Marketing analysis is most often perceived as a necessity for a commercial business, which allows companies to promote new solutions and products. However, organizations such as universities can also use marketing analysis to attract students and maintain their status. For this reason, this post will analyze one of the most prestigious universities of the Ivy League, Harvard, and suggest options for developing its marketing strategy.
The Harvard SWOT analysis demonstrates that the university has more strengths than weaknesses. Among the strengths are the prestige and high rating of the university, a significant teaching staff, which makes it possible to devote individual time to students. The university also has a broad academic resource base, a variety of student life opportunities, and participates in national research projects (“About Harvard,” n.d). In addition, despite the high tuition fees, Harvard provides scholarships that fully or partially cover the costs (” Tuition & costs,” n.d.; “Scholarships,” n.d.). Thus, Harvard has many advantages that ensure its prestigious status and reputation.
However, Harvard’s weakness is lack of diversity and accusations of racial insensitivity. For example, Thorne (2018) wrote about cases of microaggression in classrooms despite Harvard’s inclusion and diversity policies. In 2019, a group of students filed a lawsuit against the university for lowering the “personal ratings” of Asian Americans compared to White candidates that are a part of the admission requirements (Gerstmann, 2019).
Competition is a threat to Harvard, as it is one of eight Ivy League universities with the same competitive advantages. In addition, other universities that are not in the League, such as Standford, are also strong competitors with high rankings. Building on the weakness of Harvard, the main opportunity is to improve the representation of students of different ethnicities, races, and genders at the university and to adapt the curriculum to avoid microaggression. In addition, promoting the university as racially diverse and concerned about equality will improve its image.
Therefore, Harvard’s primary goals should be aimed at achieving this opportunity. This process could include such objectives as increasing the representation of students of color by 10% and increasing the number of scholarships for students in need of financial support by 10% by 2025. In addition, the goal should be 100% training for university staff to avoid incidents of racial and gender microaggression, unintentional and willful stereotyping, and bias.
Thus, the SWOT analysis demonstrates that Harvard has a product that is relevant to the audience, but with high competition in the market, the university needs to make it more accessible to different categories of the population. In this case, the marketing strategy should focus on the current market and keep the price, as Harvard is in high demand, but expand the availability of the product to minorities. This approach, combined with the promotion of diversity, will attract students with the best academic performance who can afford tuition and who need a scholarship. The formation of a diverse culture contributes to higher demand, as students will be able to feel protected. Consequently, the university will retain its prestigious status and interest from a wide segment of the audience.
Reference List
About Harvard (no date). Web.
Gerstmann, E. (2019) ‘Why the Asian American students lost their case against Harvard (but should have won)’, Forbes. Web.
Scholarships, fellowships, & grants (no date). Web.
Thorne, G. (2018) ‘For students of color, Ivy League schools have a long way to go’, The Nation. Web.
Tuition & costs (no date). Web.