EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The project aimed at helping Festo Didactic to become aware of its (future) competition, as thecompany planned to diversify into the e-learning market. Because of that, the relevant industrywas analysed in terms of volume, competitors, rivalry and pricing models. The conductedanalysis included 13 direct competitors, 31 non-direct players and 3 potential competitors.Moreover, the 5 most common pricing models for the e-learning industry were identified.

Initial situation

At the start of this project, Festo Didactic was solely engaging in the technical trainingmarket. Technical training means professional training for a technical vocation, either in acompany or in an educational institution. However, Festo Didactic wanted to diversify intothe e-learning market. In order to do so, the company was planning to set up an e-learningplatform. Consequently, the students had the task to analyse the e-learning market, findcompetitors and assess possible pricing models for the new platform.

Methodological Approach

The primary sources of information were online databases and websites from companies. Atthe beginning, the areas of research were divided geographically into continents in order togain a clearer overview of the global landscape of e-learning platforms. To be specific, everycontinent was analysed separately by a student. In total, 47 competitors have been analysed.Moreover, the databases Orbis and MarketLine were used for gathering more detailedinformation about the companies.

Recommendations

Based on the research that has been conducted, we recommend implementing a monitoring andevaluation system to oversee the competition. The digital appendix was handed over to FestoDidactic together with the final project report and contains all information about the analysedplayers. Such a monitoring and evaluation system will require the systematic and regularcollection and analysis of information about these and new companies.