ASSIGNMENT OF WEEK 8

Make a list of competitors for Islington College
Develop a Porter’s 5 Forces Model for Islington College
To which strategic group might Islington College belong?
Can you map the group?


Introduction of Islington College

Previously known as Informatics College, Islington College has been serving the education sector in Nepal. It is located in Kamalpokhari, Kathmandu, Nepal. It was established in 1997 as a regular franchisee of Singapore main board listed Informatics Education Limited.

The college is directly affiliated with London Metropolitan University. Currently, it is delivering Bachelor Degree in Business Administration; Computing; Computer Networking & IT Security and Multimedia Technologies. It is the first institution in Nepal to run London Metropolitan University programs.

Competitors Colleges of Islington College:

There are several institutions and colleges that are competing with each other to attract more students. Some colleges are offering programs of Nepalese Universities and abroad universities. Followings are the list of main competitors of Islington College:

Colleges offering International Degrees:

·         The British College

·         Softwarica College

·         International School of Management and Technology

·         Kings College

·         Silver Mountain College

·         London College of Business and Computing

·         Lord Buddha College

·         Lincoln College

Colleges offering Degrees of Nepal

·         White House College
·         Apex College
·         V.S. Niketan College
·         BernHardt College
·         Campion Kathmandu College
·         College of Software Engineering
·         DAV College
·         Don Bosco College
·         Everest College
·         Global College of Management
·         Himalaya College
·         Kantipur City College

Competitive Rivalry

The competitive rivalry between colleges is becoming intense. In the past Islington used to have monopoly in the International Degrees. But, today there are more than 50 colleges offering International Degree in Kathmandu, which are competing with Islington College. Also other colleges affiliated to Nepalese University are becoming threats to Islington. They are introducing new technologies and infrastructures. Also they are providing discounts offer and other incentives program. Colleges are reducing their fee structure in order to attract more customers.

Buying Power

Buying power of student is low and they have lot of choice to select college. Students have high switching cost hence there will be no threat from buyers to the Islington College.  Also students cannot threaten Islington College by entering as a competitor. Hence, the buyer’s bargaining power seems to be lower and it will be benefit for Islington College.

Power of Suppliers

For Islington College, supplier is London Metropolitan University. The bargaining power of supplier is automatically higher because it will be very difficult for Islington College to switch to another university. The switching cost will also be high because it needs a lot of research, procedure, licensing and other cost.

So, here the bargaining power of supplier seems to be higher.

Threat of Substitutes

Several colleges in Nepal are offering online degrees and distance learning facilities. Such facilities might become a substitute product of Islington College’s International cost. The cost is also lower.

But in Nepal, the concept of online study and distance learning are not well developed, there is a little chance of threat from it to the Islington College.

Threat of Entry

The threat of entrants is high because the cost in the investment and licensing cost is very high. Also Government has a strict regulations and policies. When the companies want to enter the education sector they need more time to do the Economies of Scale. Due to the brand loyalty, the newly established may find hard to survive.

    Strategic Group Analysis

Strategic Group Mapping

Islington College comes under the college providing International Degrees with a high cost. As it has used   modern technologies and infrastructure, its cost is high.

References:

• http://www.islingtoncollege.edu.np/

        [Official website of Islington College, Accessed on 25th December, 2012]

• http://www.thebritishcollege.org.np/

         [Official website of The British College, Accessed on 25th December, 2012]

• http://softwarica.edu.np/

         [Official website of Softwarica College of IT and E-Commerce, Accessed on 25th December, 2012]

• http://nepalcolleges.com/

        [Nepal Colleges.com, Accessed on 25th December, 2012]