CARDIFF SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT: ASSIGNMENT FEEDBACK PROFORMANCE
ASSIGNMENT TITLE: Company E-Business Management Report.
SECTION A: SELF ASSESSMENT (TO BE COMPLETED BY THE STUDENT)
In relation to each of the set assessment criteria, please identify the areas in which you feel you have
strengths and those in which you need to improve. Provide evidence to support your self-assessment with
reference to the content of your assignment.
STRENGTHS
– ORGANISATION
– COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SELF
AND COMPANY
AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT
– STICK TO TIME MANAGEMENT
– WIDER VARIETY OF REFERENCES
I certify that this assignment is a result of my own work and that all sources have been acknowledged,
electronic submission certifies the presentation:
Signed : KLBRISLAND Date: 17/03/2014
SECTION B: TUTOR FEEDBACK
(based on assignment criteria, key skills and where appropriate, reference to professional standards)
STRENGTHS
AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT AND TARGETS FOR
FUTURE ASSIGNMENTS
MARK/GRADE AWARDED DATE: SIGNED
ASSIGNMENT MODERATED BY:
DATE
MODERATOR’S COMMENTS:
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
E-Business Management
Audit Report on:
Kate Brisland
Business Information Systems
St20021044
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Kate Brisland st20021044
Contents Page
1. Introduction – Page 4
2. Market Analysis – Page 6
3. E-Business Infrastructure – Page 9
4. Micro and Macro Environment – Page 11
5. E-Business Strategy – Page 14
6. Supply Chain Management – Page 17
7. E-Procurement – Page 19
8. Communication Mixes – Page 22
9. Customer Relationship Management – Page 23
10. E-Business Service – Page 26
11. Website Usability – Page 27
12. Recommendations – Page 30
13. Audit Report Feedback – Page 32
14. Appendix 1 – Page 33
15. Appendix 2 – Page 34
16. Appendix 3 – Page 35
17. Appendix 4 – Page 36
18. References – Page 37
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union the base for all students to contact various to find
out what they need to know. This varies from clubs and societies, to a unique to Cardiff
Metropolitan student discount card named UMAX.
Figure 1.
“Cardiff Met SU is here to represent, support, inspire and involve every student and there
are loads of ways you can get involved.” (cardiffmet.co.uk, 2013)
1.0 Benefits of this service
The review of the website or products is a really quick, relatively inexpensive and reliable
way of defining areas of problems as early as possible.
1.1 Advantages
The advantages for you to allow this service to be carried out are that it is quick and simple.
With the low costs associated, it’s brilliant for smaller budgets. After the audit is carried out,
it allows room for instant, direct improvements in areas where weaknesses are found.
Especially when you see the comparison with competitors, and how the organisation are
performing in comparison to them. The checklist that we use is an ideal way in which focus
areas are able to be developed, so in the future tests are carried out. This can also make the
most of user interaction, gaining feedback from users through research carried out.
1.2 Our approach
Through best practice and industry standardised checklists, the assessment will identify a
wide range of issues surrounding things such as navigation to content. These issues are
likely to have a detrimental effect on usability and cause user issues.
1.3 The process
Understanding what the business is about, and what the goals are, are the most important
things for us. In addition to this, we look at your competitors, and see how they are doing in
comparison to you. We discover who are the typical customers are. From this we establish
what you website requires.
Analysis of your website through the industry standardised checklists, to gain an
understanding of key tasks and user profiles to get the most out for you.
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1.4 The deliverables
The way that it will be delivered to you will be in the form of a report.
Report – this will be a concise, easy to use report, with some practical recommendations.
This will be fully analysed to micro/macro environment using tools appropriate, for example
a SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). The identification of this is
essential because of the subsequent steps in the process of planning for the success of the
selected objectives. This will specify the objectives of the business, highlighting the internal,
external factors in addition the positive and negative factors concerned with achieving the
objectives.
Another key factor is the organisations web presence. This is determined through the
examination of this. The organisations Web Presence will be determined through social
media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus. Interaction with customers can be
aided with social media, with the increase in social media so high. Like buttons, and
retweeting can increase popularity and in turn increase business profit.
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
2.0 Market Analysis
This has been defined as “research that yields information about the marketplace.”
(thefreedictionary.com, 2014)
2.1 Disruptive Technologies
This is where there are new technologies which prompt the business to reappraise their
strategic approach. In recent years, promoting the Student Union for Cardiff Metropolitan
has changed. The traditional method was posters and word of mouth. With the evolution on
the reliance of internet and social media, websites like Facebook and Twitter allows the
administrator of Facebook and Twitter are able to promote quicker and to more people
about upcoming events.
2.2 Destination Sites
A retailer website where sales are made and information is given out, a lot of information is
readily available to prospect and current students on www.cardiffmetsu.co.uk. But if
students, prospect or current have any questions, then they are able to contact the student
union informally through their Facebook or Twitter pages, or formally through email or
telephone.
2.3 Online Intermediaries
The website, www.cardiffmetsu.co.uk, is the website which helps to connect web users with
the content they need. This has the information readily available, but also active links to
their Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts. If students would like too, there is the
option of searching through the search engine at the top of the page as well. This online
presence for Cardiff Met SU is diverse and can help to give information students.
Figure 2
2.4 Online Marketplace
There is a lack of e-commerce on the Cardiff Met SU website. Although there is an area
where it could be open for the development for the e-commerce, within the shops in the
different sites there are Cardiff Met Apparel sold. There could be an online shop, in which
students could order their clothing. Although this would require a large stock room, and
change to the website. This is an area where it could be developed easily. This could be
searched through search engines and social networks.
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2.5 Situation Analysis
This is the collection and review of information about the Cardiff Met SU, and others in
competition with the Cardiff Met SU. There is a questionnaire that all third years complete
every January called the National Student Survey this looks into how satisfied students are
with how well the Student Union is doing and statistics surrounding the university in
general. It was found that last year, Cardiff University Students were 82% happy with their
Student Union, whereas Cardiff Met Students were happy with 74%.
The situation analysis can also be monitored through Google Trend. This is a tool, which
monitors how many visitors a website has over a period of time.
Figure 3
Due to the name change of UWIC to Cardiff Met SU, I chose to include this into our result.
This graph shows that there were peaks and valleys for Cardiff Met (Blue) and UWIC (Yellow)
and these times were mainly kept to September time. This would be representative when
new students would be starting university and seeking more information about the
upcoming weeks. I.e. fresher’s fortnight. These peaks are also representative for Cardiff SU,
although they have more hits on average every month. This may be because Cardiff SU isn’t
solely used for student union, it is also used for external events such as gigs, with some big
names attracting there. However, the addition of Glamorgan SU and USW SU, there is only
one peak for the student union. This made me want to look into the popularity of each of
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
the student unions. This was conducted by comparing the figures for the amount of “Likes”
on Facebook, and the insights for these particular pages.
Figure 4
Figure 5
These graphs show there are areas to grow for Cardiff Met Student Union, as well as the
University of Glamorgan (now known as University of South Wales, Glamorgan). Cardiff
University has just under 3 times more likes than Cardiff Met Student Union, (Figure 4) with
the university being talked about well over 8 times more than Cardiff Met. (Figure 5) just
like the Google Trends, this shows that Cardiff University Student Union is more popular
than the two other universities of Cardiff. Where there must be something that needs to be
done by the two universities.
Facebook was chosen as
the social media because
Facebook has the
opportunity to hold
events, and to publicise
the events to a broad
market of customers.
These graphs show the
massive difference
between the three
universities which are
within a 15 minute car
journey from one
another.
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3.0 E-Business Infrastructure
E-business infrastructure looks at the architecture of hardware, software, content and data
used to deliver e-business services to the employees, customers and partners. Cardiff Met
Student Union is primarily focused on the Customer Relations Management (CRM). This is
to establish and maintain good customer rapport, creating positive feeling surrounding the
student union between the union and the students. The students want a good value for
service, and in return the student union wants to make profits to reinvest back into the
student union. This is affected by good Customer Relations Management.
(businessballs.com, 2013)
3.1 E-mail
Figure 6
As part of the Student Union, they send e-mails to the students every month. This can be
seen as an unsolicited email. But the email includes information about what’s happening in
the university based on upcoming events etc.
3.2 Mobile Commerce
Mobile commerce is the reference to the electronic transactions and communications
conducted using mobile devices such as laptops, PDAs and mobile phones. Commonly this is
through the use of a wireless connection. Mobile commerce is popular among the customer
base of Cardiff Met Student Union due to the fact that it can be accessed anywhere, it has
the reachability of that it can be accessed from unconventional locations. It is more
convenient for students (the primary customer base for Cardiff Met Student Union) as there
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
is no need for a fixed power supply or line connection, it has the “always on” availability
which suits students.
3.3 Mobile Apps
Dave Chaffey stated that “Mobile apps are the method of delivering interactive services and
content via mobile phones.” All smartphones support the use of apps to provide,
information, entertainment and some form of mapping help through locations. Cardiff Met
as a whole has two mobile apps, one for prospective students and the other for current
students. The app itself works for students to be able to get access to the student portal
(blackboard, a place where module work is submitted and tutors place announcements).
There is also the option to find available computers on the three different campuses.
The student union could have the possibility to utilise this application by having a new icon,
which could be used to tell the students about what offers the student union have in a
minute. Flash sales such as dropping all prices in the bars to £1 a drink. Things that could
bring in interest for students, not even alcohol related, maybe prompts to pool or table
tennis competitions.
Figure 7
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4.0 Micro and Macro Environment
“The microenvironment is made from individuals and organizations that are close to the
company and directly impact the customer experience; whereas the macro-environment is
less controllable in comparison to the microenvironment. The macro environment consists
of much larger all-encompassing influences (which impact the microenvironment) from the
broader global society.” (Tim Friesner, 2000)
From this analysis is made on both the micro environment and the macro environment.
Micro focuses on:
– The organisation
– Its competitors
– Its customers
– Its suppliers
– Intermediaries
In relation to Cardiff Met Student Union, the micro environment is analysed through its
competitors already identified in the market analysis chapter (Cardiff University Student
Union, and University of South Wales (Glamorgan) as Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
competitors.
The customers for all these are primarily students, but there must be an explanation as to
why Cardiff University is so much more popular than its competitors, this is reinstated
through the Google Trends, as well the number of likes from Facebook.
The suppliers for Cardiff Met Student union is a mixture of stationary, tables, chairs, as well
as professional supplies such as food, drink and signs. The mixture of the use of student
bars, student shops as well as Starbucks in the two main campuses (Cyncoed and Llandaff),
there are a lot of suppliers for the Cardiff Met Student Union. Suppliers have to be
trustworthy suppliers who are able to deliver on time. If this is not done, then this will affect
the customers experience whilst in the many venues of the Student Union, which can have a
negative effect on feedback from customers.
Intermediaries are the promotion, sales and service from the company (Cardiff Met Student
Union) to their customers. Therefore, the student union will bring in products from
suppliers, and in turn, selling on for a marginally higher price, in which makes profit, which
can be reinvested into the university. The amount of profit in which the university makes is
a lot smaller than what typical bars and shops because they sell things lower, to make it
appeal to students.
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
4.1 SLEPTC
Further analysis is then applied to the macro-environment of the Student Union. The
microenvironment looks at the influences of the microenvironment on the larger scale. The
analysis is broken down to SLEPTC analysis:
– Social
– Legal, Ethical and Taxation
– Economic
– Political
– Technological
– Competitive
4.1.1 Social factors – this is where “the influence of the
consumer perceptions in determining usage of the
internet for different activities.” (Schaffey, 2011) The
Cardiff Met Student Union use the internet by means of sharing information for what’s due
to happen within the bars, but also advice for those who are having issues within university.
There is a lot happening on the Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union website, with lots of
services available to the students.
4.1.2 Legal and ethical factors – from the governments point of view, this is based on the
privacy of the individuals of Cardiff Met University. It is up to Cardiff Met Student Union to
keep their information safe, secure and up to date, otherwise it would break the Data
Protection Act (1998).
4.1.3 Economic factors – as the customer base for Cardiff Met Student Union is primarily
students, the financial situation of each students, may seem as the term progresses,
spending in the Student Union bars, shops and Starbuck franchises decline steadily.
4.1.4 Political factors – in 2011 it was implemented by the government that the tuition fees
for students would be at maximum £9,000 per year, this increase saw a drop of 5.2% of
students going to university after this increase. This has a major effect on funding for the
student union, as well as the number of students that will be available to spend money in
the student union.
4.1.5 Technological factors – uprising in the use of social media as part of every students
life, the use of marketing within social media platforms have become accustomed, on the
macro environment, using social media such as Facebook and Twitter to market and sell
what the Student Union does, including the sister websites such as Athletics union, courses
within Cardiff Met, and UMAX.
Figure 8
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4.2 PEST Analysis
Pest analysis is the analysis of external features to Cardiff Met Student Union (tutor2u.net
(2012).
4.2.1 Politically Cardiff Met Student Union is controlled by the licensing of the government.
They are controlled to add tax on to items and have to abide by licensing laws for time of
opening and closing and the trading hours. Cardiff Met Student Union has three different
price bands in which are applicable to the Student Union. There are also different licensing
laws surround the bars associated with Cardiff Met Student Union. Opening times and
serving laws are to be abided by all staff, and if these are followed then it can lead to serious
consequences and even having their licenses revoked.
4.2.2 Economically Cardiff Met Student Union has been affected by the fees rising from the
government. This affects the number of students that come to study at Cardiff Met and the
funding available to the Student Union.
4.2.3 Social factors – the behaviour of the students is heavily reliant on what each student
friends are doing. People will use the student union for events, as a meeting point with
lecturers if their friends are. Motivating enough students to utilise the facilities offered by
Cardiff Met Student Union is something that is of focus to the student union now.
4.2.4 Technological factors – some students, almost all of them use some form of social
networking. Cardiff Met Student Union now has the option to try and markets to the
students to inform, advertise and show case what the Student Union has to offer.
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
5.0 E-Business Strategy
Chaffey (2011) defined E-business strategy as “the approach by which applications of
internal and external electronic communications can support and influence corporate
strategy.”
E-channel strategies defined how a company should set specific objectives and develop
specific differential strategies for communicating with its customers and partners through
electronic media. The Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union could potentially use their
Facebook and Twitter feeds to communicate with the students of Cardiff Metropolitan to
give them information about events and also to quickly advise them if they have any
information. This was shown conducted especially through the end of year 2012. Where
tickets to The Summer Ball was sparse and the Student Union used their twitter feeds to tell
students about new ticket releases.
Not only this, social media can be used by prospective students to find out whats best from
the Student Union regarding halls, what to do if they don’t get in on their grades (clearing)
or who to contact. In these busy periods i.e. Freshers week, big events held by the Student
Union (who have a new twitter feed set up @8bitevents) then respondants need to be
quicker than just one user. Websites such as grouptweet.com, ensure 2-100,000 users are
Figure 9
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able to tweet from the same account. This has been utilised by companies such as
autotrader.com, HP, ABC, ESPN, Fox News and Sky News. This could be utilised by Cardiff
Met Student Union to communicate with their students quickly.
There are two ways of strategies identified by Mintzberg and Quinn (1991) and Lynch
(2000). They distinguished the difference between Prescriptive strategy and Emergent
strategy. Prescriptive strategy is the three core areas of strategic analyis, strategic
development and strategy implentation, linking together sequentially. On the other
hand,emergent strategy is the strategic analysis, strategic development and strategy
implementaion, but interellated and developed together.
Strategic analysis for Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union would be, they have the ability to
contact a large number of students on a variety of platforms, Twitter, Facebook, mobile app,
email as well as the traditional methods of posters, flyers and word of mouth. However, the
use of these electronic mediums to tell the students about what is happening with the
Student Union is lacking. This could be shown through the use of their own Twitter feed for
the week commencing 17th February. It was “SUOnTourWeek2014” where there were
numerous things happening throughout the three campuses student unions all week. Prior
to the 17th there was hardly any mention of this, but as soon as it came into the week of
“SUonTourWeek2014” it was all over the feed. This was something that should have been
promoted through all electronic feeds well in advance to ensure there was enough people
coming to the events held by the student union.
SWOT analysis (Appendix 4.0) was conducted on Cardiff Met Student Union. The findings
from the anaylsis found that the strengths Cardiff Met Student Union currently hold are that
they know their customer base, it is typical that the customer base are students aged
between 18 and 24. Many of these are studying away from their home, and are at Cardiff
Met for 3 years, with some chosing to stay on for PCGE and Master degrees after studying.
Students are what Cardiff Met Student Union know, and they understand the wants and
needs of the students. Although regular feedback can help to “tweek” the wants and needs
from time to time. Another strength is that the satisfaction rate for Cardiff Met Student
Union from the National Student Survey, is 74%. This is a positive to take, because although
as highlighted in the negatives of the analysis, the nearest competitor is much higher at
82% satisfaction for Cardiff University Student Union, this is more than half, and there is
plenty of room to progress and to make better each year. The student union, can start to
gather feedback from the students, and use this to get better satisfaction rates year on year.
Cardiff Met Student Union also hold yearly student president elections, and the change in
presidency this year, may bring in new ideas which may see the increase in satisfaction
rates.
As mentioned previously, the use of social media is far less than the nearest competitors,
and this could have been one of the detrimental affects of the satisfaction rates, although
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
causation cannot be infered. There are less followers on Cardiff Met Student Union’s social
media pages, examplkes of this were noted on the CMSU’s Twitter account and Facebook
page. Furthermore, through compasrison of the CMSU and CUSU use of social media
channels, CMSU has less students than CUSU, which corralates with the decrease of social
network likes, the important difference to note is that CU has 27,745 number of students
and CMU has 13,005 number of student the ration of diffreence then is more than double
the number of students. This then compared with the ratio difference based on the social
media likes indicates found in Figure 4. that CMU has less than 3 times as many like per
student. The use of the social media pages to “create the Buzz” as discussed later will help
to draw in followers, it will also depend on the way students use their Social media.
Term three is the gateway for the development of the summer ball. This is where each year
celebrate the end of the year, and many students come together for one last goodbye for
ever and for the summer. This is important to Cardiff Met Student Union in terms of profit,
the number of days open for these kinds of events is limited, as they have to maintain a
level of professionalism throughout the year, as they cannot condone alcohol influence
behaviour, as students are meant to be at university to study. This is event is when students
can enjoy themselves, without the worries of coursework or exams. However to Cardiff Met
Student Union this can be a showcase of what they are able to do in terms of events,
making it the best it can be is a door opener to first and second year students, to show
them that The Student Union is ‘the’ place to be in terms of social events, as well as meeting
points and being approachable if the students have any issues at all. In addition, the use of
social media has to be at higher usage, and the summer ball is a way to utilise this cheap
method of marketing. This is seen through the recommendations, made later.
However, Wednesday nights have been one of the best methods of drawing in the sports
teams espcially on Cyncoed campus for socials before heading into town. Third term is
where BUCS (the sporting organisation in which all teams on campus play in) finishes, and
Cardiff Met Student Union would have to draw in the students to utilise the union in the
same way they have for the last 6 months of term 1 and 2. The use of the Student Union
heavily affects the opening hours of the bars on the campuses. If there is little or no custom,
the hours won’t be available, which means that the Student Union won’t be financially
feasible to stay open.
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6.0 Supply Chain Managemant
According to Dave Schaffey Supply Chain Management is the “coordination of all supply
activities of an organisation from its suppliers and partners to customers.”
As Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union is a not-for-profit organisation, any profit generated
is flushed back into the student union in order to improve facilities and make things
cheaper, they take on board an upstream form of supply chain. This is where any
transaction between Cardiff Met Student Union and their suppliers, (food, drink, clothing
and even stationary) and intermediaries are the equivalent to buy-side e-commerce.(REF)
Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union use a lot of paper based systems for their supply chain
management. Through the use of technology, they could utilise efficient consumer
response. Dave Schaffey has defined this as “focus on demand management aimed at
creating and satisfying customer demand by optimising product assortment strategies,
promotions and new product introductions. It creates operational efficiency and cost
savings in the supply chain through reducing inventories and deliveries.” In other words,
Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union could use Efficient Consumer Response as a way of
making sure that they have just the right amount of stock to be used, and this would save
money, and save the amount of deliveries made throughout the week.
Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union uses the paper based systems and could easily be
restructured into an e-supply chain. This is where the student union would utilise all digital
communications to improve their supply chain efficiency. However, this is highly
dependable on effective exchange and sharing of information. This is reliant on the
information supply chain. This is where any information centric views of the supply chain
which addresses the organisation and technological challenges of archiving technology
enabled supply chain management in terms of efficiency and effectiveness (Marinos, 2005)
and (Sun & Yen, 2005).
Legner and Schemm (2008) identified that if there is information asymmetry it could be
problematic about demand and pricing. Information asymmetry is the sharing of
information between members of the supply chain which increases uncertainty. To
overcome this, there is a technological option. XML or XML-EDI is based on data transfer
through a marketplace hub. Allowing a more sophisticated one-to-many data transfers such
as orders to suppliers, this can either be in real time or batch.
The benefits to Cardiff Met Student Union if they were to undertake a more technological
approach to supply chain management is this will make it a more efficient process. It
reduces the complexity of the whole supply chain, by integrating several parts. It reduces
costs through outsourcing and shows to customers that they are willing to become more
technical savvy. At the present moment in time, Cardiff Met Student Union have to make
orders during opening hours, this will eradicate this issue by allowing it to be 24/7/365. This
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
may reduce lead times and lower costs by less required to be hold in cellars. Low costs are
the main driver for management according to Stuart & McCutcheon (2000).
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7.0 E-Procurement
Dave Schaffey defined e-procurement as “the electronic integration and management of all
procurement activities including purchase request, authorisation, ordering, delivery and
payment between a purchase and supplier.”
Bailey et al (1995) identified there to be five rights of purchasing:
– Right price
– Delivered at the right time
– Right quality
– Right quantity
– Right source
This needs to be applied to the purchasing of any stock within Cardiff Met Student Union.
This could be aided from an electronic procurement system. This is used to automate all or
part of the procurement functions of the system. Such as scanning, storage and retrieval of
invoices, routing of authorisation, integration of other finance systems, and matching of
documents to validate transactions. This to Cardiff Met Student Union will be the
automation of ordering, delivering of many products such as barrel, food, Starbucks, as well
as the clothing from Varsity Apparel.
There are two types of procurement, production related procurement and operating related
procurement. With choosing how Cardiff Met Student Union buys things is a choice of two
options – Systematic Sourcing, a method of negotiating contracts with regular suppliers, or
the other choice of spot sourcing, where it is fulfils an immediate need. This is usually when
it less important to know the credibility of the supplier. Cardiff Met Student Union typically
works under the Systematic Sourcing method, where they have good relationships with
companies e.g. Heineken Brewery and Starbucks.
There are five applications of e-procurement according to Knudsen (2003) and Smart (2010)
they are:
? E-Sourcing – using the information gathering step to find new suppliers online. This
could be online breweries for Cardiff Met SU, stationary suppliers, and food
suppliers.
? E-Tendering – asking the new found suppliers online for information and for prices.
This is the screening process, to find the best suppliers online.
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
? E-Informing – this is where the best suppliers from the e-tendering stage are now
whittled down. In this stage information about quality, financial status and delivery
capabilities are monumental.
? E-reverse auctions – picking the best supplier in the e-informing stage now allows
Cardiff Met Student Union to buy goods and service from the supplier who was
deemed the best.
? E-MRO and Web based ERP – using the software which manages the process of
creating and approving purchases, placing order and delivery of the goods and or
services.
7.1 Drivers for e-procurement
There are 5 key drivers for e-procurement identified by Smart (2010).
– Control – centralisation, raised standards, improving how Cardiff Met Student Union
audits the data, it allows budget control to be at its optimum, limiting spending and
reports have to be filed. E.g. limiting how much can be spent per month, and if it
does go above the limit, a report as to why, and how this was a necessity for the
company. In terms of Cardiff Met Student Union, this could be ordering more stock
for the bar due to having more than average functions that particular month.
– Cost – online there are more supplier competition online, therefore there is a room
for improved buying leverage. Through this, they can monitor saving targets and
reduce the transactional cost.
– Process – due to e-procurement being a quicker system than paper based, the cycle
time is a much quicker process.
– Individual performance – the manager of Cardiff Met Student Union, can effectively
use her sources and share the knowledge of who’s best in terms of suppliers, and for
cheaper costs.
– Supplier management – through the process of e-procurement, there will be a
reduction in numbers of suppliers, which means it is easier to deal with the select
few if problems ever arise.
7.2 The e-value of e-procurement
Riggins and Mitra (2007) have created a table to explain the e-value of the e-procurement.
Taking the original table and applied it to Cardiff Met Student Union.
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Table 1
Value Creation
> Efficiency Effectiveness Strategic
Dimension V
Planning
Using media such as
email to interact
throughout the
Student Union.
Use of e-procurement
will give the use of an
online Information
System to be used by
management.
Knowledge
management between
all managers. Student
Union between
campuses.
Development
Standardised for crossfunctional
design.
Making it usable for all
those within the
Student Union.
Sharing of
requirements between
all those that will use
the e-procurement
users.
Design to be across
the organisation on a
virtual platform
(online).
Inbound
The electronic
transactions between
Cardiff Met Student
Union and the
suppliers.
Flexibility between the
suppliers and Cardiff
Met Student Union
through the e-hub.
Reordering and
resupply responsibility
given to the suppliers.
Production
Integrations of internal
systems
Sharing of data about
what is required
between managers of
the different
campuses.
Ability to use the
internet to use foreign
suppliers.
Outbound
Offer electronic
transactions to
customers. Not just
chip and pin, but
online payment for
clothing?
Development of
apparel to be sold
online, then an
immediate order
status per order.
Logistical partners.
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
8.0 Communication Mixes
Direct marketing is where the company, Cardiff Met Student Union is in direct
communication with existing and potential students to promote and offer products and
services available to them. This is a cost effect and powerful way of generating new and
reoccurring sales. Many of the services offered to the Cardiff Met students are free, such as
the UMAX scheme, where the student union hold workshops on how to improve CV’s,
improve techniques for interviews, and even gaining qualifications to make the students
stand out from the rest, when entering the real world of work after university. Direct
marketing is used to make sure that students are aware of the services offered not only by
UMAX but Cardiff Met Student Union as a whole.
There are several methods of direct marketing, such as sending mail to each student at
Cardiff Met, leaflets, email, telephone marketing, and mobile marketing such as text. Some
are easier and some generate more of a response than others. Some may utilise the email
on a daily basis and would be ideal for them, whilst other students may use the student
union bars and would notice leaflets and posters more.
This is done to generate a response from target areas of custom. UMAX is aimed at any year
of study within Cardiff Metropolitan University, but will be a great source of free help for
those in their final year, who need that touch to make their employability options better.
Another reason to do it is to generate customer loyalty. If students were contacted about
loyalty schemes for the bars within the campuses, and Starbucks, then customer loyalty may
increase. Carry out analysis on the results from the direct marketing to see who the most
responsive group of students was.
Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union has to make their direct marketing is effective. Most
importantly they need to keep their databases up to date. At the start of each year,
students are asked to update their details, as most students move from halls to shared
houses after their first year, but in addition some move from the house they were in second
year to a different house for their third year. Phone numbers also change, and their next of
kin also may change. The database should also be checked for duplicates, and at this time,
errors should be corrected.
After the contact details have been finalised, direct marketing can take place, and this is
where Cardiff Met Student Union need to measure their success. The marketing campaign
could cost nothing i.e. email, where only thing spend it time. Whereas leaflets, posters and
flyers could be costly, can be carried out through the university through the “Print Studio”,
this cost would need to come out of any revenue generated by the campaign and would
need to break even before any profit can be taken.
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Kate Brisland st20021044
9.0 Customer Relationship Management
Customer relationship management (CRM) has been defined by Schaffey as “an approach to
building and sustaining long term business with customers” this is important to all
businesses and in particular Cardiff Met Student Union as there has been an association
between customer loyalty and profit.
The new trend for CRM has been the growing online presence of each company on the
internet, and social media that there has been identification through Yahoo on how to build
a profitable website. Each website should have three characteristics. Magnetic, this is where
drawing customers onto their website. During the stage where college students are
choosing prospective universities, they may visit the Cardiff Met Student Union website to
see how what’s happening. A good website showing all the events of Cardiff Met Student
Union may create the second stage. Sticky, the retention of keeping the college students,
those who are impressed by the extra-curricular activities on offer through the website may
come back, and in turn apply for the university. The website also needs to elastic, having
that persuasive power to try and get the customers to return to Cardiff Met Student Union.
Selecting customers is the identification of the customer groups, as well as the age range
which helps to target sales. Many customers of Cardiff Met Student Union are typically 18-
24 years of age, and their interests are varied depending on campus to campus. Secondly,
customer acquisition the segmentation of the customer base means marketing can be
tailored to suit the needs of the customers to form a better relationship with them, and with
new customers. The quality of service on offer is important, as this is what the customer
judges Cardiff Met Student Union on; the quality of the service with help to retain the
customer.
E-Customer Relations Management (e-CRM) is “the use of digital communications to
maximise sales to existing customers and encourage continued usage of online services”
(Chaffey, 2011). It can use a form of marketing which has been highlighted by Sharma and
Sheth (2004) as something called customer centric marketing. This is seeks the target
audience, and bases it on customer behaviours, then in turn fulfil the wants and needs of
each individual customer with some benefits to Cardiff Met Student Union, such as being
able to target through direct marketing more cost effectively. With the introduction of email
as a mass way to send the same message, it is easier send customised messages at a
cheaper cost than alternative traditional methods, and also to smaller segments of the
customer. Cardiff Met Students Union currently already applies this to sending e-mails to
whole year groups, about Fresher events, about upcoming graduation tickets etc.
Relationships with customers can also be more in depth and more widely. The internet
allows Cardiff Met Student Union to give more information out than previous, but they can
also contact the students and alumni as frequent as they wish, but the students can also
change how often they are in contact with the students union as they can contact them for
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
more information if they require. Email is also a very cheap method of communication in
comparison to physical mail when sent out to mass numbers.
Agrawal et al (2001) developed a scorecard based on performance drivers these are critical
success factors that grown whether objectives are achieved. This can be broken down into
three parts, attraction, conversion and retention. The survey showed that “companies were
successful at luring visitors to their sites, but not at getting these visitors to buy or at turning
occasional buyers into frequent ones” (Agrawal et al, 2001)
Social media can be the process of managing customer-to-customer conversations to
engage existing customers, prospects and other stakeholders with a brand and improve the
customer relationship management. Cardiff Met Student Union already have two main
social media accounts plus sister ones for things such as the athletic union, UMAX and
courses within university, they are used to share information
Social networking can be is used by Cardiff Met Student Union to listen to the students
wants and needs on the Facebook or Twitter accounts, plus sharing information which they
may feel is appropriate to the students. Within Cardiff Met Student Union, social news is the
most important feature of Cardiff Met Student Union feed, the use of Twitter to inform
students about events, such as the summer ball, for when tickets will be available, and other
events throughout the year. Cardiff Met Student Union also utilise a social streaming called
SUBTV, this is where music videos as played, but also a live twitter feed of Cardiff Met
Student Union followers, where they can places photos and tweets of what they would like
to listen to etc. on SUBTV. This is played in the three campus bars in Llandaff, Cyncoed and
Howard Gardens. However, having a social networking presence online means that Chloe,
the women in charge of the social networking for Cardiff Met Student Union will have to
ensure she maintains professionalism throughout Twitter and Facebook, although being
able to be approachable to the students, by using some colloquial language may help.
Within the student community, a commonly used effective way of marketing is through
word of mouth, to create a buzz. The research found that there has been a lack of creating a
buzz around events in the Student Union. The Cardiff Met Student Union publicity and
marketing of events taken place do not appear to be a high priority at present, especially
with the most recent event, SU on Tour Week 2014. As there was no pre-event marketing,
which meant that not many students knew about what was happening across the campuses,
an email was sent out, but details of when things were happening was not specific enough.
Only those who follow Cardiff Met Student Union on twitter knew up-to-the-minute details
of events, and not every student follows the twitter site, showing that some students were
missed by inadequate marketing. The marketing of this on social media pages has been
highlighted in recommendations.
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Kate Brisland st20021044
This marketing which was missed could have been conducted through social media
marketing; this is the monitoring and facilitating interaction of customers to the company
through the social networking. Kirby (2003) suggested there were three things required for
effective social media marketing. Creative material is key, fun and different messages will be
considered the “viral agent”, and can spread quickly on social media. Seeding is the second
stage, where Cardiff Met Student Union will be able to identify websites, or people to email
or contact which will be spread around. Tracking, this is where the monitor effect to assess
the return from the cost of developing the viral agent and seeding. I.e. marketing in advance
for SUOnTour2015, and getting people who are involved to retweet, and spread the
message, and in turn get more people involved with the SU on Tour Week.
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
10.0 E-Business Service
E-business can be defined as “the provision of services and tasks over the Internet by
application service providers”. It typically can be used in companies to look at the service
effectiveness, such as is the service meeting business goals? In addition, the service
efficiency, the operation of the system measured through speed of response, usability and
cost appropriate to lead to an effective system. The development of the e-business service
starts with the implementation; this is the creation of a system. A system developer will
analyse the business, and design the system, documenting the wants and needs of the
company. After the implementation of the system, the maintenance needs to be covered
throughout the lifecycle. The maintenance phase starts after it goes “live” and will improve
any bug fixes that may arise. As competitors offer new services, promotions and offers, the
company will continuously update the service on offer to them. The application is
continuously updated in response to the competitors. In order to remain competitive,
maintenance activities involve measurement of an information system’s effectiveness and
updating to correct errors or introduce new items. This will help to increase the value of the
system within the organisation.
However, Cardiff Met Student Union currently does not offer an e-business service.
Nevertheless, if they would want to look into e-business service, then they have two
methods of acquisition. Developing from start, or purchasing off the shelf. Typically,
developing from the start is more expensive, but is developed for the specific purpose. Or
packaged implementation, where standard software is installed.
Chaffey and Wood (2005) defined the main criteria for e-business service as:
– Functionality
– Ease of use
– Performance
– Scalability
– Compatibility/interoperability
– Extensibility
– Stability or reliability
– Security
– Support
These factors will need to be taken into consideration when selecting the software for an e-business
service.
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Kate Brisland st20021044
Figure 10
11.0 Website usability
Jackob Neilsen (1995) discussed 10 heuristics for web usability, for user interface design.
They are:
– Visibility of system status
– Match between system and the real world
– User control and freedom
– Consistency and standards
– Error prevention
– Recognition rather than recall
– Flexibility and efficiency of use
– Aesthetic and minimalist design
– Help users recognise, diagnose and recover from errors
– Help and documentation.
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
Cardiff Met Student Union website uses a mixture of minimalism as well as the plain white
background makes it easy to read.
11.1 Consistency and Standards
One thing that really stood out from the website is that it is consistent; each page the user is
on, the navigation tools of the website are in the same place on each page.
Figure 11
Figure 12
Figure 13
This consistency helps the user in terms of efficiency and percieved intuitiveness. The end user will
be able to become quicker at using the website, and therefore may result in more frequent visits.
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Kate Brisland st20021044
11.2 Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
The website itself is a minimalistic approach. All the information required to the students is there,
and there is none irrelevant information within the website. All text is aligned to the left, and its easy
to navigate round the different sections of the website.
Figure 14
11.3 Match between system and the real world
On the homepage, there is a relation between the university, and the events as well as what people
would like to know. The direct feed to their Twitter website is good advertisement, as well as
informing the students that this is where they could get the information more accessible.
Figure 15
30
E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
12.0 Recommendations for Cardiff Met Student Union
12.1 Market Analysis
From this section, it is to be believed that to get success from the Students Union, there needs to be
a greater haul in people using the social media. Social media is the quickest and cheapest method of
distributing information to the students. If the use of Twitter and Facebook was more frequent, and
more relevant in getting students involved into the social media, there could have an immediate
impact on the number of hits that CardiffMetSu.co.uk get as a website through google trends, but
also student based events, and inclusion within the Student Union could result in more money into
the Student Union, and in turn more hours for staff and more money for the union to reinvest into
the university.
It also seems that there is a lack of e-commerce on the website. There is lots of information readily
available to students and prospective students, but there could be the option to an online shop for
the apparel of Cardiff Met. Within the shops of the Student Union, the choice of hoodies, joggers
and t-shirts, this could be moved onto an online shop as well as the physical shop. Opening an online
e-commerce could have the benefits of bringing in more revenue, as well as opening the market not
just to those who go to Cardiff Met, but alumni and family of those who study at the university,
opening opportunities for international students as well.
12.2 E-business infrastructure
From the creation of the Cardiff Met mobile phone app, those who have the application installed
onto their mobile phone could have the opportunity to send push notifications through to their
phone. It would be interesting to see, from a business prospective if the app would allow push
notifications for “flash sales” on the prices of food and drink being discounted for a certain period of
time, in order to generate more people coming into the student union. Those who use the
application would get the notification, but also use the method of word-of-mouth as a technique of
advertisement. This may increase application installation numbers as well as sales within the student
union.
Not only does the application have to push for “flash sales” but also reminders about pool or ping
pong competitions, or live sport being shown in the student union. Things to get the students out of
their halls of residents, and into the student union bars, creating a buzz about the Student Union is
the most effective way of getting people into the Student Union, and to generate an inflow of
money, and build a positive relationship and reputation of the students, this may see an increase in
NSS scores which is detrimental to the Student Union every year.
12.3 E-business Strategy
Social media isn’t just there to inform students about activities and events, it can also be used to
generate a response from them. This year, advertisement was missed for CardiffMetSUOnTour2014,
through a lack of social media interest. Using media, to ask students what kind of things they would
like, and to get involved could generate more ideas than the Student Union could generate. Students
know what they want, and at what time they want it. In times where there are a lot of deadlines, it
could be useful for free cups of tea, which could generate a more positive relationship with them.
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Kate Brisland st20021044
Student feedback may also show what the student union needs to do, the figure of 74% Satisfaction
Rate, where the nearest university (Cardiff University) is at 82% there is a lot to achieve to increase
the happiness of the students. Asking the students, and being proactive of the answers from the
social media, could see changes arising, which could show that the Students do have a voice.
12.4 Communication mixes
There are various methods of direct marketing that Cardiff Met Student Union can undertake such
as leaflets, email and mobile marketing. There are lots of posters about events happening outside of
Cardiff Met Student Union i.e. Revolutions on a Wednesday, Smack on a Friday, which has been
proudly promoted by students who work for those events, however, there should be more people
who promote events held in the student union. More leaflets, posters, emails, that could go out to
the students, to remind them that after a hard day of coursework, presentations, lectures and essay
writing, that prices of drinks are cheap, and it’s a relaxed environment.
Also reminders of student based activities, from observation, the Christian Society hold a lot of
events within the Student Union, and from this, there should be promotion to help the different
societies hold events within the different campus bars. Supports for students is pivotal to creating
good customer relationship, and maintaining this relationship can only bring in more sales, which
can be reinvested into the university.
12.5 Customer relationship management
The support discussed within communication mixes, will develop customer relationship
management, but also start getting to know the regulars. Building relationships with those who have
come into the student union regularly can create better relationships as the Cardiff Met Student
Union.
The website is also used in a formal manner. It doesn’t relate to those who are using the website;
the students. Using informal language can create a better relationship with the students, as they feel
that they can relate to you.
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
13.0 Audit Feedback
The report was given to Cardiff Met Student Union on Wednesday 12th March, and from their
feedback, (received 14th March 2014) the discussion of the relevance of the recommendations made
to them.
Firstly, the decision was made not to make any sudden changes to the current system, especially as
it is a small company, and big changes can affect the way the company is ran. Changing the eprocurement
and supply chain management is something that would be considered financially
unfeasible, and it would affect much more than just changing the way items are ordered in.
However, the changes discussed were ones that were suited to the Student Union budget, and this
was highlighted in the feedback letter from the Student Union manager. (Appendix 3.0)
From observation of being within the Student Union on a number of occasions, I have seen that
there has been an increase in posters to display the upcoming “Diss-hand in party” to inform
students of third years of the upcoming party. This has also been advertised on social media events,
well in advance, which has started to create the buzz about the event early on.
Although this event is directed mainly at the students ending their studies this year with Cardiff Met
University, more and more events are being planned to get the students involved with the Student
Union to get more feedback, and build better relations with them. One of the main activities
currently going on is an incentive to get more feedback about what students want from their
Summer Ball.
This and the active marketing are great changes to see early on, and especially as they require low
funding, and would easily fit into the budget of the Student Union.
Something that wasn’t mentioned in the feedback was the changing of the language within the
website; however I feel that this is something that they could do, but it would be highly dependable
on the level of professionalism they would want to keep to the outside world.
A discussion will be required to be carried out to see if it would be technically able to be start
sending push notifications through to the student’s phones, and if this could be managed by the
managers and supervisors within the student union offices. Although Cardiff Met Student Union
seemed eager for the development, they did highlight the dependency of the number of downloads
by students of the application for this to be effective method of marketing.
13.1 Reflection of the report
The immediate impact of the report was positive, more and more posters were seen in and around
campus and social media usage to advertise events, and not just UMAX job shop and other areas in
which the students may have overlooked in the past had developed over the last week or so. The
increase in social media and the direct communication should have an effect on the number of
students participating in the events, which was a negative of the student union as a whole. However,
I could not infer the cause and effect of the marketing as a result of the increase in numbers of
students, especially when the event is “diss-hand in” and this is a major celebration of the 3rd year
students handing in their final year project.
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Kate Brisland st20021044
Appendix 1
Interview with Joanne Williams
Supply Chain Management and E-procurement
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
Appendix 2
Interview with Chloe Evans
Customer Relationship Management
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Kate Brisland st20021044
Appendix 3
Feedback from Student Union
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E-Business Management: Cardiff Metropolitan Student Union
Appendix 4
SWOT Diagram
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Kate Brisland st20021044
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