Introduction
Context
As the rapidly embraces the globalization across all existential sectors, including business and education, the 21st century is marked by the social trend of migration toward the West for better educational and professional opportunities (United Nations, 2003). However, there are still concerning rates of migrant people who live beside the poverty lines in the developed nations like United States. Around 20% of foreign born individuals in United States live below the poverty lines and their educational achievements are lower than the average of the native population, which increase their disadvantage in finding good employment opportunities (National Poverty Center, n.d.). In this sense, the social efforts are being organized across non-governmental organizations to support the causes of non-native individuals in United States and their right for proper education and equal social rights. One such organization is Women Walking West (3W), dedicated to remove educational barriers affecting foreign born adult women, enhancing their potential in order to assist them in reaching their educational dreams.
Through the application of dedicated strategic marketing and managerial frameworks, this research proposal aims to outline the strategies that Women Walking West should employ in order to achieve enhanced organizational performance and improve its leadership position.
In order to draw the appropriate marketing strategy for enhancing its performance and improving its leadership position, the research should address 3Ws internal, industry and external environment. In this sense, there should be applied analytical frameworks, such as customer analysis, competitor analysis, market/submarket analysis, environmental analysis and internal analysis. The identified results will need to be further applied to the strategy development and based on the differences in alignment, there should be recommended further strategic directions to achieve the organizational efficiency and leadership goals.
This analytical approach and the strategic direction that follows converge towards the organizational change that will generate new actions that the organization should follow in order to achieve the established objectives.
Initial Literature Review
Understanding the company is required in order to assess its internal and external environment and propose organizational changes that will generate the intended goals. In addition, there is also necessary a brief overview of the organization’s internal and external environment that will contribute to explaining its current situation.
Background of Women Walking West
Established by Dr. George H. Sehi as a means of supporting foreign students who experience hardships in United States, just as he encountered as a young student, Women Walking West is an NGO dedicated to helping foreign women prosper in their academic prospects. Inspired by the high amount of female students coming from emerging countries that face various barriers in U.S., 3W provides assistance across various areas, namely: career advising, mentoring, tutoring, financial support, internship or co-op opportunities, focusing on five major initiatives: language, social, cultural, academic and financial barriers (Women Walking West, n.d.).
The organization’s vision is “to afford all foreign born adult women access to quality education in United States” and its mission is “remove educational barriers facing foreign adult women by creating learning communities where financial and educational support are available and can achieve their educational dreams” (Women Walking West, n.d).
Marketing Strategy
3W’s marketing strategy based on a receptive cooperation with educational institutions and sponsors, connecting students in need with the available opportunities. However, marketing can be further maximized through more means of generating awareness around Women Walking West cause, and raising more donations for the female students in need. In the current economy, businesses are emerging towards online and viral marketing, promoting their products or services via social media platforms or engaging in search engine optimization strategies for generating more electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) (Cantoni & Xiang, 2013). The research will further elaborate on the benefits that marketing and technology combined will generate for Women Walking West.
Methodological Design
The proposed research methodology consists in a mix of qualitative designs, which joins the in-depth interview with marketing research. The in-depth interview is the qualitative research method that implies individual discussions based on question and answers with a small number of respondents, in order to gain understanding on their perspectives regarding the research topic (Boyce & Neale, 2006). Marketing research implies conducting a desktop analysis for applying marketing frameworks on the organization’s internal and external environment. The frameworks that will be applied in this sense, include: SWOT analysis, PESTLE, Porter’s Five Forces, Resource and Competences Analysis.
Research Time Plan
References
Boyce, C. & Neale, P. (2006) Conducting in-depth interviews: A guide for designing and conducting in-depth interviews for evaluation input. Mason: Pathfinder International.
Cantoni, L & Xiang, Z.P. (2013) Information and communication technologies in tourism 2013. Berlin: Springer – Verlag.
National Poverty Center (n.d.) Poverty in United States. Retrieved from http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/.
United Nations (2003) Major trends affecting families: A background document. New York: United Nations.
Women Walking West. (n.d.) Official website. Retrieved from http://www.womenwalkingwest.org/.
