Using business marketing strategies in higher education: a case study

Abstract

This research studies and documents the effect of applying business marketing strategies to a small vocational program at a public community college in California. The intent of applying the business marketing strategies is to promote the growth of the program in the areas of: Student Enrollment, Number of Classes Offered, and Number of Degrees and Certificates Awarded. The aim of this research is to provide evidence to support the notion that promoting a vocational program in a public academic institution, using business marketing strategies would indeed produce favorable results as is it commonly does in the case of a commercial business that markets itself.

The Hospitality & Restaurant Management (HRM) program at Mt. San Antonio College was the subject of this research. As a case-study, the HRM program was studied for a period spanning six years from 2000 to 2006 using a quantitative research methodology. A comparison was conducted to analyze the performance of the HRM program in terms of student enrollment, classes offered, degrees and certificates awarded for two periods. The first period (2000 to 2003) reflects a time when the HRM program did not actively employ any marketing strategies to promote itself. The second period (2003 to 2006) covers a period when several marketing strategies were employed.