Building and developing brand name the case of eastern interational university

I also decided to make in depth interviews with some EIU students who live in Binh Duong province and Ho Chi Minh City to clarify the basic information including the reason why these stu



Mai Son Tung

BUILDING AND DEVELOPING BRAND NAME THE CASE OF EASTERN INTERNATIONAL

UNIVERSITY

ID: 22140060

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUPERVISOR: ASSOC PROF TRAN HA MINH QUAN

Year 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

INTRODUCTION 4

Overview of the market of higher education in Vietnam 4

History and Profile of Eastern International University 5

STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS 6

Brief description of beginning process 6

Summary the result of in depth interview 7

The point of view of the director of marketing department 7

The point of view of EIU students 8

Statement of problem 9

Initial identification of possible problems 9

The problem of market segmentation 10

The problem of brand positioning 12

Cause and effect tree 15

SOLUTION GENERATION 18

Objectives 18

Designed requirement 19

Solutions development 19

Stage 1: Market segmentation and potential customer identification 20

Stage 2: Brand Positioning 23

Stage 3: Adjusting and developing marketing programs 28

Solution evaluation 32

The core standards 32

The supplementary standards 33

CONCLUSION 33

REFERENCES 36

APPENDIX 37

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Eastern International University (EIU) is a new university in the market of higher education

in Vietnam The school was established in 2010 with 100% initial capital by the Becamex Corporation in Binh Duong province The school was oriented to be the leader in training high quality of human resource for the Eastern and Southern areas However, since 2011, they have not yet achieved their target in confirmation EIU brand name in the market of higher education This document supplied the reference and suggestion to create and

discover potential initiative in building and developing EIU brand name through a real

research at EIU Method of analysis include horizontal analyses as well as qualitative data from indepth interview with the marketing department and EIU students

In the period between 2011 and 2016, the enrollment result of the school was disappointed The brand name of EIU in mind of the community was faded and inconsistent

The designed solutions need to satisfy three big requirements There are the functional requirements, user requirements and last but not least is boundary conditions

- Functional requirements: Improve the result of enrollment, clear and consistent brand image in mind of the community

- User requirements: The solutions are appropriate with the number and ability of employees in the marketing department

- Boundary conditions: The level of budget for enrollment, the policies of Becamex IDC, the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training

I devided the process of applying solutions into three big stages:

Stage 1: Clear market segmentation and potential customer identification

Stage 2: Clarification of brand postioning

Stage 3: Adjustment of marketing department

When EIU could clarify who are their potential customer They could be clear in positioning brand name and set up marketing programs to approach their customer more effectively and economically It make students perceive the brand image of the school and strengthen EIU brand name I also set up standards for evaluation the effect of our solutions could be divided into core and supplementary The core standards include number students in one year of enrollment, cost in enrollment one student and the index of brand awareness especially the top of mind The supplementary standards includethe feed back from potential students and the brand perception of potential customers

However we have to admit that improvement internal power is the best solution in long term for any university to exis and develop in a fiercely competitive market of higher education

INTRODUCTION

Overview of the market of higher education in Vietnam

Since 2010, the number of university in Vietnam has increased significantly A booming in the market of higher education led to fierce competition and thus caused many difficulties for universities especially is the private sector in remaining their activities

The demand for studying at university in Vietnam in recent years was decreased steadily while the supply was increasing significantly Therefore students would have many more choices for studying at university in comparison with the past It caused problems for private universities in enrollment because students would have priority to apply to public school For the purpose of competition with other schools, many universities were trying to

reduce their entry requirements It lead to a lower quality input in comparison with the past The gap in receiving favor from the Government between public and private universities was very high Therefore competition among public and private schools in Vietnam was unfair In recent years, the growth of economic conditions and international cooperation in Vietnam create high demand for studying abroad or studying in an English environment

In conclusion, the market of higher education in Vietnam is extremely competitive It created many obstacles and challenges for new comers However, it also had opportunities which a new school could exploit to be existed and developed further

History and Profile of Eastern International University

Eastern International University was found by Becamex IDC Corporation in 2010 in Binh Duong province, one of provinces that generates a significant contribution for the country’s GDP and overall economic wealth of the country The school began to enroll their first cohort of new students in 2011 In the period between 2011 and 2015, the school achieved over 2,500 students in total The school focused on three main field of education: Business Administration, Engineering and Nursing

The advantage of the school is support from Becamex Corporation Becamex is renowned

as one of the country’s largest industrial park operators, proudly hosting over 13,000 businesses located in seven industrial parks and infrastructure hubs EIU is surrounded by Binh Duong New City, the future hub of the province, which by 2020 is predicted to require over 150,000 working professional Based on the supporting from Becamex IDC Corporation, EIU could obtain a close relationship with around 5,000 foreign companies in total of 13,000 enterprises in controlling of Becamex IDC

In order to successfully address the needs required, EIU’s mission includes fundamentally serving the community of Binh Duong and sustaining the local growing business sector with fully qualified and highly skilled graduates EIU students will absorb a truly international learning environment Students will experience a valuable mix of modern academic facilities, a native speaking specialist English center, a unique pedagogy of teaching and learning methods, and challenging international curriculum subjects regularly designed to match current business requirements

STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS

Brief description of beginning process

Despite very high efforts from the board of directors of EIU in bringing brand name of EIU into the communities In the period between 2011 and 2016, EIU has not yet achieved their target in enrollment new students Their enrollment result decreased steadily from year to year EIU also found that it was hard for them to recruit high quality researchers or professors The table below show the real result of enrollment at EIU from 2011 to 2015:

There were many students who used to visit EIU or participated enrollment activities at the school, but they did not come back after finishing the national examination

I consider that there are many possible reasons would cause these problems For example, a lack of effective marketing programs could make students do not know school brand name

or have negative evaluations about the school Brand equity is an essential factor to create huge advantages in competition with other schools Universities which have a celebrated and trustworthy brand name can enroll high standard students, setting a high level of tuition fee and have many chances to cooperate with enterprises Student who come from these universities have advantages in apply to both domestic and foreign companies In addition, a bright brand name is also an appealing factor to attract talented researchers, scientists and professors On the other hand, universities which have low brand name would found many difficulties in enrollment new student or recruitment new talented lecturers Another reason would be the policy of the school A high entry requirement or the high tuition fee would be obstacles for recruitment new students For the purpose of identification the key problems which caused low performance in enrollment at EIU I decided to contact with Mrs Thu Trang, the director of the marketing department to make some of in depth interview The marketing department is the functional part of the school which have responsibility in running all of marketing program Therefore I believed that after my in depth interview with the director of the marketing department I would clarify the orientation in building and developing brand of EIU and thus I could identify clearly real problems happening

I also decided to make in depth interviews with some EIU students who live in Binh Duong province and Ho Chi Minh City to clarify the basic information including the reason why these students chose to study at EIU, what were their expectations, what is the channel student got most of information about EIU and thus I could make a comparison about gap between the real factors of EIU’s potential customers and the point of view of EIU’s top managers I believed these information could be useful supplement reference for me in problems identification and designing potential solutions to improve the marketing department performance

Summary the result of in depth interview

The point of view of the director of marketing department

According to the manager of the marketing department, EIU carried out enrollment in the whole country They also focused on provinces belong to the South and East, especially is Binh Duong and Ho Chi Minh City They considered that most people in Binh Duong

province know about the school but in other provinces the brand name of EIU still very faint However the marketing department did not have specific information to support her consideration In the point of view of the marketing director, EIU is trying to enroll as many student as possible because they considered that if they approach a high number of students they could increase their successful rate in enrollment They set up a quite low entry criteria and supply high entry scholarship for student who have high result in the national examination EIU is trying to approach as many high school as possible Year by year, they established enrollment activities in many high school in Binh Duong province, Ho Chi Minh city and the vicinities of Binh Duong such as Long An and Dong Nai province In Ho Chi Minh City, the school used to organize festival of information of enrollment in top and middle class high schools like Bui Thi Xuân high school, Thu Duc high school, Nguyen Khuyen high school, Long Truong high school and so forth In Binh Duong province, every year the school organized event of information in over 20 high schools in total of 26 high schools The budget for enrollment of the school is limited and control by Becamex Corporation The budget was not clear for each year It depend on the decision of Becamex Corporation, therefore the marketing department is very passive in preparing enrollment budget

The point of view of EIU students

Students living in Binh Duong province

Students know the brand name of EIU because they participated some of enrollment activities of the school They also received brochure of EIU from their high school They expected to study in a popular public university because of the cheap tuition fee and an expectation of easy job finding in future They thought that EIU was still new and did not have high brand name The students chose EIU as their second choice They registered to the school because of recommendation from their parents, their friend’s choice or the location of the school When recall the brand name of EIU, the image was different in the case of distinct students One student perceived that EIU was a very advantageous in English environment However the perception of another student is advantageous in supporting from a big enterprise

Students living in Ho Chi Minh City

Student know about EIU because the school used to establish a counseling program of enrollment in EIU Students found impressive about the infrastructure of the school and she love the English environment of EIU However in the national examination she chose the international university Ho Chi Minh City as the first choice However her national examination result was only 15, therefore she could not pass the IU and decided to study at EIU They expected to study in IU because it located in Ho Chi Minh City which close to her home In addition, most of her friend also studied in Ho Chi Minh City When I remind the name of EIU she think about English and high tuition fee She chose EIU as the second choice because her good feeling when visiting EIU and she decided by herself However the first choice was IU based on both her decision and advises from her family

Statement of problem

Initial identification of possible problems

In the general overview, I considered that the performance of EIU in enrollment would be affected by two types of environmental factors They are external environmental factors and internal environmental factors It mean that the possible problems which cause low performance in enrollment at EIU during the past could be factors which occurred within EIU or factors which took place outside of the school

The possible problems belong to internal factors would be high tuition fee, high entry requirement, limited ability of marketing employees, restricted budget for enrollment activities or inefficient marketing program In the meanwhile, the external problems could

be threat from competitors, political or cultural factors, regulations from the Government, the situation of market of higher education in Vietnam and so forth However if we consider the external factors we could see that these problems are objective and the school is not able

to affect to it by themselves In addition, even suffering the same condition of external environment but some private universities could remain a positive result in enrollment For example RMIT Vietnam could easily achieve from 1200 to 1500 new students in one year

of enrollment Therefore I considered that the internal factors would be able to affect significantly to the result of enrollment of private universities and if we could solve these

problems we would improve the performance of EIU in enrollment activities Therefore, in initial identification, I decided to focus on solving problems from internal environment of the school

The problem of market segmentation

The first category is EIU was confusing in market segmentation They has not yet had clear criteria for segmentation of the market of higher education to clarify their targeted customers

EIU also segment the higher education market by geographic criteria They had priority in running enrollment programs in the South East of Vietnam, especially are Binh Duong province, Ho Chi Minh City and the vicinities of Binh Duong including Dong Nai, Long An and Binh Phuoc In geographic market segmentation EIU clarified it in the level of province It mean that people who live in different towns or districts in the same province would be considered to belong in one group EIU also segment the market by the academic performance of high school students They provided entry scholarship to attract excellent students who have high score in national examination However EIU still try to approach as many students as possible by setting up a very low entry score to achieve their target with around 1,000 students every year According to the marketing department, there was around 90% high school student in Binh Duong recognized EIU brand name The proportion would

be around 30% in Ho Chi Minh City and from 25% to 30% in the vicinities of Binh Duong

including Dong Nai province, Binh Phuoc province and Long An province The data of

structure of EIU students which was collected from the office of academic affair at EIU also support the picture of the marketing department:

Year Binh Duong Ho Chi Minh City Dong Nai, Long An Others

It mean that despite EIU has a high brand awareness, the rate is only aided or spontaneous not the top of mind

For the purpose of market segmentation and potential customer identification, we need to consider the factors which students based on to evaluate a university and thus we would compare these factors with the real condition of EIU Curtis (1) stated that there are seven factors which affect to the decision of choosing college including course, location, reputation, cost, social life, local activities and grade requirements However the most important factors are course, location, reputation and grade requirement In the meanwhile, Six (2) recommended that tuition fee, academic program, location, lectures and professors are reasonable condition for students to evaluate a university Base on above theory we could consider that location, reputation and entry score would be seen as crucial conditions for students in choosing their university, and thus link to the case of EIU, habitat and academic performance of student are appropriate factors to identify the potential customers Based on the data collected from the office of academic affair and the result of in depth interview with EIU students I can pointed out that the most important targeted customer of EIU are students who have quite low academic performance and living in Binh Duong province I considered the characteristics of these student could make them become the target which EIU should follow to attract them Student who live in Binh Duong province could found comfortable studying at EIU because their living place closed to school, therefore they can stay with their family Their living environment would not be changed Students who live in Ho Chi Minh City and the vicinity of Binh Duong province and had quite low academic performance could be also considered as targeted customers Because those students still found easily to live and study in Binh Duong which closed to their hometown The academic performance of these students are not impressive and thus the top public universities which have high enrollment score are very hard for them to pass and thus EIU which has the low enrollment score is an appropriate choice

In conclusion, I discovered that EIU has not found yet the right factors to clarify the market

of higher education and thus they could not identify their potential customers EIU still had market segmentation However they only segment follow geographic criteria and the level

of segmentation was not specific enough Because despite living in the same province, people who live in different towns or districts would have different conditions for instance economic ability, income and so on Distinct students would have different demand for studying at universities EIU did not clarify a clear band of criteria for market segmentation

to identify what are the characteristics of their potential customers and design appropriate program to approach them It is reason caused them confusing in identification and approaching their most potential customers According to Tonks and Farr (3) market segmentation and branding positioning are considered as the center of marketing activities

in the market of higher education They always are considered as top concern in building and developing brand name of university However Niculescu (4) stated that in the past, the demand for studying at a university is higher in comparison with the capacity of current universities, these universities found easily to enroll new students without promoting too much Therefore the concept of brand positioning, potential customers and so on are not familiar in their enrollment activities However, in recent year, the situation was changed because of the boom in the number of university It created a higher supply in comparison with demand of place in universities and caused many more difficulties in enrollment University now has to change their mind and they need to pay more attention in brand positioning and market segmentation In 2007 Musyoka, Mutyauvyu, Kiema and Siriba (5) supported the point of view of Niculescu that segmentation would help the company approach to potential customer more quickly and cost-effective I completely agree with above ideas In recent year, the market of higher education in Vietnam is saturated Therefore it would be more feasible for EIU in enrollment if they could identify and follow the need of a small and potential group of customers

The problem of brand positioning

The second category problem in low building and developing EIU brand name is the problem of brand positioning EIU has not yet identified and developed the unique and strongest factors of the school

Aaker and Shansby (1982) defined (as cited in 6, p103-111) six methods which brand positioning could be conceived There were by attribute, by use, by user, by product

category, by price in comparison with quality, and by competitive positioning Positioning

by attribute is the association among the brand name of the company with a particular attribute In the case of university, the school would position themselves as having international program or the most modern infrastructure Positioning by use is based on the function of the product which universities normally focused on the major for instance the top of business school or the best engineer university The third category is positioning by user which based on the characteristic of students and their family Some universities they position that the school is only for students who have high academic performance, on the other hand the others would position that they are opening with those who only have average academic result Brand positioning by product category could be considered as a university classify that they belong to the system of national universities, the others could category they belong to the group of international universities Positioning by price per quality is a method of brand positioning which confirm the high quality in comparison with

an acceptant tuition fee, an example of price per quality positioning is the University of Phoenix in US (6) who confirm themselves as the Havard of the Midwest The final method

is competitive positioning It is the method which based on the characteristics of the rival to position the company to be same or different Depend on the market and domestic strategy, the organization could choose an appropriate method to position their brand name Some organization mixed some methods together However the application of multiple brand positioning is very complicated and sensitive to implement because it would cause a confused perception in customer’s mind

In the case of EIU, in the period between 2011 and 2015, the school tried to positioning their brand name in many way without a clear concept They position their brand name by attribute, by use, by user, by other competitors and so forth For example, they confirmed that EIU is a place to train and supply high skillful labor EIU supply a premium training program with a low tuition fee in comparison with among private universities EIU students are going to find a job easily when they graduate EIU is a place where attract many popular and professional lecturers and researchers In addition, EIU also positioning that they are different with other universities as EIU focus very much on training English, therefore students could achieve at least 6.0 IELTS point before they graduate However based on the

result of indepth interview with EIU students I could clarify that these students did not have

a consistent perception of EIU, and most of the perception are still very faded For example one student said that he used to do not know anything about EIU, but he had relatives who worked for Becamex Corporation and thus recommended to him In the meanwhile the other have the perception that EIU was a school which has good infrastructure or to be supported

by a big enterprise I discovered that students did not get the perception of EIU in the way the school want it to be In the period between 2010 and 2016, EIU issued various different printed advertising including leaflet, brochure, banner, poster and electronic advertising including e-letter, e-brochure, e-magazine and so forth which was created by different designers in different styles Choosing appropriate and consistent brand elements is a crucial and basic step to create brand recognition Aaker (1996) argued (as cited in 7, p33-42) that brand recognition can be essential for a new or niche brand EIU is a very new brand in the market of higher education Therefore EIU has to pay more attention on creation brand recognition among communities

The problem of brand positioning would directly affect to enrollment activities of the school When EIU could not determine how to confirm their brand name appropriately, students would not get the brand image of EIU, they could not recall and understand the image of EIU, they could not recognize what are the unique characteristics make EIU more considerable than other universities If students would not be interested in EIU, how they could chose to study in the school It is explained why the school has to clarify their strategy

of brand positioning Walker and Jean (6) point out that there are many universities trying to apply multi-brand positioning to satisfy all requirement from their customers However it would cause a confused perception in people’s mind They pointed out that effective brand positioning require three factors: unique (perceived uniqueness), strength (strong and transparent association with brand position) and prevalence (the majority of potential customer get brand awareness) In my point of view, the school need to consider all of the factors of the university which students would consider before they chose to participate and thus the school could evaluate their position in the market of higher education, compare with other universities and consider which are strengths and which are weaknesses of the school to set up appropriate strategy to position brand name

Cause and effect tree

The cause and effect diagram is a relevant tool in exploring possible problems which cause the company had low performance The cause effect diagram normally has two types: the fish born and the tree In my researching, I applied the tree type in drawing cause and effect diagram In comparison with the fish born, the tree structure is quite simpler and clearer because all the items on the tree are aligned vertically The cause effect tree of EIU as below:

Unclear in market segmentation

Could not identify potential market, targeted customers

Wasted resources

Ineffective communication with customers

Low enrollment

Unclear in brand positioning

Weak Brand name

New Brand name

Lack of

marketing

ability

Lack of information

Lack of faith

No demand

Low budget for communication

We could see that the symptom of EIU is low enrollment which could be confirmed by a comparison the result and target of enrollmet at EIU and a comparison among result of enrollmet at EIU and at other private or international universities in Vietnam We also could recognize the symptom of EIU by comparison the result of enrollment of the school with the number of 12 grade students in Binh Duong province, Ho Chi Minh City and the vicinities

of Binh Duong The symptom is caused by three main problem: students do not have information about EIU, students are not appreciate brand name of EIU and finally students have different demand or they do not have ability to study at EIU These problems made students would not consider EIU as their choice

Considered the cause and effect tree, we could see that the main problems are unclear market segment and unclear brand positioning When EIU is unclear in market segmentation, they could not identify what are their targeted markets and who are their potential customers The budget for enrollment activities are limited Therefore the school would waste their resources to approach wrong customer while still missing potential students who most likely choosing them It explained why many potential customers of EIU lack relevant information about the school while many students who have information are people actually have no demand for studying at the school

The second problem is unclear brand positioning When EIU was unclear in confirm their brand positioning, it could cause a failure in effort of creating brand identification and transferring brand image of EIU to the community It has been proven through my interview with some EIU students By the time those students chose EIU their perception about EIU image were very distinctive and unclear They also could not recognize any signal which represent the image of the school When students could not recall the name of the school as well as could not perceive the brand image, they would not believe or highly evaluate the value of EIU It explained why the brand name of EIU was still very weak I also considered that because EIU was a very new university therefore it easy to understand that their brand name was weak in comparison with other universities However we could not interfere into

the problem of new brand name Therefore we should focus on the problem of brand positioning

SOLUTION GENERATION

Objectives

The research has a purpose to propose an avenue in building and developing the brand name

of Eastern International University among communities In the process of achievement these big targets, I defined three major objectives as below

- Identification of potential customer

- Clarification in brand positioning

- Develop brand image and improve the result of enrollment

The objective one is identification of potential customer EIU should create a clear board of criteria to segment their market and thus identify their potential customers When the school know who are their potential students they could mobilize their resources to approach them

It help the school not only approach customer more effectively and precisely but also achieve cost-effective in using resources

The second objective is clarification in brand positioning EIU should clarify clearly the position they are staying in the market of higher education and the image they want to be It help the school could realize who they want to become and their customer could realize who they are

Last but not least is development of brand image and improve enrollment result The school should design a consistent and coordinated marketing mix to strengthen their brand association and thus transfer the image of EIU into the mind of customers and the communities in general By the time EIU could confirm their brand name People will remember the name Eastern International University They are also able to perceive the great value of EIU It would increase the opportunity student will choose EIU and thus improve enrollment result

Designed requirement

Based on theory of Aken, Berends and Bij (8) in 2012 the designed solutions need to satisfy three big requirements There are the functional requirements, user requirements and last but not least is boundary conditions

- Functional requirements: These requirements deal with basic and core factors which the company should do to help themselves improve their performance They defined requirements which were asked in the solutions to focus on the main problems

- User requirements: these are requirements about the concordance between applying solutions and the existence of human resource in the company It mean that the solution should be designed to be parallel with ability of people who deal with it

- Boundary conditions: These are restricted conditions that the company has to suffer and could not be broken

In the case of functional requirements, the solutions has to be designed to help the school improve the brand image among the community to enhance the result of enrollment new students and recruitment skillful lecturers Regarding to the user requirements, the solutions should be developed to be appropriate with the human resources of the school especially are staffs of the marketing department For example solutions do not require a number of staff

in the marketing department which is over than their resources The final requirements are boundary conditions The designed solution should also meet the boundary conditions of EIU They must be appropriate with the policies of Becamex Corporation They also have not to violate any regulation of the Ministry of Education and Training and other Government organizations

Solutions development

We know that the problem of market segmentation and brand positioning are caused by lack

of marketing ability from the marketing department and even from the board of director of EIU However I considered that the possible solution should not interfere to the people in marketing department such as replacing employee or organizing training course Because

the structure of human resources in Becamex IDC is very complicated It is not easy to become employee or to be fired in Becamex IDC In addition, during the time in working with the marketing department, I found that marketing employees have basic marketing knowledge They are very dynamic and enthusiastic in doing their job The problem is only they did not realize the importance of market segmentation and brand positioning in building and improving EIU brand name as well as their enrollment result

We know that the brand name of EIU is weak because not only EIU is a new brand name but also because during the period of time between 2010 and 2016, the school confused in confirmation their position and also did not know who are their potential customers It mean that their brand strategy was very dim and weak Therefore the solutions which help EIU building and developing brand name should meet requirement to strengthen and clarify their brand strategy

The process of solutions generation include three big stages:

Stage 1: Market segmentation and potential customer identification

The first step in the process of solving problem of EIU is an identification clear market segmentation For the purpose of segment the market of higher education, the school has to clarify the factors of segmentation for the higher education market The school need to ensure that these factors would meet requirements as follow: measurable, accessible, substantial, differentiable and actionable The first criteria is measurable which is very important in market segmentation because we need to know the size and the volume of the market for example the number of customer of the volume of product demand to ensure we segment a reliable market However a reliable market would not be intended for us if we

Adjustment of marketing activities

could not approach to it This reason explained why we need to satisfy the criteria of accessible The criteria of substantial is meaning that the size of the market and the purchasing power are large enough for us to focus on We do not want to waste our valuable resources to invest into a very insufficiently profitable market Differential is criteria for ensuring that the market which customers in the market segment are homogeneous and each

of the market sector are different and distinguished with the others The final factor is actionable it mean the school can exploit and analyze the useful information of the market segment In other words, the market segment has to have practical value for the school

According to Kotler (1988) (cited by 9, p36) the process of market segmentation including three basic steps The first step is an identification of segmentation variables The second step is an evaluation of the attractiveness in each market segment and choosing the appropriate segment The final step is positioning which involve activities to identify and develop the promotional concept among community to distinguish with other competitors Applying the theory of Kotler into the market of higher education, the market could be segmented bases on the basic variables including geographic factors, demographic factors, and psychographic factors Base on the geographic variable, the market would be segmented

by location of the school, location of student living places, population density By demographic factors, we could segment base on the characteristics of students as academic performance or economic ability By the psychographic, we could consider our customers in social class, personality or lifestyles and so forth In the case of EIU, I considered that the appropriate variables to segment their market are the academic performance and the economic ability which belong to demographic factors and the location of students living places which belong to the geographic factors Based on the geographic variables EIU could divide their market into the market of students living in Binh Duong province, the market of students living in Ho Chi Minh city, the market of students living in the vicinity of Binh Duong (Long An province, Dong Nai province and so forth) and the final market is students who live in other provinces which are far away from Binh Duong province Based on the demographic factors, EIU could segment their market into the market of students who have high academic performance and students who got low academic performance They also

should segment their market into the market of high income family, the market of medium income family and the market of low income family In evaluation the attractiveness in each

of market segmentation we could see that by the geographic variables Binh Duong province

is the most attractive segment of EIU, following by Ho Chi Minh City and the vicinity of Binh Duong province Provinces which are far away from Binh Duong is not attractive for EIU By the demographic variables, the appropriate sectors for the school is the market of students who have quite low academic performance and the market of family who have high

or medium income

In conclusion, I could identify that the appropriate market segments of EIU are two segments:

Group one are students living in Binh Duong province These students in this group have

the characteristics that have advantageous conditions to interact with EIU especially who have parents working in Becamex and related enterprises in Becamex system or working for the Government of Binh Duong province These people know the role of Becamex and have good impression with Becamex therefore it could be a very effective channel to impact students’s choice Students living in Binh Duong normally are willing to work in their native place Therefore a school which belong to the biggest industrial developer in Binh Duong would be attractive for them In addition, students in this group should have quite low academic performance and have high or at least medium economic ability to cover cost

of studying at EIU I considered that group one is the most potential market of EIU

Group two are students living in Ho Chi Minh City and the vicinity of Binh Duong

province These students in this group still potential for EIU because they would found easy

to study in a place which close to their home town Based on the result of indepth interview with EIU students, I found that students in this group normally be attracted by the modern and plentiful facilities of the school The other characteristics of this segment are also similar with group one They are having quite low academic performance and having high

or at least medium economic ability to cover cost of studying at EIU I considered that group two is the second most potential market of EIU

Stage 2: Brand Positioning

Positioning is a key factor in the whole process of bringing EIU brand name into the communities Ries, Trout et al (as cited in 6) confirmed that positioning is considered as a core branding activities It create a unique image of the school to help students distinguish with other universities and thus the school could achieve a distinctive place in the market of higher education University which has clear and distinct positioning would have ability to convey students and their parents who it is and what is stand for Therefore it would be said that a clear and unique brand positioning is the next step in the process of solutions development to improve the result in enrollment and recruitment of the Eastern International University

In the process of market identification, I have already clarify that the potential customers of EIU are students who live in Binh Duong province, Ho Chi Minh City and the vicinity of Binh Duong province and the students most likely have quite low academic performance For the purpose of approaching and penetrating to this market segment, EIU should find out core benefits which customers in this market segment expected and than develop a positioning program which focus on these benefits to attract them Based on the interview with EIU students, I discovered that demand of students in the market segmentation of EIU having some distinct features dealing with students in different groups

Group one: students living in Binh Duong province: These students and their family

normally are influenced significantly by the image of Becamex IDC They choose to to study at EIU because they want a high job opportunities in Binh Duong province Working

in Becamex system including VSIP, Becamex international hospital, Becamex hotel or applying to work into around over 20,000 enterprises in industrial parks which to be under control of Becamex IDC are sound very attractive People in Binh Duong do recognize that Becamex IDC is the biggest company owning by the Government in Binh Duong They are easily attracted by feeling that students who graduated from EIU would find easier to work

in State system or at least receiving many favors from the Government of Binh Duong province Students in group one also want to study in convenient location where having

easy transportation and comfortable living condition Students could choose EIU because the school staying in their local place Therefore students would found familiar with living environment They also do not need to hire a place to stay and reduce living cost when they live with their family as before

Group two: students living in Ho Chi Minh City and the vicinities of Binh Duong province:

these students want to find a school which is at least to be authenticated by the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam and has a quite easy criteria in entry because students who have low academic performance are afraid of register to a public university These students are normally be attracted by modern gorgeous facilities of the school and the English environment Staying in Binh Duong province is not convenient in comparison with

Ho Chi Minh City However Binh Duong is still closed to their home town Therefore it would be not very unfamiliar and uncomfortable for them to study at EIU

In the market segmentation of EIU, their main competitors are not popular public universities Because they have many favour from the Government, having a very low tuition fee and setting up a very high entry requirement The main rivals of the school in this case are universities in Binh Duong province dealing with students in group one and other private and international universities, for example RMIT, Saigon International University, FPT, Vietnam Germany University and so forth dealing with students in group two

Group one: Main rivals would be Thu Dau Mot universities, Binh Duong universities,

Vietnam German universities, university of economic and technology

In the SWOT analyzation we could clarify the advantage and disadvantage of EIU in competition with their main rivals in Binh Duong province:

Strengths

- School of Becamex IDC - one of

the country’s largest industrial park

operators

- The English environment with at

Weaknesses

- New school, low brand name

- Lack of evidence to prove ability in education of EIU

- Lack of experience in brand name

least IELTS 6.0

- Cooperation with international

universities in America, Japan,

England, Singapore…

- Advanced academic program based

on requirements from enterprises

- Supporting from the Govrnment

and enterprises in Binh Duong

province

- The growth in economic

- The change in demand for studying

Group two: Rivals of EIU would be Saigon International University, FPT University, Hoa

Sen University, RMIT, and other private international universities

Evaluate the positioning map we could recognize the position of EIU in their targeted market segmentation of the whole market of higher education:

The price is the tuition fee to study at universities while the benefit receveiving is represented for all of core benefit which students and their family obtain when studying at universities including the low entry requirement, a high quality English environment and high job opportunity In my evaluation, EIU has a same level of tuition fee in comparison with the majority of other international school However students would receive higher benefit when studying at the school in comparison with other universities EIU would supply to students as high benefit as studying at RMIT or going abroad while the school could set up a very low tuition fee in comparison with RMIT or studying abroad

In the SWOT analyzation we could clarify the advantage and disadvantage of EIU in competition with their main rivals in Ho Chi Minh City

RMIT

FPT

SIU

EIU Hoa sen

Low

Strengths

- Modern and gorgeous facilities

- The English environment with at

least IELTS 6.0, foreign lecturers

- Cooperation with international

universities in America, Japan,

England, Singapore…

- Advanced academic program based

on requirements from enterprises

Weaknesses

- New school, low brand name

- Lack of evidence to prove ability in education of EIU

- Lack of experience in brand name building

- Location (Binh Duong provice in comparison with Ho Chi Minh City)

Opportunities

- International integration

- The growth in economic

- The change in demand for studying

Based on above analysis, I suggested that EIU should clarify their brand image based on the characteristics of their targeted customers:

In dealing with customers in group one, EIU should confirm and strengthen the relationship between the school and Becamex IDC EIU should clarify the picture that Becamex IDC would play a crucial role in giving supporting students who graduated from the school to work in Binh Duong province Studying at EIU would create high job opportunities in Binh Duong province The relationship among EIU and over 13,000 enterprises with around 5,000 foreign companies in Binh Duong province is a very advatageous condition to support career for graduated students of the school

In dealing with customers in group two, EIU should confirm the picture that students would study in a very professional English enviroment with modern and plentiful facilities and equipment Students would definitely achieve at least IELTS 6.0 after graduated from EIU Therefore they have ability to work in any foreign enterprises

Stage 3: Adjusting and developing marketing programs

The final step in the process of solutions generation is adjusting and developing the marketing program of the school to help EIU position their brand name into the communities and approach their targeted customers much more effective According to Graham (10) the function of marketing programs is creating an environment in which the sale and other forces of the company can excel in its effort It mean that in the case of EIU,

a good marketing program followed could help members of the school who participated the process of enrollment could maximize their job performance and thus improve the result of enrollment

In my point of view, the existing marketing program of EIU is very stretched out They applied a diversity of channels to promote brand name of the school However most of activities are scattered instead of focusing on potential customers Some channels of communication are not exploited effectively eventhough they are very relevant in brand confirmation As above we could clarify that targeted market segments of EIU are student living in Binh Duong province and students living in Ho Chi Minh City and the vicinity of Binh Duong province These students have quite low academic performance and have economic ability to cover the cost of studying at the school Therefore the marketing program should has priority to focus on these potential student

The marketing program would be designed to be appropriate and effective in distinct group

of potential customers

Group one: students living in Binh Duong:

We know that these students are impacted by the brand name of Becamex IDC They are easily attracted by high job opportunities which Becamex IDC could bring to them Therefore the marketing programs toward this group should highlight the role of Becamex

IDC as the investor and owner of EIU and the chance which Becamex would bring to students who educated from EIU

In Binh Duong province, we have around 30 high school However not all of them are potential for EIU Students in Hung Vuong high school, Nguyen Khuyen high school having high academic performance Normally students in these school aim to study in public universities Students in high schools in some district such as Ben Cat, Phu Giao, Dau Tieng having severe conditions Therefore students in these schools would not have ability to cover tuition fee at EIU Instead of running enrollment activities in as many high school as possible, EIU should clarify which schools have high number of student which could be considered as potential customers of EIU and thus EIU could establish enrollment activities in those school several times to increase the number of interaction between EIU and their targeted students I consider that these high schools would be some private high schools including: Ngo Thoi Nhiem high school, Petrus Ky high school, Viet Anh high school and some public high school which students in there have quite good life condition and not high academic performance such as Vo Minh Duc high school, Trinh Hoai Duc high school, Nguyen Dinh Chieu high school EIU should invite students in these high schools come to visit EIU These students stay in Binh Duong, therefore cost of transportation is not expensive and EIU could easily cover it The school would guide them visit the campus to attract students by modern facilities In addtiontion, EIU should exploit the relationship among Becamex IDC and enterprises in industrial parks such as VSIP or My Phuoc to let high school students go inside for visiting They would be attracted by professional environment in foreign enterprises and they would realize that they will have high opportunities to work in these companies if they study at EIU

Group two: students living in Ho Chi Minh City and the vicinities of Binh Duong province

Based on the result of interview, we know that students who do not live in Binh Duong normally be attracted by modern and luxurious facilities of the school They found that EIU

is a very potential and international environment when they look at and admire the lifestyles

of EIU students, when they see many foreign lecturers go around in the campus of EIU

Therefore the school should exploit their very gorgeous infrastructure to attract students inthis group The school should remain their current enrollment activities in these regions by covering transpotation cost to invite students in this group visit EIU However the importance is EIU should focus on appropriate customers They should only invite students

in high schools which potential for them such as private and international high school Students who have good economic ability EIU should not invite students studying in top ranking school in Ho Chi Minh City because these students have tendency to study in famous public universitites or even studying abroad If EIU could clarify their market segment well they can mobilize their resources effectively and could cover the cost of invitation students visiting their campus

Website is a very effective and convenient channel in delivering EIU information to potential customers in both groups However website is especially a crucial marketing channel in dealing with students in group two These students do not live in Binh Duong Therefore it is not easy for them to visit the school When these students still in the stage of recognization, they would want to search information to have knowledge about the school before they decided they should or should not pay time and money to go a long journey to visit the school Website is the most effective and quickest channel to help these students approach the information of the school However during the past, EIU has not yet completed their website parallelly with their expectation The website of EIU which we could easily approach in the link: http://www.eiu.edu.vn/home.aspx in my point of view is very meager and lack a great deal of relevant information It also has been rarely updated for long time

The website need usual information updating It prove that the school always work and innovate The website is a very effective resource which the school should exploit to deliver information to their targeted customers and promote their brand name because the school completely control information in their website and thus they could supply to their customer positive information in the way which they toward The information in website is not necessary always relate to the academic programs and tuition fee It would be the information of life in environment at university such as student’s life, club activities, event and so forth The school also need to put information related to Becamex IDC and iob

opportunities in Becamex system as well as in partners of Becamex IDC such as VSIP, BIH and thounsands of foreign enterprises in Binh Duong province It would be very attractive for students in Binh Duong province The website also have to show pictures and images about their gorgeous facilities such as modern learning room, sport center, green dormitory, free bus system The modern infrastructure is very crucial in attracting not only students living in Binh Duong but also students living in Ho Chi Minh City and the vicinities of Binh Duong province The key factor is how the school could be clever in making their information to be relevant and objective in bringing it to potential customers to ensure that studying at the school is completely appropriate with the objective condition in future.

In enrollment activities, the combination between applying direct enrollment activities and promotion by social media is a very shinning idea Television station, newspaper and magazine for instance are very effective in bringing the brand name into the community However during the past, EIU tried to run social media promotion in as many provinces as possible They covered their information to all of kind of students from high to low academic performance, from low to high economic ability and so forth It wasted their marketing budget because the cost of running social media advertisement is not cheap In

my point of view, EIU should keep connection with their partners in the sector of social media such as Ho Chi Minh TV, Binh Duong TV, Tuoi Tre Newspaper, Giao Duc Newspaper However EIU should consider to plus promotion by popular and teenage online channels such as 14 Channel, Zing me, Dan Tri and so forth These communicated channel would be especially relevant for the school in bringing information to students who live outside of Binh Duong

Inconclusion I believe that the above solutions could bring positive effect to enrollment of the school in next several years However in long term, the best method to help EIU develop their brand name is an investment in the internal power including updating modern and practical academic programs, high quality lecturers, engagement with enterprises A strong internal power is the best solution for any university to exis and develop in a fiercely competitive market of higher education

Solution evaluation

The standards for evaluation the effect of our solutions could be divided into core and supplementary The core standards are the basic information in evaluation It contain quantitative factors with clear data and easy to compare vertically year by year In the meanwhile, the supplementary standards contain qualitative factors which help us considered the transformation in feeling and perception of students and their relatives about the school

The core standards

- Total number of new students in one year

- Cost per one new students

- Index of brand awareness

In comparison the change in the total number of new students which EIU enroll in one year

we could clarify that our solutions could bring effective result in EIU’s enrollment activities

or not If the number of new students has tendency to increase year by year after applying solutions we could consider that our adjustments are effective The cost for enrollment one new student is also very important in solution evaluation If the number of new students register to EIU increase but the cost which the school had to pay to enroll each of new students also go up we could not say that our solutions has cost-effective result The resources for enrollment of EIU are limited Therefore if we have to increase budget significantly to increase result of enrollment, it would not be considered as we are successful The index of brand awareness are not applied to count directly the result of enrollment However it is a very effective standard to measure the power of EIU brand name A school which has high index of brand awareness could be easy to be chosen by students and their parents in comparison with a school who has lower brand name The index of brand awareness has three main components They are top of mind, other spontaneous and aided The top of mind is the index which show that EIU is the first university appear in the mind of students and their family In the meanwhile the other