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6. Strategic Framework 6.1. SWOT Analysis
6.1.1. Strengths
Native Professors. Compared to the competition, we are committed to only employ native speakers to teach the language. We understand that having native professors, and more importantly, professors with the credentials to teach at all will be attractive to the students.
Comprehensive teaching plans. Our programs are not a one-size-fits-all type of formula;
we employ the knowledge and experiences our professors to create the most comprehensive teaching plans for students at different ages and cognitive levels. We understand the differences that the students present in different stages of their lives, for that reason, we develop plans that adapt to their needs and cover the basis of knowledge that best serves academic performance.
Material brought from Taiwan suitable for all ages of the students. We offer the best teaching material; our selection of books includes those of the IQChinese series, Chinese Wonderland and Living Mandarin. More importantly, Professor Liu has created a series of books for kindergarten students -My Chinese Little Book- and is now in the development of a series of books for primary students, yet to be named.
Human Talent. YiZhen Liu and myself have experience working in the Chinese language industry in Mexico and understand the challenges that students and professors must face, we are passionate about education and our combined talent and connections add up to strengthen this venture.
Strategic Alliances. The Universities in Taiwan, the Taiwanese officials in Mexico and the alliances built with local education centers will pose an important advantage to our business, as it will strengthen the execution of our venture.
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6.1.2. Weaknesses
Price. Our prices will be higher than most of the English classes, this is by design; our main target is medium, medium-high, and high-income families in the city of Queretaro.
However, this will separate us from an important part of the population in Queretaro.
Name recognition. The Chinese language education industry in Mexico is just in its early stages, added to that, going to Queretaro and compete with other language institutions may represent a challenge.
Access to professors at the beginning. In the start-up stage, with limited number of groups, few professors will be required, thus it may limit our growth to the speed at which we can hire and move teachers to Mexico as the demand grows.
6.1.3. Opportunities
Growing industry coming from China and Taiwan in Queretaro. Every year, more companies of Asian origins stablish their operations in Mexico and the State of Queretaro is an attractive location for their Headquarters. Creating the need for capable professionals who also can communicate in Mandarin.
Mexico is drifting away from the United States. Mexican relations with the United States has deteriorated in past years, and the country is turning to other allies for trading and growth.
Chinas has been one of those allies and Mexico’s third largest trading partner. It has become clear that Mandarin is the language of the future or the new language for business, a position that The United States of America has occupied in the perception of the Mexican people.
Although it is still a low percentage of people in Mexico who are bilingual, most of the people who is proficient in English language is the highly educated with access to services and higher incomes, correspondently, our target market.
The private schools in Mexico, particularly in the levels of kindergarten and primary, are
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many. In such a saturated market, private education schools must find ways to differentiate from the rest, Chinese lessons embedded into their programs can provide them the competitive advantage they look when adding services to their educational offer.
6.1.4. Threats
It is a new language. People in many occasions will avoid experiencing something new without confirmation of their peers or closer circles. This service is aimed at the innovators and the clear majority is yet to move towards Chinese language.
Lo difícil está en chino (if it is in chinese it is difficult). Chinese is often perceived as something hard and sometimes a symbol of something unintelligible. This perception may discourage customers from starting their studies in the language. In Mexico the phrase lo difícil está en chino reflects this perception.
6.1.5. Strategies for maximizing strengths and opportunities
Creation of content related to the language and its applications, displaying the professional advantage it may bring to its practitioners and promoting stories of success.
Creation of strategic alliances with local schools to offer our services directly at their institutions or to offer promotions to their students.
Stablish relationships with Asian companies and become a source of human resources for Mexican professionals with proficiency in Chinese language.
6.1.6. Strategies for mitigating weaknesses and threats
Effectively schedule the arrival of professors and sign collaboration agreements with the schools they may serve as well as continuously increase the number of students in our institution.
Strong marketing campaigns to create brand awareness, we want to position our institution as the leading extra-curricular education institution in the city of Queretaro.
Creation of content demonstrating how easily and effectively students of all ages can learn
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mandarin in an entertaining and professional way.
6.2. Porter's 5 Forces Model
6.2.1. Competition in the industryAs mentioned in previous sections in this piece, there are not many competitors in existence in the Chinese language education industry. They compete without guarantees of having native professors, or robust education programs. The classes they offer are mostly eventual as they open groups when they have a minimum number of registrations filed. Working with independent, by-the-hour professors, their prices compare relatively high to other languages and face issues of continuity in their programs.
In response to these factors, our institution offers specialization, leaving the possibility open to grow in the number of services that can be offered in the future.
6.2.2. Potential of new entrants into the industry
As the industry is in early stages of its development, its attractiveness and specialization of its competitors are in lower levels. This sets our institution in a perfect situation for setting the standards in Chinese language learning. By doing so, not only to be positioned in the mind of the customer as a high-quality and effective institution, but also poses a barrier for future competitors, where native speaking, trained professors and sensible and complete programs are expected from any other institution.
6.2.3. Power of suppliers
There is an array of suppliers for the everyday operation of the institution. On the other hand, there are relatively more limited options for the areas of education materials and human resources, specifically, professors. However, it is also a very attractive opportunity for Taiwanese companies to start introducing their bibliography in Mexico and be a better recognized name for when the industry reaches maturity. Additionally, professors who are often
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looking for opportunities to teach in foreign countries can find this project aligned to that objective. We are planning to offer salaries that can compete with those in Taiwan, plus benefits like accommodation and Spanish lessons. We want to be a great place to work for those who seek to grow in their careers.
6.2.4. Power of customers
On this point and the next, it is important to observe first which perspective is used to determine the power of customers. On one hand, as a mandarin center alone, the buyers bargaining power will be low, limited as the service offered is highly specialized and there are no other options offering services with the exact same characteristics. On this point, the customer is not highly-educated on the service, and more importantly, mandarin courses must be considered as highly differentiated. However, the switching costs are not high since the customer will not be affected by not completing the entirety of a program, this will not deter their power of choosing a substitute activity.
6.2.5. Threat of substitute products
Although there are no direct substitutes for mandarin courses in the city of Queretaro, there are for foreign languages. This factor increases the threat of substitution and the power of customer.
There are many other language centers offering English courses and other languages. As well as sports and artistic activities that can occupy the mind of the potential customer as extra-curricular activities.
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