Client Situation
Our client is a leading global University based in the Middle East that seeks to expand its operations in terms of new courses offered, with a greater goal to gain an advantage over its competitors. The client required to develop a deep understanding of its competitors on a global scale and capture the trends in the Education sector. The client wished to strategize a plan that leveraged innovation & operational efficiencies in order to expand their base.
Cedar’s Approach
The client had sought Cedar’s assistance to help in competitive benchmarking & further conduct a market scan to understand the contemporary trends in the market & execute a plan.
- Cedar conducted a market scan for the client to further understand the educational environment in the country with respect to enrolments, the projected growth of the market & current trends
- Further, competitive benchmarking was conducted to aid in competitive positioning for the University in terms of student demographic mix, tuition costs, program offerings & so on
- Cedar synthesized a plan for the client to target 1,250 students within a year
- An international competitive benchmarking was also conducted to help the client to position itself as a global University
- The financials of the University were analyzed & all the possible reasons for its losses were formulated, coupled along with a financial turnover strategy
Outcome
Some of the strategies recommended to the client using the Balanced Scorecard framework were as follows:
- A lower admission criterion at the University was observed, which was similar to other competitors. Hence, Cedar suggested that the University focused on building enrolment numbers
- The University fees were on a lower mid-range compared to the competition. It was advised to increase the same as it posed a significant risk to the client’s operating efficiency
- Upon analysis, it was inferred that the University ought to gain overseas accreditation, an inherent competitive disadvantage the client had been facing
- Cedar disclosed to the client, the opportunity to enhance program offerings aligned with growth sectors in the UAE, which were – construction, real estate, trade & manufacturing
- Opportunity to leverage growing preference of Iranians for UAE as a destination for studies
- Cedar’s analysis suggested a steady increase in new entrants & competition – an imperative for the client to enhance university reputation, enrolments & differentiate through program offerings
- A public-private partnership opportunity was suggested for the client keeping in mind the market landscape & all the green signals that these indicated