The branding strategy for solvay brussels school in vietnam

5 Figure II-1 - CBBE Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid/Brand building block 10 Figure II-2 - SWOT analysis on SBS-VN brand .... brand name awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality,

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ TP.HCM

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITÉ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES SOLVAY BRUSSELS SCHOOL

Tutor’s name: Prof Marianne Claes

Ho Chi Minh City

(2011)

My special thanks are for Professor Marianne Claes as my tutor, who, despite of here heavy schedule, has guided, given advice, and supported me to go to the finish with this thesis More importantly she has given so much encouragement spiritually upon some difficulties I was confronted at the start of the new job and life incidents

I would also like to thank Professor Jean Pierre Baeyens, who has inspired me to this subject I feel that this is not a complete piece of work that can be applicable to the school as his expectation but I hope to continue further with this subject

Last but not least, I really thank very much Serge Bywalski, Chi Nguyen Thi Mong Thuy and Ngoc Hien who have given me favorable conditions to implement this thesis I would also name here my classmate Le Quang Vinh for his nice company

in the class and group work

All the good results of my study and then in work and life, I would like to offer to

my Mom for her GREATNESS

Thank you very much!

TUTOR’S COMMENTS

CONTENT

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWNLEDGEMENT ii

TUTOR’S COMMENTS iii

CONTENT iv

LIST OF FIGURES v

LIST OF TABLES vi

I ABSTRACT 1

1 Background to the topic of thesis 1

2 Executive summary 1

3 Objectives of the thesis 2

4 Scope of the thesis 3

II LITERATURE REVIEW 3

1 Brand and Branding 3

2 Brand equity (customer based brand equity) 4

3 Brand identity and Brand Image 7

4 Positioning and Value proposition 8

III BRANDING STRATEGY 9

1 Strategy formulation 9

2 Information about Solvay Brussels School (SBS) 10

2.1 Solvay Brussels School 10

2.2 Solvay Brussels School in Vietnam (SBS-VN) 11

3 Market Analysis 13

3.1 Post graduate education 13

3.2 Competitors 14

4 Research 16

4.1 Research rationale and question 16

4.2 Methodology 17

4.3 Sampling 18

4.4 Data collection 19

4.5 Data presentation and findings 19

5 Brand Building 26

5.1 Positioning 26

5.2 Value proposition 27

5.3 Brand building block 28

IV CONCLUSION 33

V REFERENCES AND APPENDIXES 34

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure I-1: From Brand assets to Brand equity 4

Figure I-2 - Brand Equity 5

Figure II-1 - CBBE Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid/Brand building block 10 Figure II-2 - SWOT analysis on SBS-VN brand 12

Figure II-3 - Research process 17

Figure II-4 - Gender of respondents (alumni) 20

Figure II-5 - Gender of respondents (prospects) 20

Figure II-6 - Age groups of respondents (Alumni) 20

Figure II-7 - Age groups of respondents (prospects) 20

Figure II-8 - Average monthly income in mil dong (alumni) 21

Figure II-9 - Average monthly income in mil dong (prospects) 21

Figure II-10 - Reason to take postgraduate study 21

Figure II-11 - Method of searching for the information about the programs 22

Figure II-12 - Expectation for taking an MBA (or MBA -like) program 23

Figure II-13 - Criteria for program consideration 24

Figure II-14 - Critera for program selection 25

Figure II-15 - Good exsiting features of SBS-VN 26

Figure II-16 - Negative perceived features of SBS-VN 26

LIST OF TABLES

Table II-1- Competitors summary 15

Table II-2 - Reasearch problem intepretation 18

Table II-3 - Sampling selection 19

Table II-4 – Positioning 27

I ABSTRACT

1 Background to the topic of thesis

The development of the economy of Viet Nam since the beginning of the nineties has reshaped the business environment in the country and in turn given impacts on other aspects to the constant progress including education For the past ten years Viet Nam experienced the impressive economical growth creating the increasing demands for the knowledgeable and experienced people to continue and maintain the positive nation economic status

From the viewpoint of enterprise, through the crisis period over the recent years has occurred, talented people with deep knowledge of profession and management are always in high need At the mean time, challenges coming up one after the other in the working environment enforce the expectation of expertise level to be higher Expertise can be gained through long experience and by education and training This implies that opportunities are given to any parties who can contribute to build up the quality education

Nevertheless, with the open policy to the foreign partners to join the Vietnamese education, the situation has been tough for educators to operate to the proper requirement of the local government Quite many foreign schools entering Vietnam has caused confusion for the learners to select the right and the good schools serving their needs Consequently, it requires the educators to create value differentiations to stand out from the crowd Likely, the school must have a long term and sustainable branding strategy

I write this thesis with two reasons Firstly, I have to prove that the knowledge I have learned can be of actual use and applicable to my work Secondly, with the subject of the thesis being “branding strategy for Solvay Brussels School in Vietnam”, I hope to contribute some ideas to the operation of the school At the end of the day when the school is well branded and recognized widely and highly,

I and my class fellows and others can enjoy it

2 Executive summary

The thesis starts with some literature reviews, covering all the concepts that supports fundamentally for setting the strategy Firstly, some definitions about brands and branding are extracted from various sources Though phrasing in different ways, most of the definition share commonality Brand Equity is another concepts that are mentioned the most when people discuss about brand strategy

As it includes four elements, this part also points out different point of views on

brand name awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand associations; the utilization of this review is not reflected as a whole but in different part in the branding process The next part in the review refers to brand identity and brand image because basically, they are the very first items to think about when talking about branding To determine the brand identity and then to turn it into brand image via communication, positioning and value proposition must be set well and this is the part flowed in the literature review

Chapter III is for the strategy setting stating with the strategy formulation to give some rationales how the strategy is set and its process flow In particular, any branding or marketing strategy must start with the understanding about internal and then external Chapter II shows firstly the overview about the Solvay Brussels School at home country and then in Vietnam The next analysis is on the market in term of the general situation with post graduate education in Vietnam and the summary of the observation on the competitors who provide the programs in the same category

The research on the customers (the learners who have experienced the brand and the prospects who have probable intention to use the brand) is the important part

in this chapter to find out the key points for setting the content of the branding which is oriented to the customers In this part, it explains the process, the methodology, the sampling method and then displays the data with finding comments

From all the outcome of the analysis and research, it comes to some suggestion on the positioning and translates it into a value proposition that makes Solvay Brussels School in Vietnam and its programs different The key of this part is the brand building block that covers some ideas to build up brand salience, brand performance, brand imagery, brand judgment, brand feelings and brand resonance

The appendixes shows the questionnaires for the research and the programs information

3 Objectives of the thesis

From the academic point of view, the thesis helps to show the application of the knowledge that the writer both acquired from the courses and collected from the books by brand specialists On the practical side, the thesis is aimed at giving a relative understanding on the perception of previous and current learners of the programs that Solvay Brussels School in Vietnam provides From there, the write suggests a branding strategy (at the fundamentals) that supports the long term operation of the school in Vietnam

4 Scope of the thesis

This thesis works on the branding strategy for Solvay Brussels School in Vietnam For the limitation in time and experience, the branding strategy in this paper does not cover communication and the implementation plan but shows some suggestion for the foundation of a the brand strategy, which is some aspects for the base It focuses mainly on the brand knowledge with the shaping up the brand equity based on analysis of customer’s needs and expectations Besides, the brand management is not included in this paper

The brand is mentioned as Solvay Brussels School in Vietnam with master programs for executive and not doctorate levels

II LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Brand and Branding

Previously the definition of a brand was: “the name, associated with one or more items in the product line, which is used to identify the source of character of the item(s)” (Kotler 2000, p 396) The American Marketing Association (AMA) definition of a brand is “a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination

of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors” (p 404) Within this view, as Keller (2008, p3) says, “Technically speaking, whenever a marketer creates a new name, logo, or symbol for a new product, he or she has created a brand”

As the brand was only part of the product, the communication strategy worked towards exposing the brand and creating brand image, which can be understood as parts of the branding process Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2000) mention that within the traditional branding model the goal was to build brand image; a tactical element that drives short-term results Kapferer (2008) mentioned that “the brand

is a sign - therefore external- whose function is to disclose the hidden qualities of the product which are inaccessible to contact” (p 28) The brand served to identify a product and to distinguish it from the competition

Kapferer (2008) mentions that before the 1980’s there was a different approach towards brands Some firms wish to buy production capacity and some others want to buy a place in the mind of the consumer” (p 23) This distinction is very important; In other words, the shift in focus towards brands began when it was understood that they were something more than mere identifiers Brands, according to Kapferer (2008) serve eight functions shown in Figure II-1, the first

two are mechanical and concern the essence of the brand: “to function as a recognized symbol in order to facilitate choice and to gain time” (p 29); the next three are for reducing the perceived risk; and the final three concern the pleasure side of a brand He adds that brands perform an economic function in the mind of the consumer, “the value of the brand comes from its ability to gain an exclusive, positive and prominent meaning in the minds of a large number of consumers” (p 25) Therefore, branding and brand building should focus on developing brand value

Figure II-1: From Brand assets to Brand equity

Source: Kapferer, 1997, p.37

2 Brand equity (customer based brand equity)

Aaker (1996:7) defines brand equity as: “a set of assets (and liabilities) linked to a brand’s name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts from) the value provided by a product or service to a firm and / or that firm’s customers” Keller (2008:48) broadens the scope of brand equity by introducing customer based brand equity (CBBE) which he defines as “the differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand” A scrutiny of the definitions of brand equity reveals a golden thread that spans the words “value, asset, quality, owners, consumers and brand knowledge”, which are common throughout all the definitions All these terms have direct implications with regard to the brand name The implications are that the brand name must conjure up positive and appealing attributes of the product or service being offered to the market Brand equity is an intangible asset whose value in the minds of consumers is the result of public perception formed by all the impressions a brand makes in its market place

Aaker (1996:8) lists four asset categories that are linked to a brand’s name and symbol which also create the ground for brand equity These asset categories assist in creating value for both the customers and the firm The categories are:

• Brand name awareness

• Brand loyalty

• Perceived quality

• Brand associations

Figure II-2 - Brand Equity

Source: Aaker and Joaschimsthaler 2000

Research on the conceptualization of brand equity from an individual customer’s perspective (Keller, 1993:2) proves that the four asset categories help to define the essence of brand equity, which is brand knowledge

2.1 Brand name awareness

Understanding brand equity and the creation of brand name awareness marks the beginning in branding a school Aaker (2002:10) defines brand awareness as the strength of a brand’s presence in the consumer’s mind Keller on the other hand states that brand awareness relates to the likelihood that a brand name will come

to mind and the ease with which it does so (1993:3) The preceding asserts firmly that SBS should have a plan whose objective would be to imprint the school’s name and logo in the memory nodes and links of current and prospective clients

The brand name awareness concept consists of brand recognition and brand recall Brand recognition reflects familiarity gained from past exposure to the product or service (Aaker, 2002:10) According to Keller (1993:3), brand recognition relates

to consumers’ ability to confirm prior exposure to the brand when given the brand

as a cue This concept requires customers to discriminate the brand as having been seen or heard of previously Brand recall relates to consumers’ ability to retrieve the brand when given the product category, the needs fulfilled by the category or some other type of probe as a cue (Keller, 2008:54) Brand recall can be top of the mind i.e the first product or service recalled among others These two concepts of brand name dominance are dependant on the use of event promotions, sponsorships, publicity and audiovisual media Aaker (2002) and Keller (2008) are strong advocates of brand awareness towards creating brand equity

2.2 Brand loyalty

Research on the construct of brand loyalty’s definition yields a number of factor variances with regard to this concept The four factors yielded are labeled as behavioral brand loyalty, attitudinal brand loyalty, multi-brand loyalty, attitudinal brand loyalty Jacoby and Kyner (1973:1) assert that while there are many operational definitions of brand loyalty, there are no conceptual definitions Thus, they define brand loyalty as the biased behavioral response expressed over time by some decision making unit with respect to one or more alternative brands and it is also a function of psychological processes (1973:2) According to Bennet (1995:28) brand loyalty is the degree to which a consumer consistently purchases the same brand within a product class Cheverton (2002:36) maintains that brand loyalty results from the quality of the relationship between the supplier and the customer The implication of these definitions for the SBS is striving to establish long-term quality relationships with the alumni and the prospects Prospects in the marketplace can be segmented into clients who are committed, fence sitters, passively loyal, price switchers and non-customers (Aaker, 2002:22) Understanding these types of clients will enable the SBS to innovate programs to instill and sustain brand loyalty to the school

2.3 Brand associations

Creating brand associations is one of the ways to establish brand equity Keller (1993:3) defines brand associations as the other informational nodes linked to the brand node in memory and contain the meaning of the brand for consumers Brand associations are part of the brand image and can vary according to their favorability, strength and uniqueness to the client They can be classified into three categories, which are attributes, benefits and attitudes Attributes are those descriptive features of a brand that characterize a product or service – what the consumer thinks the product or service is They can be divided into product and non-product related attributes (Keller, 2008:58) Brand benefits are the personal value consumers attach to the product or service attributes – what the consumers think the product can do for them Benefits can be categorized into functional, experiential and symbolic benefits Brand attitudes are defined as a consumer’s

overall evaluations of a brand They relate to salient beliefs a consumer has about

a product or service (Keller, 1993:4) Kotler (1991:66) concurs with Keller (1993)

on the conceptualization of brand associations by positing that the best brand names carry associations These brands are strong when their very name includes positive attributes, benefits, company values, personality and uses in the buyer’s mind For SBS to be an established brand, SBS should endeavor to build favorable, strong and unique associations of the school The associations should also bring up positive attributes, benefits and attitudes about the school from its past clients The school can thus be associated with excellence, order, discipline and innovative ways of effective learning and teaching

2.4 Perceived brand quality

Ries and Ries (1999:59) state that quality, or rather perceived quality, resides in the mind of the buyer If one wants to build a powerful brand, one has to build a powerful perception of quality in the mind of the consumer Perceived brand quality is not an inherent physical characteristic but a consumer perception

Research on perceived quality of a brand ranks this aspect as a key measure of brand equity which is also highly associated with brand liking, trust, pride and willingness to recommend the product or service (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, (2000:20) Quality education is the ultimate aspiration of all stakeholders in education – it should also be an inspiration that drives the SBS in its efforts of branding the school in a meaningful way The school’s market should be able to perceive the quality of teaching and learning activities both in the form of academics, extra and co-curricular activities Having expounded on the concept of brand equity this discussion will now focus on the formation of the brand identity system

3 Brand identity and Brand Image

According to Aaker (2004:68), the brand identity system is a unique set of brand associations that a brand stands for and implies a promise to customers from the organization’s members Some other ideas propose that brand identity is the configuration of words, images, ideas and associations that forms a customer’s overall perception of a brand Kapferer (1995:30-33) explains further that brand identity lies in the brand’s individuality, goals, consistency, values and vision

Kotler (2001:66) shares Kapferer’s (1992) viewpoint when he postulates that strong brands typically exhibit an owned word, a slogan, a color, a symbol and a set of stories Kapferer (1992:35) expands his standpoint by drawing a distinction between brand identity and brand image He concludes that brand image centres upon the way a certain public imagines a product service, a brand etc Identity on

the other hand comes from the sender’s side; its aim is to specify the meaning, intention and vocation of the brand Identity precedes image Keller (2008:51) defines brand image as the consumers’ perceptions about a brand, as reflected by the brand associations held in consumer memory

4 Positioning and Value proposition

Brand positioning requires SBS to frame its target market and thereafter strive to capture the minds and confidence of its prospective clients such that the school brand resonates with the clients This assertion further means that the SBS should consider the parity of its world of competition, the needs of learners as well as its own strengths and weaknesses

b/ Value Proposition

The notions of value proposition and credibility form part of the brand identity system The brand’s value proposition or unique selling proposition (USP) precedes the brand identity implementation system According to Aaker (2002:95)

a brand’s value propositioning is a statement of functional, emotional and expressive benefits delivered by the brand that provide value to the customer Functional benefits are based on product attributes that provide functional utility

self-to the cusself-tomers These benefits usually relate directly self-to the functions performed

by the product or service for the customers Keller (2008:195) describes functional benefits as the attributes of a product or service; its value and its quality Emotional benefits are positive brand feelings that a customer gets upon purchasing or using a brand Emotional benefits add richness and depth to the experience of owning or using the brand (Aaker, 2002:99) According to Keller (2008:69) there are six brand building feelings, which are warmth, fun, excitement, security, social approval and self-respect Self-expressive benefits provide a way for a person to communicate his or her self-image i.e the brand becomes a vehicle to expressing part of their actual or ideal self-identity to which

they aspire (Aaker, 2002:153) Keller (2008:388) refers to self-expressive benefits

as the self concept connection which he defines as the degree to which the brand delivers on important identity concerns, tasks or themes thereby expressing a significant part of the self-concept, both past and present, and personal as well as social

A value proposition essentially lends credibility and trust to the brand that ultimately results in an enduring customer-brand relationship Keller (2008:68) describes brand credibility as the extent to which customers see the brand as credible in terms of three dimensions which are perceived expertise, trustworthiness and likeability Is the brand seen as competent, innovative, a market leader, dependable, keeping customer interest in mind, fun, interesting and worth spending time with? The implications of the notions of value proposition and credibility for the school management team are that their school should satisfy the functional, emotional and self-expressive benefits of its clientele in order to establish enduring customer-brand relationships

III BRANDING STRATEGY

1 Strategy formulation

Fundamentally, branding is about endowing products and services with the power

of brand equity (Keller 2003, p.42) and the management of that equity over time The question is what makes the brand strong Brand has much more to do with the perception of the customer Keller said, “The power of a brand lies in what resides

in the minds of customers” The Customer-based Brand Equity (CBBE) of Keller points out some managerial practices in understanding and influencing the customer’s behavior

From the perspective of CBBE model, brand knowledge is the key to creating brand equity Brand knowledge is conceptualized as consisting of two components brand awareness and brand image This is a process to convert all the attributes (brand identification), that a brand possesses into the perception (brand image) Furthermore, it is vital that the perception is maintained and developed to the higher levels where the customers feel attached and loyal to the brand The process of can be illustrated in figure

CBBE brand pyramid figure

Figure III-1 – CBBE Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid / Brand building block

Source:Keller 2003

So the strategy is to reach the “relationship” with the customers at the highest status which is the top of the pyramid It requires some understanding about the customers, then the underneath analysis about SBS- VN and the environment including the competitors

2 Information about Solvay Brussels School (SBS)

2.1 Solvay Brussels School

Founded in 1903 by Ernest Solvay, the school has built a strong tradition of excellence and innovation in business and economics learning, fuelled by deep connections within Brussels multinational entrepreneurial network This is clearly shown by the large number of practitioner lecturers and a clear focus on applied research

Solvay Brussels School also offers more than 30 programs in Executive Education Every year, 1000 participants choose to expand their professional knowledge with one of the school's programs

The mission of the SBS-EM is to generate and share knowledge in the disciplines

of economics and management in order to train professional and responsible actors and to fulfill the needs of governance, efficiency and innovation in our constantly mutating society

The SBS-EM aspires to become the reference for students, businesses and institutes seeking the very highest levels of teaching and research in the disciplines of economics and management in Europe

Some facts

 Masters in Management (Belgian program): 1st in Belgium

 Executive MBA : 72nd worldwide

 European Business School rankings: 22nd in Europe

 EQUIS accreditation

Source: SBS website

2.2 Solvay Brussels School in Vietnam (SBS-VN)

a/ Foundation and development

SBS-em has more than 12 years of partnership with National Economic

University (Hanoi) and more than 15 years with Open University (Ho Chi Minh City) with the first course was conducted In January 1995 As of today, more than 1,000 Vietnamese students have graduated from our MBA programs Most of them now hold key positions in Vietnamese institutions and companies

b/ Mission

 To train men and women who are capable of selecting, initiating and

managing.”

 To train through transformation

 To participate in the personal development of the young men and women who study with SBS

 To furnish society with talented men and women that possess surplus of intelligence in order to contribute to the long-term development of society

c/ Values

 Freedom of intelligent thought

 Individual and collective capabilities

 Team spirit and cooperation

 Reliable education from the trust worthy organization

d/ Programs and activities

 Part Time MBA program, delivered every year both in Hanoi and HCMC

 Master in Public Management (MPM), delivered every 2 years in Hanoi

 Master in Business and Marketing Management (MBMM) delivered every year in HCMC

 Master in Quality Management (MQM)

Annually more than 50 professors come to Vietnam to share with Vietnamese students their knowledge and expertise Some of them have 10 year experience teaching in Vietnam

The teaching staff at the SBS-em is a highly successful and diversified group comprising full-time professors from Brussels University and a number of

external professors, chosen from leading specialists in the fields of business and economics They practice teaching methods that are rigorously adapted to meet the needs of students, including advanced theory teaching, the extensive use of case histories, business game techniques, and in-depth seminars

e/ SWOT

• Strength

– Good brand in Europe and some

accreditations – Seniority (15 years) in Vietnam

– Strategic corporation with active

Uni.’s (OU and NEU) – Business oriented programs by

practitioners.

• Weakness

– Confused identity and brand name (Viet-Bi); no differentiations – Awareness of the diploma to the enterprises and community – Facilities and logistics for courses – No scholarship and lecturing support (Vietnamese tutor) – Weak public relationship (relevant community activities)

• Opportunity

– Demands for post graduate to the

trend of economic growth and integration to the region and the world

– Program portfolios

– Tighten policy on post graduate

educators, leaving room for quality ones.

– Established alumni network

• Threats

– Competitors – Overseas study developed – Trade off between quality and quantity

Figure III-2 - SWOT analysis on SBS-VN brand

Source: developed for the purpose of this thesis

(Abbr.: Uni = university)

It is remarked that SBS-VN has certain strong points but it would not support to development if they are not converted into sustainable competitiveness The seniority in Vietnam must be a point for emphasis to show off the understanding

of the requirements and the needs At the other hand, there are quite a few weak points for improvement to ensure the perfect experience of the customers to the brands starting right with the addressed name Additionally to this, the positioning

of the tuition fee though being favored to the customers will give impression of low quality compared to competitors

For the opportunity, the highlight point can be the alumni network, seeing that the effect of “word of mouth” and personal opinion, the awareness of the network is very much useful for branding and once it is integrated to the SBS network, it gives chance to the alumni to interact with the world for profession exchange

The most serious threat would come from inside when the recruitment target is trade off with the quality, mainly at the entrance This consequently gives very bad outcome when the learners cannot perform in the courses and therefore after graduation and in work

3 Market Analysis

3.1 Post graduate education

For the recent years, there are more and more education and training entities providing postgraduate programs with the presence of many international schools Apart from the soaring demand form the enterprises for MBA employees; taking postgraduate study is also the strategy for some individual to develop their entrepreneurship and leadership

Based on the assessment of the providers, the postgraduate programs (in the scope

of this thesis mentioned as master programs) can be classified into three groups

- The Vietnam master programs – managed by the Vietnamese universities licensed by Ministry of Education and Training The curriculum is standardized by MoET, which is more on the academy or rather theory Per the World Intellectual Property Organization, none of the Vietnam universities meets the international standard for postgraduate Consequently, those masters programs are not favored to executives

- The pre-master programs or overseas MBA connecting courses, referring to the recruitment of learners to study in overseas Since it is the contact point,

it always misleads the people by various marketing activities done by local agency

- The jointly conducted master programs, being generally those conducted jointly by one overseas university and a Vietnamese university With these programs, the curriculums are in most of the cases set by foreign partners and the Vietnamese partners provide facilities and marketing and recruitment There is variation for this type of programs where the learners can take full program in Vietnam or partly in the country of the foreign partners These programs are applicable to executives and usually cover the real case studies and analysis on the practical situation

Most of the programs are for business management category or sub categories that are specified on marketing, finance, quality management and so forth

3.2 Competitors

There are 15 education entities in Vietnam officially licensed by MoET providing

27 postgraduate programs that are jointly conducted with a foreign university All the programs are oriented to developing the in depth knowledge in various profession and the innovation capability in management for the Vietnamese

The programs and curriculums are designed by the counter foreign parties and certified by MoET The differences are made in some main categories such as entrance and selection conditions, course time, tuition, program duration etc However, some other factors affect the recruitment, which are the brand awareness, the recognition of diploma and mainly the practical benefits of the programs to the learners and of course the tuition fee The underneath table (Table III-1) gives some information of other schools that provides same program category as SBS VN The table shows the comparison among some items that are

of the learners when they decide to take the master program The schools are selected based on the parity of the programs provided

and HCMC Uni of Eco

Vietnam national Uni of Hanoi - Hanoi School of Business

Polytechnique Uni of

HCMC and National Uni

Of HCMC

Vietnam national Uni of Hanoi and RMIT

Vietnam national Uni

of Hanoi

Finance Institute

100%

Foreign in English

foreign

100% from international

Part time (22 months)

Part time (22 weeks)

Part time (24 months)

Part time (16 months)

Part time (12 months) Diploma Jointly By Hawaii

By Maasstricht by RMIT by Troy By Glou

Good

features

;Good graduate granted scholarship for

doctorate study

- Practical programs

- Alumni network

- Alumni profile

- High ranked

- Accredited

- Flexible schedule

- Take course with credits

- Elective course to needs and preference

- Connecting

to the network and international alumni

Specialization programs in

-"strategic management and project management"

-Tutorial session

- Applied and practical emphasis with strong links to industry

- Technology and business brought together to help analyze relevant world issues

- Quality campuses and facilities

- ACBSP accredit

- Vietnamese lecturers from Finance Institute

Table III-1- Competitors summary

Source: Developed for this project Remarks

- Abbr.: Uni = university

- Entrance and selections is marked with stars (*) meaning the level of difficulty

and strictness The more stars are shown, the more strictness and high requirements area applicable This is per subjective judgment based on the some points of consideration, namely, university diploma, entrance test, face-to-face interview, essays, English competence, work experience, references etc

Some findings

Most of the programs require simple conditions for entrance, which would consequently cause the problem with the lecture participation and graduate quality English is getting lower in requirements Some program focusing on the recruitment target over look such important criteria

Course length are relatively similar, however there are some programs that are so short This would not be favored to people who really wish to take serious postgraduate study Apart from the length, some program offer variations to the structure in which the learners can study half of the time in Vietnam and the other half in overseas

The lecturers are mainly international using English Many programs offer Vietnamese assistant lecturers to help out the understanding difficulty due to terminology

The programs very much differ one to another for its reputation of the foreign partners and the accreditation

One of the points that weaken the reputation of the program is that the local partners have so many jointly conducted programs and therefore they focus on recruitment target rather than quality

4 Research

4.1 Research rationale and question

Since SBS VN has been in the market for a while and as mentioned above, certain numbers of learners took the post-graduate programs with SBS-VN and graduated It is useful to know what is the standing- out points of SBS-VN programs to the perception of the learners The perception of the previous learners

is formed based on the expectation before joining the programs and the actual experience including the benefits they get while taking the programs This is also applicable to the prospects in term of setting the expected perception when communicating about the school Additional, the expectation about the programs would set some behaviors to affect the decision of taking the programs

For such, the research is set to answer the following questions

- What is the perception of the learners about the school?

- What are criteria for program selection?

- What are the main factors for selecting a brand?

4.2 Methodology

The overall research methodology is shown in table underneath (Figure III-1)

Desk research

(problem intepretation)

Survey

Figure III-3 - Research process

Source: developed for the purpose of this thesis

It is expected that the results would give data to deal with the following problems (See Table III-2)

Key selection factors x X

Specific expectation before joining specific SBS-em

To be improved features

Perceived Differentiation (reason of choosing) X

Table III-2 - Research problem interpretation

Source: Developed for the purpose of this thesis

The research should be done separately to the two target groups, one being the alumni and the other being the prospects or potential students

Firstly, with the alumni, the process can start with qualitative research and then quantitative one to check on the majority The problems have much to do with the perception and also the target respondents are of high intellectual class It is ideal

to work on focus group to listen to feedback across some representatives of the alumni From the findings of the main attributes, quantitative research can be developed

With the prospects, an in-depth interview can gather information about the expectation for an MBA and selection criteria It is also useful to double check with the prospects some of the attributes that the alumni have highlighted to see if any common points for use in strategy establishment The quantitative research is

to check on the majority feedback

4.3 Sampling

For alumni, the focus group is carried out with the participation of the alumni across the programs and over the intakes Then the survey is based on random sampling method, meaning the questionnaire is sent to the alumni list by random selection

For the prospects, the method is convenience sampling The in-depth interview is also made with some working people who have intention for further study Then the questionnaire is sent to the available list of officers Only those who sent

questionnaire with yes answer for the higher study intention The contact details are from the list of alumni

Table III-3 - Sampling selection

Source: developed for the purpose of this thesis

The prospects approached are white collar workers who have at least 2 years

of working experience Some filtering questions are made before the interview with life goal achievements and intention of post graduate With the in-depth interviews, the prospects are selected based on relationships and for the survey, it is done via a survey conducting parties with date filtered to requirements

4.4 Data collection

The method of email administer survey is used for data collection

4.5 Data presentation and findings

Gender of respondents

48%

52%

Male Female

Figure III-4 - Gender of respondents

Figure III-6 - Age groups of respondents

(Alumni)

Age groups of respondents

Figure III-7 - Age groups of respondents

(prospects)

Source: Extracted for the research report developed for this thesis

Gender of respondents

57% 43%

Male Female

> 20.

Figure III-8 - Average monthly income in

mil dong (alumni)

Average monthly income (mil Dong)

16%

27% 35%

22%

2.00 - 7.49 7.50 - 14.49 14.50 - 19.99

>20.00

Figure III-9 - Average monthly income in

mil dong (prospects)

Source: Extracted for the research report developed for this thesis

Reason to take post graduate study

To have additional higher degree in

economics apart from techniques

To supplement knowledge in various

fields

Follow the set plan - to study further

up to dotorage degree

For favourite because of favourable

conditions to take post graduate

study

To target at management level in

career path

Figure III-10 - Reason to take postgraduate study

Source: Extracted for the research report developed for this thesis

It is obvious that to the people who have taken the master programs, they expect the knowledge and the outcome will give great support to their career that is either the current work or one in the future It is understandable why they select part