Competitors to OSL

The completition Moole Rooms, see in this screen capture from their main website they have a Resource Center with Newsroom of published articles, resources link which has the following video which I will include herein which really works to link the product to a high Involvemnt Issue (education in the united states!)








Then case studies are great because they provide all the steps in the buying process as seen my another school, similar to the types of schools they wish to attract. The demo link is an essential component to the marketing process expecially given the product.

Marketing-The Ten Day MBA

The following post is in reflection on chapter 1 Marketing in the book The Ten Day MBA. Author Steven Silbiger provides focus on the following Marketing Topics;

• 7 Steps of Marketing Stategy Development
• The Buying Process
• Segmentation
• Product Life Cycle
• Perceptual Mapping
• Margins
• The Marketing Mix and the 4 P's Product, Place, Promotion, Price
• Positioning
• Distribution Channels
• Advertising
• Promotions
• Pricing
• Marketing Economics

The Marketing process is circular and learning the parts of the process was very helpful and knowing that the process order is not set. In the marketing process there will be much revision and changes, similar to a mobile when one aspect changes the others need to change to create balance and what the author calls "internally consistent and mutally supportive of the objectives."

The three to six areas that I would use and incorporate into my marketing planning for the Open System Lab project will be highlighted through examples of using the 7 Step Process

1. Consumer Analysis

• What is the current need; bridging the digital divide, access to content, flexility, technology tools for educators, organized course content/consistency.
• Who is buying? School administrators, Technology Directors, and Teachers
• Who is using the product? Teachers, administration, students and community
• High or Low Involvement Product? I would say the cost makes it a low involment when compared to other costs, however, it is a high involvment in that there is a commitment and follow through required for the long term sucess of the investment. I would like to try to keep this at the High Involvement in making it a critial tool for educational institutions of the future. I would like to do this by linking our product to a high-involvement issues (pg. 11) such as the current budget cuts to education. Open System Lab solutions will provide a platform for institutions to build in a revenue stream in for profit online course offerings and/or staying competitive in the changing landscape of education in which you will have the digital edge to stay competitive.
• Segment the Market- the education market is huge. The segment of the market the OSL will target will be instititions with 500-2000 students, in Monterey, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara Counties. Focus on k-12, College and University markets, public and private.
• Who is buying the product? Technology Directors, Technologist, Distance Education Directors and Administrators.
• The buying Process? Awareness-Information Search, Evaluate Alternatives, Purchase, Evaluate. This is GREAT. I need to note that attending TradeShows and presenting will include all the buying process in one location. The purchaser for the school can attend a conference with information on open source online course solutions (example; Moodle Moot), see the competitors, demo the products, evaluate alternatives and purchase.
  

• Attending seminars on technology in education, technology trade shows and response to advertising. There is a list of current events in the area to attend in which OSL can be showcased; Common Ground-school consortium in bay area, Moodle Moot conference and others.

I want to incorporate the use of the Consumer Behavior Matrix with OSL to help me evaluate buyer behavior.


2. Market Analysis

From this section I want to focus on the

Key Competitive Factors within the industry?

• Quality-Moodle industry standard in open source course management solutions
  
• Price-competitive and attractive solution and alternative to high cost proprientary systems
  
• Advertising-Tradeshows, brochure, business cards, flyers, posters, pens? (think of something cool for tradeshow giveaways)
  
• Research and Development-Focus on open source developments
  
• Service-OSL to provide the best service in the industry for the price and market segment

3. Ananlysis of Your Company Versus the Competition

I will use the SWOT Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for OSL. I am going to go to Moodle Moot and will focus on the learning about the competition and collecting advertising materials. I will then create a Perceptual mapping of the course management solutions, including OSL.

continued on next post . . .

My Business Vision

My Business Vision

First of all Integrity, in actions, words and goals. I have a passion for unlocking opportunitiy for learners, through smart solutions.

OpenSystemLab provides services which at the bottomline is a low risk financial investment that directly and positively impacts the student educational experience, while providing tools, tracking and flexilility for the teacher. Through the opportunities provided by open source solutions, cutomers are no longer captive to the monopoly in the market, now schools/instituions/business with a student/client/customer base in our market range have options when providing hybrid and fully online courses through an open source learning management system. The open source market has provided solutions that are cost effective and free, we are in a new paradigm in education that is exciting and promising.

I am looking forward to utilizing this MBA program to develop key competencies, skills, stategies and methods that will provide a solid foundation for my career as the Marketing Director for OpenSystemLab and will serve me for putting feet to all my ideas and dreams!

My Weekly Study Planning

My weekly study planning time will be as follows;

Thursday:  Review new weeks work and print out lecture or support materials to read. 1 hour

Friday:  Read the chapter and review the assignments for the week.  1 hour

Saturday:  Read the chapter and make notes  1 hour*

Sunday:  Work time dedicated to my business dream. 1 hour.

Monday:  Evening Study and research.  1 hour*

Tuesday: Project work and assignment work for the week. 2 hours

Wednesday: Catchup on anything. 1 hour.

*these are not essential but built into my schedule to accommodate changes and give flexibility.

Total hours dedicated to study a week will be between 6-8 hours.

CALMAT MBA Face to Face Meeting in Silicon Valley

The first meeting for the CALMAT MBA was held in Cupertino.  I was given the paperwork and the book upon arrival and greeted by Catherine.  The professor Dr. Tao introduced the course and handed out the syllabus for review.  We then went through the what Dr. Tao calls the spiral strategies, in which the full cycle of the course is introduced during the first meeting and then it is re-exposed to the students again again through out the course.   Looking forward to following the spiral model and enjoyed getting a solid foundation and outline for Foundations of Business Management.