Open University Business School
The leading provider of business distance learning in the UK faced a number of student recruitment and retention issues. A strategy was developed to relaunch the Business School and a major component of this was a review undertaken by SMRS of the Business School’s positioning and proposition.
The review provided a wide range of information including the following:
- A definition of OU Business School’s current status in the Business HE market including a SWOT analysis
- Patterns of use/non-use by identifiable audience
- Mosaic analysis and census profiling of customer penetration across the UK
- Identification of Business HE market segments, prioritised by potential
- Recommendations for OU Business School’s approach to each main segment
- Key areas of over and under provision in the market
- Brand and offer perceptions of prospective students and clients
- Key differentiators between OU Business School and its competitors were identified
- Competitors were defined on the basis of strength of course portfolio match / alternative offer
- The competitive advantages and disadvantages that exist were identified
- Recommendations were made on actions to strengthen OU Business School’s position in each key market
- Variations in the proposition and its communication in different market segments were identified, including key messaging
- Market opportunity and key weaknesses and threats were identified and prioritised.
The key outcomes of the project recommended how the Business School’s proposition and positioning should vary across its key audiences. This addressed the major differences between, for example, corporate buyers, highly aspirational postgraduates and entry level applicants.
SMRS Comment
The key to success in the postgraduate and corporate markets centres on achieving the appropriate blend of reputation, real business world credibility, relevant course portfolio and high quality learner experience. This cannot be achieved by adopting the same approach across all market segments. Business Schools have the greatest challenge of all university subject areas as the need for clear vocational relevance is brought into sharpest focus. Well defined market segmentation is required in order to address this.