By Dr. Randy L. Frye Dean, School of Business Saint Francis University Should You Extract the Right Dose of Marketing Magic From the Genies Bottle or Develop.

By Dr. Randy L. FryeDean, School of Business

Saint Francis University

Should You Extract the Right Dose of Marketing Magic From the Genie’s Bottle or Develop a Strategic Marketing Plan that Best Positions Your

School of Business in a Hyper-Competitive Environment?

PLANNING CONCEPTS

PLANNING TOOLS

1. Mission Statement (What is the purpose of our organization?)

2. Situational AnalysisA. Target Market AnalysisB. Marketing Mix AnalysisC. Industry AnalysisD. SWOT Analysis

1. Mission Statement Assessment Scorecard

2. Marketing Mix Analysis

3. Five Forces of Competition Analysis (Michael Porter)

4. SWOT Analysis

1. Where are we now?

2. Where do we want to go?

3. How are we goingto get there?

5. Revised Marketing Strategy (Target Market and Marketing Mix)

6. Assessment of strategic direction and writing strategic tactical marketing plans

3. Vision Statement (Where do we want to be in the future?)

4. Goals vs. Objectives

7. Revised Marketing Mix Analysis

8. Boston Consulting Group Matrix

9. Product / Market Expansion Grid

10. Marketing Action Plan (MAPS)

5. Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGS)

6. S.M.A.R.T. Objectives

• Mission Statement, Core Values, and Vision Statement

• A complete Situational Analysis that includes an Industry analysis along with a SWOT analysis.

• Prioritized Target Markets

• Marketing Goals and Objectives

• Vivid Descriptors and Points of Pride for your Unit

• Marketing Strategy Profile

• Marketing Action Plans (MAPs)

• Implementation, Monitoring, and Analysis of Results

Attributes of a Good Mission Statement

• Clear and concise statement of the unit’s purpose

• Provides clear direction• Creates affinity and is

endearing

SFU Statement of Mission

The Saint Francis University School of Business seeks to enable students and graduates to know more, do more, and be more. The School of Business will graduate students who have the knowledge, skills, love of learning, confidence, drive, and ethical and moral values needed to be spiritually fulfilled in life and successful in professional careers.

• Enduring • Distinctive• Realistic/Honest• Measurable

Attributes of Good Vision Statements

• Be graphic• Be forward-thinking

and directional• Keep it focused, but

allow some wiggle room

SFU School of Business Vision Statement

To be clearly positioned as, and to appropriately leverage the reputation as, the primary leader in business education and consulting in the Southern Alleghenies Region of Central Pennsylvania.

• Be sure the journey is feasible

• It makes practical sense

• Make it memorable

“To be perceived as one of the finest strong small university business programs in Pennsylvania and the Middle Atlantic states with notable excellence in all of our academic programs, but being particularly noteworthy in accounting and business management education.”

“To develop a national reputation for a successful Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Team.”

“Expand the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) into a comprehensive Center for Rural Business Development and Outreach center, including expanded and enhanced educational offerings, consulting,training programs, and a business incubator.”

A Franciscan, Catholic UniversityThe School of Business and its academic programs are liberal-arts based in the Franciscan tradition and are in alignment with the Eight Franciscan Goals of Higher Education and where applicable, the learning goals of the Saint Francis University General Education Program.

Student-centricThe School of Business is student-centered and strives to create student success stories, one alumnus or alumnae at a time.

Teaching-focused and Outcomes-basedThe School of Business is committed to the outcomes-based assessment process and maintaining IACBE accreditation. Faculty must be devoted to effective teaching, scholarship,and service.

Michael Porters Five Forces Model applied to a School of Business, including:

•Rival institutions

•Threat of New Entrants

•Threat of Substitutes

•Power of the Suppliers

•Power of the Buyers

•Complementors (a sixth force)

Power ofSupplier

Power ofBuyer

Availability of Substitutes

Threat ofNew Entrants

Public

• Penn State – both Altoona and Smeal School at University Park

• Pitt-Johnstown and University of Pittsburgh

• Shippensburg University

• Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP)

Private

• Mount Aloysius College • Juniata College• Duquesne University• Saint Vincent College• Robert Morris

University (PA)• Mount Saint Mary’s

University

Pennsylvania Highlands Community College offers a variety of low cost, business-related programs that erode market share in our OCE division and traditional undergraduate business programs.

IUP and Robert Morris University offer graduate business programs in nearby Johnstown.

Corporate online degree programs, such as the University of Phoenix, Keller University, or Strayer University could enter our regional market and offer adult-friendly undergraduate and graduate programs in business.

Community colleges offer affordability and confidence.

Online degree programs offer convenience and access.

Two-year business schools or technical colleges, such as Cambria Rowe and the South Hills School of Business and Technology offer quicker and cheaper routes to a college degree and earning a work credential.

Corporate training programs and professional certificates can trump the need to earn to an advanced degree in business.

Independent book learning and books on tape learning by working professionals.

Business faculty command higher salaries than other categories of faculty and there is an acute shortage of doctoral-qualified business faculty.

Pending retirements by large cohorts of Baby Boom School of Business faculty nationally will only make the faculty shortage worse.

Traditional-age students seeking business degrees have many universities and colleges to choose from and the competition is intense among schools of business.

Adult students seeking graduate programs in business normally are more bound by geographic limitations and the availability of academic programs that provide desired convenience in terms of place and time utilities. However, online programs are overcoming geographic limitations.

There are high switching costs for undergraduate and graduate students who do change schools and ultimately lose credits earned and time toward a degree.

Recruiting

High School Grads

• High School teachers and guidance counselors

• “Alumni” parents of prospective students

• School of Business alumni

• Current students visiting their old high schools or hosting visiting students on campus

Recruiting Adult Learners

• Corporate partners who employ our graduates and current students

• Corporate CEOs, HR professionals, training and development managers or coordinators

• Program Alumni• Chambers of Commerce

and other associations

Rivals – A strong competitive force

Threat of New Entrants – Moderate threat

Availability of Substitutes – Moderate force

Power of Suppliers – Strong competitive force (faculty shortage)

Power of Buyers – Strong competitive force

Power of the Complementors to help –

Strong potential if properly tapped

Porter’s Generic Strategy

Given the breadth and depth of Saint Francis University’s program mix, Porter’s differentiation strategy is the best competitive position to take. Differentiation fosters customer loyalty and support, brand preference or insistence, and perceived value through high perceived benefits rather than lower costs or prices.

Treacy/Wiersema Strategy

According to Treacy and Wiersema (1997) in their book The Discipline of Market Leaders, there are three value disciplines that managers must understand and develop competencies around: (1) “best total cost” or operational excellence model, (2) “best product” or product leadership model, and (3) “best total solution” or customer intimacy model.

In the case of Saint Francis University, the best approach or modelappears to be “best total solution” or customer intimacy.  

Strengths

• Dedicated, talented faculty• Satisfied students and

alums• IACBE accreditation and

outcomes assessment• An outstanding SBDC• An $1.5M. endowed chair

program• Outstanding career

placement

Weaknesses

• Small full-time faculty cohort

• Under-funded business school

• More curriculum integration is desired and coverage of information technology and global business

• Limited institutional support for marketing and public relations activities

Opportunities

• New academic programs in health care administration and sports management

• A new online MHRM program

• $5 M for Schwab Hall renovations

• Rural Business Center• Francis in the Marketplace

Ethics Center

Threats

• Competition from rivals and other competitive forces

• Adverse change in “potential student” demographics

• Reductions in corporate funding and work force reductions

• Faculty talent shortage• Rural isolation

• Prospective students and their families

• Enrollment management professionals at the University

• Business faculty and staff (internal customers)

• Area Guidance counselors and high school teachers who teach business subjects

• Regional Employers, including HR and training managers

• Current Saint Francis University students

• College administrators and academic advisors

• Media Outlets and Chambers of Commerce

• General Public

Recruit business students through effective promotion that creates awareness and enhances the image of a business education at Saint Francis University.

Means to Reach GoalIncrease marketing effort bandwidth and ensure that marketing efforts become more direct and seamless

Primary focusTo support our School of Business enrollment objectives

Aspire for250 FT undergraduate business majors160 PT graduate students (MBA and MHRM programs)

Develop a marketing communications plan for the undergraduate business programs that incorporates more effective communication of the following attributes of a Saint Francis University Business Education

• SIFE activities and other business club activities

• Career guidance sheets/ information for each of the six undergraduate business degree programs

• Articles on the different majors offered in business at Saint Francis University

• The Dr. Albert A. Zanzuccki Endowed Chair in Business Endowed Chair Program

• Profiles in Student and Graduate Portraits of Success

• The Executive-in-Residence (EIR) program

• The Springtime in London Trip/Course

Develop a fund raising campaign to raise $5 million dollars to renovate and expand Schwab Hall into the NEW School of Business building within two years by identifying friends and benefactors

Raise $2 million to endow the SBDC and create the Rural Business Outreach Center within three years

• Franciscan, Catholic focus on the holistic and ethical development of students

• Legacy of success among graduates and students

• Talented and dedicated faculty and students

• Outstanding career placement results

• Realistic / hands-on business education

• Personal attention / small class size

• Division I athletics – the games our students play

What is our product strategy and how do we effectively differentiate it?

What is our promotional strategy, including our integrated marketing communications plan?

What is our pricing strategy and financial aid packaging strategy?

What is our distribution / location strategy?

London Travel Course

Service Outreach

Career Mentoring

Student-Run Business

Student Research

Executive-In-Residence Program

Active Clubs

SIFE

Speakers’ Program

SBDC

General Education

Good Business

Reputation

CBC Modern Facilities

Qualified Faculty

Internships

College Education in Business & Opportunity

School of Business Undergraduate Student Fellowships and Scholarship for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (SEED)

Graduate Assistantships for full-time graduate students who work at the University

Corporate discounts for corporate partner institutions

Enhanced portfolio of promotional materials, including the “Portraits of Success” Campaign, updated newsletters, SIFE updates, and news stories about academic majors

Enhanced web site for the School of Business

Use of social media, such as Facebook and Linkedin

Effective event marketing, such as the Tom Peters lecture

The $1.5 million Dr. Albert A. Zanzuccki Endowed Chair in Business program for the campus community and regional business community

Loretto

Undergraduate programs

MBA program

MHRM program

Altoona

MBA program

State College

MBA program

Harrisburg

MHRM program

Annual Distinguished Lecture Program, featuring speakers such as Ken Dychtwald, Stephen Sheetz, David Chilton, and Tom Peters

Tom Peters David Chilton

Executive in Residence (EIR) program (six per year)

Marjorie Kline Bill Ryan

Jason Hite

Global Assistance Program for a Spring break in London excursion course

Lloyds of London

BuckinghamPalace

Student Research Symposium

• Title of the MAP• Which goal does it

support?• Prioritized target

audiences?• Coverage Period –

beginning and ending dates need to be specified.

• Who is responsible?• Budget needs and

timeline must be specified.

• Specific step-by-step actions that must be completed.

• Evaluation mechanism.

Executive-In-Residence (EIR)

Earl Springer

Anthony Bambocci

Roger Stoy

Springtime in London

Tom Peters

Steve Sheetz

Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE)

9th Annual

Breakfast

2010 Regional Championship

Team

• Incremental improvement is more likely than revolutionary change.

• Continuous energy and dedication to the marketing effort are needed. It needs to remain a top priority.

• You need talented and creative people to fuel the effort.

• It can be a transformational experience for the School of Business.

David, F. (1997). Strategic Management. Upper Saddle, NJ: Prentice Hall, pg. 89.

Porter, M.E. (1980) Competitive Strategy, New York: Free Press.

Stamats Communications, Bob Sevier, a vice president for this marketing communications consulting firm, provided a marketing plan template that we adapted for Saint Francis University more than a decade ago.

Thompson, A., M. Peteraf, J. Gamble, and A.J. Strickland (2012). Crafting & Executing Strategy: A Quest for Competitive Advantage. 18th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, pp. 24-25.

Treacy, M. and F. Wiersema (1997). The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.

Many of the materials prepared in our School of Business Marketing Campaign produced by:

Ms. Stacy Varmecky, Marketing Coordinator for the School of Business and a May 2011 MBA graduate. Ms. Varmecky also assisted me in the preparation of this slide show.

Ms. Oliva Shingle, graphic artistic previously employed by the School of Business.