VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI SCHOOL OF BUSINESS DAU THU HUONG AN EVALUATION OF MARKETING TOOLS FOR OVERSEAS STUDY CONSULTING SERVICES IN HANOI Major: Business Administration...
Trang 1VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
DAU THU HUONG
AN EVALUATION OF MARKETING TOOLS FOR OVERSEAS
STUDY CONSULTING SERVICES IN HANOI
Major: Business Administration
Trang 2TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A OVERVIEW OF OVERSEAS STUDY OF VIETAM
B THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1 An overview of service marketing
1.1.1 Concept of service marketing
1.1.2 Fundamentals of service marketing
1.2 An overview of marketing in education
1.2.1 Basic concepts and views on marketing in nonprofit
organizations
1.2.2 The adoption of marketing by non-profit organizations
1.2.3 Characteristics of non-profit marketing
1.2.4 Marketing procedures for non-profit organizations
1.2.5 The importance of marketing in education
1.3 An overview of marketing in overseas education services
1.3.1 International Education services
1.3.2 Marketing in international education
1.3.3 Education agents
1.3.4 The role of agents
1.3.5 Typical marketing tools
1.3.6 Proposed model
CHAPTER 2: EVALUATION OF MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF OVERSEAS STUDY CONSULTANTS IN HANOI
2.1 Analysis of marketing activities of OSC in Hanoi
2.1.2 Evaluation of the frequency use of each marketing tool
employed by OSC
2.2 Evaluation of marketing tools used by overseas education consultants from students' perspective
2.2.1 Evaluation of the most popular marketing tools
2.2.2 Evaluation of most expected/ chosen marketing tools
Trang 32.2.3 Comparison between the level of actual use and selection / expectation of students of oversea study marketing tools
2.3 Comparison of perceptions of the effectiveness of marketing promotion tools hold by students and overseas study consultants 2.4 Evaluation of marketing activities by each marketing tool
2.4.1 Evaluation of each marketing tool
2.4.2 Evaluation of OSC by tools
CHAPTER 3: SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF OVERSEAS STUDY CONSULTANTS
3.1.1 Solution for Group 1
3.1.2 Solutions for Group 2
3.1.3 Solutions for Group 4
3.2 Specific solutions for each marketing tool
3.2.2 Solution for Tool 2 - Advertising
3.2.3 Solutions for Tool 3 – Education fairs
3.2.4 Solution for Tool 4 - Direct consultancy and recruitment 3.2.5.Solution for Tool 5 – Websites
3.2.6 Solution for Tool 6 - Banner advertising
3.2.7.Solution for Tool 7 – Directory submission
3.2.8 Solution for Tool 8 – Email marketing
3.2.9 Solution for Tool 9 - Seminars
3.2.10 Solution for Tool 10 - Pr
3.2.11 Solution for Tool 11 – Tele marketing
3.3 Expansion and renovation of other types of marketing tools
3.3.2 Introduction to friends, relatives, acquaintances (words of mouth advertising)
3.3.3 Old customer care
3.3.4 Overseas study links
3.3.6 English center
CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
Trang 4AN EVALUATION OF MARKETING TOOLS FOR OVERSEAS
STUDY CONSULTING SERVICES IN HANOI
Dau Thu Huong
MBA Candidate, 2009 – 2011 School of Business – Vietnam National University, Hanoi
Supervisors: Dr Nguyen Thi Phi Nga
Ha Nguyen, MBA INTRODUCTION
1 Rationale
Overseas education has become increasingly popular in recent years as it is viewed as offering the student likelihood of better future employment It is the undeniable benefits of the abroad study and the much improved living standards of Vietnamese people that make overseas study on the rise In the context of international economic integrations, overseas study has gone beyond the traditional limit in the educational sector and become a lucrative business for overseas education consultants (OSC)
The overseas study consulting market in Vietnam is highly competitive Hundreds of education consulting centers and non-profit organizations are operating in big cities Regrettably, the increasing number of students studying overseas has not received a much needed concern from authorities In Hanoi alone, not least to say in Vietnam, there has not been official statistics of the number of students studying overseas, education markets for Vietnamese students as well as the number and effectiveness of OSC
From the educational aspect, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has not taken full responsibility in managing the study of Vietnamese overseas students, the quality of OSC and the prestige of the educational institutions which are the destinations of Vietnamese students From the business aspect, the Ministry of Planning and Investment is only
in charge of calculating the number of OSC Information of OSC can only
be found in newspapers, forums or data bases of international education institutions
For all the reasons mentioned above, it is necessary to have a study on the performance of OSC Indeed, there has not been any study on this field in general and on marketing activities of overseas education consultants in
particular Therefore it can be said that “An evaluation of marketing tools for overseas study consulting services in Hanoi” is of theoretical and
practical significance
Trang 52 Objectives of the study
This study will be conducted to get insight into the marketing activities of OSC in Hanoi and examine the needs of students for overseas study service
On the one hand, the study evaluates the promotional activities of OSC in Hanoi to find out the answer to such questions as” Which marketing tools does each OSC use and focus? “How is each tool conducted and evaluated
in relation to others?” etc On the other hand, the thesis also studies the consumer behavior through surveys of targeted students who have the need
to study abroad in order to evaluate the effectiveness of promotional activities of OSC from the students „perspective
From the two aspects of the research, the thesis will give the answer to the question whether these marketing and promotional activities can meet the requirements of the consumers or not and the ultimate aim of the study is to point out solutions to improving the marketing activities of OSC
Hopefully, after a model to evaluate the effectiveness of OSC is made, the study can propose solutions to improving marketing and promotional activities in overseas education consultancy, contributing to the improvement of quality and prestige of OSC in Vietnam‟s educational market
3 Scopes of the study
Because of time constraint and limited ability of the author, a survey of 9 typical OSC in Hanoi is conducted With regard to students answering the questionnaire, they are 100 senior students from Departments of External Economics, Business Administration and Finance and Banking of FTU where the author is working and 200 senior students from FPT and Thang Long University
It should be taken into account that FTU is a well established university which is dubbed as Vietnam Harvard while Thang Long is the first private university which has won recognition for the quality of teaching and studying and FPT is an emerging private university which is backed up by the famous FPT group These universities, in the author's observation, have
a high rate of students wishing to study abroad It should also be noted that the object of the study are university students rather than high school students Furthermore, the concept of customers here refers to students who want to study overseas It is hoped that in the near future, with a larger budget of time, a larger-scaled study which covers a wide variety of objects will be conducted to find more comprehensive solutions to improving the effectiveness of OSC
Trang 64 Methodology of the study
The method of analysis, synthesis, comparison, interpretation, induction and socio investigation are employed in the study Based on the theoretical background that has been mentioned in the study, 11 marketing tools will
be included in the survey questionnaires for students and marketing staff and leaders of 9 OSC Questions will be from general to specific to find out the popularity of marketing tools, the effectiveness of each tool in the eyes
of both OSC and students Survey and interview results are given in the form of figures to compare the popularity and effectiveness of different marketing tools
5 Structure of the study
Apart from the Introduction and Conclusion, the thesis is divided into 3 chapters as follows:
Chapter 1: A Theoretical background of service marketing, marketing in education, and marketing in overseas education service
Chapter 2: An evaluation of marketing and promotion activities of overseas education consultants in Hanoi
Chapter 3: Solutions to improving the effectiveness of marketing and promotion activities of overseas education consultants in Hanoi
Trang 7CHAPTER 1: A THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF SERVICE MARKETING, MARKETING IN EDUCATION, AND MARKETING
IN OVERSEAS EDUCATION SERVICE
AN OVERVIEW OF OVERSEAS STUDY OF VIETNAM
There are an increasing number of types of scholarship available to study overseas
In the coming years, the market of oversea study of Vietnam will have a new and significant trend and change The markets receiving students studying abroad will be extended to other regional countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Thailand, etc due to their lower costs, and shorter distance from home
The overseas-study consulting market in Vietnam is highly competitive Hundreds of education consulting centers and non-profit organizations are operating in the big cities
B THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1.1 An overview of service marketing
1.1.1 Concept of service marketing
1.1.1.1 Concept of service
Put in the simplest terms, services are deeds, processes and performances Generally, services are not tangible things that can be touched, seen and felt but rather intangible deeds and performances To be specific, services can
be whatever value a business delivers to customers
1.1.1.2 Concept of marketing
Because marketing activities bring about exchanges, marketing is an essential function in an economic system In a free-enterprise economy, resources are allocated by interaction of supply and demand in the marketplace Marketing activities and institutions' provide the framework and mechanisms for this interaction and exchange taking place
Importance of Marketing
If marketing is the engine that drives the organization, then marketing research is the process that keeps the engine tuned
1.1.1.3 Concept of service marketing
Generally, service marketing is known as a form of marketing which focuses on selling services and a form of marketing based on relationship and value
1.1.2 Fundamentals of service marketing
1.1.2.1 Characteristics of service: The services have unique characteristics
which make them different from that of goods The most common
characteristics of services are:
Trang 8Decisions in service distribution
In order for enterprise to have an effective distribution channel, enterprise needs to base on the features of the service that it is offering together with the true demand of the market Accordingly, enterprise should consider
making the right decision to get the best result
1.1.1.3.4 Promotion Policy
Communication makes things clear and help company position itself in the market so that the customers can have more awareness of the value of service
Communication in service includes such things as advertisement, personal communication, and promotion
1.1.3.7 Physical Evidence
Trang 9In a word, physical evidence are the combination of both tangible factor such as facilities, uniforms, location, etc and intangible factor such as
experience, skills, etc which help to build up brand and company‟s image
1.2.5 The importance of marketing in education
The role of educational marketing is to:
investigate the market, its definition and understanding and identifying potential consumers of goods and services;
providing appropriate products and services to customer‟s needs at the time, place and right price;
providing customers with optimal, quality and reputation educational services;
attracting consumers by targeting their needs and aspirations intuition
The educational marketing has several functions, namely:
research of the market by trying to find the main consumers of education;
marketing‟s policies linking the main requirements of the education market;
adapting education‟s services to the needs, expectations and demands of consumers for products and educational services;
promoting optimal efficient management, using materials and information resources in order to achieve the main objectives set
1.2 An overview of marketing in overseas education services
1.2.1 International Education services
There is little research on international education services, which is the immediate discipline of this research Nonetheless, a range of perspectives abound
1.2.2 Marketing in international education
The supply of transnational (or cross-border) education plays an
increasingly important role for the economic growth of a country
1.2.3 Education agents
An education agent is defined as an individual, company or other organization providing services on a commercial basis to help students and their parents gain places on study programmers overseas
1.2.4 The role of agents
Agents have only a limited role in raising general interest in study abroad but they play a very important role as intermediaries helping to convert
Trang 10interest from students, particularly younger students (and their parents), into actual placements in institutions abroad
1.2.5 The importance of marketing in education
The role of educational marketing is to:
investigate the market, its definition and understanding and identifying potential consumers of goods and services;
providing appropriate products and services to customer‟s needs at the time, place and right price;
providing customers with optimal, quality and reputation educational services;
attracting consumers by targeting their needs and aspirations intuition
The educational marketing has several functions, namely:
research of the market by trying to find the main consumers of education;
marketing‟s policies linking the main requirements of the education market;
adapting education‟s services to the needs, expectations and demands of consumers for products and educational services;
promoting optimal efficient management, using materials and information resources in order to achieve the main objectives set
1.3 Marketing Communication: Channels and Promotion Tools
Personal and nonpersonal communication channels can be used for
marketing communications Within both of them there are many
subchannels The marketing communications mix is now thought of as
consisting six major modes or types of communication alternatives
1 Advertising
2 Sales promotion
3 Events and experiences
4 Public relations and publicity
Trang 11CHAPTER 2: EVALUATION OF MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF
OVERSEAS STUDY CONSULTANTS IN HANOI
A survey is conducted to study the use of the 11 typical marketing promotion tools by the 9 overseas education consultants as follows:
Tool 1: Direct mail
Tool 2: Advertising
Tool 3: Education Fair
Tool 4: Direct recruitment and consultancy
Tool 5: Website
Tool 6: Banners advertising (banners)
Tools 7 Listings
Trang 12Tool 8: Email marketing
Tool 9: Seminar/ Workshop
Tool 10: Public Relations (PR)
Tool 11:Tele marketing (phone call)
2.1 Analysis of marketing activities of OSC in Hanoi
2.1.1 Evaluation of the use of each marketing tool employed by OSC
In marketing activities, the tools of advertising, education fairs, websites and seminars/workshops are the most popular choices for overseas education consultants, followed by Tool 4- Direct recruitment and consultancy while Tool 8- Email marketing- accounts for 88.89% The remaining tools, Tool 1 - Direct mails and Tool 11 - Tele marketing are employed by 77.78% of companies The least used tools are Tool 6- Banner ads on websites and Tool 10 - Public relations, accounting for 66.67% Most companies say that they are hanging banner advertisements on streets rather than on websites Particularly, Tool 7- Directory submission- is not used by any company interviewed
2.1.2 Evaluation of the frequency use of each marketing tool employed
by OSC
Tool 5 - Websites - is the most popular tool The next popular tool is Tool 4- Direct recruitment and consultancy with rate 4 which is usually carried out at the company‟s headquarter or at education fairs However, there are also some cases in which companies go directly to schools to deliver talk, consultation, trial lessons and direct recruitments
Other equally popular tools are Seminars/ Workshops and Advertising with
4 points Most ads are on papers and television rather than on radio stations and magazines Up to 88.89% of companies surveyed said they appeared
on television just to participate in television programs on education, overseas study or to sponsor TV programs rather than record information or advertise on television Therefore, this activity can be classified as public relations
The remaining tools, including Tool 1 - Direct mails, Tool 3 - Education fairs, Tool 6 - banner ads, Tool 8 - E-mail marketing, Tool 10 - Public relations, and the Tool 11 - Telemarketing scatter in the scale from 2 to 3 points, which means that these tools are not used frequently The least frequently used tool is Banner advertising Tool 7- Directory submission is not taken into consideration as it is not used by any company