Branding Business Schools: Introducing "Students Decision Journey" as a Guidance Model

Thesis Purpose: This thesis aims to study how a business school’s brand is built in the mind of prospective students and examine the role of internet communication plays in the brand building process. Methodology: Qualitative research method is mainly used in the thesis, several focus group interviews and individual interviews have been done with master students and administration officials to collect primary data in a two case studies from CBS and LUSEM. In addition to public reports and WebPages of different business schools that have been studied to collect the secondary data. Theoretical perspectives: The theories used in this study are theories on Brand Equity, Higher education, consumer behavior with internet communication, and buying decision process. The framework is based upon Keller’s four stages of a brand development process combined with Kotler’s buyer decision process. Empirical Data: In-depth interviews were adopted in this research study, to form an understanding of schools strategic standpoint regarding branding and internet communication with International students, and then focus group interviews followed for collecting students’ stories of applying, the influence of internet on their brand perception and decision making process. Conclusion: For a business school brand to succeed in its marketing communication attempts with its stakeholders i.e. mainly students, a brand has to understand what goes in the consumers’ minds when it comes to valuating choices, they have before applying for a program offered. Internet has proven to be one of the main channels of communication that links schools with potential students, designing an informative and attractive website can have an effective influence on student’s perception. A typical student decision journey as a guidance model is being introduced in this study.