E-commerce Strategy: SWOT and Porter's Five Forces Analysis for DMU

This report presents a strategic analysis of De Montfort University (DMU), utilizing SWOT and Porter's Five Forces frameworks. The SWOT analysis identifies DMU's strengths, including its university reputation, renowned faculty, diversity, and extensive online support. Weaknesses include limited economic resources and high tuition fees. Opportunities lie in expanding its global focus, increasing accessibility, and providing long-term academic enrichment. Threats include intense competition from other universities. Porter's Five Forces analysis assesses the threat of new entrants, existing competitors, substitutes, supplier power, and buyer power. The report concludes with recommendations for DMU to address cultural and trust issues through its website and leverage online communication tools to attract international students to its distance learning programs.

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Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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Part 1
SWOT Analysis of De Monte University
Strengths Weakness
 University Reputation
 Renowned Teaching Faculty and larger
community
 Diversity
 Numerous courses currently offered by DMU
– 24*7 online assistance and format
 Lack of Economic Resources
 High Tuition Fee Structure
Opportunities Threats
 Expansion of Worldwide Focus
 Increasing accessibility and cultural mixture
 Long-term education for intellectual and
academic enrichment
 Intensive competitiveness from other reputed
universities
Figure 1: SWOT Analysis Diagram of De Montfort University
Source (Created by the Author)

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Strengths
 University Reputation and Recognition: The De Montfort University in Leicester has
achieved the recognition as one of the top youth universities across the world. The
university has achieved immense recognition as a university graded Gold under the
facility of Teaching and Excellence Framework (TEF) (Dmu.ac.uk 2018). This Gold
award has been regarded as a appreciation of its consistence teaching excellence as well
as learning on recommendation at the University along with the astonishing and
unexpected impact that it has on the students.
 Renowned Teaching Faculty and larger community- The University comprises of eminent
teaching faculty with effective teaching techniques that has facilitated the students to
comprehend the areas of their course in an improved manner.
 Diversity- DMU acknowledges a unique amalgamation of varied cultural backgrounds
(Dmu.ac.uk 2018). This concept of diversity has consistently facilitated the university to
drive innovation and promote creativity.
 Numerous courses currently offered by DMU – 24*7 online assistance and format- DMU
has an active online support and format available for the international students round the
clock to gather detailed information about the courses (Fleisher and Bensoussan 2015).
DMU further offers several courses namely, undergraduate, postgraduate courses, full
time, part-time and Foundation courses comprising subjects of humanities, science,
technology, fashion designing and accountancy.

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Weaknesses
 Lack of Economic Resources- DMU is being unable to provide sufficient economic
resources and funding to its foreign students
 High tuition fee structure- Being one of the most renowned universities, DMU has an
exclusive tuition fee structure proposed for its students. The UG course vary from £12,750-
13,250 and Post Graduate course ranging from £13,100 to around £14,000 (Ashcroft and
Foreman-Peck 2013).
Opportunities
 Expansion of Worldwide Focus- DMU has been preparing its student for international
labor market (Radice 2013). The University has been concentrating on students and its
research aid needs in order to establish innovation.
 Increasing accessibility and cultural mixture – DMU has enabled to reach to a wider
range of learners’ demands and requirements by the adaptation conventional teaching
techniques as well as providing interpersonal and online learning opportunities (Guerrero,
Cunningham and Urbano 2015).
 Long-term education for intellectual and academic enrichment- DMU wants the students
to achieve all possible opportunities to pursue respective academic careers at any level.
Threats
 Intensive competitiveness from other reputed universities- DMU in recent times has been
experiencing a tight competition from some renowned institutes such as the University of
East London and Central Lancashire University (Fleisher and Bensoussan 2015). These

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academic institutes are providing a vast range of courses to gather both national and global
students for its distance learning.
Summary
The immense popularity and recognition of DMU along with its renowned faculty-teaching
faculty can be sited as major areas of strengths for the university. Another major area of
potency is the 24 hours online assistance for the global clients. However, high tuition fee
structure can be positioned as a major opportunity for the university. DMU has further
provided expansion of global concentration and enduring academic aid for intellectual and
academic enrichment. However, the recent intensive competitiveness from other academic
institutes have been posed as major threat to the university.
Part 2
Porter’s Five Forces Analysis of De Monte University
Threat of New Entrants- Higher education in UK has been recognized as a concentrated market
structure that is attracting a wide range of students from across the globe. The UK education
market being extremely attractive is showing significant developments where the country is
holding the second position after UK and earns over 25 billion pounds from this sector (de Haan
2015). However, a measured and complex procedure of acquiring university entitlement can be
sited as one of the chief obstacles for potential entrants.

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Threat from existing competitors- Higher education market in UK has faced extreme
intensification worldwide. The Higher Education Funding Council of England has been directly
aiding more than 100 institutes in UK (Lumby and Foskett 2016).
Threat from Substitute- The level of threat from its substitute is reasonable as DMU offers a
wide range of courses for online and distance education in comparison to its competitors.
Power the Suppliers- The power of suppliers majorly caters the governmental policies and
regulation in order to offer an improved approachable education domain in UK.
Power of Buyers- This level of power of suppliers is relatively high because of the increasing
rate of online and distance education across the world (Radice 2013). Thus, there is a plethora of
options for students to select in the domain of distance learning.
De Montfort University Set of Objectives and Key Performance Indicator
Objectives Key Performance Indicator
DMU must introduce new and innovative program
to attract and support diverse students
DMU is working on the number and efficiency of
mobility associations (Dmu.ac.uk 2018).
Improve its brand positioning by increasing its rate
of enrollment.
Will attract global student interchange and web
enquiries through its official website.
DMU can use social media platform to target
students from every corner of the world.
DMU involves internationally collaborative
authored papers and credentials

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Part 3
Recommendations for DMU to address cultural and trust issues through its website
In order to curtail various cultural and trust issues of students performing distance
education, DMU must endorse its explicit cultural policies related to diversification and ethnic
multiplicity. Further the university should establish an effective communication platform with
the students, guardians as well as the educators and take immediate action on the issues.
Methods of Online Communication Tools to Achieve Target Base
With the enormously intensifying higher education market in UK, DMU must implement
social networking as an effective tool to reach its potential target base. Major section of students
belong to the youth population, thus, DMU must endorse its services and recognition on social
media to attract an increased rate of youth population for distance learning such as Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube (Stromquist and Monkman 2014). Furthermore, DMU can also launch its
official application, which would contain all relevant and useful information about the university
and its services.

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References
Ashcroft, K. and Foreman-Peck, L., 2013. Managing teaching and learning in further and higher
education. Routledge.
de Haan, H.H., 2015. Competitive advantage, what does it really mean in the context of public
higher education institutions?. International Journal of Educational Management, 29(1), pp.44-
61.
Dmu.ac.uk. 2018. About DMU. [online] Available at: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/About-DMU/about-
dmu.aspx [Accessed 8 Apr. 2018].
Dmu.ac.uk.2018. International Home. [online] Available at:
http://www.dmu.ac.uk/international/en/international.aspx [Accessed 8 Apr. 2018].
Fleisher, C.S. and Bensoussan, B.E., 2015. Business and competitive analysis: effective
application of new and classic methods. FT Press.
Guerrero, M., Cunningham, J.A. and Urbano, D., 2015. Economic impact of entrepreneurial
universities’ activities: An exploratory study of the United Kingdom. Research Policy, 44(3),
pp.748-764.
Lumby, J. and Foskett, N., 2016. Internationalization and culture in higher
education. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 44(1), pp.95-111.
Radice, H., 2013. How we got here: UK higher education under neoliberalism. ACME: An
International Journal for Critical Geographies, 12(2), pp.407-418.

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Stromquist, N.P. and Monkman, K. eds., 2014. Globalization and education: Integration and
contestation across cultures. R&L Education.