Analyzing The 5Cs Of Central Queensland University In An Essay.

Analyse each of the 5Cs for this organisation: 
a. Company – what are the strengths and key resources, what are some of the weaknesses? What are the opportunities and threats? 
b. Customers – who is the company serving and what type of behaviour is ‘typical’ from them? 
c. Collaborators – describe their suppliers, distributors or other partners that help the company to deliver their products to the market? If company doesn’t have any – explain why it is not necessary. 
d. Competitors – who are the current main competitors, are there any potential new threats or new entrants to the marketplace? 
e. Context – what other factors affect this organisation (e.g., legal, political, technological, etc.)?

Issue
How does the firm go about collecting information (e.g., market research, market intelligence, etc.) about the 5Cs? For example, how does it learn about? 
a. What customers want? 
b. Which competitors pose a threat? 
c. How the context of business is changing, if at all? 
d. What role collaborators play in the process?

Issue 4: Developing marketing strategy
Based on the market analyses, outline potential market segments that are available to the chosen organisation. Recommend and justify: 
A choice of target market(/s) 
A value proposition for the target market(/s). 
A positioning statement for the target market(/s). 

Issue 5: Developing marketing tactics
Recommend and justify a detailed marketing mix (4-7Ps) to support the marketing strategy described in Issue 4.

Market orientation, product, and brand for CQ University

The Central Queensland University, abbreviated as CQ University is one of the Australian universities that began in 1992, which was as a result of promotion of one of the old institutions; Queen’s Institute of Technology. The institute had been in operation since 1967 at the time of elevation to a university. CQ University offers programs both undergraduate and postgraduate to locals and the international students. The main campus of CQ University is located in Queensland at a place called North Rock Hampton. It has many other branches within Australia and outside spread across the globe. These campuses include Mackay, Noosa, Gladstone Marina, Rock Hampton among many others ("Home - CQU," n.d.).

CQ University has a vision of being a much larger university by 2020, the industry leader with the power of place. This is to be achieved through growth in engagement and reputation, growing a higher education and also the engagement, offering the best student experience, undertaking greater research and expanding their presence and reach.  The also has values that have helped it to thrive well. These are engagement, leadership, openness, inclusiveness and a ‘can do' approach. These values play a significant role in the growth and sustainability of this company (Philip & Gary, 2014).

Marketing orientation refers to the process or philosophy that defines the approach on how to continuously identify and fully satisfy the customer needs on demand basis. CQ University is keen, and strategies in place to determine the educational requirements of the students and then provide an amicable solution that is likely to give them satisfaction. CQ University has provided various course programs to most of its students at any time it realized that the market demanded such as a course (Constantin, 2012).

Regarding product, CQ University provides various undergraduate and postgraduate programs in various disciplines as the market demands. The courses range from engineering, business, and law, social sciences, art and design, environmental sustainability, games and animation, science and technology among many others. The offering of these courses is distributed among its various campuses. Also, these courses are available for distance and remote learning through its online program.

Looking at the university brand, CQ University seems to have built and established a good brand name. The university has been a player in the education sector for quite a long time and has managed to offer quality education thus producing market-ready students which have, in turn, helped it to establish a better brand image. Also, the various promotional activities have helped the institution to gain a better image by the customers ("Home - CQU," n.d.).

The 5 Cs for CQ University

Among the 5 Cs of the business organization, the company is one of the important aspects that is used to give an understanding that is likely to impact positively to the company. In most cases, the company is analyzed through SWOT Analysis tool which refers to the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (Blake et al., 2015). Regarding the strengths, the institution has many former quality students, and the university age can be utilized for successful marketing. For weaknesses, the university has fewer campuses, which limits its growth. For the opportunities, there exists a big fallow land online that school can use to get a bigger share even in the entire world. The competing universities in Australia are a threat to this institution in getting the market share.

Customers to CQ University as an organization, are students. The University admits students locally from Australia and more international students. Also, the university serves students who come for physical classes and those that enroll for its online courses (Marr, 2016). All the categories of students have enrolled in different undergraduate and postgraduate course programs in the university. Therefore, looking at customer behavior for CQ University, the students have both common factors and the differences at the same time. For similarities, it is obvious that all students want a quality education from the University while for the differences, they want various specific items in the process of teaching offering (Wilkie et al., 2015).

Collaboration entails partnering with other organizations that are likely to impact the market share of the organization positively. They are usually other companies that are involved in the process of delivering value to the customers. Companies usually have many partners; however, this is usually controlled by the type of the industry. CQ University has few partners because of the nature of the industry that it operates. Main collaborators to this institution include communities, group, and organizations that have an interest in the education, sustainability and environmental conservation and many other areas of life (Laszlo & Zhexembayeva, 2011).

Just like any other organization, CQ University also receives competition from other industry players. Competition in education is difficult to handle mainly because most institution offer courses that are almost similar regarding quality and type thus presenting a threat to this university. Some of the competing institutions include the University of Sydney, Melbourne University, The Swinburne University, Monash University and many others within and outside Australia. CQ University must take appropriate strategies and plan carefully for it to gain a larger market share in the education sector (Mankiw & Taylor, 2011).  

Customers

Businesses usually analyze their environment with the application of the PEST analysis tool which entails the political, economic, social and technological factors. Politically, the university seems to enjoy peace derived from the political stability of Australia where its main campus is situated and even the countries where most of its branches operate (Chang, 2012). The institution is also revered by world economic state since most people can afford education. Socially, the university has diversified population with different social, cultural lines. However, all of them have a good mutual understanding. Technologically, the institution has embraced technology especially with its intranet and the website which have played a critical role to support the business.

CQ University has many ways that it uses to collect information about the 5Cs. The university has a data mining software which is used to extract important information from their existing database of students. It analyses the patterns and trends about their customers thus very critical. Also, the institution uses the Google Search Engine Optimization which is important in giving information on various aspects of the 5Cs such as data about the competitor’s activities.  Search engines are important in marketing today because they have made it easier to conduct market research and intelligence (Cran, 2016).

CQ University also uses the traditional methods such as reading the newspapers, magazines, economic data from government and other sources to gain an understanding about the 5Cs. The university also uses the considers publications such as those from the research market and intelligence companies like Forbes, Fortune, Wall Street and many others. Also, the institution uses events and tradeshows to collect this valuable information about its 5Cs which helps the organization to gain a significant market share and gain an advantage over its competitors in the industry (Fleetwood, 2014).

The institution also conducts its internal research to gain an understanding about the 5Cs.  It usually performs the research process in a professional manner by preparing data collection forms, then specifying the sample, after that collect and analyze data which is later released as a report. Also, CQ University uses its salespeople mostly to conduct research about the market position and the information on the 5Cs. This is critical to gaining insights into the operation of this organization (Kotler & Keller, 2009).

Market positioning, market segmentation, targeting, and value proposition are important strategies for successful marketing. Segmentation usually entails grouping the various categories of people depending on a certain criterion. Some of these criteria include gender, geographical location, environmental factors and psychographic aspects among many others. CQ University can segment its customers on many different lines. It can consider grouping them as the local or international, or may also consider grouping them as the offline or online, among many other ways of segmenting. This will help the institution to deliver value to its customers since it will understand their specific sector needs (Patterson, 2008).

Collaborators

In targeting, the university should focus on the various segments of its market and therefore, look for ways of delivering value and satisfaction of their needs. At the moment, the university has opportunities in its online programs and should consider targeting these clients who are interested in studying the online programs. The institution should put strategies in place to reach these target people from all over the world through their website and online activities (Goldsworthy, 2010).

Also, as a marketing competitive strategy, the university needs a value proposition statement which will help it communicate quickly to its customers at all the time (Teixeira, 2012). The suitable value proposition statement, in this case, considering the targeted international students can be “The sure, convenient way to go.” This is critical since it will communicate to the customers at a look.  Also, in targeting to deliver online category of students, the best statement can be “Simply the best.” This statement is true and robust since it communicates a lot to its target market with simple few words but bring out why one needs to join the institution (Raciti, 2010). This is likely to attract many students to the university and thus increase its market share.

Firstly, product to this organization refers to its courses that it offers to the students. They should be quality and fit the various industry requirements to ensure that it satisfies the students and the employer. Good products always attract more customers thus CQ University is likely to get more student enrollment if the courses satisfy the customers (Goi, 2014). Secondly, place is the particular point where a given customer can access the goods or services. CQ University should ensure that situation is favoring customers. This may mean that the institution creates more branches or improve online portal and also that many courses are easily accessible by the potential customers (Cameron, 2014).

Promotion is also an important aspect that the organization must consider. CQ University should ensure that it communicates to people about the general institution and the courses it offers. Promotion of the institution can be done in many different ways such as through public relations, use of broadcast media, social media and online activities (Ashley & Tuten, 2015), print media and many other advertising channels. This will greatly help to improve the market share of this company (Cole, 2012). CQ University must also consider pricing. It is important for the university to ensure that it offers its courses at a better pricing that can attract many customers but not scare them away. (Wolny & Mueller, 2013).

Competitors

People are also important for successful marketing of courses by CQ University. These are the human actors who are involved in delivering services to the students. They include salespeople, customer care, clerks, lecturers and many others and must be competent. Besides, CQ University must consider the process as one of the tactics towards a better market share. Process refers to stages through which customers goes through before getting the services. It is important for CQ University to make the process be more efficient. Lastly regarding physical evidence entails the items used to help the clients in the delivery of services, the room, library, website and many others. CQ University should ensure that it has all the required physical evidence for the success in the marketing course.

Conclusion

In conclusion, marketing is critical to every business and must, therefore, be conducted in the best way possible to enhance improved product sales. There exist many aspects that must be considered for successful marketing. These include an understanding of the market orientation, the product, and the brand. Also, the 5Cs, marketing strategies and marketing tactics play an important role for successful marketing since they help to give direction on the best way to tak

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