Executive summary
This research report provides a description as well as an analysis of theories and strategies on how to differentiate Cultural Connectors in their competitive landscape in order to grow their business especially in The Netherlands and Belgium. The goal of this research is to give advice for Cultural Connectors on how to differentiate themselves in their competitive landscape and how to increase business opportunities in the educational sector in the Netherlands and Belgium by defining a competitive corporate identity and identifying relevant marketing strategies for the target group as well as finding potential clients in conjunction with the appropriate channels to reach them. This research report includes four research areas that include business opportunities in the educational sector, marketing strategies, corporate identity, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Finally, the strategy and methodology are also provided in this report to reach the research objectives, which include desk research, survey, and interviews.
Project context
The globally acting company “Cultural Connectors” is a service provider for international personal development with the goal to connect different cultures as well as to improve the intercultural understanding which focuses on China, Russia and Germany. The company was founded in 2015 by Olga Medinskaya and has its headquarters in Mannheim, Germany. The company consists of Mrs. Medinskaya herself who is currently working as a General Manager and intercultural coach. Four additional partners who have expertise in strategy, didactics, culture, and travel-experts work as well within this firm. They offer trainings and coach sessions in which they sensitize their participants towards cultural differences.
Cultural Connectors is currently facing a challenge in having better understanding of the competitive landscape in order to identify growth opportunities in their business fields, such as partnership specifically in the educational sector. Besides, the company has a difficulty in effectively communicating their programs by means of using limited resources in order to raise the interest of potential target groups to have a partnership with Cultural Connectors. This will consequently give them the competitive edge to become leaders in the industry. Hence, the research will be focused on the current needs and challenges in the educational sector. In order to be more specific, the target groups that are chosen by Intercultural Professionals are international Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands and Belgium, which offer courses or related programs to Russia, that might either want to enter a partnership with Cultural Connectors or buy their services.
In order to reach that, research will be conducted and reports will be made to support our strategy. Firstly, research on customer relationship management, corporate identity, business opportunities, and marketing communication channels will be conducted to reach and approach the target groups. The second focus will be set on the marketing communication concept to improve their appearance. This will be done through finding a marketing claim for their business and a competitive corporate identity, improve corporate design to match their identity, presentations, marketing material targeted to education institutions, support and fine-tuning of their homepage, and preparing an English version of their homepage.
Organizational context
1.1 Organizational characteristics
The internal and external organizational context of Cultural Connectors will be elaborated in this section. In terms of the internal organizational context, Cultural Connectors presents three essential characteristics. The first one are innovation and risk taking. According to the official website of Cultural Connectors, the mission is to connect cultures and improve cross-cultural understanding of our clients substantially and permanently. Furthermore, the brand values are clarified as enriching, intensive, human and relevant experience, (Cultural Connectors).
In terms of the external organizational context, the main external communication used by the company is their official website www.cultural-connectors.com. Aside from their official website, Cultural Connectors also communicate externally by e-mail and telephone.
1.2 Internal analysis
According to Svend (2008), internal factors are categorized into firm size, international experience and service.
Firm size: Cultural Connectors was established by Olga Medinskaya in 2015, hence, it is new service startup. The company does not have a large number of employees. The organizational structure consists of management and support staff. The founder, Olga Medinskaya, develops the learning programme and works as a general manager and a coach. Besides that, Dr. Henk Randau helps her with strategic questions and uses his contact to attract more potential clients. Olga is also assisted by specialized coaches who work as freelancers. Additionally, Cultural Connecters hires some interns to support them with translation and research.
International experience: Two main directions that Cultural Connectors offers are general seminars without particular focus and country specific trainings. With regional specific trainings, they adjust their trainings and workshops to the current need of their international participants. During the trainings, Cultural Connectors focuses on developing business exchange and transactions between German, Russian, Asia and Western companies. Hence, the company mainly gains international experience through the second direction.
Service: Cultural Connectors offers four business lines. The first one is Country-specific trainings which concentrate on employees who wish to improve sustainable relationships with business partners. Moreover, Cultural Connectors offers Intercultural Competence that helps professionals to develop their intercultural skills. The third business line is Onboarding; its target group is foreign employees and their families. The last one is Business Get-Away which is considered as a special symbiosis of nations and the learning program.
1.3 External analysis
An environmental analysis will be undertaken by applying the PESTLE approach (Svend, 2008).
For Cultural Connecters the Political/legal aspects play a role when expanding the business to foreign countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium due to the fact that there is a free market economy which means that they do not have restrictions for opening their business. Nevertheless they need to be aware of the double opt procedure which captures in the whole EU. This means that when canvass for clients via e-mail for instance they need to obtain permission before sending this e-mail.
Economically it can be said that these countries have strong ones as well as the educational systems are good what is important because when universities and universities of applied sciences offer exchange programs to Russia, Cultural Connectors can give trainings for students / teachers who are willing to go abroad.
Concerning the socio-cultural factors it can be stated that due to globalization reasons inhabitants of Belgium and the Netherlands are willing to move to China and Russia and therefore are in need of trainings towards other cultures, which give Cultural Connectors a great opportunity to expand to those countries. Furthermore the English level in the Netherlands is rated as the 3rd best in the world according to the English Proficiency Index (Mc Daid, 2013), hence trainings can be performed easily in English by Cultural Connectors.
In the field of technology it can be said that these countries are well developed and have advanced knowledge which gives Cultural connectors the opportunity to use online tools. This would consequently be different in 3rd world countries.
Theoretical framework
2.1 Theories on business opportunities in the educational sector
According to Baron (2006), business opportunities can be established by having pattern recognition. Pattern recognition is the ability of a person to connect diverse events into specific opportunities (Baron, 2006). In the case of Cultural Connectors, the diverse events could be as follow: numbers of exchange students who want to do study or do an exchange in Russia, students’ problems in coping with Russian culture, and growing partnership between Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands and Belgium with Universities in Russia. As stated by Shane (2000) in his research report, one should have prior knowledge towards specific aspects in order to discover particular opportunities. Based on the previous mentioned statement by Shane (2000), we could indicate that opportunities in the educational sector can be identified by having high level of knowledge about, for instance, cultural related programs in the Universities as some Universities need more input in their cultural related programs or even want to add cultural trainings as one as their programs.
Extensive knowledge of the markets and customers’ problems allows entrepreneurs to recognize opportunities and exploit it into a successful business, (Shane, 2000). This theory can be applied to help Cultural Connectors in building comprehensive knowledge about specific number of students who joined international cultural programs (trainings) that are currently offered by the Universities to its students regarding Russian culture along with specific information about students’ overall impressions of the program itself. Finally, having knowledge about cultural background of the students is imperative in order to have an effective approach while giving cultural trainings to the students who have various cultural backgrounds. By having both pattern recognition and prior knowledge to specific things that previously described, it helps our team to reach the objectives in regards to increasing business opportunities.
2.2 Theories on marketing strategies
In this section, theories on marketing strategies will be presented to help Cultural Connectors to create an appropriate marketing strategy.
Differentiation and positioning strategy:
Due to the fact that Cultural Connectors wants to differentiate themselves in their competitive landscape, deciding on a value proposition will be the main focus. According to Kotler and Armstrong (1991), a value proposition means how a company creates differentiation for its target group. The differentiation and positioning task include three main steps. The first step is to identify a set of differentiating competitive advantages on which to build a position. Kotler and Armstrong stated that “to find points of differentiation, marketers must think through the customer’s entire experience with the company’s product and service” (p.211). Moreover, Cultural Connectors can be differentiated through its service, channels and image. Similarly, Ritika (2013) claimed that a company could create a unique perspective by associating with network, brand image, features or customer ‘service. The second step of a differentiation strategy is to choose the right competitive advantages. Not all brands differences are the right competitive advantages. Brand differences are appropriate and valuable when they satisfy the following criteria: important, distinctive, superior, communicable, preemptive, affordable and profitable. Last but not least, a company needs to select an overall positioning strategy. Kotler and Armstrong explained that “the full positioning of a brand is called the brand’s value proposition – the full mix of benefits on which a brand is differentiated and positioned.” (p.212)
Online marketing:
Cultural Connectors can benefit from online marketing. Marketo (2016) defined inbound marketing as “a strategy that utilize some aspects of pull marketing strategy which include: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), social media, content marketing, video, events, blogs in order to increase brand awareness”. Additionally, Mather (n.d.) considered inbound marketing as an effective method that makes it easier for target customer to find the company. According to him, there are three main methods that Cultural Connectors can apply inbound marketing to raise the awareness of its brand:
- Social Media Networks: “Social media is all the rage right now with internet marketers and with good reason—it works”, said Mather. Social media networks are not only free but also quite simple to work with. However, marketers should keep in mind that it is easy to use social media, “but complicated to master”.
- Blogging: can help Cultural Connectors to increase audience. The fact is that if website provides practical and helpful information, target audience will go to website often and listen to company’s suggestions for example using company’s service. According to Lisa and Alan (2009) blogging can detect vocal critics which company can convert into positive and enthusiastic supporters.
- Web traffic: Mather considered paid search and organic search as two significant ways to obtain web traffic. Essentially, organic search results take longer to obtain but last longer while paid search results are faster but “no real long term value”.
2.3 Theories on corporate identity
Theories on corporate identity will be analyzed in order to find out what improvements and what steps Cultural Connectors can undertake in order to form one for themselves.
Russell Abratt Nicola Kleyn (2012) argues that the first stage in setting up a corporate identity is defining its mission, vision and strategic intent. As well as, creating a platform to define the core values of the company and to set up a suitable corporate culture. The second stage in forming a corporate identity is the establishment of the organizations corporate expression. The author states that “corporate expression includes decisions about the organization’s visual identity, brand promise and brand personality, and how these will be communicated across stakeholders groups.” Corporate branding exists out of two components, formation of corporate by the organizations and the formation of a brand image through demonstrating the good brand experiences with other stakeholders. According to Huang-Horowitz (2014) an identity needs to be established which can be constantly communicated internally as well as externally. The first step in communicating corporate identity is forming an identity that is understood and agreed upon with every employee in the company. It is therefore important that small companies have one single coherent message which they can communicate its identity correctly to external audiences. Huang- Horowitz (2014) holds that “the identity of the company starts with the people; it is all about the people.” A profitable reputation in small businesses can be build by accomplishing three objectives: upholding transparency, acquiring legitimacy, and achieving credibility. Furthermore, the author says that reputation and identity are inseparable, it is hard to examine one if you do not take in account the other.
2.4 Theories on customer relationship management (CRM)
Within the research area of customer relationship management we will focus on the development of a database, its appropriate channels and its subsequent advantages which can be used to generate customer relationships for Cultural Connectors in order to reach potential clients in an effective and targeted manner. The process circle of CRM contains several steps according to Swift’s model (as cited in Feizbakhsh Tavana, Fili, Tohidy, Vaghari, & Kakouie, 2013). As he states in the first step “knowledge discovery”, which is the analysis of the characteristics of customers as well as portfolio strategies and is conducted by identification, classification as well as prognosticating customers of the firm. In the second step he mentions the “interaction with customers” which is the implementation and customer relationship management by the use of pertinent information in due course plus supply of products via utilizing various interaction channels. As in the third step the “market planning” the development of strategic communications programs and plans take place including the defined way of allocation and the products that will be offered to precise clients. Last but not least in the fourth step “Analysis of refinements” in which the purpose of attraction and analysis of customer data through the communication that organizations has acquired by interactive paths (Swift, 2002). The CRM process is an ongoing process. In Figure 4 are steps shown on how to operate customers in CRM. (Appendix)
Research objective
The research objective is to give advice for Cultural Connectors on how to differentiate themselves in their competitive landscape and how to increase business opportunities in the educational sector in the Netherlands and Belgium by defining a competitive corporate identity and identifying relevant marketing strategies for the target group as well as finding potential clients in conjunction with the appropriate channels to reach them.
Research Framework
There are several steps that need to be taken in order to reach the research objectives, and these steps are illustrated in Figure 1. There are four main sections in this framework that are divided into four parts, the first part (A) is about the study of theories related to business opportunities, marketing strategy, corporate identity, and customer relationship management that help Cultural Connectors to grow their business as well as differentiate themselves among the competitors. An advice for Cultural Connectors can be formulated by referring to the theories. The conceptual model and the research objects as the second part (B) are derived from the theories. The conceptual model will be further elaborated in the next section. In terms of research objects, Cultural Connectors’ potential clients both in the Netherlands and Belgium will give more information about the intended cultural training program, while Cultural Connectors’ employees will provide more information and insights regarding the corporate identity and specific ways to communicate their service both internally and externally. The third part (C) contains results which will be obtained by collecting the data through desk research, interviews, and a survey, besides, Intercultural Professionals team will analyze the data once the data has been obtained. Finally, an advice for Cultural Connectors as the final part (D) will be formulated.
Figure 1: Research framework
Conceptual model
In Figure 2, our team illustrated the conceptual model which derived from the research areas including the theories. Corporate image, Unique Selling Proposition (USP), network management, adequacy of communication channels, and appropriateness of the marketing strategies as the independent variables that affect the cooperation between Cultural Connectors and its target groups (dependent variable). The independent variables influence the cooperation between Cultural Connectors and its target groups. First of all, a good corporate image will build trust to potential target groups, secondly, the unique services provided by Cultural Connectors will attract potential target groups to buy the service, thirdly, good practices of network management will build stronger relations between Cultural Connectors and its target groups (both potential and existing one) . The last one, adequacy of communication channels and appropriateness of the marketing strategies will reach more potential clients.
Figure 2: Conceptual model
Research Questions and Research Strategy
Research Questions
International business opportunities
Central question:
How does Cultural Connectors identify and create business opportunities?
Sub questions:
- Whom should be reached and contacted from the Universities?
- What information from the client is relevant to establish a relationship with the potential clients?
First of all, desk research will be used in order to find more relevant theories on business opportunities towards the educational sector and to find information on significant information which is necessary to take in account prior to establishing a relationship. Furthermore, in depth interviews will be conducted to discover what person should be contacted and targeted in the educational sector.
Differentiation marketing strategy
Central question:
How can the marketing strategy of Cultural Connectors engage the potential target groups?
Sub questions:
- What kind of marketing strategies will differentiate Cultural Connectors from their competitive landscape?
- In what way Cultural Connectors could build a better online presence?
A survey will be conducted to find out how to engage the potential target groups, as well as to find out what platforms are most relevant to build an online presence. Also, desk research will be done to discover what differentiation strategies are most appropriate.
Corporate identity
Central question:
How can Cultural Connectors improve their corporate identity?
Sub questions:
- How can Cultural Connectors’ employees contribute internally to a consistent corporate identity?
- What measures can be used and improved to have a good brand image? And are the current media in line with their desired corporate identity.
In depth interviews will be undertaken with Cultural Connector’s employees to point out what could be improved internally to have a coherent corporate identity. Also, desk research will be done to find out more about reputation management. A survey will be undertaken to discover how they can improve on their brand image.
Customers Relationship Management (CRM)
Central question:
How can Cultural Connectors create a useful database of potential clients including the appropriate channels?
Sub questions:
- What steps are needed to be taken into account while creating a database?
- What are appropriate channels to reach them?
- How to implement the database successfully?
- What steps to undertake after the service?
In this section, desk research will be the main method of research to discover how to implement a database successfully and what steps to undertake after the service. Interviews to potential clients will be done to find out what channels are most relevant to reach them and how Cultural connectors can maintain a relationship after the service.
Research Strategy & Research methodology
Primary and secondary data will be collected and further on analyzed in order to determine how Cultural Connectors can differentiate themselves towards their competitors as well as to identify marketing strategies for the target group and potential clients including appropriate channels. The results will be obtained by applying a deductive research method by using already existing theories. The two parts in which this methodology consists of are primarily and secondary data collection. Afterwards the data will be complied and analyzed. Furthermore quantitative data, such as interviews and qualitative data, such as questionnaires, will be conducted for the purpose of gathering a deeper insight of the differentiation of Cultural Connectors towards its competitors and to identify potential clients including appropriate channels to reach them.
For the purposes of this research, the hereinafter named research tools will be used in order to guarantee commodity data collection:
Desk research:
The desk research technique contains research of already existing data. This is useful in order to gain knowledge about business opportunities in the educational sector, discover differentiation strategies, reputation management and on how to implement a database. In order to receive such information external desk research, to specify, online desk research will take place. Next to that internal desk research will take place which implies internal research within the organization of Cultural Connectors.
Survey:
This research tool can be divided into sub categories: questionnaire and interview.
The questionnaire will be used in order to discover how to engage potential target groups as well as through what platform they are most likely to be reached. In addition to discover how Cultural Connectors brand image can be improved.
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