6 Strategy and Implementation Summary
The goal is to make the company the market segment and to have enough profit and liquidity to growth in order to expand to neighboring markets in Central America after its 5 first years of operation.
In order to make ExtrAcademia successful, a website with thorough and constantly updated information and which is easy to navigate in needs to be built. That will be the foundation upon which users will get the convenience of finding exactly what they are looking for.
Since the agents are a key factor for the business success, staff will be sought that have a talent for customer service, i.e. who are patient and have a passion for servicing people. Preferably, those people who have experience in working in government or embassies’ document authentications and verifications will be hired.
In order to make the required paperwork for the clients, competent and experienced attorneys will be employed.
All employees will be trained well and will be constantly motivated to give the client more than he or she is expecting.
6.1 SWOT Analysis
The following subsections contain the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by ExtrAcademia.
6.1.1 Strengths
A. It is an innovative integrated service that has no current direct or indirect competitors.
B. It’s a diversified and complementary service will create convenience for its customers.
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C. There is relatively low start‐up capital required.
6.1.2 Weaknesses
A. The integrated service is new, and therefore time will be required to build some know‐how expertise on how to tie all the sub‐services in the most efficient way.
B. Initially it might be hard to hire people with the desired amount of expertise in services similar to the desired IAAS, but it is assumed that the right attitude is the most important skill as most of the learning will be on the go.
6.1.3 Opportunities
A. There is an increasing niche market given the current adverse social and economic conditions in El Salvador.
B. More Salvadorans are in the process of learning a foreign language with the intention of studying or seeking a career abroad.
C. Other Central American countries like Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua face similar socio economic conditions to the ones currently experienced in El Salvador. Therefore, once the company conquers the local market, expansion to neighboring countries should follow relatively easily.
6.1.4 Threats
A. The business model is relatively easy to copy, especially the centralized online database and the integrated assistance service, so it is reasonable to expect that it will be imitated soon after its launching.
B. Given that the nature of the service is to encourage young Salvadorans to study or pursue a career abroad, there could be some resistance from the government to support the service because it has a direct impact on aggravating the brain drain of the country.
C. The business plan is highly dependent on the dynamic nature of applications, so the centralized online database has to be kept updated continuously to assure its success.
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D. Given that most universities around the globe start their terms in either fall or spring, high and low seasons are expected for the business.
6.2 Porter’s 5 Forces
The previous SWOT analysis can also be reflected in the Porter’s 5 Force analysis depicted below.
Exhibit 19 – Porter’s 5 Forces
It is believed that most of the weaknesses and threats identified in both the SWOT and 5 Force analysis that ExtrAcademia would face can be tackled by:
Hiring people with the right attitude
Training them well to reach the desired performance
Quickly gaining reputation of high quality service to become sole market leaders
Offering a unique value proposition by having the complementary services
As the company grows, planning the use of resources more efficiently
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6.3 Competitive Edge
The key strategy is innovation and the competitive advantage offered is convenience. Once the right customers are attracted through the adequate marketing, the strategy is to keep them loyal to the company through a high quality customer service.
6.4 Marketing Strategy
As mentioned before in the value proposition, the image that ExtrAcademia will project is convenience and reliability.
Most of the target customers are young high school students or university students.
Seminars and presentations will be held in universities and schools in order for the students to gain awareness of the service and can transfer that awareness and need to their parents if they are still dependent.
Also, web advertisements will be place in the schools’ and universities’ websites and in Google El Salvador relevant searches for international scholarships, universities and careers.
For the young professionals, stands in job fairs will be used to expose the company’s service. There will also be stands in the main malls within San Salvador.
Concerning the parents, radio advertising campaigns will be released in those radio stations more popular for adults older than 35 years of age. Some TV advertising will also be released at prime schedule in order to enhance the awareness. However, given that TV advertisement costs are expensive, a more aggressive strategy will be conducted in the radio.
Furthermore, ExtrAcademia will guarantee the quality of the service in an effort to build loyalty through satisfaction and make the customers spread the word of mouth to new potential ones.
6.5 Sales Strategy & Distribution Channels
The sales distribution channel of ExtrAcademia will be the headquarters in San Salvador, in the clients’ homes or offices through an agent, and in its website. In
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the agent based on the application deadline. The website will have a page where the client will select all the details of its order and an agent will double check the information and confirm with the client via phone to make the application schedule based on the deadline.6.5.1 Sales Forecast
Based on the market survey results and the industry analysis, ExtrAcademia should
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Sales
Centralized online database
membership $ 31,800.00 $ 32,436.00 $ 33,084.72 $ 33,746.41 $ 34,421.34 Blog & Forum $ 6,360.00 $ 6,487.20 $ 6,616.94 $ 6,749.28 $ 6,884.27 Integral Application Service
Assistance $265,000.00 $270,300.00 $275,706.00 $281,220.12 $286,844.52 Travel Arrangement service for
Integrated Application Assistance Service (IAAS) clients
$ 15,000.00 $ 15,300.00 $ 15,606.00
Travel Arrangement service for
non IAAS clients $ 10,000.00 $ 10,200.00 $ 10,404.00
Visa Application Service for IAAS
clients (cost per application) $ 5,300.00 $ 5,406.00 $ 5,514.12 Visa Application service for non
IAAS clients (cost per application) $ 15,000.00 $ 15,300.00 $ 15,606.00 Training & International
Examination Center $ 20,000 $ 20,400 $ 20,808
Total Sales $303,160.00 $309,223.20 $380,707.66 $388,321.82 $396,088.25
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Direct Cost of Sales 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Salaries $152,400.00 $162,145.00 $170,252.25 $182,364.86 $191,483.11
Website and Blog & Forum design
and maintenance $40,000.00 $20,000.00 $20,000.00 $20,000.00 $20,000.00
Marketing campaigns $50,000.00 $25,000.00 $25,000.00 $15,000.00 $15,000.00
Subtotal Direct Cost of Sales $242,400.00 $207,145.00 $215,252.25 $217,364.86 $226,483.11 Table 7 – Sales forecast
6.6 Marketing Milestones
In order to ensure the success of the business, the following marketing milestones have been defined in the table below:
Milestone Start date End date Budget
1. Create and develop centralized
online database 01/07/2014 30/09/2014 $30,000
2. Arrange contract with Google El Salvador website for online advertising and websites of bilingual schools and universities
01/09/2014 30/09/2014 $10,000
3. Start radio campaign, visiting universities and high schools and advertising campaigns in the biggest malls of San Salvador
15/10/2014 15/03/2015 $15,000
4. Advertise in job fairs 15/10/2014 15/03/2015 $10,000 5. Advertise in TV in premium
times 01/12/2014 01/02/2015 $15,000
6. Launch website, forum and IAAS 15/12/2014 15/01/2015 $10,000 Table 8 –Marketing milestones
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