THE APOLLO GROUP

Hifaf Hazem
Abrar Bamshmos
Lina Alsahli

1. INTRODUCTION
oApollo Group; created by John Sperling, is a publicly traded forprofit educational institution headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
Apollo operates two for-profit college brands, the University of
Phoenix and Western International University.
oOther educational institutions include the Institute of Professional
Development, and the College for Financial Planning.
oThe University of Phoenix accounts for the overwhelming majority
of the companys students and is the Nations largest for-profit
college. It offers Associate, Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral
programs in over 100 different fields.

1. INTRODUCTION
oThe University of Phoenix has been described by defenders of the
educational establishment as a low-quality education and is all too
willing to sacrifice educational standards for the opportunity to
make profits.
oIt serves a niche that the educational establishment long ignored:
working adults who need a practical education to further their
careers and who cannot afford the commitment associated with
full-time education.

HISTORY

o1973 university of San Francisco; a financially troubled school, agreed to

sponsor the Institute of Professional Development program using its
accreditation to validate the degree.
o1978 after 5 years of fighting to get accreditation in California, and
politicians always standing in his way, Sperling decided that it would be
impossible to develop his concepts of education for working adults within
the confines of an existing institution. So he decided to establish his own
university.
o1981 1984 Sperling reentered California after receiving a license to
operate in it, they change3d the law and declined their request for
accreditation. After three years of intensive political lobbying they got the
accreditation.

HISTORY

1989 Sperling started online education successfully through UOP.

2006 it became the global leader in online education amounting to
160,000 students enrolled.
2010 introduction of a 3 week program called University
Orientation. A program that allows students to register for free to
find out whether enrolling in the university is right for them. It is
aimed for students with limited college experience.

DILEMMA
oWith traditional universities going to online learning as well and
targeting working employees, the brand advantage enjoyed by
popular universities will limit enrollment growth at UOP. Its facing
increased competition from them.
oAs UOP continues to grow and spread geographically, it is having
difficulty in gaining new accreditation for the new geographical
areas.

ADDRESSING THE ISSUE

oFirst, in order to solve the issue, we must analyze their other core
competencies, that can be their new competitive advantages.
oSecond, before entering a new geographical market, they must
assess how difficult it is to enter versus how benefitting it will be
when they enter the new market.

MISSION AND GOALS

Mission:
Today, Apollo Education Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries,
University of Phoenix,Apollo Global,Carnegie Learning,
College for Financial Planning, and
Apollo Education Ventureshas established itself as a leading
provider of higher education programs for working adults by
focusing on servicing the needs of the working adult.
Goals:
One of Apollos main goals is to become one of the highest quality
education organization.

2. STRATEGIC ANALYSIS
Internal environment analysis:
Core competencies.
Resource based analysis.
Value chain analysis.
Financial analysis.

INTERNAL ANALYSIS : CORE

COMPETENCES
oFirst movers in online higher education
oCaptured the working adult niche
oGeographic spread
oHuge investment in new tech.
oRelatively low cost leading to higher profit
oVariety in accredited courses

INTERNAL ANALYSIS :
RESOURCE BASED VIEW
Innovation
First movers into
online higher
education
Captured a niche
market
Axia College

Organization
al
Size ( largest
provider of
higher education
in USA)
Centralized
system
Growth strategy
Low-cost
strategy

Technologica
l

Online system
Developed systems
for student tracking
, marketing, faculty
recruitment,
training and
academic quality
management

Valuable
resources
Human resources
Accreditations
Extensive
marketing
Geographical
spread

INTERNAL ANALYSIS
:FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

INTERNAL ANALYSIS
:FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

2. STRATEGIC ANALYSIS
External environment analysis:
Five forces analysis.
Key success factors.
Driving forces.

FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS

o Threat of new entrants
Low Medium
o Threat of substitute
Medium High
o Intensity of competitive rivalry
Medium High

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS

o Accreditation
o Online Classes

DRIVING FORCES
The working adults who need for particular education in order to
further their careers.

SWOT ANALYSIS
Strength:
Geographic spread
Huge investment in new tech
Growing focus on hiring and
maintaining quality faculty
personnel
Centralization of the
curriculum which allows
unified standard

Opportunities:
New academic
programs.
To expand outside
USA.

Weakness:
People still do not
trust the new system
of online education.
Threat:
Their competitive
advantage can be
easily copied by
competing
univariates.

STRATEGIES
Differentiation:
They are differentiating themselves from traditional universities. By
offering online education in addition to the traditional education. They are
targeting a new market that was not targeted by traditional universities.
Acquisition:
They started out by acquiring a bankrupt university campus.
They used a strategy to boost enrollment rates by offering incentives to
teachers, that was viewed unfair. Thus they were sued for it.
Low-Cost:
UOP operations are adjusted to add lower costs to the university.

STRUCTURE
Centralized structure:
UOP follows a centralized structure, where it has established
ownership over the curriculum taught in its classes and the
instructor has little control over to no control over the curriculum
This aligns with their growth strategy, differentiation, low-cost:
- allows them to adjust to expansion , they can rapidly include new
material and roll it out system wide.
- allows them to cut out more cost / text book / instructors.
- allows them to be always be innovative and different as changes
are easier to make.

3. SOLUTIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
o Due to the fact that UOP is facing a lot of criticism for using a new
platform for higher education (online education), they should focus
on creating a valuable education of high quality that will ultimately
produce highly qualified graduates. This way, their graduates will
help prove that UOPs curriculum is as strong as any traditional
university with a high reputation.
o We recommend UOP to maintain its political lobbying strategy.

3. SOLUTIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
o They should conduct a marketing research to find new ways to
further expand new educational platforms, in order to stay a
pioneer in their market.
o They should keep centralizing their curriculum.
oTry to introduce new majors.