Product Branding And Improving Operational Efficiency At
Edumentor Educational Services By TADIPARTHY SANTHOSH NAIDU 13BSPHH010699 EduMENTOR Educational Services A report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of MBA Program of IBS HYDERABAD Distribution List: Prof. Yogesh Kumar Mr. Manuj Arora Faculty Guide Company Guide Date of Submission- 18 th May, 2014 AUTHORIZATION This is declared that this project work entitled Product Branding And Improving Operational Efficiency At Edumentor Educational Services embodies the original work done by Tadiparthy Santhosh Naidu (13BSPHH010699) of IBS Hyderabad at EduMentor Educational Services during his Summer Internship Program in 2014. The project report is being submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirement of MBA Program of IBS Hyderabad. The findings and conclusions expressed in this report are genuine and for academic purpose. The information given herein is after the due consent of the officials working for EduMentor Educational Services and is not available for the usage of any third party. The project undertaken is completed under the guidance of Prof. Yogesh Kumar, Faculty Guide and Mr. Manuj Arora, Company Guide. Mr Manuj Arora Co-Founder & MD EduMentor Educational Services i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The pleasure that follows the successful completion of an assignment would remain incomplete without a word of gratitude for the people, without whose cooperation the achievement would have remained a distant dream. It is not a mere formality to place on record the tireless efforts, ceaseless cooperation, constant guidance and encouragement of the people closely associated with the assignment but a distinct necessity for the authenticity and credibility of the project Product Branding And Improving Operational Efficiency At Edumentor Educational Services. I am thankful to EduMentor Educational Services for given me the platform to do my summer internship program with them. The management theories learnt in a year are brought to practice. I tried to make best use of this opportunity. The work bears the imprint of many persons under whom I did my training. I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude: To Prof. Yogesh Kumar, Faculty Guide for not only being a guide but also a mentor and his support and guidance in the course of my project and its completion. To Mr. Manuj Arora, Company Guide, for his keeping the continuous track of my work and performance and guiding me on my project and teaching me many new things. To Mr. Vikas Jain CEO of EduMentor Educational Services for giving me an opportunity to work on this project in their organization. They took additional efforts to bring my report to its fulfillment and completion. To Mr. Gaurang Khuranna & Mr. Ankit Dwivedi for supporting and motivating me throughout the project. To all my fellow colleagues and seniors too, for being an immense help to me in this project. All of us have together worked towards the common organizational objective, shared our experiences and aided each other in times of need. TADIPARTHY SANTHOSH NAIDU Enrollment number 13BSPHH010699 (IBS Hyderabad) ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As a part of my academic requirement, I TADIPARTHY SANTHOSH NAIDU (13BSPHH010699), a student of IBS-Hyderabad, did my Summer Internship Project at EduMentor Educational Services from 24 th February to 25 th May, 2014. EduMentor is based at Nirman Vihar, Delhi. In the past 8 years of its coming into business, EduMentor has carved a niche by developing a new segment of educational services for undergraduates. This project Product Branding And Improving Operational Efficiency At Edumentor Educational Services Market Analysis Content Development Maintaining Operational Effeciency Market Research On Customer Satisfaction During this project I had made the extensive research on the educational sector and the coaching institutes in and around the NCR region. I have coated some useful suggestions by which company can attain its target audience and reach its sales target and grow substantially. Various brand awareness activities were carried out on the content as it is the major medium between the buyer and coaching institutes. This made EduMENTOR as the leader in under graduate Test prep institute in NCR Region.The empirical exploratory research has been carried forward. The primary data is generated with the help of school counseling, referencing and Board Center Activity. Operations plays a major role in any companys day to day activities. Improving operational efficiency is the major problem any company in this field is facing in the present time. Operation management has been done in a effective and efficient manner. For my work in Operations I was given the appreciation and certified me as the Best operational manager of EduMENTOR among 56 interns. For my work during Internship in EduMentor I was awarded the STAR PERFORMER OF EDUMENTOR FOR THE YEAR 2014. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Authorization i Acknowledgment ii Executive summary iii 1. Introduction 1.1 Education industrial scenario:INDIA 1 1.2 The Coaching Industry 2 1.3 About The company 4 1.3.1 Company structure 5 1.4 Company Analysis 6 2 Project Description 2.1 Purpose 11 2.2 Scope 11 2.3 Limitations 12 3 Product and Competitors Analysis 3.1 Product analysis 14 3.2 Competitors analysis 18 3.3 Market Leader Analysis 18 3.4 Learning outcome from product and competitors Analysis 20 4 Marketing Strategies 4.1 Marketing/promotional strategies 23 4.2 Methods of promotion 25 4.3 Applying Marketing concept 27 5. Content Development 5.1 Content Development 31 6. Operations Management 6.1 Scheduling 35 6.2 Logistics Management 40 7 Research Design 7.1 Research Problem Idea 43 7.2 Problem Definition 43 7.3 Problem Objective 43 7.4 Reseach Design 43 7.5 Data Analysis 45 7.6 Analysis Of Findings 45 8 Findings 60 9 Conclusion 62 10 Recommendations 64 11 Appendix 67 iv 12 References 71 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 1 1.1 EDUCATION INDUSTRIAL SCENARIO: INDIA Education is an art of imparting knowledge, and generating positive judgment and well developed wisdom. One of its fundamental aspects is imparting of culture from generation to generation. Education is just not a process of pouring in some knowledge into an individual. It is a process of acquiring and manifestation of perfection already existing in a human being. The education of an individual human begins at birth and continues throughout life. Its importance can be gauged from the fact that it is included as a part of the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution, which states that The State Shall Endeavor To provide Within A Period Of Ten Years From The Commencement Of This Constitution, For Free And Compulsory Education For All Children Until They Complete The Age Of Fourteen Years. Moreover the educational policies hold a special position in the annual Budget of the Indian system and others as well. In fact, even the Government is regularly working on improving the literacy rates and opening up of new developed schools at a large extent. Moreover it is expected that the government will come up with more number of developed schools and colleges of world class stature and that too at a very cheap fees. 1.2 THE COACHING INDUSTRY Coaching classes have emerged as the prominent education system in India and with a median age of 25 years, India has over 550 million people below the age of 25 years. According to Census figures, over 32 per cent of the 1.1 billion population is between the age group 0-14 years. This means that the number of people in India needing primary and secondary education alone exceeds the entire population of the US. The private sector is estimated to reach US$ 115 billion by 2018, according to the consulting firm Technopak. It predicts the enrolments into under graduate courses is growing immensely, requiring an additional 34 million seats by 2018. 2 The coaching classes market consists of Private Tuitions Market and Entrance Test Preparation Market. The market is highly fragmented and regional in nature. Local players still dominate the industry contributing to about 70% of the total revenues generated by this industry. The education sector in India is considered as one of the major areas for investments as the sector is going through a strong phase of revolution, according to a report Emerging Opportunities for Private and Foreign Participants in Higher Education; by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) the sector has attracted Foreign direct Investments (FDI) worth Rs. 4,736.88 crore during April 2000 to September 2013. The total allocation in the Union Budget for the year 2013-14 showed a tremendous increase in investment in education sector. The then Finance Minister of India allocated the total amount of Rs. 65,867 Crore. It showed an total increase of 17% in allocation when compared to previous year. 1.2.1 BBA/BMS COACHING INDUSTRY BBA being a relatively newer course came into existence after the success of MBA at the post Graduate level. More and more colleges are emphasizing to train the students into the frame of mind that would lead them to be burgeoning and promising future at the graduation level itself. Delhi University and Indraprastha University has several colleges under its umbrella which provide a BBA/BMS degree to the students. These universities conduct an entrance examination for the admission process. 1.2.2 THE UNDERGRADUATE ENTRANCE MARKET: Niche Market Entrance test preparation forms one of the core businesses of the educational industry, which is a very big giant in terms of industry status. Though the market for post graduate management entrance test preparation is highly operational and has great presence, with key players like IMS, Career Launchers and TIME operating in a big way, the market for undergraduate entrance test preparation is still in its nascent stages. 3 As most of the students at this stage are more concentrated on the board examinations, and are little aware about the various career options that are present for them after the class XII examinations, the growth prospects in this niche market are immense. Unlike the postgraduate management courses entrance test industry, the undergraduate management courses entrance test industry is a seasonal business. Fg.1 Career option after 12 th
1.3. ABOUT THE COMPANY: EDUMENTOR EDUCATIONAL SERVICES EduMENTOR Educational services is the only specialized institute for preparing the undergraduate students for BMS / BBA entrance test preparation. EduMentor Educational Services has a good record of successful students. From last few years the no of selected students in BMS from EduMentor is increasing. Options after class 12th BBA/BMS BFIA BCA MASS COMM LAW HOTEL MANAGENEMT B.EL.ED ENGLISH (HONS.) 4 The core team comprises of alumni of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies and leading MBA institutes which is an asset and an effective marketing tool to influence the students to enroll. Initially established with the name FOQAL(pronounced as focal) in 2006 by Mr. Vikas Jain (Founder) and Mr. Manuj Arora (Co-Founder), EduMentor Educational Services started with a base of 35 students, which grew to nearly 275 in 2007. The name of the organization changed from Foqal to Mentor and then later on to EduMentor Educational Services in 2009. Since then, the company never looked back and achieved various milestones. It has prepared about 2400 students in 2013, 2800 in 2014 for BMS and this year enrollment is still going on. Over these years, EduMentor has been able to carve a niche market for itself in this competitive industry because of its focus on product quality and delivery. From this year EduMentor has started 7 days in a week class which in comparison is other institute 3-4 days greater. 1.3.1 COMPANY STRUCTURE: Though the employees and the interns have to play multiple roles the company can be divided into various functional areas. YEAR ENROLLMENT 2006 35 2007 290 2008 900 2009 1800 2010 2000 2011 2180 2012 1930 2013 2600 2014 2800 Marketing Team Sales Team Product Team Human Resources Operations Team IT Team 5 The marketing team is responsible for planning and execution of marketing strategies mainly the board centre activity (BCA). After the execution of the marketing plan the marketing team is dissolved barring a few people and merged with the sales team. The sales team or the counseling team is responsible for converting the leads generated by the marketing activity. This involves doing the proper counseling of the student on phone, in face-to- face meeting and also to convince him/her for joining EduMentor. The product team is like the corner stone, barely visible but of utmost importance. They are responsible for creating the study material of excellent quality. This work requires a lot of research and analysis of the product being offered by the competitors as well. 1.4 COMPANY ANALYSIS: 1.4.1 USE of 4 P OF MARKETING AT EDUMENTOR The EduMentor uses a good combination of marketing mix. The marketing mix involves following combinations: Product Price Place Promotion PRODUCT/SERVICE: BBA entrance test preparation: 6 PLACE 14 centers in Delhi and NCR FIGURE 3: LOCATIONS OF EDUMENTOR PRICE: EduMentor adopted a dual- pricing strategy, different for private and government schools. Private Schools Government school Rs. 16500 11500 TABLE 2: PRICING AT EDUMENTOR 7 PROMOTION EduMentor has following various kind of promotional schemes. The promotional activity can be divided into six parts as shown in the figure FIGURE 4: PROMOTIONAL SCHEMES AT EDUMENTOR STUDENT SCHOOL COUNSELING WORKSHOPS Digital marketing & Direct marketing BOARD CENTRE ACTIVITY TELEPHONE COUNSELING BANK AND IP ACTIVITY 1.4.2 EXTENDED MARKETING MIX Physical Evidence Various centres across Delhi and NCR . Personnel Counsellers, faculties, management Process Daily sessions to facilitate the service Mock Tests and Mentoring 8 REACH Having multiple centres in each location; all locations connected through Metro Rail service. RECOGNITION Past year results with more than 50% conversion rate of students enrolled and the number of seats available in each course. 3 R's of Edume ntor REPUTE Toppers and top 10% of various schools were enrolled with EduMentor. 9 1.4.3 THREE Rs of MARKETING for EDUMENTOR REACH RECOGNITION REPUTE PROJECT DISCRIPTION CHAPTER 2 10 2.1 PURPOSE The objective of the project is to get an overall idea about the marketing strategies of EduMentor Educational Services. It aims at developing the promotional and business development strategies of the company in the fast growing educational sector and making the business efficient and smooth. As the aspects of this project are multidimensional so is its purpose. It takes into consideration the mutual benefit of the company coupled with gaining some practical knowledge about the Education market & their overall marketing strategies & processes. VALUE-ADDITION TO THE COMPANY 1. Find out the various products and courses present in the industry 2. Find various promotional and business development activities being undertaken by the company and developing new strategies. 3. Improving the companys accuracy (Better Scheduling, logistics and results etc.) 4. Find out the positive and negative aspects pertaining to specific area of operations. 5. Find out the important factor to consider for making strategies. 6. Suggest the company the best possible content for attracting the students, which helps in better sales. ACADEMIC BENEFITS 1. Get an insight of educational products and gain through knowledge of various Marketing and promotional strategies. 2. Get a real time experience of designing and developing content according to the industry needs. 3. Get a real time experience of Scheduling and maintain the Logistics. 4. Get a real time experience of managing various parts of company. 2.2 SCOPE The project would enable EduMentor in establishing its dominance in fast growing educational sector in NCR region through its content and marketing strategies. The project involves the sales through counselling and marketing activities. For any organization its important that its operations 11 are managed in a effective manner. During my SIP I was involved in increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of operations which have long term impact. 2.3 LIMITATIONS Every study has some limitations. So this study is also bound with some limitations. Some limitations are- Due to less time for study there is following things left o More promotional strategies o Implementation of online software of logistics management. o Contract with various companies for ads The nature of the company which more management program oriented My project can be divided into 4 phases, in which I had held different responsibilities across the company. The four phases are clearly explained below. 12 PRODUCT AND COMPETITORS ANALYSIS CHAPTER 3 13 PHASE-I The product details should taken at the beginning of the project but the analysis of the competitor may require time to time observation of the various activities done by the competitor. 3.1 PRODUCT ANALYSIS EduMentor was established with the goal of providing specialized coaching to the students who seek admission in BMS / BBA. At EduMentor the core competency lies more in mentoring the students to the right path of education than merely preparing them to achieve the best results. The product mainly encompasses management courses at the under graduate level. The two major courses, which are offered, are BBAand BMS. Providing coaching for these two courses forms the product for EduMentor along with mentoring students for the same. All the courses are four full- time professional degree courses from this year. A BBA/BMS degree provides adequate learning of managerial skills and knowledge of business activities to the students All the two courses have been designed so as to groom professionals for future, rather than mere academicians or degree holder the course has kept in consideration the needs of the industry, so that students are job ready after their graduation unlike in the traditional sources where they are required to undertake additional professional courses to find a job. The approach to learning is a very practical one, complete with industry case studies, role-plays and a lot of industry interaction. A more detailed understanding of the courses is required both for the development of business in the center and to decide upon the marketing strategies. EduMentor provides coaching for undergraduate management courses. The primary being: 1) BMS (University of Delhi) 2) BBA (I.P. University, Symbiosis Pune, Christ Bangalore etc. 14 3.1.1 BMS(BACHELOR OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES) It is the prime pitch made by EduMentor, the company pitches itself to be the only specialist institute for its entrance coaching. BMS is a professional degree, which has been designed on the same pattern as MBA programs. The subjects for the course are taken up from the curriculum of best ranking MBA colleges in India. During the two years or 4 semesters of BMS, students study the basics of all functions of management namely finance, marketing, human resource and specialize in one of these in the final year. BMS is an outstanding general management program; the curriculum for BMS is rigorous, flexible, and continually enriched with the latest developments in management theory and practice. The academic calendar is based on six semesters - each six months in duration, followed by the University examinations. The Bachelor of Business Studies program enables graduates to think conceptually and adapt to change. In particular, the program is designed to: Develop intellectual and interpersonal skills Emphasize the broad economic, financial and managerial dimensions of dynamic business environment Facilitate the integration of academic knowledge and practical work experience Foster a high degree of professional competence in a specialist area Produce innovative and creative graduates Produce graduates who are motivated to continue lifelong learning and who cope effectively with change. 3.1.2 BBA ( BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION ) BBA aims at transforming a student into a corporate personality. This course with its intensive syllabus and a wide range of value addition modules enables the student to aspire for higher studies in premium business schools and India and abroad. Being a professional 15 course it ensures a healthy balance between theoretical foundation and practical exposure to the present day business world. A quality BBA program offers more skill enhancement and practical knowledge than usual degree courses. Like an MBA program, learning through case studies, group activities, project writing, presentations, summer internship, etc. form an integral part of a BBA program. BBA graduates have an edge over others and are sought after by the industry owing to the exposure the course offers to operational environment in the field of Business. 3.1.3 HOTEL MANAGEMENT Hotel management is course which prepare the students to manage the hotel industry. After completing the hotel management students can services to the guests, housekeeping, food quality, decor and interiors. Large hotels have Resident Managers to resolve problems round the clock. The Department Managers work under the supervision and guidance of the top management. This course has the following top colleges under it- 1. Institute of Hotel Management (Bangalore, Aurangabad, Calcutta, Ahmedabad and Chennai, Delhi) 2. Welcome Group Graduate School of Hotel Management, Manipal-75 seats 3. Banarasi Das Institute of HM and Catering Technology (IP Univ.)- 120 seats 4. Oberoi Center of Learning and Development, Delhi 5. Christ, Bangalore Admission into these colleges is through a Joint Entrance Test (JEE) with an eligibility of Pass in 10+2 with English as a subject. 3.1.4 MASSCOMM A 3 year degree course, which provides different degrees depending on each college, example- Bachelors of Journalism and Mass Communication (BJMC), B.A. (Hons.) Journalism or Bachelors of Mass Media and Mass Communication (BMMMC). Some of the top colleges in Delhi University are Indraprastha College for Women, Kamala Nehru 16 College, Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi College of Arts & Commerce and Maharaja Agrasen. Each college has a different admission criteria and different number of seats. 3.1.5 LAW The students can have two major options in the field of LAW. They can go for CLAT or NLU,Delhi. EduMentor mainly focuses on training its students for the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), which constitutes of 11 colleges- 1. NLSIU, Bangalore, 2. NALSAR, Hyderabad, 3. NLIU, Bhopal, 4. NUJS, Kolkata 5. NLU, Jodhpur 6. HNLU, Raipur 7. GNLU, Gandhinagar 8. CNLU, Patna 9. RMLNLU, Lucknow 10. RGNLU, Patiala 11. NUALS, Kochi 3.1.6 B.El.Ed (BACHELOR OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION) The Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed.) programme is a four-year integrated professional degree programme of Elementary Teacher Education offered after the senior secondary (class XII) stage of school. The introduction of the B.El.Ed. programme in undergraduate colleges of the University of Delhi marks a move towards the creation of a cadre of Elementary Education professionals a long awaited promise, beginning with the conception of the Central Institute of Education in 1947. Through the B.El.Ed. programme, concerns of elementary education have been integrated into the University system with Delhi University taking the lead. 17 3.2 COMPETITORS ANALYSIS Every company has its own strengths and weaknesses. NAME CLASSES/WEEK COURSES OFFERED SCALE OF OPERATION IMS 3 days CAT,BBA,LAW, HOTEL MANAGEMENT, BCA etc. NATIONAL EduMentor 7 days BBA/BMS, MASSCOMM, HM, LAW, B.EL.ED., CATE, CA-CPT NCR T.I.M.E. 4 days CAT,LAW,BBA,H.M NATIONAL Career Launcher 5 days BBA, CAT, LAW, HM Etc NATIONAL Smart Careers 5 days BBA, HM, LAW etc. NCR New Parameter 5 days BBA, BCA, HM, LAW etc. NCR Pratham 6 days BMS,BBA,HM,LAW, CATE,MASSCOMM etc. NCR TABLE 3: COMPETETOR ANALYSIS 3.3 MARKET LEADER ANALYSIS: The market leader for undergraduate management coaching is I.M.S. in Delhi with maximum number of enrolments in various consecutive years, so I analyzed the strategies used by the leader so as to understand the need of the market and develop the strategies for EduMentor. IMS is in operations from the past 20 years and is a well-established brand. The strategies can be understood under the following heads: - 18 PRODUCT:- The main product of IMS is CAT (MBA entrance test) coaching. It also caters to various undergraduate entrance exams coaching with various products in its portfolio. The undergraduate coaching product comprises of:- BBA/BBA/BBE entrance coaching CLAT: LAW entrance coaching Hotel Management Journalism Media Fashion PLACE:- IMS has its centers across all the major cities of the country, in Delhi also it has a strong distribution channel. The centers are located all over Delhi making it a more accessible option for the target audience. The centers are all located at prime locations providing it a higher visibility over the competitors. PRICE:- The price of IMS is slightly higher as compared to the other players present in the market. It reflects that IMS charges a premium on its price in lieu of its brand value and the market holding. The price of IMS varies from one zone to another depending on the demographic factors (mainly income) depending on affordability of the product at the place as well as the competition in that region. The pricing strategy forms the main part of competitor analysis as some segments of the market are price sensitive and respond sharply to the price variations in the market. The price for coaching in Delhi is kept at Rs.15, 500 by IMS. 19 PROMOTION:- IMS being a national level player enjoys high brand awareness in Delhi and NCR region. The agenda of promotion for the company is to make the audience aware of the product offerings and remind them about them being the market leader. Due to Financial back-up, various ways used by them to do the promotion are:- 1) Newspaper ads: - used throughout the season, with varying intensity and updated offerings with respect to change in market conditions. 2) Radio ads: - used mainly during the opening of the season to create an informational wave. 3) Internet ads: - (Contextual ads, banners on different websites, sponsorship ads) 4) Mobile ads :- (bulk SMS) The overall analysis of the competitor helps in better understanding of the market conditions. In services industry, the most important thing is to keep a track of the competitor, various pricing strategies used by them in order to compete in the market. Hence, a complete track of competitor is vital for survival in coaching industry. 3.4 LEARNING OUTCOME FROM PRODUCT AND COMPETITORS ANALYSIS The stage included immense study of the company products and their insights. The stage helped in overall learning of various kinds of product offered by the company and analysis of competitors and gives an overall view the product given last year and strategies adopted by the competitors. Its evaluation and finally designing the best perspective option for the company providing scope of applying individual creativity became the task at hand. 20 Here is a SWOT analysis of EduMentor
FIGURE6: SWOT ANALYSIS OF EDUMENTOR STRENGTH 7 days classes/week Mentoring Assignment wise classes Better faculty Specialize material before every exam Testlab based books OPPOURTINUTY Diversification to other coaching markets More permanent centres Establishment of studying information system More Marketing on web space THREATS High competition More reliable on summer interns New region specific preparation centers example- singh study circle in west delhi. WEAKNESS Less Visibility And Awareness Only operational for 6 months Less permanent employees. SWOT ANALYSIS 21 MARKETING STRATEGIES CHAPTER 4 22 4.1 MARKETING/PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES Dividing the market by grouping the customers with similar tastes and preferences into one segment is called segmentation. This is all the more important in a service industry because of the perish ability and tangibility characteristics, due to which the delivery of services is different for each customer. 4.1.1 SEGMENTING At EduMentor, the kind of segmentation that is done is, segment marketing, based on 1. Type of school, i.e. public or private schools. Segmenting schools on the basis of its ownership, so that economically less privileged students of government schools can also be targeted, is unique only to EduMentor. No other player in the market caters to the untapped potential of government school students. 2. The segmentation can also be done on the basis of subjects studied at the +2 level. For example on the basis of streams Commerce, Science or Humanities. FIGURE 7: TYPE OF SCHOOLS Though a student from any stream can apply for these entrances, but the target market becomes a little specific when considering commerce students, because often these entrances and other related courses are the first choice for them. Likewise, even within commerce students, the market can be segmented on the basis of subjects, especially Mathematics, studied at the +2 level. Mathematics is essential for the entrance exam of BMS hence, students with mathematics as their subject can be motivated in that direction. TYPE OF SCHOOL PUBLIC SCHOOL PRIVATE SCHOOL 23 4.1.2 TARGETING Since BMS is a management related course, it is a primary option for commerce students, so the biggest target students for the organization is students with commerce background. Humanities as a stream are going out of fashion, and the courses like Mass Communication and Hotel Management have examinations based on the same pattern as of BMS. So, BBA training can help a student aspiring to clear a Mass Communication entrance test and also BBA entrance, like a backup option. After the primary data collection, the strategy used to reach to the prospective customers was done on the following segmentation. 4.1.3 POSITIONING The organization has managed to form a niche for itself, in presence of strong competition from established players in the market. The positioning of the brand has been done from the very beginning, on two important propositions- 1. The organization being the only institute for providing specialized coaching to the students who seek admission in BMS / BBA / BBE. That is the reason why the faculty consists only of those who have been to the best BBA/BMS/BBE & MBA colleges, making us- The Only Specialist BBA/BMS/BBE Entrance Coaching Institute. At EduMentor, the core competency lies more in mentoring the students to the right path of education than merely preparing them to achieve the best results. 2. The core team comprises of alumni of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies and the leading MBA institutes which enable the organization to guide the students and do the right thing at the right time. Plus, the team, being CBS alumini, are more aware of the changes which have taken place in the pattern of the written test, GD and PI over the years. In fact, the core team consists of members who are involved in suggesting ways of improvement in the selection process at CBS in capacity of being Alumni of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies. 24 FIGURE 8: SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING 4.2 METHODS OF PROMOTION There are various methods are used to promote the company. Her at EduMentor we can use various kind of promotional activities/factors. The overall studies of the factors provide a comprehensive knowledge regarding the market segments, requirement of target audience and the constraints of the company. Thus, strategies were developed wherein the target audience could be hit directly in the most cost effective measure and conveying the message clear to the audience. SEGMENTATION Demographics Age, Education etc. TARGETING Class 12th students Their Parents POSITIONING Only Specialist for Management Coaching Value Proposition of MORE PRICE FOR MORE BENEFITS Telephone Counselling and Direct Mails & SMS References & online campaign Board Center Activity School Counselling & workshop STUDENT FIGURE 9: TYPES OF PROMOTIONS 25 Through school counseling EduMentor do promotions in school. This is the best way of reaching to students and communicating with them directly. During this activity EduMentor trains and counsel the students about future options present before them after 12 th .By going to over 600 schools in a year EduMentor interacts with the students directly and solve their problems. Through school counseling EduMentor also collects lot of primary data which can be used for tele calling and SMS marketing. 4.2.2 WORKSHOP : Through organizing various workshops EduMentor directly connects with students. This workshop includes the topic of subjects and some ideas about the future planning. As in 12 th standard students are not that much capable of taking their decisions by their own. They need someone to provide them options. So with the help of workshop EduMentor trying know and help students. 4.2.3 TELEPHONE MARKETING : Through the telephone marketing the counselors approach to students and tell them about various courses and options available to them. This is the most effective way of doing promotions. During this activity counselors provide free counseling to students and try to call them for enrollments. Counselors have been trained and have better knowledge about various courses and options. 4.2.4 SMS MARKETING & EMAILING : SMS marketing involves sending the informational and promotional messages to the students and their parents. By the help of SMS marketing and sending Emails EduMentor promotes itself and generates the walk-ins. SMS marketing is becoming the most powerful way of promotion specially in case of 12 th standard students. 4.2.5 BOARD CENTER ACTIVITY : 4.2.1 SCHOOL COUNSELING : The board center activity is one of the major business development and promotional activity of EduMentor. The activity was designed in such a way that maximum number of target audience can be covered in the limited span of time. It was a six day activity in which we were supposed to cover maximum number of schools in our assigned zones (East Delhi Zone in my case), which were the centers of class XII board examination. The work schedule of the activity includes: 26 AIDA Model: Securing Attention, Gaining Interest, Kindling Desire, and Inducing Action. FIGURE 23: AIDA MODEL Get attention- By creating panic in the customers mind (flooding with options) Hold attention- Making customer receptive that we are talking sense for them Create desire- Letting them know the broad horizon of professional courses Make it believable- Motivate them that they can do it but need to prepare for it Prove its a bargain- Tell them the points of differentiation Make it easy to buy- How easy is it to enrol & reserve your seat Give a reason to buy now- Create urgency in terms of time & seat Consumers today are getting resistant to advertising messages and less open to marketers communicating with them without their expressed permission. As such, advertising models are continuously evolving due to an explosion in media outlets and shifting public opinion. As new communications channels expand at a fast rate, advertisers are exploring the new media options at a rapid pace and exploring new ways to reach their target audience. Secure Attention Gain Interest Kindle Desire Induce Action 4.3 APPLYING MARKETING CONCEPTS 4.3.1 CUSTOMER INTERACTION PROCESS Customer interaction process can be done with the help of AIDA Model. Information Booklet distribution to students and parents Counseling of parents Database collection of both parents and students 27 4.3.2 PORTERS FIVE FORCE MODEL AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION The Five Forces Model of Porter is an outside-in business unit strategy tool that is used to make an analysis of the attractiveness of an industry structure. The Competitive Forces analysis is made by the identification of 5 fundamental competitive forces- 4.3.2.1 ENTRY OF COMPETITORS The company has threat from the entry of the new players into the market. From last 6 years there are new competitors has arrived like as Pratham, Career Launcher, New Parameter, Singh Study Circle and SmartPrep etc. This is because of easy entry procedure in this industry. The resources required for this industry is easily available to everyone and required low investment to enter in the market. FIGURE 24: PORTERS FIVE FORCE MODEL 4.3.2.2 THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES Availability of substitutes : High Competitive Rivalry : High Supplier Power : Medium Buyer Power High Threat of new entrants : High 28 Threat from other substitutes like the alternative courses the undergraduate students can go for after their +2 brings a major challenge. These include BCA, LLB, HM and primarily CA which draws a vast majority of the potential market. There is lot of students their main aim is IPM program offered by the IIM Indore. The other alternative of these courses are CATE and B.El.Ed. courses. 4.3.2.3 BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS In the current scenario, the bargaining power of buyers has increased to a certain extent, owing to the excessive competition level in the industry, with the rise of new entrants like Pratham, CL, SmartPrep and New Parameter who are offering their services at lower cost. The attempt by the higher management was to maintain a homogenous price across all the centers at par with the market leader. Under these conditions the probable threat by the other players of the niche market increases all the more. 4.3.2.4 BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS The suppliers for any Educational Services organization are the service providers i.e. the faculty which is highly trained and demand remuneration as per the number of hours devoted and experience. There is lot of expectations of faculty are coming time to time. Bargaining power of the faculty may effect the organization a lot terms of profit and class timing. 4.3.2.5 RIVALRY AMONG EXISTING PLAYERS Currently the market leader is IMS due to a huge brand presence all over Delhi, adopting a wider array of marketing tools like advertising through mass media. Apart from this a comparison of the existing competitors is given, some of whom are adopting Negative Marketing by dissipating unfavorable news about the institute in the market. 29 CONTENT DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 5 30 PHASE- II 5.1 CONTENT DEVELOPMENT: After my successful completion of training and phase-1 i.e., understanding of product, marketing strategies. I was transferred to the content team after the rigorous rounds of interview by Director Mr. Manuj Arora and his team. During this content development case I had performed following roles: 5.1.1 WHY CONTENT: Content plays the major role in educational sector as it is the Point of differentiation between the major competitors. Without proper content no test prep institute can survive in this fierce competition. It becomes the assessing point to many students and parents whether to join or not. It has direct effect on the sales of the company. Many books published by different authors for test prep has seen failure due to the errors in the content. As the market Niche EduMENTOR has concentrated more on its content by which students get advantage out of it. At EduMENTOR the content team is headed by Director Mr. Manuj Arora himself. As a part of Content Development team I had got an opportunity of learning new things on consumer behavior and thinking and differentiation of our product compared to the competitors. 5.1.2 PROOF READING: On Feb 28 th I was given the responsibility of proof reading the content and elimination of errors and research on preparing attractive content preparation. 5.1.3 DESIGNING COURSE CONTENT: This undergraduate coaching has very short span of time and students has to learn more than 18 topics in each section. So designing the course content is the major challenge that any test prep institute is facing in NCR region. Classes commence from April 2 nd and the foremost entrance test is on May 25 th (Hotel Management-NCHMCT-JEE). So we have to plan accordingly and prepare the content. 31 5.1.4 FINALIZING THE BOOKS FOR PRINTING: After series of proof readings from the industry experts I has to finalize the books and content and has to make them attractive to the students. It needs lot of research and commitment as this books are to be published on large scale and are direct material between the consumer and the company. 5.1.5 DEVELOPMENT OF NEW CONTENT: Depending on the students requirements sometimes we have to change our content and add some of the topics accordingly. As the paper pattern for the entrance tests never be same the topics covered under the books may not be sufficient. Inorder to get better results we focus on covering newer topics and updating the General Knowledge by giving additional handouts to students. 32 While handling LAW, HM, BCA I had made specific handout time to time to make students updated on the current knowing and making them aware which helps them in clearing the entrance exam. 5.1.6 UNDERSTANDING THE PAPER PATTERN AND PREPARING MOCK TESTS ACCORDINGLY: To get the best results out of the students we need to provide them the better analysis of exam pattern and the type of problems they face during the examination. So at EduMENTOR we do lot of research on previous exam papers by group discussion, brain storming and we make exact mocks by which student can know how to attempt the paper. 5.1.7 MANAGING THE SMALL CONTENT TEAM FOR B.EL.ED AND LAW: After successful working on the BMS content, I was solely given the responsibility of handling the content and content related issues of B.El.Ed and Law. I was provided with team of 6 Members who follow my guidelines and adhere to the time constraints given by me. I was the only intern in EduMENTOR, who headed the group of interns and completing our given responsibility on before time. After working on content for a month, Managing Director of the company Mr. Manuj Arora has given me the additional responsibility of heading the Courses like BCA, HM, Mass Communication, Law and B.El.Ed. In this I was the only one who prepared the Content Course Development Faculty hiring Scheduling Logistics Feedback Handling students queries Handling different centers. 33 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT CHAPTER 6 34 PHASE-III After attracting the students and getting them enrolled into the EduMentor. Next step is to provide them better service by providing them better faculty, better material at a right time and place. For providing the faculty on a right time and on a right place 6.1 SCHEDULING : A schedule can be in the form of something as simple as your to-do list, or it can be much more complex & be a second-by-second chronicle of what is going to happen during next two hours. As employees, we might look forward to the schedule to see when we are expected to work in the future. Airline pilots, for example are scheduled for their flights each month based on a complex bidding procedure that considers their seniority with the airline. In some professions such as nursing work, schedules are developed that are equitable in terms of weekend & off-weekend days. Scheduling terms- Routing: The operations to be performed, their sequence, the work centers, & the time standards Bottleneck: A resource whose capacity is less than the demand placed on it Due date: When the job is supposed to be finished Slack: The time that a job can be delayed & still finish by its due date Queue: A waiting line 6.1.1 HOW IT IS DONE: I become the part of scheduling team of EduMentor from 2 th April. At EduMentor the main course is BMS/BBA & along with that it provides coaching of Law, HM, B.El.Ed, BCA. So others are side courses. Initially my main task was scheduling the other courses. Firstly I collect all details about the centers, faculty, timing, No of students and material. The details of other courses are as following- 35 CENTER NO OF STUDENTS FACULTY AVAILABILITY MATERIAL AVAILABILITY TIMINGS Nirman Viahr 30 YES YES 4-7 Rajouri Garden 25 YES YES 8-10 Pitampura 25 YES YES 4-7 Ashok Vihar 05 YES YES 1.30-3.30 Lajpat Nagar 25 YES YES 8-10 Karkardooma 15 YES YES 12.30-2.30 TABLE 4: LAW COURSE CENTERS HM COURSE CENTER NO OF STUDENTS FACULTY AVAILABILITY MATERIAL AVAILABILITY TIMINGS Nirman Vihar 25 YES YES 4-7 Rajouri Garden 20 YES YES 8-10 Pitampura 15 YES YES 4-7 Ashok Vihar 05 YES YES 1.30-3.30 Lajpat Nagar 10 YES YES 8-10 TABLE 5: HM COURSE CENTERS BCA COURSE CENTER NO OF STUDENTS FACULTY AVAILABILITY MATERIAL AVAILABILITY TIMINGS LAW COURSE 36 Nirman Vihar 45 YES YES 4-7 Rajouri Garden 25 YES YES 8-10 Pitampura 28 YES YES 4-7 Ashok Vihar 15 YES YES 1.30-3.30 Lajpat Nagar 22 YES YES 8-10 TABLE 6: BCA COURSE CENTERS Now when it comes to B.El.Ed, It is specialized course for teaching profession. At EduMentor the special team is formed for B.El.Ed & they created hype of this course. So for this course special small teams are formed & they ask to present business plans for sales. Now the team B.El.Ed starts enrollments & the course initially starts at 6 centers as follows Preet Vihar Rohini Sector-3 Ashok Vihar Pitampura Patel Nagar Lajpat Nagar Initially we have only 3 centers for B.El.Ed classes. So I was also given the task of scheduling this course apart from LAW, BCA, and HM. For LAW, BCA, CATE & B.El.Ed, I have made clusters of centers by which same faculty can take classes at 2 or 3 centers same day. 6.1.2 CRISES MANAGEMENT DURING SCHEDULING 37 While doing the scheduling I have faced the crises of faculty or back out of faculty. Sometimes faculties back out late night or early in the morning, which becomes the problem for scheduling team. Due to faculty back out we have to change the faculty for that center and which results in bad feedback of the faculty. So the student becomes unsatisfied with the service of the EduMentor. For resolving this problem, I had taken the permission from the head of the company and started new faculty recruitments and also we prepare a floater team with some intern and faculties who can take classes on a short notice. After making a team we make sure that these faculties can take special sessions instead of taking regular classes. By applying this technique we are able deal with faculty back out problems. The special sessions taken by the floater team are interactive and motivating in nature, which increases the effectiveness/output of the students. 6.1.3 ISSUES FACED DURING SCHEDULING 6.1.3.1 BAD FACULTY FEEDBACK At EduMentor the student satisfaction is very important. So for this after every class center managers take the feedback from the students about how much they understand from the particular faculty. Many times it is happened that the faculty is well qualified but his teaching level is high & students are not able to grab the knowledge then the feedback is negative. Sometimes faculty is not well prepared, sometimes his knowledge is fewer etc. So due to these reasons the feedback is negative. So by considering the students satisfaction aspect I have to send the faculty at particular centre. So, I have to take care of sending appropriate faculty at appropriate center. 6.1.3.2 STUDENTS GIVE EXCUSES Many times students are not preparing or studying & if the result of mock test is poor then they start giving excuses like study material is not good, many questions of the mock test are not taught in class & their most favorite excuse is faculty is not good & we dont understand what she teaches. So besides teaching very good the facultys feedback is negative, so I have to discuss this thing with centre managers & convey them the message that this also can happen. 38 So in order to avoid this I ask the center managers to attend the class & give me true or proper feedback. 6.1.3.3 FACULTIES LOCATION ISSUE Initially the location issue is not major. Location issue is, faculties are comfortable with the same zone in which he or she is living. They are reluctant to go for the centre which is in different zone. Some times as a part of disaster management I have to send the faculties to the opposite zones also i.e. if the faculty belongs to north zone I send them to south zone. I will explain this in the later part of my report. So, now suddenly this problem became big. 6.1.3.4 SOFT FORMAT OF SCHEDULE Initially we take the help of excel sheets in doing the scheduling but in the soft format we have faced the problem of updating the excel of all members. Sometimes it may be possible that some corrections have been done but due to soft copy it cannot be visible to other team members, which creates miscommunication or problem in scheduling. So, I have given the suggestion to make it hard copy and post it onto the board by which everyone are aware of changes and everyone can understand it easily. 6.1.3.5 TIMING OF CLASSES I was doing the scheduling for the other courses. So there are many students who are attending more than one course like as BCA & B.El.Ed, BMS & LAW, HM & LAW, which create problem for me in scheduling the classes. So I have to adjust my class timings accordingly so that the student does not face any problem. And I need to keep in mind the timings should be feasible for me to make the clusters so that I would be easy for a single faculty to cover 2 to 3 centers in a day. For solving this problem I talk to center managers are trying to schedule the classes at alternate days by which students cannot miss classes. In case if students missed their classes then I tried to arrange back up class for them. 6.2 LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT Logistics management is the part of supply chain management(SCM) that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective, forward, and reverse flow and storage of goods, services, and 39 related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customer's requirements. Managing the logistics is one of the most important part for any organization. When I was given the responsibility of managing the logistic department, I first check out the inventory and requirements at centers. Important responsibilities to perform during this period- Proper and on time delivery of books at centers. Proper and on time delivery of MOCK TESTS and Practice text booklet. Fetching the requirements of assignments at centers. Giving the assignments on time for printing. Monitoring the inventory constantly. 6.2.1 MANAGING THE INVENTORY For managing the inventory I have used the Inventoria software. This software helps in managing the inventory. It includes options of adding books issuing books etc. Firstly I collect all the information regarding the inventory and then I have uploaded it onto the software. The Bahubali Enclave centre at Karkarduma is our main warehouse. All the study material or inventory is stored at this centre & from this centre the material is transported to other centers. Actually this software is also useful for the purchase department of an industry thats why there is column for selling price & purchase price but in my company, we are not selling the books individually but we sell it in the whole set so I am not able to enter the value of single book. I entered values hypothetically. The books are not brought but these are printed into EduMentors printing press by which we can manage the high and low demand of the books. 6.2.2 SENDING THE BOOKS/MOCKS TO CENTERS After managing the inventory, next task is sending the required assignments at respective centers. For sending the assignment I have a car and driver. After communicating with senior person I can send the driver to various centers. After taking permission I made the bundle for various centers according to their requirements and load them into car with the help of Associate and generate the challan for that. The main work of 40 Associate is to drop the bundle at respective centers and take the receiving from the center managers. This will be matched after some times with the inventory records. 6.2.3 COLLECTING THE OMR SHEETS The collection of OMR sheets are the part of logistics. For collecting the OMR I send the associate in various zones and zone wise he collects the OMR sheets. These sheets are collected without any delay. Sometimes for collecting the OMR I have make the two groups and divide the zones between them. 6.2.4 CHALLENGES TO LOGISTICS During managing the logistics I have various challenges in front of me. These challenges are sometimes creates big issue. Some challenges faced during logistics are- 6.2.4.1 TIME v/s COST MANAGEMENT During the logistics management I have to manage the time and cost of sending the books and assignments. Sometimes I have to give more focus to time instead of the cost. But throughout the period my main focus was to reduce the cost and sending the books before time. For reducing the cost I had preferred to send all the requirements of the center for the whole week in a single day and in advance. 6.2.4.2 FILLING THE NEED OF URGENT BOOKS For coming up the problem of filling the need of urgent requirements. I used to send more books to the hub center which connects 3 or 4 center and have equal distance from these centers. I also assure that the hub center should be more nearer to the metro station which reduces the cost. 41 RESEARCH DESIGN CHAPTER 7 42 PHASE-IV: CONSUMER SATISFACTION: Taking the feedback from the students and analyzing it very important for any company. On the basis of the feedback company can develop new business strategies which can be helpful for more revenue. For achieving this purpose I have made a set of questions and take the feedback from some random students. 7.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM IDEA: Over the period of last few years the growth of EduMentor has alarmed the leaders and also new players are trying to replicate their strategy. Developing expertise would help EduMentor develop and strengthen the network faster. In changing times the market share needs to constantly increase. Increased market share would not only help in revenue earning but also help strengthen the brand in region. EduMentor needs to evaluate the current strategies devised by them as well as formulate them for future to keep up the growth and overcome the market competition. 7.2 PROBLEM DEFINITION : Identifying the factors that influence a student to choose a particular coaching institute for his/her preparation. Identifying the areas where EduMentor should modify its strategies for sustainable growth. 7.3 PROBLEM OBJECTIVE: Analyze the market potential for existing centers and recommend the promising client base. Analyzing the current customers EduMentor is attracting A brief insight on needs, expectations and goals of current customers 7.4 RESEARCH DESIGN : 43 The research was mainly exploratory in nature as to identify the factors which drive the students. The research was highly dependent on the varied perceptions and thought process of the students. 7.4.1 METHODLOGY : In order to get market intelligence about need for the BBA/BMS Coaching and to analyze the requirement, it was important to get responses and reactions of students about the exam and also about their personal preference and expectations from a training course. Following methodology was employed to do the needful. STAGE I Exams Review: A detailed study of the BBA exams was undertaking to understand the structure, pattern and the target groups for BBA Coaching. This helped in order to identify the target group. It also helped in developing insights for developing the survey questionnaire. STAGE II Primary Research: Based on the above understanding, a questionnaire was developed for the students. The questionnaire was designed with the following objectives: To study the factors and people influencing the decision of joining a coaching institute To evaluate the success of the marketing strategies adopted by EduMentor To study the students preference and expectations about organized coaching centre. To identify the ideal location for center. 7.4.2 SAMPLING : To get a detailed analysis of the Delhi region, the study was carried out in east center Laxmi Nagar. The sampling technique used to survey the students was Random sampling. The only thing kept in mind was to survey students from various batch timings and streams. The students were contacted at coaching classes. The sample size chosen was 180 students surveyed across the center. 44 7.4.3 DATA COLLECTION : A questionnaire was prepared to elicit information from the students (consumers). The questionnaire had all closed-ended to analyze the behavior in depth. 7.5 DATA ANALYSIS: Descriptive frequency analysis was used for qualitative and quantitative analysis. This helped in identifying the relevant factors that influence consumers. SPSS was used for analysis of the data. 7.6 ANALYSIS OF THE FINDINGS : The Survey was conducted on students to analyze the awareness and preference regarding the coaching center and the factors which are important for a student while choosing to become a student of a particular training or coaching institute. The focus is on identifying the type of customer and analyzes their needs, expectation and goals. 7.6.1 GENDER BREAK-UP OF THE RESPONDENTS: To conduct a survey that affects all the students preparing for the entrance examination, one needs to have a mixed balance between the gender of the sample. Certain perceptions may vary based on a particular gender and hence the study may not produced the desired results if conducted unevenly. The gender break up of the students who participated in the survey is: GENDER BREAK-UP NO. OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE MALE 103 57.23% FEMALE 77 42.77% TOTAL 180 100% 45 GRAPH FOR GENDER BREAK UP 7.6.2 SCHOOL TYPE : Since the entrance examination is a very competitive one and the students from almost all diverse backgrounds and streams can give this exam, it becomes fairly essential to analyze the composition of the batches that are formed for preparation. EduMentor has a unique pricing strategy in differentiating the fees charged from students from private or public school background. Through this, EduMentor has covered a significant market share especially in the public school student segment. Out of the 180 respondents that were surveyed, almost 26.12% were from a public school background while rest 73.88% was from private school background. TYPE OF SCHOOL NO. OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE PRIVATE 133 73.88 GOVERNMENT 47 26.12 TOTAL 180 100 Female Male 46 GRAPH FOR SCHOOL TYPE From above we could conclude that EduMentor needs to focus more on making public school students aware regarding fee structure. Then they will have more number of walk-ins and so does enrollments. 7.6.3 EDUCATIONAL PROFILE : In earlier days, BBA/MBA was generally considered a course option for students with a commerce background. But since years, the perceptions have changed in a significant lot and especially in the BBA, students have become more aware of the variety of the course options it offers. BBA/BBS course now a days is even preferred by people with diverse backgrounds such as science or humanities. Out of the 180 respondents, most of the students were from commerce with Maths background. Also, students were from commerce without maths background who mainly target the IP university exam in which no maths sections is there. Thus it is surely proven that BBA/BBS exam is mainly preferred by commerce students but still the times have started changing now Private 47 GRAPH FOR EDUCATIONAL PROFILE Thus we could see that students from all sectors they are joining EduMentor for the preparations of various courses that EduMentor offers. EDUCATION PROFILE STREAM NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE 1 NON-MEDICAL WITH MATHS 20 11.11 2 MEDICAL 2 1.11 3 COMMERCE WITH MATHS 95 52.77 4 COMMERCE WITHOUT MATHS 55 30.55 5 HUMANITIES/ARTS 8 4.44 6 TOTAL 180 100 1 3 4 5 2 48 7.6.4 INFLUENCING MEDIUM AND DECISION MAKING : This was one of the most important aspects to know about. Here we were analyzing which of the promotional activity adopted by the EduMentor was most successful. Following are the various promotional activities taken up by EduMentor MARKETING AND PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITY Frequency School Sessions and counselling 46 Board Center Activity 40 SMS/Website 28 Friends/ Relatives References 24 Personal Call 42 GRAPH FOR MARKETING AND PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITY For EduMentor the most important promotional activity is school counseling and personal calls. They need to work on SMS/Website and friends by increasing the amount on referral award. Being a seasonal business during the off season, the promoters of EduMentor visit the schools and counsel the students to make them aware about BBA and what EduMentor is all about. This activity is really successful and hence for the coming year it is recommended to be even more aggressive in this particular activity School counseling B.C.A FRIEND S 49 7.6.5 DECISION INFLUENCERS: Once the student comes in contact with EduMentor it is very important to know about the decision makers who in particular can influence that student to join EduMentor. The decision to pursue the entrance preparation is often affected by parents and friends as well. DECISION INFLUENCERS Frequency Percentage Self 65 36.11 Parents/ relatives 78 43.33 Friends 37 20.55 Total 180 100 Since the students of 12 th appearing are neither too mature nor too small so they are basically self- motivated as well as influenced by parent. So, while counseling on phone or counseling the walk- in it is necessary that both the student and parent should be present. Thus we must focus on calling students along with parent for counseling. GRAPH FOR DECISION INFLUENCERS SELF FRIEND S 50 7.6.6 CONVINCING DRIVERS: The analysis of effectiveness of the drivers who convinced the students to finally consider EduMentor for their preparation, a study for gauging the convincing drivers was done. Most students (almost 56.67%) considered that they were mainly considered by the personal counselor or Center manager at the center. The following table provides the result of the options chosen by students on conducting survey. CONVINCING DRIVERS FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE By the Tele-Caller 61 33.88 Personal Counsellor/Manager at the Center 102 56.67 By attending demo-classes 17 9.44 Total 180 100 GRAPH FOR CONVIENCING DRIVER EduMentor must focus on selecting good counselors and then good tele-callers. these factors impact a lot in creating the enrollments. thus counselors and tele-callers they play very integral role in creating enrollments. TELE- CALLER PERSON AL 51 7.6.7 COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES OF EDUMENTOR : Since friends usually have a tendency to talk and share their ideas among peer group, it was expected that they even asked about their coaching institutes. Thus a question based on, on what all parameters did EduMentor maintained a competitor Advantage and what are the strengths of the institute and they can en-cash on that. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES FREQUENCY* Background of the faculties 41 Doubt Clearing sessions and personal attention 56 Mentorship Programmes 75 Timely execution of the course 45 Evaluation tests 62 Center heads approach 35 * The students were allowed to choose multiple options GRAPH FOR COMPETETIVE ADVANTAGE DOUBT CLEARING SESSIONS MENTORSHIP PROGRAMMES EVALUATION TESTS 52 7.6.8 WORKABLE AREAS: No one is perfect in this world and neither this institute is. But the fact is, on what all parameter they should work upon in order to improve. Thus from this survey, few workable areas for EduMentor were identified. WORKABLE AREAS FREQUENCY* Infrastructure 24 Faculty 45 Brand Building 150 Presence in other streams as well 103 Presence in other markets 43 * The students were allowed to choose multiple options GRAPH FOR WORKABLE AREAS According to the students, EduMentor still lacks significantly in brand building and presence in other streams such as science and medical etc. Now since they are into a seasonal business, the brand name do crop up in for a few months and then the following year, the whole task of brand building has to be start from scratch. This imposes a serious matter of concern. The FACULTY BRAND -BUILDING PRESENCE IN OTHER STREAMS AS WELL 53 recommendation would be to regularly indulge in some activities like school counseling etc to keep their positioning in the minds of the consumers throughout the year. 7.6.9 LOCATION PREFERENCES : It is important to know what location of center is most preferred by the students. LOCATION PREFERENCE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE Near to your home 95 52.77 Near to a metro station 61 33.88 Near a Bus stand 14 7.77 Near to a mall, shopping places 10 5.55 Total 180 100 GRAPH FOR LOCATION PREFERANCE NEAR TO YOUR HOME NEAR TO METRO STATION 54 EduMentor must locate its center near metro station as students prefer centers which are easily accessible. 7.6.10 FACTORS TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION: A number of factors influence the students buying decision while selecting a particular coaching institute. The study of these factors was very essential as these could only tell us the parameters that influence a student to enroll at a particular coaching institute. Factors such as Fees, Faculty, past Results, Brand name, Course Offered/Materials, Counseling, Infrastructure, Geographical proximity of the center , Workshops/Practice Tests, Price and Scale of Operations were listed and students were asked to rate them between 1-7 with 1 being the most important and 7 the least. 7.7 FACTOR ANALYSIS : The questionnaire was designed in a way to study the different parameters that a student considers before joining any educational institute. For this different ratings were given by the students to different parameters. After rating, there was a need for naming the factors of the same class and do data reduction. This will help the company to identify different dimensions on which they need to develop appropriate marketing strategies enabling it to become number one. ON RUNNING SPSS WE OBTAIN THE FOLLOWING RESULTS. 1. KMO and Bartlett's Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .826 Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 2592.37 7 Df 28 Sig. .000 55 Here KMO takes value between 0-1. For the application of factor analysis , thevalue of KMO should be greater than 0.5. Since here the KMO value is above 0.5 which indicates factor analysis could be applied. Df stands for degree of freedom. Here df is calculated by the formula [k(k-1)/2], where k=number of variables on which factor analysis is applied. Here k=8,so, putting k value we get df = 28. The significance of the correlation matrix ensures that factor analysis exercise could be carried out.since assumed level of significance is 0.05. And we are getting p- value 0.05 so significant. Also the sample size of 180 is more than 5 times the number of variables(8). 2 Communalities Initial Extractio n BRAND_NAME 1.000 .901 PAST_PERFORMAN CE 1.000 .940 FACULTY_AND_ME NTORS 1.000 .882 GEOGRAPHICAL_P ROXIMITY 1.000 .953 COURSE_MATERIA L 1.000 .963 FEES 1.000 .948 CLASS_SIZE_OR_TI MINGS 1.000 .939 TESTS 1.000 .902 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. 3 Component Matrix a
Component 1 2 BRAND_NAME .945 .090 PAST_PERFORMAN CE .913 .327 FACULTY_AND_M ENTORS .855 .390 GEOGRAPHICAL_P ROXIMITY .969 -.120 COURSE_MATERIA L .894 -.405 FEES .899 .375 CLASS_SIZE_OR_TI MINGS .868 -.429 TESTS .924 -.219 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. 56 4 TOTAL VARIANCE EXPLAINED 1. 5 Rotated Component Matrix a Component 1 2 BRAND_NAME .733 .603 PAST_PERFORMAN CE .878 .412 FACULTY_AND_ME NTORS .881 .326 GEOGRAPHICAL_P ROXIMITY .602 .768 COURSE_MATERIA L .348 .918 FEES .902 .368 CLASS_SIZE_OR_TI MINGS .313 .917 TESTS .501 .807 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. a. Rotation converged in 3 iterations. 6 Component Score Coefficient Matrix Component 1 2 BRAND_NAME .179 .023 PAST_PERFORMAN CE .379 -.186 FACULTY_AND_ME NTORS .428 -.247 GEOGRAPHICAL_P ROXIMITY .001 .207 COURSE_MATERIA L -.253 .446 FEES .420 -.229 CLASS_SIZE_OR_TI MINGS -.277 .465 TESTS -.089 .288 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. Component Scores. 57 EXPLANATION OF THE ANALYSIS 7.8 LABELLING OR NAMING THE FACTORS: THE LABELLING OF FACTOR 1 IS ATTRACTING FACTOR. THE LABELLING OF FACTOR 2 IS VALUE OF SERVICE. Suggestions to the company on the basis of factor analysis;- There are a number of factors upon which enrolment of a student depends .The factors that majorly take part in all these are; - brand name, past performance, geographical proximity, faculty and mentors, class strength, fees, course material and evaluation tests. After running the factor analysis, these factors were reduced to 2 factors namely ATTRACTING FACTOR and VALUE OF SERVICE. EduMentor needs to work on these factors to have maximum enrollments. ATTRACTING FACTOR:It includes past performance,faculty and mentors,fees and brand name. VALUE OF SERVICE: It includes course material , class size , tests and geographical proximity. 7.8.1 ATTRACTING FACTOR : These comprises of brand name, past performance, faculty and mentorsand fees. The marketing strategy used by EduMentor is direct marketing which includes catalogs in which it particularly mentions about its past performance as on the basis of the past performance only will any student will like to enroll himself/herself in any institute. Similarly comes the importance of brand name. EduMentor though has attained the second position still it lacks in brand name. It needs to work on its brand name. Fees is a major issue. As going by the target audience , there are two type of audience , one who can pay the whole fees and the other which has a problem in paying the fees. So two separate packages were developed depending upon the same. faculty and mentors are also an attracting factor because students check the background of faculty before enrolling in any coaching, EduMentor do portray that faculty are themselves pass out of DUS top most colleges , but sometimes some of the faculty were not good, also there isnt permanent faculty for doubt clearing so EduMentor need to work in this area as well. Fees was designed in such a way that it 58 was 4500 rupees less for government school student and 2500 rupees less for students whose father is a school teacher. 7.8.2 VALUE OF SERVICE: This comprises of course material and evaluation tests. Any institute is judged by the way the course material is provided. We provide 11 books and 15 mock tests as a part of the course material. The class strength was such so as to accommodate near about 40 to 50 students. This was necessary so as to have proper attention to each and every student. This added value to service. Geographical proximity of centers is necessary, the centers were such designed so as to have ease of accessibility thats why student preferred centers that were near to there homes or metro stations. Achievements: Received appreciation mail from the Managing Director of the company within a month appreciating my hard work and dedication towards the role given to me Out of 48 interns in the company I was the only one to which an intern is provided to handle some of my work Being an intern I headed the team of 6 interns for running the B.El.Ed course 67, 127, 264, 297, 1003- HM National level NCHMCT ranks. Expecting 5 selections in NLU, 8 in Symbiosis, 20 under CLAT and total selections in IP University. Taken GDPI and motiving classes at different centers in edumentor. Mentored more than 300 students across delhi which is highest by any intern at edumentor. 59 FINDINGS CHAPTER 8 60 8. FINDINGS The study shows that EduMentors main strength is Mentoring the students. But there are some problems with the faculties. As most of the faculties are working here for temporary basis and have their joining somewhere else so this leads to change in faculty over the period of time which leads to students dissatisfaction. Since, in education industry word-of-mouth plays a very vital role, therefore, with such frequent changes in the faculty or the centre managers the word of mouth might not be positive. This might lead to a decrease in the number of referrals which they may get from the existing students. EduMentor has to do with some better online advertisement. There is still lot of place of promotions onto the web space. Interaction with students on the online front and development of e-products like learning videos should be stressed upon. The study shows that it was a feasible and profitable venture for EduMentor to come up with 14 branches. It was found that the students who came by the end of April or first week of May were more worried about the course content they have missed rather than going to for a brand like IMS, CL. But ironically, all the institutes across Delhi had slashed their rates and the fees had come down substantially to get more numbers of students. There are a number of factors upon which enrolment of a student depends .The factors that majorly take part in all these are; - brand name, past performance, geographical proximity, faculty and mentors, class strength, fees, course material and evaluation tests. After running the factor analysis, these factors were reduced to 2 factors namely attracting factor and value of service. EduMentor needs to work on these factors to have maximum enrollments. 61 CONCLUSION CHAPTER 9 62 9. CONCLUSION EduMentor Educational Services Pvt. Ltd. has been growing rapidly ever since its coming to business. The Company has been extremely successful in differentiating its product with those of its competitors. The research and efforts put in while preparing the material can easily be analyzed. The company is proactive in its approach and is always ready to experiment with new marketing strategies to market their product well. The online campaigns and strategies implemented this year have been of huge success. In the coming years it can sell e-material online through payment gateway. The Company is doing well in terms of business but it still has to beat the market leader. All strategies adopted by it have been fruitful and it has been able to carve a niche market for itself. Year after year, its gaining reputation and a strong foothold in this industry. The fact that it has just spread in Delhi /NCR in past few years is bitter but for a new entrant in the market, there couldnt have been a better strategy. The way it has firmly put its footsteps in this market, even the market leader IMS doesnt feel safe. EduMentor had enrolled more than 3500 students this year which is an achievement in itself. This year company has highest no of enrollments of B.El.Ed. Hence, the journey of EduMentor has been great till now with its revenue growing year after year. No wonder the Company will soon occupy the number one position in the market with its differentiated product, quality service, and focus on customer satisfaction. 63 RECOMMENDATIONS CHAPTER 10 64 10. RECOMMENDATIONS Since the organization has doing very well in the entire field but it has to take certain steps to improve the service. Company should have increase the online presence. It can provide students separate login. In inventory and scheduling the company should use the software as there is no use of IT into managing the inventory. I have initiated the use of software but there should some more specialized software should be used. In terms of marketing company should use following ways- Tools like sponsoring events, conducting more school counseling and conducting counseling seminars may increase the interaction of students with the organization. Create strong base in terms of customer data for 2014 and SOHA batches. Company should also consider using above the line communication channels from time to time. WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT & ONLINE MARKETING More initiatives should be taken in Online Marketing, as the e-material is prepared and sold online. So that we could build the brand image of the product and services we sell. A website for every product can be created which will have its own Search Engine Optimization and own advertising campaign. For SOHA we have planned to develop a different website and its development has already started. An e-mail or a SMS should be sent to the user on his e-mail id or phone number he provided while registering for the product instantly. This will improve brand loyalty and improve websites interactivity with the user. SCHEDULING AND LOGISTICS In scheduling and logistics company should take help of IT tools which in not present till now. Company should use some softwares for this.There should be strong scheduling team which has some backup plans in case of faculty draw back. There should some new persons are apponted for the logistics work. 65 Since, the students were mainly influenced by Brand Name so EduMentor must try and enhance it more. As students were only aware regarding EduMentor if the school counseling was given to them, because when i called them on phone most of them never knew the name of EduMentor. Even fees ,also attracted many students. So EduMentor could have cashed on it by making as many students as possible in the government sector aware regarding fees criteria .The special provision that were given to them.Like 4500 rupees discount was given to students of government school and discount of 2000 rupees for students whose parent were teachers. I would like to appreciate EduMentor regarding past performance , they clearly indicate in the phamplets there past records. Regarding faculty and mentors its good. UNDER VALUE OF SERVICE: The students were influenced by course material and appropriate class size.So EduMentor could use it as an asset to improve there image in the minds of students. They could put some more tricks while solving questions on topics like Syllogism. And EduMentor must focus on appropriate class size of 40 to 50 students per batch so that proper attention to each and every students is given. 66 UNDER ATTRACTING FACTORS: APPENDIX CHAPTER 10 67 QESTIONNAIRE THE ITEMS CONTAINED IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE CHECKS THE FACTORS OF THE COMPANY LIKE SALES, DEVELOPMENT AND ITS SCOPE.SO I REQUEST YOU TO GIVE YOUR SINCERE ADVICE BY TICKING THE FOLLOWING. GENDER: 1. MALE 2. FEMALE SCHOOL TYPE: 1. PRIVATE 2. GOVERNMENT. PLEASE SELECT YOUR EDUCATION PROFILE: 1. NON-MEDICAL WITH MATHS 2. MEDICAL 3. COMMERCE WITH MATHS 4. COMMERCE WITHOUT MATHS 5. HUMANITIES/ARTS Q. SOURCE FROM WHERE YOU CAME TO KNOW ABOUT EDUMENTOR? (PLEASE SELECT ANY ONE OPTION) 1. SCHOOL SESSIONS AND COUNSELING 2. BOARD CENTER ACTIVITY 3. SMS/WEBSITE 4. FRIENDS AND RELATIVES 5. PERSONAL CALLS Q. WHO INFLUENCED YOU TO JOIN EDUMENTOR? (PLEASE SELECT ANY ONE OPTION) 1. SELF-MOTIVATED 2. PARENT/RELATIVES 3. FRIENDS Q.WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING DRIVERS CONVINCED YOU TO FINALLY JOIN EDUMENTOR? (PLEASE SELECT ANY ONE OPTION) 68 1. BY THE TELE-COUNSELLOR 2. PERSONAL COUNSELLOR 3. BY ATTENDING A DEMO CLASS Q. WHICH FACTORS YOU FEEL THAT DIFFERENCIATES EDUMENTOR FROM ITS COMPETITORS? (PLEASE SELECT MORE THAN ONE OPTION) 1. BACKGROUND OF FACULTIES 2. DOUBT CLEARING SESSIONS. 3. MENTORING 4. TIMELY EXECUTION OF COURSE 5. EVALUATION TESTS. 6. CENTER HEADS APPROACH PLEASE GIVE POINTS BETWEEN 1-7 ,WHERE 1 REPRESENTS HIGHLY SATISTIED 4- CAN NOT SAY AND 7 REPRESENTS HIGHLY DISSATISFIED WITH SATATEMENT) YOU PREFER EDUMENTOR OVER OTHER INSTITUTES BECAUSE OF BRAND NAME YOU WANT TO GIVE MAXIMUM TEST DURING CRASH COURSE YOUR LOT OF FRIENDS KNOWS ABOUT EDUMENTOR THATS WHY YOU JOINED YOU FEEL STUDY MATERIALS ARE IMPORTANT TO CRACK THE EXAM YOU WANT TO GO COACHING HAVING EASILY REACHABLE LOCATION YOU ALWAYS EXPECT SOMEONE TO MOTIVATE YOU YOU HAVE JOINED EDUMENTOR BECAUSE IT HAS BETTER RESULTS YOU BELIEVE YOUR SENIORS FROM EDUMENTOR HAD GOOD RESULT IN ENTRANCE EXAMS MENTORSHIP HAS HELPED YOU IN STUDYING YOU GET THE SATISFACTORY LEVEL OF EDUCATION IN COMPARISON TO FEE YOU JOIN EDUMENTOR BECAUSE PEOPLE KNOWS ABOUT IT 69 FACULTIES HAS GOOD KNOWLEDGE ABOUT COURSE AND TOPICS YOU WANT TO JOIN COACHING WITH FACULTY HAVING BETTER KNOWLEDGE YOU FEEL LOCATION OF CENTER IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU YOU GET ALL THE TOPICS OF ENTRANCE TEST COURSE IN BOOKS GIVEN TO YOU YOU PREFER TO JOIN INSTITUTE HAVING LOW FEE AND MEDIUM RESULT YOU WANT SUITABLE CLASS TIMINGS Q.ON WHAT FACTORS YOU FEEL EDUMENTOR SHOULD WORK ON? (PLEASE SELECT MORE THAN ONE OPTION) 1. INFRASTRUCTURE 2. FACULTY 3. BRAND BUILDING 4. PRESENCE IN OTHER STREAMS AS WELL 5. PRESENCE IN OTHER MARKETS AS WELL Q. WHICH LOCATION OF CENTER YOU PREFER MOST? (PLEASE SELECT ANY ONE OPTION) 1. NEAR TO YOUR HOME 3.NEAR TO METRO STATION 2. NEAR BUS STAND 4.NEAR MALL,SHOPPONG PLACES 70 REFERENCES CHAPTER 11 71 REFERENCES EduMentor, 2013 Information booklet. lip, MARKETING MANAGEMENT, New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.licensees nic.in 72