Marketing strategies applied by private middle Motivational factors affecting employees work performance and professionalism: a case of public high school teachers in Nairobi

Abstract

The Private Middle Level Colleges (PMLCs) play a significant role in providing tertiary education in Kenya. They compliment the government owned middle level colleges in providing career focused education and training programmes to the post secondary clientele. PMLCs bridge the gap between supply and demand of tertiary education in Kenya, which is created by the inability of the public institutions to meet the demand.

The demand of tertiary education has led to establish of many PMLCs especially in Nairobi. This has led to competition among these colleges. The competition has made it necessary for the PMLCs to apply marketing practices in their business.

The primary objective of the study was to investigate the marketing strategies employed by the PMLCs. These strategies included the course strategies, fees strategies, promotional strategies, place strategies, marketing research and people strategies.

The target population of the study comprised all PMLCs in Nairobi. The sample frame was obtained from the Kenya Telephone Directory Yellow Pages. Using the simple random sampling method, 40 PMLCs were selected. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistical tools were used in actual analysis.

The study established that most PMLCs are young and growing institutions. The PMLCs mainly offer courses that are in high demand in the job market including Computer and Business courses. Advertisement, Word of Mouth and Networking are the major promotional tools used by the PMLCs. PMLCs have Marketing Intelligence Systems, which collect information necessary for decision-making. PMLCs rent their premises rather than owning them. It was established that PMLCs set their fees using cost-plus method and also going by the competitor’s charges. Finally, PMLCs allow the students to pay their fees installments. The study concluded that PMLCs are marketing oriented institutions. They apply conventional marketing practices in their business.

The study recommended ways in which PMLCs can be able to market themselves better. These include adopting strategies like joint ventures, franchising, and accreditation, augmenting their services and sourcing for international clientele. The study also recommended that the government and the financial institutions should formulate better policies, which will help to build this sector.

Finally, the study suggested that further research should be carried out on marketing in Private Primary and Secondary Schools in Nairobi and also marketing in Private and Public Universities in Kenya.