E-commerce Expansion Strategy Report: De Montfort University Analysis

This report provides an analysis of De Montfort University (DMU), focusing on its e-commerce strategy and potential for international student recruitment. The report begins with an introduction to DMU, including its history and current student demographics. A SWOT analysis is conducted to identify the university's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Furthermore, Porter's Five Forces model is applied to assess the external environment. The analysis considers factors such as the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, competitive rivalry, the threat of substitutes, and the threat of new entrants. Based on the findings, the report offers specific recommendations for DMU to leverage its strengths, address weaknesses, capitalize on opportunities, and mitigate threats, particularly in the context of expanding its e-commerce offerings and attracting more international students through distance learning. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and emphasizes the importance of adapting to the evolving educational landscape. The report uses various sources to support its findings and recommendations.

E COMMERCE ASSIGNMENT

Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
SWOT analysis.......................................................................................................................................3
Porter`s five forces model.....................................................................................................................6
Recommendation..................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................8
References.............................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
The university was originated in 1870. De Montfort University (DMU) was given a status of
university in 1992. Currently, the university has nearly 2000 students from all over the world
and further it was divided in four main faculties of Humanities, Design, life science,
technology, business laws and Art1. The university is located in England and is well-known
for its teaching as it is recognised with gold rating in excellence framework of training. For
the recent year, there are 19535 students from UK, 750 from other EU countries, and 2920
from non- EU countries. This report focuses on analysing the university with the help of
SWOT analysis and other as external analysis through Porter`s fiver forces model. After
conducting each of the framework, the concise recommendation is given below the analysis
that will help the university to identify threats and weaknesses and compile them with
opportunity and strength so that it can overcome the problems and attract more students2.
SWOT analysis
Strength weakness
 The university focuses on career
related skills.
 Certain things, which can make the
offering more attractive such as
campus facilities, clubs and
societies, and other career services.
 Several courses are endorsed by the
professional bodies and aligning it
 There is no stumble upon
spontaneous whereas other random
events that can create dynamic
university especially social world.
 Staff does not care for the students.
Demoralising behaviour form the
professors Students have created
1 De Montfort University., “Global Supply Chain Management,”
”https://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/business-and-law/postgraduate-modules/risk-management-msc/
global-supply-chain-management.aspx, March 4, 2019
2 De Montfort University.,“Building Analysis,”“https://www.dmu.ac.uk/business-services/a-z-business-
services/technology/building-analysis.aspx, March 4, 2019

with current industrial practises.
 The university is among 25 top
universities with high employment
rates3.
 University`s leisure has huge
number of facilities open to the
students.
 Students can access more than 140
clubs to choose and hosts guest
lectures on campus with people who
are leaders in their field4.
hatred for the chosen subject5.
 Thinking for doing masters from this
university is not at all a good option.
Opportunity Threat
 The university is ranked among top
50 universities at the globe for
sustainability.
 This ranking is designed to work and
display that is being delivered by the
universities, which can help to
change communities for better
future.
 UN can adopt sustainable
development goals in 2015 in order
 High competition due to growing
number of colleges and universities
worldwide has become a great threat
for de Montfort University.
 The healthcare science is poorly
structured because of low
maintenance, as lectures are not
helpful much6.
3 De Montfort University.,” DMU ranked in top 50 universities in the world for sustainability,”
https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2019/april/dmu-ranked-in-top-50-universities-in-the-world-for-
sustainability.aspx, March 4, 2019
5 Same as 3
4 Allison, S.M., 2018. Conducting a SWOT Analysis: Evaluating the Student Employee Program in Archives and
Special Collections at New Mexico State University. The Reading Room: A Journal of Special Collections, 3(1),
p.3529.
6 Same as 5

to provide framework to develop the
world in a sustainable method.
 The university offers huge range of
courses and also the related
placement in numerous countries
such as China, Nigeria, Ghana,
Malaysia and India.
As a recommendation, the university should use its strengths and opportunities to burry
weaknesses and threats. For instance- lack of social interaction is one of the cause of
university so there is need to rectify this problem by organising team activities and
conducting socialising activities. In order to become more competitive and win the
competition among all the existing universities, the college has to stand with a competitive
edge. Other more challenge faced by the university is that it do not certain filters while giving
admission to any student. It just charge fees from the students and allow them to sit in the
same class where more competitive people also sits. In order to have more standardised level
of education of the students, the university has to apply some filters while allowing the
students to fill the form. The teacher’s facilities are not very much concerned but at the same
time, it is necessary to cater the students every time for his queries, law, business, and
employment7.
Porter`s five forces model
Bargaining power of suppliers- increasing the sufficiency of chain management is strategic
asset that can improve the customer satisfaction. Contingencies theories are linked to
7 De Montfort University.,” DMU ranked in top 50 universities in the world for sustainability,”
https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2019/april/dmu-ranked-in-top-50-universities-in-the-world-for-
sustainability.aspx, March 4, 2019

procurement, logistics as per the secondary skills. Outsourcing elements of the supply chain
is another service.
Power of buyers- The buyers are considered as students where it seems that bargaining
power of buyers is more and high. For example- There is a student-impaired kid of 15 years
when the student is diagnosed, it was found that the student faces speeches and listening
difficulties but at the same time, the student ensures that he will continue to grow the
speeches and also the presentations. The student is quite determined the asked the university
for an opportunity that rather than making excuses can let them stop and he just changed his
mindset is used to measure the supply chain cost and the performance. Risk management
helps to interstate the situation and its activities to forward combination and integration. This
institute conducts a seminar of 3 hours for all the students. Moreover, the university offers a
huge range of foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels to nearly 2700 international
students in a year8.
Competitive rivalry- the competition among the existing universities is extremely high as in
some countries; it has become one of the strongest source of income. Therefore, the
university enjoys a national and international recognition where the research strengths lies in
societal importance such as creative people, urban living, and creative designs. As of now
DMU celebrated its 25th anniversary by being the part of gold ranking in 2017 “Teaching
Excellence Framework”9. Further, in 2017, the university was named as the best university in
the country by helping the students to engage in high skilled works and continue the further
study side by side10.
8 Aithal, P.S., Shailashree, V. and Kumar, P.M., 2016. Application of ABCD Analysis Framework on Private
University System in India. International Journal of Management Sciences and Business Research, 5(4), pp.159-
170.
9 De Montfort University.,”DMU courses,””https://www.dmu.ac.uk/International/en/Courses/Courses.aspx?
gclid=Cj0KCQjws5HlBRDIARIsAOomqA0FKUu9XVQfQO42ArfDyALZndZ79X_ov6x5WdxLv0fPa_kf7J-
_TwEaAnSVEALw_wcB, March 4, 2019
10 Aithal, P.S., Shailashree, V. and Kumar, P.M., 2016. Application of ABCD Analysis Framework on Private
University System in India. International Journal of Management Sciences and Business Research, 5(4), pp.159-
170.

What affects the decision of buyers while selecting DMU lie in the price sensitivity and
bargaining power to the organisation. For instance-
Threat of substitutes- Apart from the competitive rivalry, there are lot more universities who
provided same level of course knowledge that is been delegated by De Montfort university11.
Threat of new entrants- this force is low as the establishment cost for business is high. This
university already has expertise in checking environment and energy situations in the
infrastructure. Moreover, the university has portable logging equipment that is easily installed
to control the temperature, electric consumption, variables, and humidity. For instance- the
small battery powered loggers have record from several rooms and have expertise to examine
the data in regards to reference to the national standards12.
Recommendation
From the above identified problems and weakness in internal and external analysis, it is seen
that the university has to be updated in providing other services as well because of high
competition. As there are more top ranking universities, which provides more wide platform
to stand apart from the competition. As the university, it offers a huge range of UG and PG
level, which is recruited from numerous countries including China, Malaysia, Ghana, India,
and Nigeria. In order to expand the offering and grab the attention of more students, the
university can offer approaches that are more practical and creates new offerings in regards to
different subjects such as journalism course that can boost the confidence of the students and
figure out a career in mass media. This will lead to significant extra revenue generation by
increasing the awareness at the global marketplace. The university can conduct a survey
11 Aithal, P.S., Shailashree, V. and Kumar, P.M., 2016. Application of ABCD Analysis Framework on Private
University System in India. International Journal of Management Sciences and Business Research, 5(4), pp.159-
170.
12 The conversation.,” De Montfort University”, https://theconversation.com/institutions/de-
montfort-university-1254?page=2, March 4, 2019

research in other countries of which they are targeting to know the maximum preferences of
the students so that it can create a set of course subjects for bringing that field into their
university.
Conclusion
From the above analytical discussion on De Montfort University (DMU) which was
recognised and was given a status in 1992. The in university is planning to attract the students
of other various countries. The university is expanding its range of providing recruitment in
some other countries such as India, Nigeria, Malaysia, and China. Apart from this, the
university has great infrastructural facilities that attract great number of youth as it gives a
sense of satisfaction regarding the existence of practical.

References
De Montfort University., “Global Supply Chain Management,”
”https://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/business-and-law/postgraduate-modules/risk-management-
msc/global-supply-chain-management.aspx, March 4, 2019
De Montfort University.,“Building Analysis,”“https://www.dmu.ac.uk/business-services/a-z-
business-services/technology/building-analysis.aspx, March 4, 2019
De Montfort University.,”DMU
courses,””https://www.dmu.ac.uk/International/en/Courses/Courses.aspx?
gclid=Cj0KCQjws5HlBRDIARIsAOomqA0FKUu9XVQfQO42ArfDyALZndZ79X_ov6x5
WdxLv0fPa_kf7J-_TwEaAnSVEALw_wcB, March 4, 2019
De Montfort University.,” DMU ranked in top 50 universities in the world for sustainability,”
https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/news/2019/april/dmu-ranked-in-top-50-universities-in-
the-world-for-sustainability.aspx, March 4, 2019
De Montfort University.,” ABOUT DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY”,
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/de-montfort-
university#survey-answer, March 4, 2019
The conversation.,” De Montfort University”, https://theconversation.com/institutions/de-
montfort-university-1254?page=2, March 4, 2019
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.
Živković, Ž., Nikolić, D., Djordjević, P., Mihajlović, I. and Savić, M., 2015. Analytical
network process in the framework of SWOT analysis for strategic decision making (Case

study: Technical faculty in Bor, University of Belgrade, Serbia). Acta Polytechnica
Hungarica, 12(7), pp.199-216.
Aithal, P.S., Shailashree, V. and Kumar, P.M., 2016. Application of ABCD Analysis
Framework on Private University System in India. International Journal of Management
Sciences and Business Research, 5(4), pp.159-170.
Allison, S.M., 2018. Conducting a SWOT Analysis: Evaluating the Student Employee
Program in Archives and Special Collections at New Mexico State University. The Reading
Room: A Journal of Special Collections, 3(1), p.3529.