E-commerce Assessment 1 Report: De Montfort University Analysis

This report provides an e-commerce assessment for De Montfort University, evaluating its internal and external environments using SWOT and Porter's Five Forces models. The SWOT analysis highlights DMU's strengths, such as its established legacy and large student body, while identifying weaknesses like the UG/PG student ratio and limited entrepreneurial courses. Opportunities include targeting distance learning and online programs, especially for international students. The Porter's Five Forces analysis assesses the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, threats of substitutes and new entrants, and industry rivalry. Recommendations include developing new entrepreneurship courses, maintaining a strong relationship with the government, and investing in IT infrastructure and social media marketing to improve the online platform for distance learning. The report also suggests improvements to the university's website to address the cultural barriers faced by international students, emphasizing clear communication, trust-building, and the use of diverse content formats.

Running Head: E COMMERCE ASSESSMENT 1
E commerce assessment 1
Student’s name
Name of the Institute

E COMMERCE ASSESSMENT 1
Table of Contents
Part 1: SWOT Analysis........................................................................................................................ 3
Discussion....................................................................................................................................................... 3
Recommendations for De Montfort University.................................................................................... 4
Part 2: External Situational analysis model for De Montfort University – Porter
Competitive Forces Model................................................................................................................. 5
Objectives for De Montfort University.................................................................................................... 5
Part 3: What DMU can do to improve its website......................................................................7
References.............................................................................................................................................. 8

E COMMERCE ASSESSMENT 1
Part 1: SWOT Analysis
The SWOT matrix or SWOT analysis is a powerful tool to assess the internal and
external environment. The SWOT matrix for De Montfort University can be shown as:
STRENGTHS
The established legacy of the university is
probably its biggest strength. The university
has been providing quality education since
1992
The university has more than 20,000 students
The university has close to 1.17 M GBP
endowment
The university has 2nd highest number of
National Teaching Fellows of all UK
universities.
WEAKNESSES
The ration of UG and PH students are not
good. Out of 20,000 students, the university
has only 3000 PG students
The university has limited courses that
focuses on entrepreneurs and innovation and
which motivate students to come up with out
of the box solutions to solve real life business
problems (Douglas & Douglas, 2015)
THREATS
There are number of domestic and
international universities in UK that possess
threat to De Montfort University
There also exists threat from external
environment like government laws and
regulations, financial conditions of the
market, etc. (Underwood & Ayoade, 2015)
OPPORTUNITIES
The biggest opportunity for De Montfort
University is to target the people with
distance learning and online programs
There has been an increase in the awareness
level of people about post graduate education.
So, there is an opportunity for university to
target UG students to get Post Graduation.
Discussion
The above SWOT diagram suggests that De Montfort University is a great place to get
education. The decision to offer more courses to international students is a good decision as there

E COMMERCE ASSESSMENT 1
has been an increase in the number of inbound international students in UK. Every year, millions
of students from India, China, Malaysia and other developing nations would enter UK to get
quality education (Underwood & Ayoade, 2015). Therefore, it is correctly put that the biggest
opportunity for De Montfort University is to target the people with distance learning and online
programs. In line of the above SWOT analysis and the objective to increase the intake of
distance learning students, the key set of recommendations for De Montfort University can be
discussed as:
Recommendations for De Montfort University
 It is recommended that the university should come up with few set of new courses in the
field of entrepreneurship. It would be a good selling point for De Montfort University.
Moreover, it would help the university to improve its differentiation among other
universities in the country (Douglas & Douglas, 2015).
 It is recommended that De Montfort University should have good relationship with
government. It is expected that the university would have to suffice to various laws and
regulations while dealing with international students (Banks & Oakley, 2016). The good
relationship and rapport with the government would definitely help the university.

E COMMERCE ASSESSMENT 1
Part 2: External Situational analysis model for De Montfort University –
Porter Competitive Forces Model
The Porter five forces model is a powerful tool to assess the external environment of the
company. The five forces of this model for De Montfort University can be discussed as:
Bargaining power of suppliers: The bargaining power of suppliers is LOW to AVERAGE.
Some students would take the agency route to get admission.
Threat of substitutes: The threat of substitutes is WEAK or LOW as there is not strong
substitute of quality education (Hsiao, 2016).
Bargaining power of buyers: The bargaining power of buyer is HIGH because of the huge
competition in the market (Gooderson & Henley, 2017).
Threats of new entrants: The threat of new entrants is MODERATE as it is not easy to open a
university in UK (Douglas & Douglas, 2015).
Industry Rivalry: The industry rivalry or the competition is at all-time HIGH in the UK
education industry (Banks & Oakley, 2016).
Objectives for De Montfort University
The key objectives for De Montfort University that would help to increase the scope of distance
education can be discussed as:
 The university must invest on Information Technology to develop a platform where
seamless user experience could be provided to students through online education
platform.

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 The university should explore 3 to 5 new courses in next two years. It would help the
university to improve its product offerings.
 The university should invest heavily on social media marketing platforms like FB and
Twitter.

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Part 3: What DMU can do to improve its website
It would be correct to say that the cultural barriers are the biggest barriers that
international students face. Therefore, it is recommended that DMU must have a strong view
about its cultural view on its website. The university should get the message straight through a
Podcast or through a blog on its website (Banks & Oakley, 2016). It is recommended that
university must make it clear that it does not differentiate among students based on their cultural
backgrounds and the students from various race and religion can join the distance learning
education program of DMU.
The issue of trust is also an important issue for students (Gooderson & Henley, 2017).
Therefore, it is important that DMU should be able to provide a culture and environment where
international students do not have any trust or respect issues. Blogging is a definitely a tool that
DMU should use and in addition to blogging, DMU should have an area of FAQs that would
address the common questions of university. The university should also use the video content on
its website. The people find it easy to see the video and learn from the video as many a times
people do not like to read the content but they would be interested to watch the content.

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References
Banks, M., & Oakley, K. (2016). The dance goes on forever? Art schools, class and UK higher
education. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 22(1), 41-57.
Douglas, J. A., Douglas, A., McClelland, R. J., & Davies, J. (2015). Understanding student
satisfaction and dissatisfaction: an interpretive study in the UK higher education
context. Studies in Higher Education, 40(2), 329-349.
Gooderson, M., & Henley, J. (2017). Creativity, the creative process and tensions between higher
education songwriting and industry practice in the UK. The Routledge Research
Companion to Popular Music Education.
Home. De Montfort University. (2017). Retrieved from: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/home.aspx
Hsiao, I. (2016). A Strategy for the Vocational Education and Training Structure of the Beauty
Profession in Taiwan, with Lens Comparative Analysis of the UK.
Underwood, J., Ayoade, O., Khosrowshahi, F., Greenwood, D., Pittard, S., & Garvey, R. (2015,
March). Current position and associated challenges of BIM education in UK higher
education. In BIM Academic Forum.

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