Expansion to Romania

Global Digital Business Academy Digital Marketing EMBA

Melissa Holt Stella Schour

Agenda

Romania: A Snapshot Geo-Political Climate Internet Penetration Gross Income, Expenditure & Disposable Income Consumer Access to Credit Cultural Barriers Educational Attainment Brand Awareness Strategy Recommendations

Image Credits: Carly Calhoun for the NYTimes, Education Ministry of Romania/romania-insider.com

Romania: A Snapshot
Major Urban City: BUCHAREST (capital) 1.933 million (pop-2009), also called as Paris of the East Population: 21,790,479. Eighth largest country in EU by area. Ethnic Groups: Romanian 89.5%, Hungarian 6.6%, Roma 2.5%, Ukrainian 0.3%, German 0.3%, Russian 0.2%, Turkish 0.2%, other 0.4% (2002 census) Languages: Romanian (official) 91%,Hungarian 6.7%, Romany (Gypsy) 1.1%, other 1.2% Literacy of Total Population: 97.3% Internet Users: 10,599,800 in 2013 Unemployment rate:
23.7% (40th in world)
Source: CIA Factbook, www.cia.gov; IFC/World Bank www.doingbusiness.org Image Credits: Carly Calhoun for the NYTimes, Daily Mail UK, John Hicks/Corbis

Geo-Political Climate
Border Countries: Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine and Moldova Head of Government: Prime Minister Victor Ponta Head of State: President Traian Bsescu Government: Republic Surface: 238,391 square kilometers Currency: Leu (RON) Inflation: 3.3% (2012 est.) Ease of Doing Business: Ranked 72 in 2012

Source: CIA Factbook, www.cia.gov; IFC/World Bank www.doingbusiness.org Image Credits Map of Romania/lonelyplanet.com; Palace of Parliament/www.hotelsjudge.hubpages.com

Internet Penetration

Source: www.gpec.ro

Gross Income, Expenditure & Disposable Income

Source: www.gpec.ro

Statistics from www.euromonitor.com/romania/country-factfile

Consumer Access to Credit

Growth of secured card transactions show the increased confidence in e-commerce transactions in Romania. Online transactions will continue to grow in the coming years and the need for digital marketing professionals will soon rise.

Source: www.gpec.ro

Cultural Barriers
Private schools in Romania are believed to be diploma factories and have a lower quality education than the statefunded universities. 50% failure rate of 2012 Baccalaureate examinees. Many graduates of private schools end up unemployed. Favorable attitudes towards education from the west
Source: Do Romanian Schools Produce Idiots? http://www.economist.com/

The Romanian school produces idiots. -Traian Basescu, President of Romania Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta was caught plagiarizing much of his PhD thesis.

Educational Attainment
Education Expenditures: 4.3% of GDP (2009), country comparison to the world: 101 Romanian Educational system has been in a continuous process of reform. 4.4 million of the population is enrolled in school:
650,000 in kindergarten 3.11 million at primary and secondary level 650,000 at tertiary level (Universities)

Romanias educational strategy is to upgrade its populations skills to meet Europes 2020 targets of:
reducing early school leaving rates below 10% increasing the rate of individuals between the age of 30 to 34 years old completing third level education to a minimum of 40%

In July 2012, Romania ranked first in Europe in the International Math Olympics and 10th worldwide. Romanias rate of gifted children is twice the average rate worldwide.

Source: Do Romanian Schools Produce Idiots? http://www.economist.com/; CIA Factbook, www.cia.gov

SWOT Analysis
STRENGTHS
High number of naturally gifted students Romanians have a positive view of western education Increased access to the internet and access to credit

WEAKNESSES
High poverty rate High unemployment rate Outstanding loans to International Monetary Fund from 2008 Recession

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS
EU offers financial aid to Romanian students who attend college in the other EU countries like the UK Numerous universities within the EU offer an EMBA Program Public has negative opinion about private education in Romania; they generally prefer public education

Romania is following the EU target of 2020 to increase the populations education Education reform law has been enacted to improve education standards High intellectual capacitysome of the most feared hackers in the world are from Romania

Brand Awareness Strategy

SHORT VIDEO WEBINAR
Produce a short online video which is free to view upon registration/log-in via social media like Facebook & Twitter. This allows us to capture information for email marketing.

PARTNERSHIPS WITH MULTINATIONALS

Establish partnerships with US Subsidiaries in Romania for internship opportunities with companies such as Amway Romania Marketing, Microsoft, Citi Romania.

TARGETED INFORMATION SESSIONS

Hold information sessions at private and state-funded universities that will be open to all college students.

SOAP OPERA PRODUCT PLACEMENTS

Advertise with a popular soap opera to have one of the characters attend a EMBA woven in the storyline.

CAREER FAIRS
Have presence at career fairs to build credibility.

Final Recommendations
LIMITED INITIAL EXPANSION INTO PARTNERSHIPS WITH ROMANIA MULTINATIONALS
Partner with an established Establishing partnerships with university to test the viability of multinationals to ensure job expansion in to Romania. This placements upon completion of will allow prospective students to EMBA. understand the value of our DIGITAL MARKETING educational services. COMPETITION

PAYMENT PLANS

Have a digital marketing Offer an affordable competition for prospective installment/financing package for students to win scholarship prizes. prospective students to compete SOAP OPERA PRODUCT with the education loan PLACEMENTS packages that are offered in Soap operas are very popular in other EU countries like the UK. Romania and could persuade INTERNATIONAL STUDENT fans to pursue an online graduate SERVICES degree program. This is the Establish an office for perfect vehicle for changing the international student affairs to publics negative attitude toward assist potential and enrolled pursuing an education at private students. schools. Links to the webinar can be shown as a ticker tape announcement while the show is on.