E-Commerce Management at DMU

This assignment deals with a case study of De Montfort University in which they want to clearly lay their foot in the distance learning courses. The University is very clear to start the distance learning modules for the intakes of more number of international students. The University will help the overseas students by implementing quality syllabus in this modules as well as providing global certification for the successful completion of this module by any student. This document provides a critical analysis of their business implementations as well as the strategies to deal with the competencies in the market are also provided in this report.

Running head: E-COMMERCE MANAGEMENT AT DMU
E-Commerce Management at DMU
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary
This assignment deals with a case study of De Montfort University in which they want to
clearly lay their foot in the distance learning courses. The University is very clear to start the
distance learning modules for the intakes of more number of international students. The
University will help the overseas students by implementing quality syllabus in this modules
as well as providing global certification for the successful completion of this module by any
student. This document provides a critical analysis of their business implementations as well
as the strategies to deal with the competencies in the market are also provided in this report.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................3
2. SWOT Analysis.....................................................................................................................3
3. External Situation Analysis....................................................................................................6
4. Suggestions for DMU............................................................................................................8
5. Conclusions............................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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1. Introduction
The main scope of this assignment is to deal with the business process analysis of De
Montfort University. In this report the SWOT analysis as well as an external situation
analysis are undertaken for the university to deal with the current business analytical model
of the University. The competencies and the available resources are well explained in this
module. This analysis focuses on the development and to enhance the number of recruits via
distance learning. The University wants to recruit more number of students in the distant
learning mode to encourage more student’s intake as well as to increase the revenue which
will lead the position of the University to a global standard in the marketplace.
2. SWOT Analysis
The SWOT analysis is said to be the study that is undertaken by a business
professional or analyst of an organization to identify the organization’s strengths, weakness,
and opportunities of business as well as threats (Bull et al., 2016). The detailed SWOT
analysis provided below is done on the basis of internal strengths and weaknesses of the
organization as well as with the external opportunities and threats.
The diagrammatic representation of the SWOT analysis of the De Montfort
University is provided below:

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STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
 Qualified professionals
 AFFORDABLE PRICE OF
QUALITY EDUCATION
 Dedicated faculties for students
 DEDICATED ONLINE
MARKETING STRATEGIES
 Global certification
INTERNAL
 The university regulations
 Maintaining the availability of the
resources
 Cost to maintain the server
 Maintenance of time
INTERNAL
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
 CAN CREATE A LARGE BASE
OF CUSTOMER
 Group of students to be available at
one time
 Partnerships with different
collaborating institutes
 Managing the migrating students
 Presence of learning resources
online
EXTERNAL
 Price of the education in respect to
other competitors in the market
 Decline of interests among the
students
EXTERNAL
In the above diagrammatic representation of the SWOT analysis the University is said
to analyse different aspects regarding the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities as well as
threats that will incorporate the University in terms of the business analysis with its

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competitors (Phadermrod, Crowder and Wills, 2019). The explained SWOT analysis of the
University is provided below.
Strengths: The University of De Montfort is aiming to encourage the recruitment of new
students for their upcoming online learning courses. The organization has dedicated
professionals who will conduct the learning procedure over the internet. For availing this the
dedicated marketing as well as networking team can be very effective. Through this online
mode of training they can recruit many number of students from a wide part of the world and
can connect themselves for the learning modules (Gürel and Tat, 2017). This online learning
will also provide the students with the facility of getting a global certificate that will be valid
throughout the world.
Weakness: There will be certain regulations of the university that will prevent the online
learning procedure which needs to get overcome (Bell and Rochford, 2016). The restrictions
or barriers in the field of online learning should be analysed carefully and then proper risk
management solutions should be provided to avoid the limitations. There might be some
problems in regards to the server maintenance with respect to time and network (Wang, Li
and Cao, 2018). These vulnerabilities must be critically assessed as well as preventive
measures must be followed by the organization to mitigate these risks.
Opportunities: The main opportunity through this e-learning module is that the university can
increase the number of intakes of students from all over the world as this module could be
accessed from anywhere. Moreover, the module could be accessed by a number of students at
the same time. To implement this type of facility the University have to engage and
collaborate with different institutions regarding the access of e-learning modules (Jena and

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Bhardawaj, 2018). This type of facility will help to manage the migrated students that are
present all over the world. The facility will provide a wide range of learning modules to the
students all over the world.
Threats: There are many e-learning platforms provided by the other universities present in
the market. So there is a probable threat to the university if the cost of the education is too
high. So keeping this in mind the university must design the course fee structure in such a
way that it can be availed by maximum number of students (George, 2017). Moreover the
scheme of the syllabus is to be structured in such a manner that it could encourage students
towards the syllabus and also changes in syllabus is to be made so that the interest of the
students never goes down.
3. External Situation Analysis
According to the SWOT analysis done above the external situational analysis is stated by
using Porter’s five forces model. In this model the analysis is done on the basis of five
objectives (Bozkurt, Akgün-Özbek and Zawacki-Richter, 2017). The diagrammatic
representation of the Porter’s five model are given below.

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This external situational analysis as stated above in the porter’s five model for the e-
learning modules as provided by the university describes the external objectives for the
business. The organization requires dealing with the competencies present in the market and
make the marketing strategies accordingly (Grant, 2015). The policies taken by the other
universities to deal with the distant learning modules should be critically analysed by the
marketing department of the De Montfort University. Reviewing the policies of the other
universities, the university should design the scheme and syllabus the distant learning module
in such a way that the module will be much more attractive than the other modules present in
the market.

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4. Suggestions for DMU
Based on the SWOT Analysis and the External Situational Analysis this can be
suggested that the University should focus on simple strategic implementations on their
marketing strategies via their website. The website should be designed by analysing the
provided other modules present in the market. The website should have a better portray of all
the services provided and maximum amount of advertisement should be made on the social
media as well as in the learning websites. This will create a great exposure to the students
who are willing to take the distance learning courses from DMU (David, David, and David,
2017). The proper level of advertisement should be done by the management team of the
DMU to attract the maximum number of students. The systematic display of the entire
syllabus is to be done in the website of DMU to provide the students with an encouragement
for availing the learning modules.
The University should also use the website as a marketing strategy as well as a trust
for the students to avail the distance-learning module. The website should possesses the
necessary accreditations displayed, which will gain the trust of the students to opt for the
course. The transparent display of fees structure should also be provided in the University’s
website to provide a clarity to the students about any charges of the course. No hidden costs
should be implemented on the final course fees as provided in the website as it can decline or
decrease the trust of the students for opting for the course. The university should properly
fund the server maintenance department for the enhancement of the server availability to the
students. This will certainly encourage the involvement of the students from worldwide to
participate and achieve the global certification.

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5. Conclusions
The main aspect of the assignment is to focus on the business analysis of the DMU’s
new distant learning module and present the pros and cons of the strategy. The SWOT
analysis as provided in the assignment will deal with the four prime factors, which analyses
the business implications and integrities regarding the initiation procedure of the said module.
Moreover, the external business analysis is helpful for determining the implementations of
the business strategies in comparison with the other strategies present in the market. Finally,
it can be concluded that the suggestions as provided in the assignment will help the university
to analyse their marketing strategies towards the initiation of the distant learning course.

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References
Bell, G.G. and Rochford, L., 2016. Rediscovering SWOT’s integrative nature: A new
understanding of an old framework. The International Journal of Management Education,
14(3), pp.310-326.
Bozkurt, A., Akgün-Özbek, E. and Zawacki-Richter, O., 2017. Trends and patterns in
massive open online courses: Review and content analysis of research on MOOCs (2008-
2015). The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(5).
Brown, S., 2015. Virtual University–Real Challenges: Infrastructure and Faculty Support at
De Montfort University.
Bull, J.W., Jobstvogt, N., Böhnke-Henrichs, A., Mascarenhas, A., Sitas, N., Baulcomb, C.,
Lambini, C.K., Rawlins, M., Baral, H., Zähringer, J. and Carter-Silk, E., 2016. Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats: A SWOT analysis of the ecosystem services
framework. Ecosystem services, 17, pp.99-111.
David, M.E., David, F.R. and David, F.R., 2017. The quantitative strategic planning matrix: a
new marketing tool. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 25(4), pp.342-352.
George, P., 2017. 16 Reimagining the Student Evaluation: Using Democratic Frameworks in
College Teaching and Learning. Promoting Social Justice through the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning, p.297.
Grant, R.M., 2015. Five forces of competition. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, pp.1-4.
Gürel, E. and Tat, M., 2017. SWOT ANALYSIS: A THEORETICAL REVIEW. Journal of
International Social Research, 10(51).

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Jena, P.C. and Bhardawaj, P., 2018. SWOT ANALYSIS: BEST PRACTICES FOR
ENHANCING QUALITY IN EDUCATION. Advance and Innovative Research, p.269.
Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R.M. and Wills, G.B., 2019. Importance-performance analysis
based SWOT analysis. International Journal of Information Management, 44, pp.194-203.
Wang, X., Li, M. and Cao, J., 2018, June. SWOT Analysis of the Old and New Campus of
the University and Its Countermeasures. In 2018 2nd International Conference on Education,
Economics and Management Research (ICEEMR 2018). Atlantis Press.