De Montfort University E-commerce System Analysis: A Strategic Report

This report analyzes the plan of De Montfort University to expand its market through long-distance study courses, aiming to penetrate global markets. It includes a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report also applies Porter's Five Forces model to assess the competitive landscape, focusing on factors like bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, and the threat of substitutes and new entrants. Recommendations are provided to address weaknesses, such as cost of education and competition, and to capitalize on opportunities in new markets. The analysis considers the current educational market and offers suggestions for enhancing the university's business, particularly for international students, including marketing strategies, improved online services, and ensuring the courses meet international standards. Diagrams of both SWOT analysis and Porter’s Five Force Model are included.

Running head: E-COMMERCE SYSTEM
E-commerce System
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Executive Summary
The main purpose of this assignment is to analyse the plan of the university to expand its
market and introduce the long-distance study courses so that the university can penetrate new
markets in global countries. The assignment will be covering the requirement of De Montfort
University and the analysis will be containing a SWOT analysis of the plan of the university and
also include recommendations which can improve the weaknesses faced by the management.
The assignment will also be containing diagrams on both SWOT analysis and Porter’s Five
Force Model on the basis of the case study as provided. The assignment will also be analysing
the situations which are current present in the educational market and also offer suggestions
which can improve the overall business on the University for international students.

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Table of Contents
Part 1: SWOT Analysis...................................................................................................................3
Part 2: Porter’s Competitive Forces.................................................................................................6
Part 3: Suggestions..........................................................................................................................9
Reference.......................................................................................................................................11

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Part 1: SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a both external and internal analysis tool which is used in strategic
management to identify what are the strength and weaknesses of the company and also what are
the opportunities and threats which the business is likely to face. SWOT analysis of allows a
business to recognize the above four mention aspects for which the management can plan
accordingly (Brooks, Heffner and Henderson 2014). The university plans to offer courses which
are related to subjects like applied physics, economics and combined courses. The management
of the university first of all needs to analyze the educational market of the country where the
university is planning to offer long term courses. The university only needs to decide whether
there is a potential market in the country where the company is planning to launch the long-
distance course.
In order to analyze the suitability of the plan, SWOT analysis is to be conducted to get an
idea about the strength, weaknesses, opportunity and threat of the plans.
1. Strength: The basic strength of the university is that it has already been accepting
students from different countries therefore they are familiar with the expectations and
needs of the students residing in other countries and engaged in long distance education
(Awais and Samin 2012). Another thing is that the university has excellent resources
which includes study materials, lecture notes, recorded classes, test kit which are on offer
for potential students which will definitely make the plan a great success as students will
be attracted to the quality of education provided. Moreover, another strength which the
university has relates to the number of courses and the combination of courses which are
offered by the University for the students. The number of courses and the combination of
subjects which are offered by the university is in the advantage of the university. The

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university offers the best combination of subjects and offer the rarest of the subjects like
Sanskrit, Pali, native languages of the countries where the university is providing its
services. The university provides such services to students which will be considered to a
strength of the company.
2. Weakness: One of the major weakness is the cost of education which is on the part of
students. Long distance courses in major subjects are costly and students might be
discouraged by the high costs which are charged for fees or study materials or portal
access fee. The techniques which are used by the university for conducting the exams or
test or even in academic learning of the subjects can be different for the university and
different for other countries. Therefore, the international students might face difficult to
cope up with the changes in the educational systems.
3. Opportunities: There is an opportunity for the university to penetrate new markets which
have potentially good students and also make the university more reputed globally. Thus,
in the process, the university will be able expand the market in which the university
operates and gain new students and promote the overall reputation of the university.
4. Threats: The major threat which the university will be facing is from rival universities
who also have long distance programs and more or less offer the same courses and there
is also the threat of the universities established in the host country which the students
might prefer as it gives a chance for regular courses.
Opportunity
(External, Positive)
Threats
(External, Negative)

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Strength
(Internal, Positive)
Strength-Opportunity
Familiarity and Resources
+
New market and Gained
Reputation
+
A variety of Subjects which
are available to the students
which can be can selected
from a variety of options and
there are also different
combinations of subjects
which are available to the
students.
Strength-Threat
Familiarity and Resources
+
Competition of Rivals of both
host and home countries
+
A variety of Subjects which
are available to the students
which can be can selected
from a variety of options.
Weakness
(Internal. Negative)
Weakness-Opportunity
Overall Cost of Education
+
Techniques which are used
by the Business may not be
easily coped up by the
international students.
+
New market and Gained
Weakness-Threat
Overall Cost of Education
+
Techniques which are used
by the Business may not be
easily coped up by the
international students and
there is a chance that other
educational universities might

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Reputation copy the techniques used by
DMU
+
Competition of Rivals of both
host and home countries
Figure 1: (SWOT Diagram)
Source: (Created by Author)
The following recommendations can be offered to make tackle the weaknesses and threats
which are identified above:
1. The university needs to consider the cost factor of the education which the university will
be providing. Moreover, the quality also needs to be maintained with keeping the cost as
low as possible.
2. The university can offer discounts on the fees of such abroad students and also provide
scholarship to good students.
3. The university needs to ensure that the courses offered are of best subject mix and
innovative ideas need to be applied to gain a competitive edge against competitors.
Part 2: Porter’s Competitive Forces
Porter’s Competitive forces was introduced by Michael Porter which considers the
factors which affect the competition present in the market. The five factors which affect Porter’s
Five Forces model are bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, rivalry, Threat

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of new entrants, threat of new substitutes (Dobbs 2014). The five forces are discussed below in
details:
1. Bargaining Power of the Buyers: The bargaining power of the buyers refers to the cost
expectation and bargaining ability of the students who are engaged in long-distance
education. The fees which is charged by the business will be changing to facilitate the
requirements of the international students. If the university can keep the fees which is
charged from the international students low then the bargaining power of the students
will be low. The plan of the management is to keep the prices of the commodities as low
as possible so that the bargaining power of the students are low.
2. Bargaining Power of the Suppliers: The bargaining power of the sellers refers to the
different individuals or agencies from which the business gets some resources such as
books, website access, test materials, advertisement and promotion agencies (Dälken
2014). The bargaining power of the suppliers will be high as they will be providing
resources which are unique for the university and therefore the bargaining power of the
suppliers will be high.
3. Threat of Substitutes: The substitutes refer to alternative educational services which can
be taken by the students instead of the courses offered by the university. The threats of
substitutes refer to the other universities providing the same educational courses. Such
can also be courses which are provided by domestic universities. If there are alternative
sources which provides similar courses then the threat of substitutes will be high.
4. Threat of New Entrants: The threat of new entrants means the new university which are
set up either in host country or home country providing the same services. The new
entrants in the market are always rare as the level of competition in the market is intense.

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The threat of new entrant will be low for the university as new educational institutes
rarely enters the market.
5. Rivalry among Competitors: Rivalry among competitors is an also important factor
which affect the industry competition. The rivalry among the university will be intense as
there will be new entrants as well the old players who have been dominating the market.
The educational market is normally very much competitive in nature since globalization.
The porter’s five force Model is shown in the diagram below:

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Figure 2: (Diagram Showing Porter’s Five Force Model)
Source: (Created by Author)
The Key performance indicators of the business is the number of student current taken
courses in foreign countries, the overall revenue of university from foreign countries and similar
other factors (Marr 2012). The objectives of the business should be as follows:
Competitiv
e Rivalry
will be high
for the
University
Threat of
Substitution for
the university is
high
Supplier’s
Power will be
high as they will
be providing
unique
resources to the
University
Threat of New
Entrant for the
University will
be low.
Buyer’s Power
are low when
Fee are kept
low by the
University.

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1. To increase the number of students who are opting for long distances courses by
providing them with quality education practices.
2. To include and introduce new courses mix with subject combination choices which can
be offered to the students.
3. To reduce the cost of fee charged and offer scholarship for students who are financially
weak and have good academic record.
The overall demand of the university is quite good as the university has gained positive
reputation over the years and also the quality of education is excellent. The study material which
are provided by the university covers all specific areas and are appropriate for the curriculum.
Part 3: Suggestions
Del Monfort University have an excellent plan which can provide an opportunity to the
university to reach new markets and offer their courses. In order to achieve this the university
needs to formulate a proper advertisement and promotion plan which can result more recognition
and more students as well. The following suggestion can be given to the university for further
improvement:
1. The university can post in the website that the education of each and every student will be
given priority and equal treatment which can be shown by the university by providing
same study material and kits which are offered to regular students and also states that the
university does not make discrimination on any basis and always education is given
preference (Laudon and Traver 2013).
2. The university should use social media tools such as facebook, snapchat, hike for
reaching out to students and update on the courses which are provided by the university.
The university can use such platforms for further advertisement of the university in order

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to promote the courses which is provided by the university among students who wants to
pursue courses in international universities.
3. The university can conduct a seminar in the country where the company is offering long
distances courses and communicate to the students what actually are they offering.
4. The university can also give one or two demo classes to prove the quality of the faculty
and quality of studies.
5. The university can improve the online web services which the university is currently
offering to the students which can facilitate proper handling of the website and also
provide information to the students about the exams and other tests which will be taking
place in the university.
6. The university also needs to ensure that the requirements of the international students are
meet with the kits and student help services which are provided by the university.
7. The university in order to ensure that the university is competitive with other universities
and also the domestic universities which are present in international markets will be
providing its international students which are universally applicable and accepted by the
all over the world. This a basic requirement if the university wants to be successful in
international market.
Reference
Awais, M. and Samin, T., 2012. Advanced SWOT Analysis of E-commerce. International
Journal of Computer Science Issues, 9(2), pp.569-574.