Towards enhancing effectiveness of marketing activities of epro education product distribution and development company limited

TOWARDS ENHANCING EFFECTIVENESS OF MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF EPRO EDUCATION PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED Author: Supervisors: Nguyen Thi Lan Dr.Tran Thi Bich Hanh Ha Noi, June 2018 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr Tran Thi Bich Hanh, Vietnam National University for her full support of this project I would like to extend my gratitude to Ms Nguyen Thi Thuy Ha – Deputy of director and Mr Pham Ba Viet, my manager of Epro education product distribution and Development Company limited who assisted the team during the survey I also thank the respondents of the companies, individuals for their participation in and meaningful contribution to the survey I would like to acknowledge special thanks to all people, named or unnamed, for their support us in many ways Without their knowledgeable support, I can’t figure out our issues and complete this research Lastly, I acknowledge the sole responsibility for any errors of commission and omission, as well as any mistakes that this report might have My sincerely, Lan CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 2.1 Some basic theory concepts 2.1.1 Concept of Marketing 2.1.2 Educational products and consumer characteristics of educational products on the market 2.1.2.1 The educational product: 2.1.2.2 Features produce and consume technological educational products 10 2.2 The basic content of marketing activities in business enterprises technological education products 10 2.3 Factors affecting marketing activities of enterprises trading technology education products 18 2.3.1 Objective factors 18 2.3.2 Subjective factors 19 CHAPTER 3: ACTUAL MARKETING ACTVITIES OF EPRO EDUCATION PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED 21 3.1 Overview about Epro education product distribution and Development Company limited 21 3.2 Business Performance of Epro Company 23 3.2.1 Financial analysis 23 3.2.2 Analysis SWOT in company 26 3.3 Current status of marketing activities of Epro education product distribution and Development Company limited 28 3.3.1 Current status of market research 28 3.3.2 Situation of target markets and market products 30 3.3.3 Current situation of making marketing plan 32 3.3.4 Current status of implementing the marketing strategy of Epro company 33 3.3.4.1 Strategies for customer 33 3.3.4.2 Product strategies 35 3.3.4.3 Strategy of discounting for products 36 3.3.4.4 Strategy for distribution 37 3.3.4.5 Strategies of promotion 38 3.3.4.6 Communication policy to promote services 39 3.4 General comments on marketing activities of Epro education product distribution and development company limited 40 CHAPTER 4: OPTIMIZATION SOLUTIONS FOR MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF EPRO EDUCATION PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED 44 4.1 The trend to develop business and requirements to improve the quality of marketing activities of Epro education product distribution and development company limited 44 4.1.1 Orientation of business development of the Epro education product distribution and development company limited 44 4.1.2 Demand to improve the quality of business activities of the Epro education product distribution and development company limited 45 4.2 Viewpoints completing marketing activities of Epro education product distribution and development company limited 46 4.3 Solutions to improve the quality of marketing activities of Epro Company 48 4.3.1 Strategy to promote product 48 4.3.3 Diversify, improve the quality of service 50 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 52 APPENDICES 54 LIST OF TABLES Model 2.1 Key steps in segmentation, identification and position market 11 Model 2.2: Marketing decisions at strategic levels 13 Model 2.3: Marketing-mix and target market 15 Table 2.1: Criteria for selecting technology education products 16 Table 3.1: The performance of business of Epro in 2017 24 Table 3.2: Sales of products in 2017 25 Chart 3.1: The chart of group of customer for market share 25 Model 3.1: Marketing strategy of Ansoff 32 Table 3.3: Revenue, market share of major product groups of the Company in 2017 35 Table 3.4: Marketing activities to support for distribution channels 37 Table 3.5: Advertising costs on the channels 40 Table 3.6: The total cost of product for Marketing activities 42 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Research background In the context of current economy, education in Vietnam has experienced many strong changes and adapted more demand about learning of everyone In the past, the educational system of our country is not fully equipped with tools to serve teaching, which led to that student didn’t have opportunity to touch new knowledge, understand deeply lessons of teacher So, education in our country has a lot of limits Now, our country has many changes Ministry of educational has many policies to upgrade educational effectiveness by using products as tools to serve for teaching The variation of economy demands many humans who have level and experience to work Education is given more attention to train many humans well so as to adapt to current economy Now, there are many businesses for educational products The changes about structure in educational business field increase when Vietnam took part in WTO It created opportunity for many companies in their business To succeed in the market, companies have to invest on technology, upgrade product quality and marketing knowledge to stand stable Epro education product distribution and development company limited is a dependent company of Egroup Egroup was established in 2008 Now, Egroup is the leading corporation in the field of online education in Vietnam Mission of Epro company is provide advanced technology education products, ceaseless innovation, promote in a comprehensive way, build trust for customers and partners Now, Epro is distributing main products line such as: Touch English!, E-Robot Coding, Chinh phuc vu mon, Hoc cung thu khoa and E-Smart English Epro tends to be the first company in distributing technology education product of customer The technology education product is a kind of special goods, it supports student in studying, and making experiment, from that develop the ability to think about the world Trading in technology education product is the connection between commercial elements and service to meet the needs of teaching and it is suitable for this time Marketing activities for educational products have some features which are different from marketing activities for normal goods The target of marketing for educational products, besides economic value, is to educate children, help children become global citizens in the future Epro company is going on that way with distributing many products, especially English and Coding to move in preschool school, help children initially familiar with English and programming Along with that, the company also distributes in primary schools, secondary schools and high schools by organizing many matches…Despite being a new company with the hesitation of budget and marketing activities, Epro company is going on a right way, making a foundation in developing the company To take maximum profits, create competitive advantage and safety in business, companies need to apply Marketing policies in each case, from that create the most competitive advantage for business Applying and developing marketing policies for the current stage in enterprises are relatively flexible and adapt to the characteristics of the market through different stages Therefore, the present research focuses on enhancing effectiveness of marketing activities of Epro Educational Purposes of research The research aims at investigating the existing marketing activities in Epro Company It based on which to identify weakness and to suggest useful implications for the company to improve effectiveness of making activities of the company Specifically, the research has three main purposes: - - - To systematize the basic of marketing theory about technological education products, study and determine the basic contents of marketing activities of enterprises dealing in educational products in the current market mechanism Analyze and evaluate trend and dynamics of marketing activities in business of technology education products that enterprises have achieved From that, identifying the successes, limitations; find the main cause with this activity to overcome Proposing practical and specific solutions to improve marketing activities of enterprises dealing in technology products, contributing to improve management efficiency and maximizing profits in the company Scope of research Because company has been founded for one year, its number of customers is still limited The customers of the company include both business to business customers and business to customer (B-to-C) customers Due to time and budget constraints, this research only just focus on researching about final customers, the customers involved in this research are people who are using products of this company Structure of the thesis The thesis is structured in 5chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Fundamental Theoretical Problems of Marketing Activities of Educational Technology Enterprises Chapter 3: Current situation of marketing activities of Epro education product distribution and Development Company limited Chapter 4: Solutions to improve the quality of marketing activities of Epro education product distribution and Development Company limited Chapter 5: Conclusion CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISES TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATION EQUIPMENT 2.1 Some basic theory concepts 2.1.1 Concept of Marketing Marketing is defined as “the process of performing activities that achieve a unit's objectives by anticipating the needs of consumers in order to control the flow of goods and services that meet the needs of the organization “Manufacturers to consumers.” (E.McCarthy &Nguyen Xuan Quang, 2007) "Marketing is the process of working with the market to conduct exchanges, to satisfy the needs and wants of people Understandably, marketing is a form of human activity (including organization) to satisfy the needs and wants through the exchange (Prof Dr Tran Minh Dao, 2010) Marketing can also be seen as the process by which every individuals or groups achieve what they need and want through the creation, donation, and exchange of free goods and services “Marketing Management”(- Kotler, 2002) As defined for managers, marketing is like "selling art," but surprisingly, the most important element of marketing is not actually selling the product "But the purpose of marketing is to know and understand customer so well that the product or service is the most appropriate for that person, and that it will sell," said Peter Drucker, a leading management theorist Ideally, marketing should be the result of a willingness to shop, so the formation of a new product or service becomes necessary to create them Marketing Activity: A term, defined in different ways in each organization We define marketing activities as a principle of history, technology, guidance and language that promotes values in managing the functional activities of marketing, making marketing the medium This is considered as the heart of all benefits and is important in business activity The purpose of marketing activities is to perform two tasks effectively: The first task involves achieving organizational goals by reinforcing and marketing strategies, tactics with an appropriate organizational structure that fosters and promotes growth of company in the next time The second task involves creating an educational environment in the organization, a highly collaborative environment inside and outside the marketing department This allows people to appreciate the value of marketing in a more positive way and encourage boldness in their work (Gary M.Katz - collectibles and translation from marketingprofs.com) It can be said that marketing for technological educational products is a form of activities to satisfy the needs and expectations through the exchange between selling and buying product, and mission of selling person is to sell products to customers who have demand about educational product It is generally assumed that marketing is the seller's business, but fully understand that both the buyer and the seller have to marketing 2.1.2 Educational products and consumer characteristics of educational products on the market 2.1.2.1.The educational product: According to the opinion of Professor Pham Minh Hac, former of Minister of Education showed the great role of technology education product for teacher that: “ The product of technology education product serve for teaching in the future of a nation So it is not allowed to make waste products” The technology education product is a kind of service which specifically benefits for customer such as students, teachers to serve for the needs of teaching, providing knowledgeable system to learn effectively Marketing for technology education product is understood to satisfy with the need of community or customer, who work in education or care about education, the school’s provision of educational services to the community Objectives to create competitive advantage: expressed in the market share index, the market of enterprises In marketing technology education products, this goal is expressed by the response to teachers, educational institutions, schools to create a competitive advantage, better product quality, provide product timely and distribution channels Here is a summary of the most basic concepts in marketing technology education products to create a premise for the development of enterprises in technology education products So it has to make sure some criteria below: Business security: By applying marketing policies in business, businesses will analyze, predict market fluctuations, identify business opportunities, and propose measures Coping with the uncertainties and minimizing the consequences of business risks In marketing for technological educational products, this goal requires the company to study the safety and rationality of using educational products in the curriculum to support students' knowledge, is a tool for teachers in the process of communication This will help improve the brand, status and long-term prestige of the company Any marketing strategy must evaluate all about the impact environment Key elements of the macro environment in here include: Demographic environment: (population explosion, age and ethnic composition, educational level, displacement, movement from a mass markets to micro markets) Economic environment: (distribution of income, savings, debt and ability to borrow) Natural environment: (energy shortages, energy costs, pollution levels, change in the role of governments in environmental protection) Technology environment: (accelerated change of technology, innovation opportunities, and changes in research and development budgets, changes in technology regulations) Political environment: (laws regulating business, development of public protection groups) Cultural environment (core cultural values, cultural branches, secondary cultural values change over time) The microeconomic environment of companies dealing with educational products includes those who directly affect the ability to meet customer needs including: manufacturers - suppliers, business enterprises themselves, competitors, marketing intermediaries, customers and the public 2.1.2.2 Features produce and consume technological educational products Technological educational products are special kind of goods that play an important role in the teaching and transferring of teachers' knowledge to students Education products that are both commercially available are also a powerful tool in teaching and consolidating knowledge for students after hours in school As a tool for the educational industry, from production until delivery to teach, it must meet strict standards and conditions From the characteristics of the product, the market of this product is very different from other types of consumer products Enduser consumers, end-users of the product are those who are interested in the trend of education now, the desire for children to acquire new knowledge in accordance with the needs of the times 2.2 The basic content of marketing activities in business enterprises technological education products  Research market Every business has its own marketing orientation and is constantly looking for ways to research marketing to design systematically, analyze and report information and find related to a specific situation about marketing for that business This work can be possibly done following occasionally or regularly Some successful businesses are those that can best evaluate and respond to changes trends and needs in market In the field of business about technological educational products, with the characteristics of this industry, the process of research marketing must have accurately and timely data and information and they have to relate to the operation of the business + Changes in the macro environment related to the products and services provided by the enterprise Demand and use behavior of products and services of target groups + Competitive dynamics of competitors in the market 10 4.1.2 Demand to improve the quality of business activities of the Epro education product distribution and development company limited By segmenting the target segment by size, by region and by location, the Company needs professional marketing in market research to analyze and understand the characteristics of demand of each target customer segment For the product segment serving the preschools, the development and improvement of the English language and specific programming Technology education for high school and junior high school students must have innovative and innovative teaching methods to attract students to buy school cards as well as participate in regular online classes The company should have regulations and mechanisms to monitor the implementation of sales marketing programs to review the appropriate adjustment A good performance assessment of the marketing activity helps the company measure the value of the benefits received, assess the customer response, to get a comparison with the cost of the investment The marketing program then evaluates the cost effectiveness and plans for the next marketing promotion program Some requirements that the company needs to implement such as: + Operating Profit Ratio = Profit margin increased due to operating expenses / total cost of sales This indicator reflects how much profit is earned from a sale + Conduct customer surveys; gather feedback from customers before and after marketing activities to assess the effect of marketing activities At present, the company is decentralizing its management by region and region, but it is also interlaced vertically, the head office in Hanoi is responsible for covering and supporting other offices in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City Therefore, the monitoring and control mechanism of common activities is not difficult if the person in charge of the activity does not have much opportunity to contact the local market to be able to honestly evaluate the activities motion However, the company must also set up appropriate management mechanisms, representatives of each region will have personnel responsible for information, implementation of marketing activities and implementation of monitoring, inspecting the performance of duties of subordinate employees, regularly summarizing information and reporting on head office in Hanoi in order to increase working tools, responsibilities and interests of chief representatives The area for maneuverability and self-efficacy in work The company needs to regularly update and monitor the volatility of indicators such as sales volume, number of products sold, feedback from customers to evaluate objectively and compare between two points before and after the implementation of marketing activities However, the diseases also depend on the season, so it is necessary to consider the season and time to assess the real and objective Evaluations of the efficacy of marketing therapy should be monitored over time, as the effects of short-term and dependency-based interactions of products 45 are significant It is important to monitor the market and to draw experience for future marketing activities 4.2 Viewpoints completing marketing activities of Epro education product distribution and development company limited The company aims to achieve the goal of existing products of the Epro company, develop successfully new products with high difference in features, quality of medicine services in the field of education, towards the customer segment Income and need to care, investment to the quality of education of children, specific perspectives are: Continuing to develop the market for increasing revenue, profits, market share in the market of technology education products is still low; the equipment for traditional education has been too fierce competition about price and cost of extraction and upcoming saturation point Strengthening consolidation and enhancing its position, reputation and image in the market of providing educational technology products in Vietnam because at present, the products of Epro company in English, Programming and e-learning support software have a dominant advantage (distinct) and no direct competitors (in terms of image, content of courses, quality of teaching of teachers in system) Therefore, the company's products are still widely spread in the country Avoid confronting direct competitors in the context of direct competitors who are more powerful than themselves in the market for traditional educational technology products In addition, the development of new products in accordance with the education of the time, helping children with technological know-how to catch the trend Bringing opportunities to new demands, high demand for customers to pioneer and establishing a leading edge in deploying new technology education offerings Minimize duplication, copy the product of the competition by the uniqueness of the product and the quality of customer service excel Arrange personnel to the Marketing-business department to act as the focal point, planning and promoting the completion of product development, research and developing new educational technology products of functional departments Bringing specific tasks and objectives for research and development of new technology education products in each target group and business plan 2018 This is a compulsory assessment criterion in the assessment Work results The Marketing Department brings together new product ideas from functional departments, from staff throughout the system (through launching new product innovations within the company) and even from customers, competitors, and macroeconomic changes This demonstrates the motivation of every staff member to come up with an idea for a new product to meet the need to improve the quality of education 46 In the coming time, it should expand and occupy the enterprise development market nationwide, concentrating on key development investment in potential areas Specifically, for big cities and provinces, potential areas such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, Dong Nai should focus on The product line is designed for young children like English and programmed by Robot Albert Potential market areas are also subject to intense competition Therefore, it is necessary to have a policy of development and reasonable investment First of all, it is necessary to evaluate the potential of the area to determine the policy of developing the focus and building business activities in each area according to specific characteristics in order to develop business plans for each specific product Focusing on investment costs to develop a weak business to dominate the market before competition On that basis, we step by step expand our customer service network through the channels of customers and agents In addition to developing and expanding the domestic market, it is necessary to expand the scope of its activities to the international markets of Southeast Asia (Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar) as the domestic market is increasingly competitive and increasingly is shared for many business technology education products to develop long-term business needs to expand overseas In order to develop overseas activities, it is necessary to work with other companies or associations to develop education for children in order to understand the activity and market of products for higher education Initially, it is possible to set up a representative office to act as a focal point, to understand the legal environment and business in that country When favorable conditions, promote the joint venture partners to establish branches in that market First of all, it is necessary to focus on researching opportunities for market development and investment in Southeast Asian countries At present, Southeast Asian countries are developing countries Apart from Singapore, which invested in education many years ago, other countries have not paid much attention to education, so they have not invested in equipment to help them learn effectively In order to develop the distribution channel, it is necessary to reduce the proportion of revenue from the direct distribution system Direct distribution channels focus on development of spearhead, complex products, large turnover, and high technical requirements Select qualified managers who are qualified The company must determine the development of agents as a strategic solution, from methods, methods of recruitment, agent development, policy, measures to maintain the number, improve agent quality At present, the distribution system should be built in the direction of combining direct channels with indirect channels, covering the areas, deepening the exploitation of 47 residential areas and private enterprises, plan to develop and improve the quantity as well as agent quality In addition, it should expand relations with companies that import technology education products such as SK Group and Chungdahm group of Korea specializing in programming science and English products for children to exploit foreign customers, complex services Ecommerce Development: Ecommerce is the least cost-effective way to distribute advertising information about a company and its products to people in different locations, places, and times, low cost To develop this channel, in the immediate future we should build a website that is easy to use, attractive, easy to find, easy to access, simple words, close words, easy to understand so that customers can find, understand easily If they have a real need, they can make a phone call to ask for a direct purchase, use advice and delivery 4.3 Solutions to improve the quality of marketing activities of Epro Company 4.3.1 Strategy to promote product Today, technological educational products need a combination of visual and audio to engage learners At present, Epro's products are available in many provinces and cities, including remote areas where students have no condition to touch technology It is necessary to find suitable policies to characteristics of Marketing in order to ensure the efficiency of business First of all, the company should conduct more a communication and advertising activities for current products 36% of respondents said that Epro did not have many promotions to encourage customers to use the service From the analysis above, Epro's promotion has not been effective There are a number of events held sporadically in a number of media activities on newspapers, radio, banners, Egroup Education Group assigns sales targets and approves the general strategic directions for Epro, but when implementing, the company sets goals and plans in line with the budget of the corporation to ensure effective promotion activities With the results of the questionnaire survey, the author proposed some solutions as follows: Promote media programs on VOV1, VOV2 because it is a channel that attracts viewers In the current informational technology, the promotion of image of product on the radio will attract a lot of customers Promote the form of word of mouth because this is still a communication channel to create a large confidence of customers However, the company needs to ensure the quality of services, the quality of supply, understand customers not only convince the internal customer in the company, customers are using products of Epro and a large number of potential customers: friends, colleagues, relatives of the three customers In addition, PR activities need to be carried out in order to create images, impress as well as reliance on products Specifically, use the tools of press, television, organize events to take conferences of customer and convey information of products and services, listen to the feedback 48 directly from customers to make modifications, timely supplement However, when carrying out this activity, enterprises should conduct regular PR activities with specific plans to maximize the efficiency of this activity Speeding up the process of sending SMS and MMS messages to current customers and potential customers will greatly assistant tool in traditional marketing Understanding mobile phone users will be a significant advantage in the promotion of service products as this medium is gradually asserting its role as the primary information channel Now mobile technology is improving, the forms of media will direct people into engaging interactive forms Consumers are becoming more and more difficult, so instead of directly sending content to each customer, the company needs to research and understand what they want and need for customers in the mobile world before sending service messages to them 4.3.2 Build human resource policy - Build qualified human resource: The human element is the core and always needs to be considered and placed in the center In a competitive market such as the pharmaceutical market, the human factor is very important, personal sales, direct marketing are always useful tools in which the human factor is the factor main In order to have professionalism, in addition to the continuous effort of the company itself in building corporate culture, creating a civilized working environment, in the process of recruiting personnel is very important, personnel department It is necessary to have a vision of human resources strategy in order to select and recruit qualified personnel to meet the needs of work as well as professional in product development In addition, policies and regular training of personnel also contribute to the personal development and professional skills of personnel This is an important factor affecting the quality of work of the people in the company, which will affect the general work not only marketing activities - Build training courses for personnel: Every quarter, every year, the company has professional training programs on soft skills for all employees in the company in general and for the department The focus of marketing training has not been paid much attention, especially for the marketing department Although the department is currently responsible for sales, marketing and other sales promotion activities But the company does not support many training programs, experience, experience in marketing in general and promotion in particular So another condition that needs to be addressed is the training and experience opportunities for the relevant marketing department to get to work - Promote internal communication: Each employee in the company is the "internal customer" who needs care As a business with no strong financial strength, the Company needs to focus on conducting internal marketing activities targeted at this internal customer Staff is the people who understand the service they create and have the desire to promote and develop services; in addition they will be the most accurate propagator of the services of the company that customers trust Therefore, the Company's management needs to inform its employees so that they can 49 understand the activities and services, the forthcoming services through outlook These are effective means of communication within the enterprise today Continuous updating of information will enable marketing activities to be conducted on a large scale by all employees, customers and partners, not limited to a number of functional departments A team of staff who are well-equipped and well-trained to work for Epro can increase productivity, take initiative in building relationships to customers In order to care customers effectively, the team needs continuous professional training to provide information timely and accurately so that they can resolve obstacle situations quickly It is convenient for customers in the process of using the service Especially, manage customer data monthly, classify customers with sales revenue 4.3.3 Diversify, improve the quality of service Quality is the first key to develop service In the period of integration and development, customers are constantly raising awareness; they are more sophisticated, and have higher demand for products and services, especially technological education products Therefore, the service providers research and improve services to gain competitive advantage - New product differentiation: According to the leading experts in the field of business technology education products with other brands in the world, needs assessment, educational orientation in education Future 2020-2030 on the trend of education development of ministries and training institutions The concern of parents in the field of education of children to find the best teaching method for children - Finalization of funding regulations and policies: to allow staff members in the company who are specialized in the field of education to travel abroad, referring to learning models of developing countries - Build attractive learning program: To integrate, to accompany and to compete with other companies also operating in the field of educational products are present in Vietnam, in addition to providing attractive programs, highly interactive based on the strength of technology, Epro should build program is close to tradition of Vietnam culture, suitable for the developmental psychology of children On the basis of integrating modern technology, interacting with the general trend advanced education in the world, teachers and students will actively learn at anytime, anywhere The diversification of products should be accompanied by the improvement of the quality of existing products and services and future services will contribute to the brand becoming more popular In summary, here are some key solutions Marketing for products and services to promote the business of Epro in the coming time The solutions were selected and proposed on the basis of the analysis of the actual marketing activities at the company, clearly identifying the problems and 50 referring to the actual development experience in other companies Implementing the above solutions as well as removing the mentioned obstacles will help Epro to achieve the targets and plans assigned by Egroup to improve its competitive position in the market 51 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION Nowadays, businesses of technology education products have to face to volatile and risky business environment Therefore, to survive and develop, enterprises have to constantly strive to meet the needs of students, parents and teachers in English centers or in kindergartens by providing suitable products For business of technology education products, the consumption process is very important In order to ensure the consumption process, research and application of commercial and sale marketing is so significant It contributes to solve the problems of which product to choose – which market – how much The marketing activities help company increase sales and profits through the increased competitiveness and enhance the brand image of the company Epro education product distribution and development company limited is a company which takes part in trading of distributing technology teaching product in order to serve the needs of teachers, students and parents After a year of establishment, the company has made remarkable progress to meet the demand of customers Taking this success is due to creative dynamics of Board of Directors as well as employees of company who have had strategic sales activities in a year to have firm steps to overcome the challenges, difficulties, making the company gradually stand firmly in the domestic market Apart from these successes, the company has limited resources, human resources and especially fierce competition among companies trading in the same product group Marketing activities help the company solve the above problems with detailed marketing strategy and clear marketing plan for each stage Therefore, the solutions to improve marketing activities of the company is very important, that is the solution in building marketing strategy-mix, market research, product diversification in channels (digital marketing – direct sale and distribution sales), diversified forms of sales, product pricing and sales promotion The market of technology education equipment in Vietnam still has many untouched areas, there are many opportunities for business, and there is still a playground for those who have the capacity in vision to participate in the competition play In those games, knowing how to apply marketing to business activities is a very important weapon for the enterprise to show their bravery, creativity Due to the limited reference materials and research time constraints, this study has inevitable shortcomings Though the study’s findings partly reflect the situations of the education product companies, as a case study, the research’s findings cannot be generalized to other education product companies with different organizational characteristics and resources or education product companies in other contexts Future work is suggested to use more materials or other data collection methods like surveys to gain a more understanding about the situation of the company 52 LIST OF REFERENCES Vietnamese References (1) Andy Sernovitz (2012), Word of Mouth Marketing, Social Labor Publishing House (2) Assoc Truong Dinh Chien (2010), Marketing Curriculum - National Economics University Publishing House (3) Prof Trần Minh Đạo (2010), Basic Marketing, Publisher of National Economics University (5) Commercial Law of Vietnam (2005) (6) Phillip Kotler (2011), Marketing Movement, Young Publishers (7) Phillip Kotler (2011), Marketing, Young Publishers (8) Phillip Kotler (2009), Marketing Management, Social Labor Publishing House (9) Assoc Nguyen Xuan Quang (2007), Commercial Marketing Textbook, National Economics University Publishing House English References (1) Phillip Kotler (2002), Marketing Management, Chapter 15, PrenticeHall (2) PhillipKotler(2011), Marketing Management, Part 7,Prentice Hall (3) William Perreaul Jr, Jerome Mc.carthy (2009), Essentials of Marketing, Irwi Professional Pub (4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials (5) http://bssc.vn/da-cac-startup-khoi-nghiep-tren-nen-tang-cntt/ (6) http://www.nielsen.com/vn/vi/insights/2016/unlocking-millennials-vietnam.html (7) https://course.ccs.neu.edu/is4800sp12/resources/qualmethods.pdf (8) https://www.clearseasresearch.com/blog/quantitative-research/better-quant-through-qual- how-qualitative-research-improves-quantitative-research/ 53 APPENDICES Questionnaires To enhance the quality of products and services of company, adapt more demand of customer, I am making a survey for Marketing activities of company The result of this survey will be the base for me to complete graduation report So I hope you will answer these question Thank you Have you ever used products and services of Epro company? A Yes B No What product you use of Epro company? A Touch English B Hoc cung thu khoa C E-smart English D E-Robot Coding E Chinh phuc vu mon How long have you used products or services of Epro company? A month B months C months D year What means you know about product or services of Epro company? A Tivi, Radio B Pano, áp phích, băng rơn C Internet, báo chí D Bạn bè, người thân giới thiệu A B C D What reason you use products and services of Epro company? Good product, good services Strong brand Suitable price Advertisement is attractive The quality of products and services Excellent Very good Touch English! Hoc cung thu khoa Chinh phuc vu mon E-Smart English 54 Good Fairy Good Weak E-Robot Coding How you feel about the quality of products and services of Epro company Very satisfaction Satisfaction Touch English! E-Smart English E-Robot Coding Hoc cung thu khoa Chinh mon phuc vu How you feel about price of products or services? A Very expensive B Medium C Cheap D Very cheap Your gender? A Female B Male 10 Your age? A 18 – 24 B > 24 – 30 C > 30 – 40 D > 40 – 50 E > 50 11 Where you live? A Ha Noi B Da Nang C Tp HCM D Hai Phong E Others 55 Fairy satisfaction Not satisfaction Interview guide My research project describe by interviewing three objects who are using product of Epro company and board of director and staff in marketing department They will answer my question and give me their overview when using product of my company To board of director, they have a look at marketing activities Evidence I gather reflect real views because our questions elicit overly-helpful responses We have a collection of probes ready to use as needed We probe is a follow – up question, designed to get the interviewee to clarify or elaborate what he or she has just said On the other hand, we also make in-depth interview to ask them to speak specifically about issues of using products And of course, they help me come up with some ideas for this project Group discussion guide This guide is designed to provide customer with an overview of the steps required to conduct a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) including the resources required, and instructions about what customer with the information when customers have completed the FGDs We used a group to obtain in-depth information (qualitative data – insight) from a group of people about overview of products The purpose of a focus group is to collect information about people’s opinion, attitudes, perception and make a decision of customers And then we take notes what we heard, summary of key findings, significance for our study, important figures and tables, cited references to follow-up on, other comments Transcripts of the interviewees’ response A: Hi, I am Lan, is student of Marketing 6, I am asking about my project is marketing activities in Epro company Today, we are very happy to meet you and ask for your opinions on this problem 56 Know that you is one of the customers are using product of Epro company is Touch English! and E-Robot Coding, now I have some questions to ask you and hope to have your opinions for these products Can you please help me finish the interview? B: We are very ready A: Can you introduce a little about yourselves B: We are Thanh, Ha and Viet, is principal of Thang Long kid smart And this time, we cooperated with Epro company to bring Touch English! and E-Robot Coding in teaching for children in my school A: Currently, how many students are studying Touch English! and E-Robot Coding in your school? B: About 70% children register learn this English and coding A: How you feel about two product for the development of children? B: I think it is a good English product for children because it is near to culture of Vietnam In every lesson have detail part help children easily to learn new words by playing and interacting TV,… About learning coding for children when they are small, I think it is a good job and smart product because nowadays, with the development of technology, children are touch with coding early will develop thinking, logic, awareness,… A: Now, how many lesson children learn for these products every week? B: We are deploying two learning program days in a week, every lesson is 45 minutes A: Do you think it is less or many for children B: I think it is enough for children to approach English and code for children A: What about the teacher of this program? Is the teacher of Epro company or teacher in your kindergarten? B: The teacher is of Epro company They are so careful, enthusiastic and love children Every day, they come to my school and teach children learn English and code A: The rooms to teach English and code is individual or not? B: Of course, they are individual Because have many facilities to serve learning two program So have two room are designed by Epro company, they decorate rooms for our and every lesson, our teacher will take children into this room to learn A: How is teaching instrument? It is modern or old? 57 B: They are modern special Robot Albert for coding This robot is imported from Korea, so children like playing with Albert A: How you rate about two programs? B: Two programs is good It gives children an excitement to learn With English, besides learning new words, children learn songs, chants and poems At the end of semester, company cooperate with our school organize a minishow to report and evaluate consequence of learning in this time With E-Robot Coding, a child is approached to code easily, learn the way of moving robot Every lesson, children are interested and happy when playing with Albert A: Do you think days a week is more for children to learn? B: I don’t think so; I think it is suitable for children to learn a new program Children can remember lesson and learn naturally A: what is the weakness of these two programs? B: Now, I don’t see the weakness of these two programs I think learning English and coding is this stage is convenient stage give children to learn, it helps children more confident, increased communication, presentation… A: How you know about this program? B: A principal of Steame Garten kindergarten introduce to me And then, I sift internet to find out about Touch English! and E-Robot Coding And then I contact to staff of Epro company and sign contract, take program in teaching in my school A: If have condition, you want to enhance two program in your teaching system B: Because if learning this program, children have to take more tuition fee every month, so we have to persuade parent about this problem to enhance program A: Thanks for your sharing today about product also program in your school Hope your kindergarten continue develop in the next time B: Not at all, you are welcome 58 59 ... quality of marketing activities of Epro education product distribution and development company limited 4.1.1 Orientation of business development of the Epro education product distribution and development. .. situation of marketing activities of Epro education product distribution and Development Company limited Chapter 4: Solutions to improve the quality of marketing activities of Epro education product distribution. .. ACTUAL MARKETING ACTVITIES OF EPRO EDUCATION PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED 21 3.1 Overview about Epro education product distribution and Development Company limited