E-Commerce Business Strategies for Higher Education

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E-COMMERCE ASSIGNMENT
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Contents
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
SWOT ANALYSIS.....................................................................................................................3
PART 2............................................................................................................................................5
PORTER’S FIVE FORCES........................................................................................................5
PART 3............................................................................................................................................6
SUGGESTIONS..........................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
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PART 1
The rate of distance learning is increasing with the increasing costs to the students and
unavailability of prestigious institutions in their demographic locations. It can also be said that
distance learnings are also cost-effective to the colleges and for their reputation as they serve
people on a global scale. Similarly, the De Montfort University International College (DMUIC)
is one of the growing and embedded college which offers integrated programmes for non-UK
students for graduate and post-graduate courses. So, this proposal to offer a new variety of
courses to people needs to be analysed and hence, SWOT analysis for the same has been
conducted below:
SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
 Accessibility to different courses from
anywhere through internet
 Brand name with successful 5 years in
effective learning
 Flexibility to work and learn
simultaneously with the courses from
oxford
 Cost-effective for students
 Allows independent learning
 No need for large spaces as campus
 Capital driven practices (virtual
databases, libraries, IT providers,
program development costs)
 Inaccessibility to the physical library
and other learning material
 Chances for frauds and plagiarism
 Computer and internet costs are on
students
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
 New opportunities with technologies to
enhance the learning experience
 Ability to reach people who are unable
to attend colleges
 In increasing diversity and equality in
the higher education arena
 Increased costs to create a library
database (online libraries)
 Difficulty to indulge students in
learning according to courses
 Probability of frauds at intermediate
ends if present
(Source: DMU International College, 2019)
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The Swot analysis of the DMUIC represents a variety of strengths and opportunities for the
students especially from Asian regions as proposed by the college. The variety of courses offered
in partnership with Oxford makes them more potent and attractive for the students who want to
learn abroad but cannot attend college at these distances. The distance learning courses by
DMUIC are feasible to all aspirants and for those who are seeking for a scholarship. The college
owns a successful brand name from its successful 5 years and a variety of graduate and post-
graduate courses for international students (DMUIC, 2019). In terms of new opportunities for the
people and college, they are growing fast and hence with these distance learning courses, they
can enhance the diversity among people in the education field and create a sense of equality for
all who can come to college with those who cannot.
These distance learning courses also come with the variety of threats and weaknesses from
several ends like probabilities for frauds with students and college, theft in the database, learning
costs are majorly for students, variety of brands serving people in this sector and many more
makes it difficult at some instances. The threats from other colleges, inability to indulge students
according to learning as they work according to their routines, high investments for college
initially develops some shortcomings in this kind of learning. So, this proposal by DMUIC is a
strategic decision that may develop an impetus and significantly high revenue with increased
awareness among people globally (DMU, 2019).
Overall, it can be said that the courses that are going to be offered by DMUIC for international
students are a great idea for the benefits of all while they also have to deal with the challenges at
first with strategic and effective decisions and plans. They can initially perform a survey with the
aspirant students who wish to join them and learn so that they can get a clear view of their
proposal to offer them international master’s courses. In addition to this, they can also enhance
their database and online libraries with the latest methods and systems that can easily reach the
candidates without any chance of frauds, thefts or data loss. With the increase in online access to
databases and diverse range of courses, DMUIC can work on some other benefits to their
students like low costs, scholarships, fee discounts, practical learning’s and trainings at their
place or online individual sessions etc. which can add advantages for them and hence enhance
their attraction in global market.
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PART 2
As mentioned, the distance learning courses are available to all nowadays and hence if a college
like DMUIC is willing to promote, they should understand the market situations at first and then
develop some objectives for them. Regarding same, for DMUIC, porter’s five forces model has
been used to analyse the market situation, mentioned below:
PORTER’S FIVE FORCES
Power of buyers is the students who wish to enrol for this distance learning courses and hence
are the most crucial aspect for their growth in markets. The customers (students) in any industry
play the most vital role in making and creating a great success while at the same time, the owners
(college) need to work for them on priority basis to enhance their satisfaction rate and hence
future relations. At present, there are already more than 2700 students from 130 nations and
hence in future, these stats can help them to attract more with an effective range of online
(distance) learning courses (DMU, 2019).
Power of suppliers is basically for those sectors who produce some goods or serve people and
hence here, there is no aspect like suppliers in their courses to people but in terms of database
management, this is definitely served by some IT firm(s) and hence they need to make a good
deal with them to serve people more effectively on internet platforms (Mehdipour and Zerehkafi,
2013).
The threat of new entry is the threat that arises if a new entity enters the market and serves with
similar services or products. Similarly, in education industry especially with distance learning
institutions, this is a significant threat as a new name just need to have a well-maintained
database and variety of courses that can attract people from the globe and hence this is a threat to
them.
The threat of substitutes, as mentioned, there are risks from others in this sector and for DMUIC,
there are colleges in University of London, University of Portsmouth, The Open University UK,
Imperial College London and many other brands that are threats (Studyportals, 2017). This can
be taken as a major threat for them in their working sector of online and distance learning
courses.
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The market rivalry is the situation that arises when there is a tough competition in markets and
hence for DMUIC, the aforementioned colleges and many others are direct threats to their
proposed courses and hence is a viable and dominating threat. In addition to this, the market
rivalry in any sector is increasing nowadays and with the divergence of the educational industry
as a profit-earning sector, the rate of competition has been increased for all (Rumble, 2012).
After analysing the strengths, weaknesses and threats and opportunities with the market situation
for DMUIC and its proposed courses, there is a need to work on some crucial aspects by their
management and development teams to avoid the failures and enhance suitability to the students
of the world. Hence, some objectives have been created for them, mentioned below:
Objectives
 To work on database management for online learning materials (e-library)
 To enhance the market presence with some strategic options and by avoiding market
threats
 Marketise the success and brand value to attract people for the available and offered
distance learning courses
 To enable a better way of learning for global students on the same page
PART 3
SUGGESTIONS
DMUIC majorly targeting India, China, and Dubai etc. in their international distance learning
courses and these countries is full of diversity and hence there may have some cultural or trust
issues among their target audience for DMUIC and hence there is a need for them to create a
general awareness of their working culture within their courses and inform people that they work
to enhance equality among people. For this purpose, mentioning and informing this on their
website would be an effective way as when people search for their courses, they can get to know
these details also (Banks, 2015). There may have some issues like cultural differences among
people, trust issue with the small success rate of the college, future growth and placements by
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college etc. which may create doubts among aspirants and in this the global internet
communication tools like 24/7 call centre, emails, direct interaction with executives would also
be an effective way that can help in maintaining the equality and diversity in their new courses
and sessions for the benefits of the people around the world. They can also establish a decorative
and effective marketing plan that promotes their new courses on different platforms while keeps
this cultural and trustworthy issue in parallel areas to inform people about the same. Overall,
there is a need to just inform people that this is a non-impacting field for them as they work to
enhance equality and diversity in excellence education services that are available to them
globally.
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REFERENCES
DMU International College, 2019, Online available at https://www.dmu.ac.uk/dmu-international-
college/DMU-International-College.aspx last accessed on 20th August 2019.
DMUIC, 2019. International Incorporated Master's, online available at
https://www.dmu.ac.uk/dmu-international-college/international-incorporated-masters/
international-incorporated-masters.aspx last accessed on 20th August 2019.
DMU, 2019. International, online available at
https://www.dmu.ac.uk/international/en/international.aspx last accessed on 20th August 2019.
Banks, J.A., 2015. Cultural diversity and education: Foundations, curriculum, and teaching.
Routledge.
Mehdipour, Y. and Zerehkafi, H., 2013. Mobile learning for education: Benefits and challenges.
International Journal of Computational Engineering Research, 3(6), pp.93-101.
Rumble, G., 2012. The costs and economics of open and distance learning. Routledge.
Studyportals, 2017. 10 Top UK Universities Ideal for Distance Learning, online available at
https://www.distancelearningportal.com/articles/294/10-top-uk-universities-ideal-for-distance-
learning.html last accessed on 20th August 2019.
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