HB English Kindergarten is a proposed English immersion kindergarten in Busan, South Korea. It will provide young students with an exceptional environment to learn English through conversations with native English speaking teachers and classmates. The kindergarten aims to resolve issues with traditional English education in Korea by focusing on speaking skills. It will compete with other English kindergartens in Busan by offering small class sizes, high quality foreign teachers, and a unique curriculum where all activities are conducted entirely in English.

2. Busan is a city of four million and is the second largest city next to Seoul. The city is located on the east bottom of the nation and is very dense with high-rise apartments. Although there are many foreigners moving into Busan, the majority of them are pure Koreans. The target age group for this institution is from five to ten years old. The estimate number of targeted students is 350,000.

3. Busan has industrial economies and offers rich markets for many different kinds of products. We can purchase cars, computers, cell-phones, and books at a shopping mall or online. It is a developing city and many international trades are made in Busan. People in Haeundae, the richest spot in Busan, are fairly well off and are willing to spend a lot of money on their children’s English education.

4. Korea does not have many natural resources like oil, gold, fish, or land. Geographically, it is a small country packed with people. Rich countries like Japan, the U.S. and other European countries are blessed with many natural resources which allow people to have more job opportunities. However, in order for Koreans to survive in this competitive country, they must educate themselves well so they can learn some sort of service, manufacturing, or technology job to provide for their family. This is the reason that they are so interested in getting a great education so they can be compatible. Koreans are not hesitant to invest a lot of money on education because most of them consider getting a good education as their first priority in their lives.

5. Technology has contributed a large part in developing Korea’s English education. Students are now having one-on-one conversations with their tutors on the phone. They even talk to each other on Skype and discuss about school work, education, and daily events. Seung Tae made many English speaking friends when he served his LDS mission in California, studied Business Management in Hawaii and British Columbia. He is connected with a lot of his friends on Facebook and Skype. We will definitely take advantage of these free online services and human resources as we recruit quality teachers for the kindergarten. Improvement of technology has made it possible for us to conduct an interview with our potential teachers without having to travel thousands of miles. Teachers can also be connected with our students through the technology.

6. There were no regulations on selecting English teachers some years ago. This caused many problems in society. People who did not have anything to do in their lives would come to Korea and make easy money. They did not have required experience and skills to teach students other than being able to speak the language fluently. A lot of them were drunk at night and had sex with their students. When the Government found out about these issues, they set a strict regulation on selecting teachers. Now foreign teachers must have either an English teaching certificate or a Bachelor’s degree of any kind. The Government is allowing Koreans to set up any kind of private institution. Therefore, it is easy to set up an English kindergarten as long as we have necessary resources and plans.

7. The earlier students start to learn English, the better they are able to master it. By offering an excellent English speaking environment, students are able to meet the needs of their educational goal. Furthermore, they are going to better perform in elementary school, middle school, and high school than those who did not have this unique experience at HB English Kindergarten. They are going to have bigger vision about life as they make friends with the international teachers and experience the diverse cultures we offer. They will have desires to be the leaders of the world as they master English at an early age. The vision we have will not only meet the needs of English education goals of students, but it will certainly attract and satisfy many the parents of the children who are enrolled at our institution.

8. Competitor and Competitive Environment analysis

9. There are many institutions in business that meet the needs of the students. There are two competitors we have to compete with: Korean kindergarten and English kindergarten. In Busan, there are many Korean kindergartens that teach children basic values of life and a few English kindergartens that teach basic words and phrases. The trend is parents want their children to go to the English one. The cost of attending English kindergarten is a lot higher than the Korean ones since there is an additional cost such as hiring foreign teachers. The average tuition for the Korean kindergarten is around $250/month and $550/month for English ones in Busan. It is interesting to note that one of the most successful ones in Kangman-gu in Seoul charges up to $2,000/month per student. The average number of students enrolled at an English kindergarten in Busan is around 80 while about 120 students are enrolled at a Korean kindergarten. The government will tell the institution the maximum number of students each institution can accept and the decision is made based on the size of the building and other facilities. Our competitor Corem 21 currently has 70 students enrolled at their school, and there are 85 students enrolled at the Kid’s Club. Their curriculums, school hours, and quality of teachers vary from each institution. As we researched on some of the institutions, there were not many that have classes taught in English only. As we come up with an excellent curriculum and charge a reasonably high price, we will stand out among our competitors.

11. Korean children start attending kindergarten when they turn five years old. They go to public kindergarten (Korean kindergarten only) or private kindergarten. In the public kindergarten, children are taught values of Korean life, the Korean alphabet, phrases, Korean cultures, music, and art. Private kindergarten has two different types which are Korean kindergarten and English kindergarten. Both types teach children the same thing the public kindergartens teach. However, there is an additional class that the English kindergartens offer. They teach children English vocabulary and phrases. Our institution HB English Kindergarten falls into the private kindergarten category. We will make ours stand out by following our unique concept that “English is going to be the only language spoken at our school.” The reason that the parents send their children to the Korean kindergarten is to have them learn values of Korean life and its culture. The reason for children to go to the English kindergarten is to improve English, so they can be confident in their education pursuits.

14. Environment or Nature - Agriculturally speaking, the city of Busan is very poor. Busan has a lack of natural resources. Because of this, education became the most important thing in the lives of most Koreans in Busan. Getting good education is the only way they can survive in this competitive country. There will be a greater chance for us to educate more children as the parents really want their children to success.

15. Population - Providing a great English school for children in this big city will be a successful business. The city of Busan holds four million people. This can be a great place to start up an English school, since people need to get better education in order to survive. Many people in the society means that they really need good education.

18. Service: Literally, everybody is engaged in some sort of service industry. They may be selling burgers at a local McDonald’s, or they may be working at a call center directing hundreds of phone calls each day. Most Koreans come in contact with several foreigners daily. This is the reason that their need to improve English is increasing. They want and hope to communicate with foreigners better, so they can increase sales for their company. They investigate a lot of time and effort in learning English.

19. Education: Those who are in Education business are categorized as lower-upper class by the Korean standard. People look up to teachers and the teachers want to maintain their status. They clearly understand the importance of getting good education. They want their children to be highly educated, so they can also enjoy high status in their lives. They also feel the need of improving English because they are encouraged by other peer group teachers and the government.

20. Technology: Korea is very advanced in technology. Those who are in this industry must be quick to make adjustments in order to survive in the rapid growth of technology. To better compete against others, they must better educate themselves. They want to stay on top of others and hope to be the best at what they do. Knowing English can help them stand out among others. They strive to spare time to learn English.

21. $2,000 - $2,999: This group earns about the average Korean income. The characteristic of this group is they are careful about where they spend money. However, their needs of getting high quality education are great. Therefore, they want to invest a fairly large amount of money on education in hopes that they will be better off later in their lives. Their behavior may be frugal in a way that they are careful about how they spend their money, but we will get their attention by providing them better opportunity costs.

22. $3,000 - $3,999: This group is considered to be fairly well off financially. They earn more than the average Korean households make. They are less concerned about money when choosing a quality education. Their need for an education is great, and they want to find the right additional schooling for their children. They hope to improve their children’s ability to learn subjects and achievements at school. They are quick to make adjustments if they are not satisfied with their children’s performance at school.

23. $4,000 or more: This group is categorized as upper class by the Korean standard. There are many successful people who live in Haeundae, and we expect this group to take a fairly large part of the membership. Because they are financially strong, they are relaxed and enjoy their lives travelling, golfing, shopping, and associating with high class people. Their need is to better educate themselves because they hope and want to maintain their high qualify life. They are relaxed, but they are good at pursuing the best possible choices such as leisure life, sports lessons, meeting with upper class people, and education.

24. Overall Positioning Strategy and Value Proposition (or Unique Selling Proposition)

25. HB English Kindergarten will be known as a place where children can have English conversations freely with classmates as well as with native English speaking teachers. They will also enjoy variety of cultures of the world from our curriculum. Our unique positioning will have a competitive advantage over our competitors. We are offering our customers what other institutions do not have. Korean kindergartens only offer to teach Korean values, culture, alphabet, and mannerism. Existing English kindergartens offer what Korean ones are currently doing, plus English classes that teach basic vocabulary and phrases. A weakness we acknowledge is that we will not be offering what our competitors are mostly focusing on. If customers are seeking to learn Korean values and culture, they may choose to go to other institutions. However, we will certainly grab attention of those who are seriously interested in learning English and experiencing the global culture. We will overcome our weakness by being the best at improving children’s English. We believe that if we can organize an excellent curriculum and hire quality teachers, we do not have to worry about those customers that intend to attend traditional Korean kindergarten and existing English kindergarten. We will have more than enough customers at our institution that appreciate what we have to offer them. In addition, the valued proposition of our institution will quickly spread throughout the city and the nation by word of mouth. The reason that we are choosing this positioning strategy is that by developing a curriculum of an English only speaking Environment, this will not only help resolve Korea’s poor English education system, but our customers will also improve their English faster than any other institutions can help them improve it. The summarized our valued proposition or unique selling proposition is “to improve children’s ability to communicate in English, HB English kindergarten provides an English only speaking atmosphere and global culture because we believe being in an English speaking environment to be the fastest and the most effective way to master the language.”

26. Marketing Mix Strategy and Tactics

27. Product

28. The product mix

29. We will be focusing on selling only one type of product that is English educating service. We have not yet decided whether to include additional charges such as shuttles, lunch, and books into tuition. Most of our competitors only charge students tuition. They do not mention those additional costs to the parents or students. Generally, Shuttles, lunch, and books are either provided for free or they are included in the package. We will research and find out what is the best for our customers and go with their preference. If we decide to include those complementary products into a package, we are willing to give discounts to those who use their own transportation and bring their own food. We will not have to worry about housing and insurance since majority of them will live close by our institution, and they all carry insurance provided by the government. Therefore, it all comes down to one product, English education service and our curriculum.

30. Key attributes and benefits of the product

31. Core product: When our target customers buy our services they are seeking an outstanding English education, so they can not only improve their ability to read, write, listen, and speak the language, but they will be competent in many areas such as doing school work, taking national exams, and finding a global position. Providing this unique environment of speaking English atmosphere will permit students with many opportunities such as advanced education, better career position, satisfactory salary and higher value of life. This experience is what they seek and is the reason why our customers are buying our services.

32. Tangible product & augmented product: We do not have many tangible products since we are in the English education services. The only tangible products are school with teachers. If there is any augmented product, we will be providing our customers shuttles, books, and lunch. These additional items are going to be either charged separately or are grouped in the package. If they all come in the package, customers will be required to pay onetime fee for coming to our school; tuition. Although we are looking at $700 as tuition, this is subject to change because of those extra products and services. The reason for providing our students lunch is that they will stay at our institution for approximately 5-6 hours each day. They must be fed in between the class hours. We will come up with our own curriculum and it will be organized into a book. There is cost for designing one and printing. Not every parent has time to take their children to school. This is the reason that our school will provide shuttles to our customers.

33. Values and personality: Our brand and service will stand for real English speaking opportunity as well as experiencing the global culture. Our brand personality will fall into both excitement and competence category. The students will not only be excited to be involved in our program, but they will stay up-to-date with the classmates and teachers. They will certainly be intelligent in their studies with their mastered English skills. They will also be successful in accomplishing their life goals.

34. Description of our service: We will provide our customers an excellent English education. They will come to our institution by 8:30 a.m. and go home at 3:00 p.m. We will have a lunch break from 12:30 p.m. to 1:20 p.m. The lunch will be prepared by our staffs. Children will experience diverse food from all over the world. The detailed schedule for each class is described as following:

37. We will distribute our products directly to our customers (students). As they pay their school fees they automatically receive textbooks and needed materials for school. These materials will not be distributed to the individual but will be left in at HB Kindergarten to prevent any loss. As we are hoping to provide transportation services, we will be renting shuttle services. We plan to distribute them in the Haeundae are and throughout the city of Busan as the business grows. We will make an agreement with our providers and give them a route so that all our students are cared for. We make sure to provide a comfortable traveling experience for our students in order to attract more students to travel with us and for parents to entrust the safety of their children to our services. Through this service we hope to attract new customers as well.

40. Below is the timeline for our Kindergarten:

41. Start MonthPlanning topics and TasksCompletion DateJanuary 1Organize meeting: preparation of the supporting documents, project structure, calendar of activities, setting up of project governing bodies. Start up of the mapping phase.April 1FebruarySet the standard of the school. Revise the regulations and rules of the kindergarten.February 30MarchCreate new ways of marketing communications. Create a school television channel specifically for HP Kindergarten.June 30AprilAnalysis of existing environment and the potential market offer in order to verify the characteristics necessary for the creation of a “English Kindergarten” specifically dedicated to facing local needs in the area of adding value to the all private Kindergartens.July 31MayMaking sure that security is okayMay 31JuneMake a list of all the needed technology such as computers, the use of the internet, phone lines for the staff members and so forth.November 1JulyGet more supplies such as tables, chairs, and the teaching supplies for our teachersSeptember 1AugustAlso provide more supplies for the students. More books and other supplies.August 31SeptemberMaintenance should be available for fixing electricity, cleaning the classrooms and doing other assigned work.September 30 OctoberSelect SuppliersOctober 30NovemberMake sure to have enough teachers. Get ready to open our new serviceNovember 30DecemberProvide Service to the target customersJanuary1