Development of a marketing strategy and a business model, including the definition of a powerful value proposition and a marketing plan, in order to position the leading training provider MCE on the corporate universities' market.

Abstract

The current training industry is characterized by an ever-increasing emergence of new technologies, both in terms of communication and learning system. This digital revolution is bringing about real market changes. Indeed, it is becoming common to see the emergence of new types of customers with specific needs. Faced with this situation, the training industry, in order to remain competitive on the market and meet changing demand, has no choice but to equip itself with digital tools. Among the new customers that have emerged on the market, corporate universities are of a particular interest. These atypical actors completely differ from the usual training centers and require new services, wishing to live real learning experiences. However, no real and targeted solutions is addressed to them. This leaves the door open to an unexplored market that thus constitutes a blue ocean. The strategic project consists in focusing on how MCE, as part of its growth strategy, should position itself in an innovative way in order to become pioneer on a new market still unexploited and stay ahead of the competition. The thesis therefore aims to develop a marketing strategy for MCE in order to position the firm in the corporate university market. To do this, a market study identifies the specific needs of different customers and determines their attractiveness, as well as the company's competitiveness in each of them. This approach allows the company to select the target segment on which it is desirable to position itself. A more in-depth analysis of the target client leads to the formulation of a powerful value proposition, translated into a products and services’ offering, enabling the company to establish a niche differentiation strategy. MCE's positioning on the CUs’ market is then defined through the development of a new business model specific to the firm's activity in this sector. Finally, the marketing strategy thus defined is deployed through a marketing plan in order to adapt the marketing actions throughout the customer's life cycle. This thesis also highlights how to manage a change project and infuse a wind of innovation into a company in search of a new opportunities of growth.