.
Delaney, J 1994, ‘Crafting a marketing plan that works’, Black Enterprise, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 120-120.
Goetsch, H W 1981, ‘Planning the marketing plan’, Sales and Marketing Management, vol. 127, no.8, pp. 54-54.
Kotler, P, Keller, K L & Burton, S 2009, Marketing Management, Pearson/Prentice-Hall, Melbourne, Australia.