project report-eshita miglani

I C F A I B u s i n e s s S c h o o l , H y d e r a b a d Page

SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAMPROJECT REPORT

PROJECT TITLE: DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS STRATEGIES AND MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DIRECT MARKETING ALONG WITH STUDENT’S PREFRENCES FOR ENTRANCE EXAM PREPARATION AT EduMENTOR

COMPANY NAME: EduMENTOR EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

UNDER GUIDANCE

OF

Prof.Dr.Y Malini Reddy

SUBMITTED BY:

NAME: Eshita Miglani

ENROLLMENT ID: 09BSHYD0272

CONTACT NO.: 09910436436

EMAIL ID: [email protected]

I C F A I B u s i n e s s S c h o o l , H y d e r a b a d

ABSTRACT

The project focuses on the various business operations that an organization, relating to the field of educational services undertakes, that help them build an identity for themselves in the niche marketing that they are catering to. In presence of immense competition, the major part of the study comprises of the detailed study of areas that not only improve and develop the product of the company but also help them reach a wider target audience.The business model of Edumentor has immense growth potential in the future, keeping in mind the recessionary periods. Hence, a study on organizational development of Edumentor and its various operations is the most prudent thing to do.

In all, the study will encompass all functional areas of the organization.The project has been broken down into various phases for better understanding and segregation of work and operations undertaken


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The project I had undertaken required a lot of information gathering and guidance which has been provided by various people at various stages of the project. For this purpose, I would like to thank the Head of the Organization, Mr. Vikas Jain, who acted as a continuous source of motivation.Company Guide, Mr. Kumar Gaurav, for his invaluable guidance and practical suggestions based on the experience. Faculty Guide, Dr.Y.Malini Reddy for the continual support, guidance and encouragement extended towards the result-oriented approach for the completion of this project.I would also like to thank Mr. Manuj Arora, who provided me the opportunity to work on various assignments during my internship and guided me all throughout.

I would also like to thank my entire team of Edumentor, as all of us have together worked towards the common organizational objective, shared our experiences and aided each other in times of need.


Table of ContentsABSTRACT...........................................................................................................................................1

Phase 1....................................................................................................................................................6

INTRODCUTION.................................................................................................................................6

Introduction.................................................................................................................................................7

About the Company: EduMentor Educational Services...............................................................................7

Company Structure......................................................................................................................................9

Company vision:..........................................................................................................................................9

Aim of the project:......................................................................................................................................9

Learning;-....................................................................................................................................................9

Methodology:............................................................................................................................................10

Service Blue Printing.................................................................................................................................11

Phase 2..................................................................................................................................................13

Understanding the product and the market .....................................................................................13

BBS: BACHLOR OF BUSINESS STUDIES............................................................................................14

BBA: BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION.......................................................................14

BBE: BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ECONOMICS..................................................................................14

Understanding the market;-.......................................................................................................................14

THE UNDERGRADUATE ENTRANCE MARKET : Niche Market......................................................15

Phase 3;-...............................................................................................................................................17

Analysis of competition and market leaders......................................................................................17

ANALYZING THE COMPETITOR.........................................................................................................18

Mystery shopping..................................................................................................................................18

Ghost calling.........................................................................................................................................18


COMPARATIVE TABLE OF COMPETITOR PROGRAMS..............................................................20

MARKET SHARES OF MAJOR PLAYERS IN THE MARKET:.......................................................20

SWOT ANALYSIS;-.................................................................................................................................22

MARKET LEADER ANALYSIS:............................................................................................................23

PLACE:.................................................................................................................................................23

PRICE:..................................................................................................................................................23

PROMOTION:......................................................................................................................................24

Phase -4................................................................................................................................................25

Development of business and promotional strategies.......................................................................25

DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS STRATEGIES...................................................................................26

CURRENT STRATEGY FOR COST MINIMIZATION: TIE UP ISSUES.........................................26

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOR WEST ZONE..................................................................................28

Analyzing the condition earlier......................................................................................................28

Center selection.............................................................................................................................28

Branding........................................................................................................................................28

Final conversion (selling and counseling)......................................................................................28

SEGMENTING TARGETING POSITIONING....................................................................................31

DESIGNING THE SAMPLE PAPERS AND OTHER DISTRIBUTION MATERIAL.......................33

Phase 5..................................................................................................................................................34

Effectiveness of direct marketing.......................................................................................................34

Phase 6..................................................................................................................................................37

Launch of new product and its development.....................................................................................37

NEW PRODUCT : B.El.Ed.......................................................................................................................38

Launch;-....................................................................................................................................................38

Idea generation..............................................................................................................................38


Idea screening;-..............................................................................................................................38

Concept testing and development..................................................................................................38

Business Analysis..........................................................................................................................38

Commercialization;-......................................................................................................................39

Marketing of the new product:...........................................................................................................39

Phase 7..................................................................................................................................................42

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND ANALYSIS.........................................................................42

RESEARCH PROBLEM IDEA................................................................................................................43

PROBLEM DEFINITION.........................................................................................................................43

PROBLEM OBJECTIVE..........................................................................................................................43

RESEARCH DESIGN...............................................................................................................................43

METHODLOGY.......................................................................................................................................43

SAMPLING..............................................................................................................................................44

DATA COLLECTION..............................................................................................................................44

DATA ANALYSIS...............................................................................................................................45

PROCEDURE.......................................................................................................................................45

PLAN FOR ANALYSIS OF DATA.....................................................................................................45

ANALYSIS OF THE FINDINGS.............................................................................................................45

Factor analysis...........................................................................................................................................56

Note;-....................................................................................................................................................60

Suggestions to the company on the basis of factor analysis;-....................................................................60

REFERENCES....................................................................................................................................61

ATTACHMENTS................................................................................................................................62

Registration form.......................................................................................................................................62

Survey Questionnaire................................................................................................................................63


Annexure;-...........................................................................................................................................67

GLOSSARY.........................................................................................................................................70


Phase 1

INTRODCUTION


Introduction

Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgment and well-developed wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation. Education means to draw out, facilitating realization of self-potential and latent talents of an individual. Education is not a process of pouring in some knowledge in to an individual. It is a process of acquiring. Education is the manifestation of perfection already existing in a human being. The education of an individual human begins at birth and continues throughout life. For some, the struggles and triumphs of daily life provide far more instruction than does the formal schooling. Education has been in prime focus throughout India's development plans. 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. 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.

About the Company: EduMentor Educational Services

EduMentor educational service was initially known as Foqal, was started in the year 2006 by Mr. Vikas Jain with 35 students. In the second year of its operation the company was renamed as ‘Mentor’ classes. The company was again renamed as ‘EduMentor’ in the third year of its operation because the name Mentor had already been registered by some other organisation. Over these years EduMentor has been able to carve a niche for itself in this competitive industry because of its focus on product quality and delivery.


Growth map for Edumentor over the years of its establishment;-Year No. of students2006 352007 3002008 9002009 21002010 Target of 4000

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

years

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

The above graph shows increase in the number of students studying every year and the target for this year.

In the year 2010 the company targets to be the number one player in this industry for which a target of 4000 enrolments has been set. For this purpose a marketing strategy has been planned for the execution of this strategy over 50 MBA students have been hired and working with the company to achieve this target. The company has also expanded its reach in and around Delhi and NCR with 17 centres. The core team comprises of alumni of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies and leading MBA institutes who are an asset and an effective marketing tool to influence prospective students to enrol since the institute is run by them who know ‘how it is done, as they have done it already’.

Company Structure

The company in itself is much unstructured owing to two reasons-

1. The seasonal nature of its business; the company though works on a full year scale the peak time of its operations is in the months of February, March and April, since the company hires Summer Interns every year to work with them a formal structuring is difficult to do.

2. The company itself is in the initial stages of its growth due to which the roles are much undefined


Company vision:Edumentor started as an educational institute with a goal to provide specialized coaching to the students who want admissions in BBA/BBS/BBE. “The Only Specialist BBA/BBS/BBE Entrance Coaching Institute”.

Aim of the project:The aim of the project is to get an overall idea about the marketing of EduMentor Educational Services. It aims at developing the promotional and business development strategies of the company after thoroughly analyzing the same of the competitors. It also focuses on finding out the student preferences regarding the choice of any coaching institute by rating. As the aspects of this project are multidimensional so is its purpose. It also focuses on measuring the effectiveness of direct marketing.

The aim of this project is –

1. To find the areas which need further development in order to make the organization more effective.

2. To understand the target market in a better way, so that better planning can be implemented at the organization.

3. To know the effectiveness of direct marketing.

Learning;-A class twelve student especially of commerce background has many options in front of him to choose as his career, those who join EduMentor want to make their career in the Management field. Those who join here do not just join by mere coincidence a lot of time and effort goes into convincing the target market about enrolling at EduMentor. A whole range of activities carried out by different departments culminates into attracting the students. Initially I thought that students join just because they have been convinced by the counselor but I was wrong. A student’s journey begins when he hears the name Edumentor for the first time, and by the passage of time he comes in contact of Edumentor regularly due to the marketing strategies, finally he comes to the centre for counseling and enrolls. Most of us have heard names like IMS, Career Launcher, Times etc but all these names work in the industry meant for entrance test preparation for management courses like MBA which is done after graduation. Whereas the industry in which Edumentor works is totally different, the target market is totally different, the competition is also of very different kind. The first thing I realized that this industry is in its initial stages of evolution and there are lots of opportunities in the market. Also Edumentor should be given the credit of developing a market which remained ignored by the stalwarts of entrance test preparation industry.


Past three years Edumentor has shown a tremendous growth and this year it strives to be the number one company in this industry. To be the number one means beating the incumbent – IMS. Though IMS has been very ignorant of this industry, still due to its big brand presence it has a big market share.

Methodology:

1. As a part of business development strategy various activities like Board center activity and Bank center activity would be conducted throughout Delhi in order to reach the target audience. Individual counseling of parents and students will be done in order to generate sales.

2. The methodology that is essentially required for the completion of the project relates to the data collection from various schools and tuition centers and also interacting with the the target audience to study the various changing needs of the market. This would also relate to the analysis of competitors strategy.

The data gathered for this study will primarily be primary data. But secondary data in reference to product or analysis of competitors may also be required.

Along with this, tools like mystery shopping, ghost calls etc is used to understand the strategies and offerings of competitors. With comprehensive data the overall promotional strategy is developed taking into consideration the constant moves taken by competitor and market scenario.As a part of promotional strategy followed by EduMentor various activities like Board center activity and Bank center activity is conducted throughout West Zone(allotted to me) in order to reach the target audience.Team formation of 40 associates 6 managers is done along with their training to conduct the activities.Individual counseling of parents and students will be done in order to generate sales.


Service Blue Printing

Physical evidence

Customer action

LINE OF INTERACTION

ONSTAGE CONTACT

WITH THE CUSTOMER

LINE OF VISIBILITY

BACKSTAGE CONTACT

Product team action

LINE OF INTERNAL INTERACTION

Support Team

Meeting/counseling area with furnitures,catalogues,books,files ,ACand records

Classroom with blackboard/whiteboard,desk and chairs,AC, paper etc

Previous /present customers/customers aware through catalogues and

referrals

telecalls

Introduces the product and services

Asks about the benefits of the services provided, comparison and the fee structure and the duration of

Provides all relevant information and counseling and plan

Satisfied with the plan

enrol

Fee paid

Books, previous year’s results,study material,TESTS

List of faculty, fee structure,study plan,class discussions

Scheduled class,timing,books,faculty,receip

Study material being dispatched from head office and requirements being sent to the head-office

Collections being sent to head office,requirements delivered to the respective centers

Activies like display of hoardings and banners


Phase 2

Understanding the product and the market .


BBA being a relatively newer course came into existence after the success of MBA at the postgraduate 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 BBAdegree to the students. These universities conduct an entrance examination for the admission process.A recent news article stated that :

“NEW DELHI: Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University has received over 1.6 lakh applications for nearly 15,000 seats for various courses this year. B. Tech. (dual) as well as BBA has emerged as the most popular courses receiving 64,947 and 24,606 applications respectively.” – Times of India 15 may 2009

A more detailed understanding of the courses is required both for the development of business in the West Center and to decide upon the marketing strategies.

EduMentor provides coaching for undergraduate management courses. The primary being:BBS (University of Delhi)BBA (I.P. University, Symbiosis Pune, Christ Bangalore etc.BBE(University of Delhi)PDPPIGD

BBS: BACHLOR OF BUSINESS STUDIESIt is the prime pitch made by EduMentor; the company pitches itself to be the only specialist institute for its entrance coaching. BBS is a professional degree which has been designed on the same pattern as MBA programs.

BBA: BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIONBBA 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.


BBE: BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ECONOMICSEconomists study the optimum use of financial resources for the success of an organization to increase productivity. They study production, distribution and consumption of goods and services on the application of economic policy in particular area such as finance, labor, agriculture, energy and health.

The difference between BBA/BBS/BBE is just like the three sisters with different names, the difference lies in the name, value and degree. BBS and BBE are offered by Delhi University and BBA is offered by any other university other than Delhi University like IP University.

Understanding the market;-

THE UNDERGRADUATE ENTRANCE MARKET : Niche MarketEntrance 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.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.

To have 4000 enrolments its necessary the marketing activty should be able to generate atleast 6000 walkins. keeping in ming the current market situation, this seems to be a tough ask. the market has shrinked by half as compared to last year still the company has shown a growth of 100%.


The various career options after Class12, especially for commerce students

Career options after class XII for commerce students

Management Law Hotel Management BCA Mass

Communication


Phase 3;-

Analysis of competition and market leaders


ANALYZING THE COMPETITOR

The next major step in the project was to analyze the competitor, their strategies, keeping a track over their actions and responding to them.

Competitor analysis in marketing and strategic management is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors. This analysis provides both an offensive and defensive strategic context through which to identify opportunities and threats. Given that competitor analysis is an essential component of corporate strategy, it is argued that most firms do not conduct this type of analysis systematically enough. Instead, many enterprises operate on what is called “informal impressions, conjectures, and intuition gained through the tidbits of information about competitors every manager continually receives.” As a result, traditional environmental scanning places many firms at risk of dangerous competitive blind spots due to a lack of robust competitor analysis.Almost everyone in business understands the principle of trying to offer something better than what their competitors are offering. The market leaders did all kind of promotional activities as they have got big budgets but, as the data we have the most effective thing is tele-calling being supported by school counseling. Only Edumentor did counseling in the schools and a bca on a very large scale. CL and IMS did Board Center Activity on a very limited scale. The smaller compititors tried to copy the model of Edumentor but could not match because the reach of edumentor was very wide and the associates were better trained and highly motivated. The performance of any company in services depends on the talent of the hr. the product is not something which is tangible, its an concept which needs to be understood by the prospect before he buys. The marketing can bring the prospect to the company but the sales can be executed only if the councilor is able to convince the prospect.On this front also Edumentor scores above the others ( we know this because we made many calls to other institutes to see how they do the counseling, also visited the institutes as a mystery shopper).

Competitor analysis involved;-

Mystery shopping

Ghost calling

Mystery shopping;- in this activity all the interns were given a particular competitor and were asked to go in their centers and act as a sibling of a 12th class student , asked all the information regarding the course fees , the batch strength , observed their techniques of convincing, their content and the knowledge about the courses. This way we could understand and compare

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_management

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing


their strategies to our own strategies and work on either improving them if there is any need.

Ghost calling; - in this activity we give our competitors a phone call to know their phone counseling techniques and the way they use to create urgency and walk ins.

Institute Counseling on phone

The pitch Able to create urgency

Negative marketing

Full info about the courses

Able to handle rough calls

Alchemist Yes USP of alchemist focused on the website and the software

No Yes Satisfactory No

CL No Visit our centre for info

No No No Yes

IMS No Visit the centre or website

No No Somewhat Yes

New parameter

No Fees Somewhat Yes No No

Edumentor Yes Faculty, result

Yes No Yes Yes

The major players in the market can be listed as below:IMSEDUMENTORT.I.M.ECARRIER LAUNCHERP.T. EDUCATIONSSMART CARRIERSSINGH STUDY CIRCLE etc…


COMPARATIVE TABLE OF COMPETITOR PROGRAMS

NAME NAME OF PROGRAM

COURSES OFFERED Scale of operation

IMS MAX-PREP CAT,BBA,LAW,HOTEL MANAGEMENT,BCA etc

NATIONAL

EduMentor N.A BBA/BBS/BBE DELHI AND ADJOINING PLACES

TIME Crash Course For BBA entrance

CAT,LAW,BBA,H.M. NATIONAL

Career Launcher BBA Express CAT, BBA, LAW, H.M., BCA etc.

NATIONAL

PT CARRIER AFTER 12th

CAT,BBA,LAW,H.M., BCA etc

NATIONAL

Smart Career N.A. BBA, LAW, H.M etc.. DELHISingh Study Circle

N.A. BBA, B.Ed, H.M., BCA, Mass Communication etc

DELHI (GURGAON AND WEST)

SOURCE: company sources (company head and guide)

MARKET SHARES OF MAJOR PLAYERS IN THE MARKET: NO. OF STUDENTS

IMS 3750EDUMENTOR 2100T.I.M.E 500CARRIER LAUNCHER 1500P.T. EDUCATIONS 550SMART CARRIERS 1200SINGH STUDY CIRCLE 1500



36%

20%5%9%

5%

11%

14%

Market Share

IMSEduMENTORT.I.M.ECARRIER LAUNCHERP.T. EDUCATIONSSMART CARRIERSSINGH STUDY CIRCLE



SWOT ANALYSIS;-

S W O T A N A L Y S I S


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 a national level player backed with strong finances and structured pattern of operations.

The strategies can be understood under the following heads:- PRODUCT:

The main product of IMS is CAT (MBA entrance test) coaching. It also caters to various undergraduate entrance exam coaching with various products in its portfolio. The undergraduate coaching product ‘Max-Prep’ comprises of:-BBA/BBA/BBE entrance coachingCLAT : LAW entrance coachingHotel ManagementJournalismMediaFashionThe study material of all the products are same with some specific sections added according to specific entrance test.

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. It also has its centers spread in all major adjoining NCR region. 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.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.

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.Being a major player of the industry it enjoys high financial resource back up and the study of their promotional strategies potray that they conduct Capital intensive promotions using mass marketing tools, mainly above the line marketing strategies such as :-News paper ads: used throughout the season, with varying intensity and updated offerings with respect to change in market conditions.Radio ads: used mainly during the opening of the season to create an informational wave.Internet ads: Contextual ads, banners on different websites, sponsorship adsMobile ads : bulk SMSIMS also uses some below the line marketing strategies which they have evolved responding to the action of smaller local players where the financial resources are scarce, so employ Labor intensive promotional strategies like direct mail, sales promotion, outdoor publicity etc.


Phase -4

Development of business and promotional strategies


Understanding the company, its product and analysis of the competitors gave a comprehensive knowledge about the market and the industry. The major work that I was assigned was then to understand the company objectives, its target audience, company constraints and then to decide a comprehensive marketing strategy for the Delhi and NCR region which would help company to increase its brand awareness in limited resource environment and to ultimately reach the desired objectives.

DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS STRATEGIES

CURRENT STRATEGY FOR COST MINIMIZATION: TIE UP ISSUES

Handling and operating 17 centers all across Delhi-NCR is quite a tough and tedious task to do. Moreover, it is not at all feasible to open their own owned centers (own infrastructure etc) at all places. Edumentor also had tied up with a few leading institutes who had a strong presence in their local area for sharing of the facilities and infrastructure. Edumentor has opened its 17 centers in 4 basic following formats:

FORMATS: SELF OWNED : The centers which are owned by the promoters of the company RENT BASED: In this mode of ownership, rooms are taken on rent and then, the infrastructure and other facilities are taken care by the company.LUMP SUM FRANCHISEE: In this case, a local company’s infrastructure and other facilities are hired and a fixed amount is decided to be paid to the franchisee owner. Now this is completely independent to the number of students who may enroll on that particular center. Hence, a huge risk is involved. But once the break even of the cost of rent is reached, the entire amount or fees collected there after forms a major part of profits.PROFIT SHARING : This format is based on the number of enrollments that take place at that particular center. A fixed percentage of the profits earned from a particular center, is given to the franchisee owner. Hence the revenue earned is totally variable in nature and depends on the efforts taken to improve the numbers (of enrolments).

Owning Pattern

Zone Location Self owned Rental franchisee

Profit sharing Tie up with

lump sum East Nirman Vihar


Zone Preet Vihar Karkardooma

Dilshad garden

Ramprastha Achievers Academy

West Zone Janakpuri Learning Hour

WPN Ajay Verma Classes

Dwarka BM Academy of comm

Punjabi bagh Alpha Plus South Zone

Kailash colony AVTE house

Satyaniketan Alpha Plus North Zone North Campus Alpha plus Ashok Vihar NIPS

Pitam pura

Roots to wings pre school

Rohini Gautam Institute

C.P. YWCA

NCR Noida Elite

Owning pattern of the various centers of Edumentor

From the table, we can see that the corporate office i.e. the karkardooma center is self owned by the promoters. But most of the centers are based on the lump sum franchisee. The basic prerequisite for this strategy is the confidence that the promoter should have in their team so as to reach the breakeven within a few enrollments and then latter on pushing for more and more enrollments to increase the profit margins.

A strategic decision is made depending on the market potential of the particular area, timings and usage of the facilities before deciding the lump sum amount. If the profits earned by the enrollments exceed the expectations, it’s a WIN situation for the company


as variable costs are not significantly changing as and when more and more number of students are enrolled.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOR WEST ZONE

After completion of Phase-III of the project, I was assigned the Zonal responsibility for West Patel Nagar. It was a complete entrepreneurial activity involving comprehensive learning of the business environment.EduMentor treated West Zone as a separate profit centre with its own planning horizon, goal setting and strategy formulation for attaining those goals.The center given to me had many issues with it like availability of drinking water, sanitation problem. Once I was given the center all the responsibility of handling these issues was up to me. I tackled all these problems assuming as I am the owner of the company because after all it is me who will be accountable for the center’s smooth running. This also included the creation of visibility of the center. This I did by hiring a person who deals in making of flex boards. Now I know the rates of flexes used. It was all like an entrepreneurial activity.

The main activities to be conducted in Business Development of west Zone are:

Analyzing the condition earlier

Center selection

Branding

Final conversion (selling and counseling)

ANALYZING THE CONDITION EARLIER

By the year 2009 EduMentor became one of the most prominent undergraduate management preparation brands in Delhi. It showed around 300% growth from the previous year and gained place in top five companies in the sector.

CENTRE SELECTION: Deciding the place of product delivery


Since WEST ZONE is a venture for EduMentor so the site selection forms one of the most important part in developing the zone. The decision majorly depends on the following factors:-

Presence of competitorsQuality and Pricing of the product offeredCost factors

BRANDING

The major aim of the branding activity was to increase the visibility of EduMentor in the zone. Since the site of product delivery (west zone centres) is surrogate, hence it becomes more important to make the brand more visible and separable from the tie up centre.The activity needed combined promotional effort of placing banners and hoardings at different location to create brand awareness and increase recognition.The main tools used in the process were:-BannersHoardingStandiesIn designing the banners and hoardings the main aim was to create recognition of the company name and its address, so the design majorly comprised of the name and address with the company tag line presented along.The other important aspect is also the placing of banners and hoardings, even a feet’s mistake leads to a loss of visibility of several kilometers, the both the tools were decided to be placed near the vicinity of the centers to make the presence of the company felt at the place.

EXECUTION OF PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN

The Campaign was being conducted in two phases:Board Centre ActivityBank Centre Activity

School Counseling

Board Centre

Follow Up Calls


An organization based on the motive of the campaign, different constraints and requirement of the market develops a comprehensive promotional strategy to reach its objectives.

DECIDING ON PROMOTIONAL PLAN

The plan usually includes where target markets has to be reached, what features and benefits have to be conveyed to them, how will it be conveyed it to them. Also, some factors which need to be considered are - who is responsible to carry the various activities in the plan and how much money is budgeted for this effort. Successful advertising depends very much on knowing the preferred methods and styles of communications of the target markets that you want to reach with your ads. A media plan and calendar can be very useful, which specifies what advertising methods are used and when. For each service we first consider all the media which are available for promotion like TV, radio, newsletters, classifieds, displays/signs, posters, word of mouth, press releases, direct mail, special events, brochures, neighborhood newsletters, etc. and then decide

PromotionAbove the line promotion:TV

Radio

Mobile Phones

Newspapers

Internet

Below the line promotion:Sponsorship

Product Placement

Endorsements

Sales Promotion

Merchandising

Direct Mail

Personal Selling

Public Relations

Trade Shows


which suits the organization. The practicality of the media which is to be used in terms of access and affordability (i.e. the amount spent on advertising which is based on the revenue expected from the product or service, that is, the sales forecast) also plays a very important role in choosing the promotion media.A lot can found about the customers preferences just by conducting some basic market research methods. We also first need to know what the available promotional tools are so that we can choose the most effective tool for the firm. Following gives a brief description of the important promotional tools: Brochure, Direct mail, E-mail messages, Magazines, Newsletters, Newspapers, Online discussion groups and chat groups, Posters and bulletin boards, Radio announcements, Telemarketing, Television ads, Web pages

SEGMENTING TARGETING POSITIONING

SEGMENTATION

SEGMENTATION AT EDUMENTOREduMentor defines its segment on the basis of Demographic Variables, primarily considering the factors age, education and income. The management coaching is to be provided at undergraduate level, so the students need to be segmented on basis of their educational specialization in 10+2 i.e. Science, Commerce, Arts etc.Also the students are segmented on basis of their schooling background (i.e. Government and Private schools) which helps to classify two different segments which have to be targeted with different pricing strategies for both. Also, the income of family helps to segment the students and thus facilitates EduMentor to plan its target audience more accurately.

TARGETTINGTARGETTING AT EDUMENTORConsidering the constraints of finances, time and other factors, EduMentor decides its target audience to be students of Class 12th which comprises of commerce students who are interested in management courses, that is, mainly people who do not expect a percentage beyond 90%. The parents of these students act as the Opinion leaders and Decision makers for EduMentor.Out of all the segments discussed EduMentor targets both Government and Private school students with the same product but with different pricing strategies. As the government school students find it difficult to pay a premium fees, hence charging a price suitable for them helps to increase in the market coverage for the company.


EduMentor specifically focuses Commerce students and the promotional strategies are formulated in such a manner that they directly reach the target audience e.g. Board centre activity (booklet distribution outside board centers).

POSITIONINGPOSITIONING AT EDUMENTORThe analysis of competitors portray that almost all psychological space in minds of target audience has been filled by some or the other competitor. But most of the competitors serve more than one segment, with no clear positioning of a specialist management coaching institute.The market has a stiff competition as a large number of coaching institutes have been mushrooming in the city at different locations. Many players have positioning in terms of Quality-Prices modal, others on basis of faculty and so on, but no player in the market specifically focuses on management coaching at undergraduate level. This forms as the core advantage of the product and the service provided at EduMentor.Hence the company decided to position itself as the “Only specialist institute for management coaching at undergraduate level” along with providing the best possible attributes like faculty, product, and vision aiming in the same direction.Understanding STP for the company helps to channelize the resources which may be finances, time or human resource in one direction. This helps the organization to reach its goals and provides a more focused approach in reaching the company objectives.

SEGMENTATION;-DEMOGRAPHICSAGE,EDUCATION ETC.

TARGETING;-CLASS 12th STUDENTSTHEIR PARENTS

POSITIONING;-ONLY SPECIALIST FOR MANAGEMENT COACHING

The overall STP analysis of the company helps in understanding which market to be catered, and hence helps in customizing the overall promotional effort to be channelized in the same direction facilitating the best utilization of the available resources and meeting the company objectives.

The major strategies adopted by competitors are:


Most of the players are national level player enjoying 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.Being a major player of the industry it enjoys high financial resource back up and the study of their promotional strategies portray that they conduct Capital intensive promotions using mass marketing tools, mainly above the line marketing strategies such as :-News paper ads: used throughout the season, with varying intensity and updated offerings with respect to change in market conditions.Radio ads: used mainly during the opening of the season to create an informational wave.Internet ads: (Contextual ads, banners on different websites, sponsorship ads)Mobile ads : (bulk SMS) The local players in the market are restricted to promotions at particular locations which are near to their centers mainly using Labor intensive strategies such as flier distribution, local cable networks and attachments to news papers, but the drawback of this strategy is that it gives relatively a cheap image of the organization.

DESIGNING THE SAMPLE PAPERS AND OTHER DISTRIBUTION MATERIAL

After designing the promotional strategy I was given responsibility to design sample papers and other promotional material for the Outdoor publicity of the company. The material designed was to be distributed amongst 70,000 students so was a big opportunity to learn and portray creativity.The sample paper was designed in such a manner that, while the student looks at the question, his eyes would definitely catch the EduMentor advertisement and what it has to offer. This would garner incoming calls and walk-ins later.

Information Booklet was distributed on the last board exam and it is also distributed at the banks where IP University forms and SSCBS forms are being sold. The booklet is also a thick 14 page, colorful handout. The colors attract the prospect and it has especially been put keeping in mind the US Presidential campaign. As Barack Obama had used particular colours like Blue and White, signifying strength and peace, we also use blue and yellow, signifying strength and education. These colors were also attractive to the eye and one look at the booklet could easily give the prospect an image and EduMentor’s perspective of coaching at the undergraduate level.


Phase 5

Effectiveness of direct marketing


Direct marketing is a form of advertising that reaches its audience without using traditional formal channels of advertising, such as TV, newspapers or radio. Businesses communicate straight to the consumer with advertising techniques such as fliers, catalogue distribution, promotional letters, and street advertisingThe effectiveness of direct marketing is studied by knowing the number of students who came in the institute for counseling or mentoring or knowing the career options or for enrolment after going through the pamphlets and catalogues distributed during the board center activities and school/tuition center counseling sessions. I measured the effectiveness by making them fill a registration cum an enrolment form in which a question from “where did you get to know about edumentor”,and the effectiveness can only be judged from the registration form who marked catalogue/pamphlets as the option .out of 200 walk ins who came in the centre 120 marked this as the option. These catalogue and the pamphlets are the marketing tools that we used to create brand awareness.350 is the number of board exam centers which we were covered during our outdoor marketing event known as ‘the board centre activity’. This is the only outdoor publicity Edumentor does. Since the company is much unstructured hence there is no data from the previous year which can give us any figure for the reliability of this activity but going by the experience of the founders of the company this is the most effective way of reaching to the target market.To have 4000 enrolments its necessary that the marketing activity should be able to generate at least 8000 welkins. Keeping in mind the current market situation, this seems to be a tough ask. The market has shrieked by half as compared to last year still the company has shown a growth of 100%.

Marketing activities involve

School counseling - this happens much before the sales season starts, this activity basically aims at hitting the target market before anyone else does. The counseling at school serves two purposes. Creates awareness amongst the students about management as a career option and also create early brand awareness about the company. This is a very critical activity because the class 12 students has no information about the companies providing the training for BBA, therefore its better that he comes to know about edumentor from a very early stage. Gathering of data base is another important purpose, there is a time lag between the counseling and actual sales, this gestation period can make the student forget what he was told during the seminar. The data base helps the company to be in regular contact with the students throughout the year and hence the name edumentor does not get diluted from the mind of the prospect. The data base becomes even more important when the sales start. At the time of sales the counseling database is given utmost importance because the students already are associated with the company since a brief period of time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising


Search of new location - for a student one of the biggest factors which makes him join the institute is the proximity from his home. It is of prime importance that edumentor keeps on adding new area in its charts, that’s what they do during the lean period.Product development – the product (study material, test papers etc) play a major role in the success of an educational institute, the product team keeps on updating and proofing the study material in order to deliver the most superior quality.

DIRECT SELLING

Once the walk ins were created , the tool used to convert them into enrolment was direct selling, which involved counseling of parents and the students which were our target audience. They were made aware of the importance and benefits of BBA/BBS/BBE over various other courses and were shown how edumentor surpassed its competitors when it comes to cater the needs of students . they were also shown the study material which is going to be provided during the two month crash progamme.

Out of 120 walkins created through direct marketing 85 were converted by the above mentioned tools of direct marketing.


Phase 6

Launch of new product and its development


NEW PRODUCT : B.El.Ed

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. Conceptualized by the Maulana Azad Centre for Elementary and Social Education (MACESE) of the Department of Education, University of Delhi and launched in the academic year 1994-95, the programme is an attempt towards fulfilling the need for professionally qualified elementary school teachers. B.El.Ed. is designed to integrate the study of subject knowledge, human development, pedagogical knowledge and communication skills. Both professional and academic options are available to students who graduate with a B.El.Ed. degree.

Launch;-

Idea generation ;- Edumentor deals with the entrance preparation of BBA,BBS,BBE . As every company’s aim is to grow there was a need to increase the products.

Idea screening;- after class 12th there are many options available for a student like BBA, BBS, BBE, HM, LAW, BCA, B.EL.ED. Out of all these courses the best option for the company can be the course which is almost similar to the existing courses which the company is offering. The reason behind this is ;- the season is already in its peak where in half the target audience is already exhausted so there was a need to start a course for which the market is almost untapped and the product offerings is almost the same.So out of these courses, B.EL.ED was chosen as the course is new and there are not much competitors for this course so EduMentor can enjoy a first mover advantage and along with that the product material is almost similar in this case.

Concept testing and development ;- since B.EL.ED is a course just for girls ,so the company took the target audience ‘girls’ who are from government girls school because when we did calling in government schools for BBA,BBS,BBE then the general perception of the people was that they want their daughters to pursue a course in teaching , so they want their daughters to pursue any course from Delhi university and then do B.ED. but mostly the people do not know about the course.

Business Analysis ;- after zeroing on the new product , the competitor analysis was done , wherein again ghost calls were given to all the competitors to know


whether they teach courses like B.EL.ED but , except IMS which also doesn’t provide proper coaching for this.

Commercialization ;-

Marketing of the new product:

Tools for sales :MESSAGING: A message saying that “build up a career in teaching right after your 12th class” and “study in top delhi university collages with just 50% marks in 12th boards” was floated among 1500 students on their cell phone (numbers were primarily from govt.schools and girls )REFRENCING:Referral from existing student was also thought to be a potential source for enrollments

Messages turned out to be a very effective source of enrollments because it provided us with a filtered data including only those who were actually interested in doing this course or at least wanted to know about this course.

Referencing was not that effective because most of enrollments as a result of referencing was already done for courses of BBA,BBSTotal response received as result of initial messaging was 610 messages which consisted a mixed marketThose who knew about B.El.Ed (CATEGORY A)Those who did not know about B.El.Ed (CATEGORY B)And those who were confused between B.El.Ed, B.Ed, and DIET(CATEGORY C)

CATAGORY NO.A 117B 244C 249


19%

40%

41%

NO.A B C

19% knew about the course40% did not know about the course41% were confused

On all the responses that were received outgoing calls were made by the new product team (direct selling)The telephonic counseling in volvedGiving information about the course structure and durationInformation about the examination dates and also the dates from which the forms are going to be issued and also from where the forms are going to be availableEligibility criteria of the testCollages providing the courseEntrance examination patternScope after the courseFee structure of edumentor educational servicesServices being provided by edumentorImportance of coaching for this course

NOTE:The work on direct selling is still in progress,initially only the four members were involved in this direct selling but now the team has been increased toeight members and the conversion rate and number is likely to increase

WORKING ON THE PRODUCT

Sources:InternetClass x and class xii booksMaterial from competitors


Designing:Designing the course structureThe guide bookThe weekly tutorialsCompilation of the study material

The work on product and marketing for the new product is still in progress and is catching momentum in a promising way

Pricing;- the price of the new product is Rs.6500/- for both government and private school girls.


Phase 7

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND

ANALYSIS


RESEARCH PROBLEM IDEA

EduMentor is a relatively new entrant in Delhi. Though the market potential is huge there is intense competition and there are a lot of established players offering courses for the same exam as EduMentor. Over the period of last three 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. The customer behavioral pattern analysis definitely throws light on the special areas to be concentrated.

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.

PROBLEM OBJECTIVE

To identify the scope for increasing market share for BBA coaching in Delhi. 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 Collection of data by means of a questionnaire and assessing the parameters and

patterns in selection of a training institute by students.

RESEARCH D ESIGN

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.

M ETHODLOGY


In order to get market intelligence about need for the BBA 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 IIPrimary 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. To identify the POPs and PODs of Edumentor vis-a vis its competitors. To identify if EduMentor should diversify in various possible options

SAMPLING

To get a detailed analysis of the Delhi region, the study was carried out in west centers;- Janakpuri West patel 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 training institutes and coaching classes.few students were also surveyed telephonically or via mails. The sample size chosen was 180 students surveyed across the two centers.

D ATA COLLECTION

A questionnaire was prepared to elicit information from the students (consumers). The questionnaire had all closed-ended and only one open-ended question to analyze the behavior in depth. Apart from filling up of questionnaire, consumers were asked questions and discussions were held for better understanding of their responses.


DATA ANALYSIS The questions asked helped in qualitative analysis while with the closed ended questions analysis could be quantified. Descriptive frequency analysis was used for qualitative and quantitative analysis. This helped in identifying the relevant factors that influence consumers. Microsoft Excel was used for analysis of the data.

PROCEDURE

A general procedure of data analysis was followed which included the following stages:ValidationEditingCodingData EntryData CleansingTabulation and Analysis

PLAN FOR ANALYSIS OF DATA

Sample size : 180The data collected through the questionnaire provided information about the awareness and need for the products as well as the factors influencing the buying decision and their ranking.Feed the raw data collected in the excel sheet.

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.

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 57.2Female 97 53.8Total 180 100

Gender Break-up of Sample surveyed

No of respondents

MaleFemaleTotal

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 386 respondents that were surveyed, almost 37% were from a public school background while rest 63% were from private school background.

Type of School

No of respondents

Percentage

Private 133 73.8Public 47 26.2Total 180 100


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.

Educational Profile

Stream No of respondents

Percentage

Non Medical with Maths 20 11.11Medical 2 1.11Commerce with Maths 95 52.77Commerce without Maths 55 30.55Humanities/ Arts 8 4.44Total 180 100

Educational profile of the respondents

No of respondents

Non Medical with MathsMedicalCommerce with MathsCommerce without MathsHumanities/ ArtsTotal

Fig: Educational profile of the students at Edumentor


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

Fig: Marketing and promotional activities taken up by Edumentor

Since such a huge competition is there, EduMentor is very particular about the Promotional Activity they do. They have only one constraint i.e. Budget.

Marketing and promotional activity

Frequency*

School Sessions and counselling 152Board Center Activity 86Bank and IP activity 46Friends/ Relatives References 211Personal Call 186Others 21

* The students were allowed to choose multiple options

Table: Success ratio of Marketing and Promotional activities

Student being approached by

1. SCHOOL COUNSELLING

2. BOARD CENTRE

ACTIVITY

3. BANK AND IP ACTIVITY

4. TELEPHONE COUNSELLING

5.FRIENDS/ RELATIVES


Fig: Brand recall by a student: Effect of marketing activities

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. EduMentor’s success most known by Word of Mouth. This is almost free of cost but can give very random results. An innovation EduMentor has done this year is sending their representatives/associates outside Board Exam center. They distribute sample papers and try to get the contact details. Another activity they have done is to catch the students outside Banks and form distribution center. This activity really gave a lot of exposure to students but the conversion ratio is very low since by the time students come to know about EduMentor all the morning batches are full and unavailability of morning batches pull them back. Being in a very hot weather people are apprehensive to travel in hot weather. Another reason is the shortage of time. When forms start to distribute students only have one or one and half month instead of two and half months. This makes students to think that they prepare on their own instead of wasting a good amount of money on coaching. Even an assurance of completing the course doesn’t help in such case. A new strategy that can be devised over the period off season is promotions through coaching centers which students have joined for their regular studies of Class XII. EduMentor has 18 centers throughout Delhi but they own only 1 of their centers. Rest they rent from the coaching institute like Learning Hour, Elite Education or Alpha Plus. These are known names among Class XII regular coaching. EduMentor has already good relations with them. They can take advantage of this relation by distributing their pamphlets or counseling the students. An incentive for such coaching center can also be attached if they allow counseling the students.


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 PercentageSelf 65 37.11Parents/ relatives 78 43.33Friends 37 20.55Total 180 100

Table: Decision influencers

Frequency

SelfParents/ relativesFriendsTotal

Fig: Decision influencers

FACTORS TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION A number of factors influence the students buying decision while selecting a particular product or training 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 rank them from 1-8 with 1 being the most important and 8 the least.


Factor Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Brand Name 9 20 37 90 1 12 7 4Past Performance 12 36 91 1 20 5 9 6Faculty and mentors 95 9 12 32 7 20 4 1

Geographical Proximity 7 7 19 13 89 27 14 4Course Material 4 1 7 9 11 37 93 18Fees 32 94 9 24 17 1 0 3Class Strength / Batch Size and Timings 20 9 1 4 15 18 27 86Evaluation Tests 1 4 4 7 20 60 26 58

Table: Prominent Factors taken into consideration for decisions

Factor

Brand Name

Past Performance

Faculty and mentors

Geographical Proximity

Course Material

Fees

Class Strength / Batch Size and Timings

Evaluation Tests

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

rank1rank 2rank 3rank 4rank 5rank 6rank 7rank 8

Fig: Bar Chart depicting the prominent factors taken into consideration

Again for the analysis, frequency analysis was done. The factor having the maximum frequency in a particular rank is assigned that rank. Based on this analysis the factors influencing the decisions are ranked in decreasing order of importance as follows,Faculty and mentorsFeesCourse materialPast PerformanceBrand NameGeographical Proximity


Class strength Evaluation testsFaculty and Guidance is the key area that influences the decision most by the student. EduMentor always highlights that Faculty they have is itself pass out from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies and other premier B-Schools. This factor does give a kind of confidence in students and give a direction to them to crack the exam.Since, Indian consumer wants a value for money for each and everything that is bought, so thus fees itself for ths course is also a prominent factor that people do consider before zeroing down at a particular institute. Also giving a flat discount of 50% to government school students do give an idea that Fees is an important factor. A feedback from various center managers there were lot of students who were asking for certain discounts or scholarships before getting enrolled.Location and geographical proximity is ranked 6 due to the fact most of students cross the age of 18 after Class XII which give them leverage to use their own vehicle. Mostly girl students preferred to have the center in their geographical proximity.

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 55%) considered that they were mainly considered by the personal counselor or Center manager at the center.

Convincing Drivers

Frequency

Percentage

By the Tele-Caller 21 11.60Personal Counsellor/Manager at the Center 150 83.40By attending a Demo Class 9 5.00Total 180 100

Table: Convincing Drivers

Frequency By the Tele-Caller

Personal Counsellor/Manager at the Center

By attending a Demo Class

Total

Fig : Convincing drivers


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 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 41Doubt Clearing sessions and personal attention 56Mentorship Programmes 75Timely execution of the course 45Evaluation tests 62Center Head’s approach 35

* The students were allowed to choose multiple options

Competitive Advantages Background of the facultiesDoubt Clearing sessions and personal attentionMentorship ProgrammesTimely execution of the courseEvaluation testsCenter Head’s approach

Table: Strengths of Edumentor as an Institute

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 FrequencyInfrastructure 24Faculty 45Brand Building 150Presence in important markets 43Presence in other streams as well 103

Table : Scope of improvementAccording to the students, Edumentor still lacks significantly in brand building and presence in other streams such as law 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 recommendation would be to regularly indulge in some activities like school counseling etc to keep their positioning in the minds of the consumers.

Infrastr

ucture

Facu

lty

Brand Build

ing

Presen

ce in im

portant m

arkets

Presen

ce in other

strea

ms as w

ell0

4080

120160

Workable Areas Frequency

Workable Areas Frequency

DU Colleges is comprehensively Number one preference by the students. Same is the case with Number two. This rank is taken by IP University. There are few people who do rate IP University above DU colleges because of simple reason they didn’t apply to DU colleges.Since all the students are from Delhi they are nervous to go outside Delhi and hence they chose Symbiosis and Narsee Monjee colleges as their latter options which they will opt if they don’t get through any college of DU or IP University. Jamia Millia Islamia is ranked third but the students do agree with the fact that Symbiosis and Narsee Monjee are much


superior colleges. In others people have written colleges like Christ University, Bangalore , Bharti Vidyapeeth, Amity University and Xaviers Calcutta.This study shows that if the company wants to expand in other markets (than Delhi) as well , then Pune and Mumbai are the best available options.

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 52.7Near to a metro station 61 34.1Near a Bus stand 14 7.7Near to a mall, shopping places 10 5.5Total 180 100

Table: Location preference by the students

Near to your home

Near to a metro station

Near a Bus stand

Near to a mall, shopping places

Total

0 40 80120

160200

Location Preference PercentageLocation Preference Frequency

Figure: Location preference

FUTURE REFERENCE


Now the most important part is that whether the existing students would recommend the institute to their junior or other siblings as well. Since, coaching business is based entirely on the references that they get from the existing students. Thus, if the existing students are satisfied, they’ll surely recommend others as well.

Future reference Frequency PercentageYes 139 77.2No 12 6.6May be 29 16.2Total 180 100

Table: Recommend to others in future

Future reference Frequency

YesNoMay beTotal

Fig: Recommend to others in future

This year, since the operational inefficiencies were greatly reduced on the centers and classes were well handled , thus 72% of the existing respondents felt that they will surely recommend this institute to others as well.

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 ranks were given by the students to different parameters. After ranking , 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.

Component Matrix(a)

Component1 2 3 4

Brand Name .637 Past Performance .696 Faculty and Mentors

.660 .376


-.674 .319

Course Material -.360 .752 Fees .505 -.805Class Strength -.329 -.740 -.412 Evaluation Tests .359 .313 -.645 .372

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.a 4 components extracted.

Rotated Component Matrix(a)

Component1 2 3 4


-.341 .781


-.709

Course Material .782 Fees -.967Class Strength -.317 -.855 Evaluation Tests -.809

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.

a Rotation converged in 5 iterations.

Component Transformation Matrix


Component 1 2 3 41 .972 .052 -.147 .1772 -.026 .813 -.396 -.4273 .114 .434 .893 -.0104 -.205 .385 -.151 .887


After conducting the factor analysis the 8 factors were reduced to 4 factors. In the above rotated component matrix, there are many factors which are negatively correlated because all this data is from the point of view of 12th class passout. In the above table, factors showing the negative correlation are;- fees, geographical proximity, class strength; this is because as the fees will be high the students will be more negatively affected similarly if the batch strength is more then also the students will be dissatisfied and if the evaluation test is tough and a student is not able to score well then also a student will have a negative impact.After seeing the rotation and the component matrix(refer figure 4 and 5 from annexure), we can name the factors and subdivide them into four new factors which comprises of all the eight factors.

Factors;-1. External factors;- external factors are the factors that comprises of three factors

namely;- Brand name Past performance Geographical proximity

2. Internal factors;- internal factors are the factors that comprises of three factors namely;-

Faculty and Mentors Class strength

3. Fees ;- fees is one of the factors which is cannot be clubbed with any other factor.

4. Product material;- this comprises of ;- Course material Evaluation tests

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy - This measure varies between 0 and 1, and values closer to 1 are better. A value of .6 is a suggested minimum.


Bartlett's Test of Sphericity - This tests the null hypothesis that the correlation matrix(Please refer to the correlation matrix given in the annexure in figure 1) is an identity matrix. An identity matrix is matrix in which all of the diagonal elements are 1 and all off diagonal elements are 0. You want to reject this null hypothesis.Taken together, these tests provide a minimum standard which should be passed before a factor analysis (or a principal components analysis) should be conducted.

Figure 2(please refer annexure)Communalities - This is the proportion of each variable's variance that can be explained by the factors.

Initial - With principal factor axis factoring, the initial values on the diagonal of the correlation matrix are determined by the squared multiple correlation of the variable with the other variables.

Extraction - The values in this column indicate the proportion of each variable's variance that can be explained by the retained factors. Variables with high values are well represented in the common factor space, while variables with low values are not well represented.

Variance matrix:Please refer to FIGURE 3 in the next page.

a. ) Factor - The initial number of factors is the same as the number of variables used in the factor analysis. However, not all 8 factors will be retained. In our case 4 factors will be retained. b.) Initial Eigenvalues - Eigenvalues are the variances of the factors. Because we conducted our factor analysis on the correlation matrix, the variables are standardized, which means that the each variable has a variance of 1, and the total variance is equal to the number of variables used in the analysis, in this case, 8. c. )Total - This column contains the eigenvalues. The first factor will always account for the most variance (and hence have the highest eigenvalue), and the next factor will account for as much of the left over variance as it can, and so on. Hence, each successive factor will account for less and less variance. d. )% of Variance - This column contains the percent of total variance accounted for by each factor.e.) Cumulative % - This column contains the cumulative percentage of variance accounted for by the current and all preceding factors. f. )Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings - The number of rows in this panel of the table correspond to the number of factors retained. In this example, we requested that 4 factors be retained, so there are 4 rows, one for each retained factor.


g.) Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings - The values in this panel of the table represent the distribution of the variance after the varimax rotation. Varimax rotation tries to maximize the variance of each of the factors, so the total amount of variance accounted for is redistributed over the four extracted factors.

Note;-

Infrastructure has not been added as one of the factors as the center which was given to me to handle lacked in good infrastructure so I deliberately didn’t add it as one of the factors as this would have aggravated the problem .

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 4 factors namely external factors, internal factors, fees and product material. Edumentor needs to work on these factors to have maximum enrolment.External factors;- these comprises of brand name, past performance, geographical proximity. 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. Internal factors;- these comprises of faculty and mentors and class strength. For a student to be satisfied with the institute and to retain any student in the institute a major role is played by the faculty and mentors and the class strength. Fees;- 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. Product material;- this comprises of course material and evaluation tests. Any institute is judged by the way the course material is provided . we provide 10 books and 17 mock tests as a part of the course material.


REFERENCES

EduMentor, 2008. Information booklet. IMS, 2009. Information booklet.T.I.M.E, 2009. Information booklet.Times of India, 2009. [Advertisement], New Delhi, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd.Hindustan Times, 2009. [Advertisement], New Delhi, Birla Group.Kotler Philip, 2007.MARKETING MANAGEMENT, New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd.licensees of Pearson Education in South Asia.Websites of the competitors, colleges and universities which include:http://www.careerlauncher.com/[ accessed 1 March 2010].http://www. ims india.com [ accessed 7 March 2010].http://www.du.ac.in/[ accessed 22 March 2010].http://ggsipu.nic.in[ accessed 22 March 2010].http://www.en.wikipedia.org [ accessed 22 March 2010] .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_product_developmenthttp://www.du.ac.in/course_details.html?department_id=education&coursename=b.el.ed.&course_id=217Malhotra Naresh,2008.Marketing Research,New Delhi

http://www.du.ac.in/course_details.html?department_id=education&coursename=b.el.ed.&course_id=217

http://www.du.ac.in/course_details.html?department_id=education&coursename=b.el.ed.&course_id=217

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/

http://ggsipu.nic.in/

http://www.du.ac.in/

http://www.imsindia.com/


ATTACHMENTS

Enrollment form;- which served the purpose of measuring the effectiveness of direct marketing.

Registration form

Name ______________________________________________________Male ____ female___School___________________________________________Class XII __ XI__Address______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Landline ___________ mobile _________________________E-MAIL______________________________________________________

Registration Fee is required to be deposited along with registration form and will be adjusted against tuition feeFEE PAID:________________Mode of payment: cash ____ cheque ___

How did you get to know about EduMentor?Friends____ School _____ Banner_____ Newspaper____Tuition Center___ Parents ____ catalogs/pamphlets___ other___(specify)………………………….

Place Signature Date

BankBranchCheque No.Dated


Survey Questionnaire

Please tick(√)the appropriate choices or rank according to the preference

1. What is your educational profile ?

Science (Non Medical) with Maths _________Science (Medical) _________Commerce with Maths _________Commerce without Maths _________Humanities/ Arts

_________2. What were the courses you gave a thought before joining the institute ? (You can

choose multiple options)Engineering _________M.B.B.S _________CA _________Hotel Management _________Law _________BBA/BBS _________B.Sc/ B.Com / B.A _________ Others : Please specify .....................................

3. Did you knew about the courses BBS/ BFIA prior to counseling by the institute?

Yes _______No _______

4. Which coaching institutes did you short-listed for your preparation? (You can choose multiple options)

IMS _________Career Launcher _________Edumentor _________Alchemist _________New Parameter _________Others : Please specify .....................................


5. How did you came to know about Edumentor ? (You can choose multiple options)

School Sessions and counselling _______________ Associates outside the Board Centers ______________ Associates outside Banks and other form Distribution centers _________ Friends/ Relatives References _______________ Personal Call _______________ Others : Please specify .....................................

6. Who influenced your decision for joining Edumentor ?

Self _________Parents / Relatives _________Friends _________

7. What are the factors you considered while choosing a coaching center for your preparation? (Kindly rank according to your preference, 1 to 8)

Brand Name _________Past Performance _________Faculty and mentors _________Geographical Proximity (Location and Transport) _________Course Material _________Fees _________Class Strength / Batch Size and Timings _________Evaluation Tests _________

8. Kindly rate the parameters which you think are essential for success of a coaching institute ? (Kindly rank it from 1 to 5)

Brand Name _________Success Ratio _________Background of the promoter _________Faculty and mentors _________Infrastructure, Environment and facilities provided _________

9. How were you convinced to join Edumentor?

By the Tele-Caller _________Personal Counselor/Manager at the Center _________By attending a Demo Class _________


10. What is your most preferred way of coaching? (Please rank according to your preference)

Class Room Study : ........................................Correspondence : ........................................Personalized Coaching : ........................................Online or Virtual Classes : ........................................

11. According to you an Educational institute should emphasize most on....?

Class room teaching _________Study Material _________Doubt Clearing Sessions _________Personality programmer’s _________Mock Tests _________Individual Attention and Discipline _________

12. Do you know someone who had joined another institute for BBA/BBS preparation?

Yes _________No _________

13. If yes, on what parameters did Edumentor was superior to them ? (You can choose multiple options)

Background of the faculties _________Doubt Clearing sessions and personal attention _________Mentorship Programmes _________Timely execution of the course _________Evaluation tests _________Center Head’s approach _________ (Knowledge about the requirements of the students)

14. What are the basic parameters on which Edumentor Should pay more attention to? (You can choose multiple options)

Infrastructure _________Faculty _________Brand Building _________Presence in important markets _________Presence in other streams as well _________


15. Kindly rate the following College/ Universities as per your preference for doing a BBA/BBS/ BBE courses?

Delhi University, Delhi _________Indraprastha University, Delhi _________Symbiosis , Pune _________Narsee Monjee, Mumbai _________Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi _________Others: Please Specify: ........................................

16. According to you which should be the most preferred location for an educational institute?

Near to your home _________Near to a metro station _________Near a Bus stand _________Near to a mall, shopping places _________

17. Will you refer the institute for preparation of your juniors, siblings etc?

Yes _________No _________May be _________

18. Any other feedback/expectations which can help Edumentor to serve the students better ?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Annexure;-

Fig 1;-KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .059

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity

Approx. Chi-Square

475.776

df 28Sig. .000

Fig 2;- Communalities

InitialExtraction

Brand Name 1.000 .481Past Performance 1.000 .508Faculty and Mentors

1.000 .728


1.000 .583

Course Material 1.000 .719Fees 1.000 .950Class Strength 1.000 .849Evaluation Tests 1.000 .781

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Fig ;-3Total Variance Explained

Component Initial Eigenvalues

Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings

Total % of Variance

Cumulative %

Total % of Variance

Cumulative

Total % of Variance


%1

1.715 21.43421.434

1.715 21.43421.434

1.682 21.025

21.545 19.309

40.743

1.545 19.30940.743

1.422 17.779

31.259 15.738

56.481

1.259 15.73856.481

1.310 16.372

41.081 13.506

69.987

1.081 13.50669.987

1.185 14.812

5.856 10.699

80.686

6.760 9.497

90.184

7.747 9.342

99.526

8.038 .474

100.000

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Fig ;-4Component Matrix(a)

Component1 2 3 4


.660 .376


-.674 .319

Course Material -.360 .752 Fees .505 -.805Class Strength -.329 -.740 -.412 Evaluation Tests .359 .313 -.645 .372

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.a 4 components extracted.


Fig;- 5Rotated Component Matrix(a)

Component1 2 3 4


-.341 .781


-.709

Course Material .782 Fees -.967Class Strength -.317 -.855 Evaluation Tests -.809


a Rotation converged in 5 iterations.

Fig ;-6Component Transformation Matrix

Component 1 2 3 41 .972 .052 -.147 .1772 -.026 .813 -.396 -.4273 .114 .434 .893 -.0104 -.205 .385 -.151 .887



GLOSSARY

BBA:- Bachelor of business administrationBBE:- Bachelor of business economicsBBS:- Bachelor of business studiesHM:- Hotel ManagementCL:- Carrier LauncherT.I.M.E:- Triumphant Institute of Management StudiesPDP ;-personality development programmePI ;- personal interviewGD ;- group discussion

project report-eshita miglani

Documents