The online education market is characterized by the presence of many global, regional, and local online education solution, platform, and service providers.
According to Wantstats analysis, Lynda.com is currently leading the global online education market in terms of market share. It provides a basic and premium membership and is offered in various languages including German, French, and Spanish-language for its courses. Lynda offers solutions for business, higher education and government. Lynda.com is acquired by LinkedIn in 2015 for USD 1.5 billion. The reason behind this acquisition is to use the lynda.com extensive library of premium video content helps empower people to develop the skills needed to accelerate their careers and build new skills which then integrated with the millions of members and jobs on LinkedIn can change the way people connect to the opportunity to develop their careers.
SAP SE. has occupied the second position in the global online education market. The company provides a comprehensive product portfolio that consists of SAP learning hub which provides 24/7 access to online learning content, live SAP training systems, interactive SAP learning Rooms in a private or public cloud environment. It provides subscription-based pricing of SAP learning hub for professional edition, discovery edition, business edition and solution edition each has its implementation and deployment based on the customer preference and requirements. SAP learning hub offers effective training choices for each and every user, whatever their natural learning approach or style is. The success of SAP depends on the research and development made by the company for the enhancement and development of its solution.
Oracle Corporation has occupied the third position in the global online education market. The company offers a wide variety of products and solutions for online education including Oracle Cloud Learning Subscription which is a comprehensive set of high-quality training videos with hands-on labs and Oracle certification exams. It provides unlimited access 24/7 for 12 months to rich learning ecosystem with constantly changing content that enables the users to build expertise in cloud application and services, and continuously learn to maintain and grow their skills. The company has a wide geographic presence and has built a strong brand identity which gives it advantages over other providers of online education.Adobe Systems Inc has occupied the fourth position in the global online education market. Adobe systems provides Creative Cloud for online education which offers solutions for students and institutions, schools and entire universities. The company offers business solutions for enterprises, SMEs, partners, industries, customer showcase, professional services and digital learning solutions. With huge customer base and wide geographical reach, Adobe Systems has successfully occupied fourth position in online education market.
Pearson Plc. has occupied fifth position in online education Market. It is a leading industry and operates in across 70 countries and has employed around 35,000 employees. For teaching, the company offers Revel, MyLab and Mastering, ELT Courseware, and Bug Club. For institutions, they offer online program management and connections education. Whereas, for assessments and qualifications, the company offers administration of testing programs, educational assessments and professional assessments. Also, it has built strong corporate network by partnerships with different companies to increase their sales. It has strong market position and has large customer base which thereby supporting its hold on online education Market.
Michael Porter’s five forces model gives a framework for the global online education market. Online education solution and platform providers, trying to create an edge over competitive firms in the global online education market, can utilize this model to better comprehend the industry connection in which their firm operates. The components of each of the forces and the degree or impact of each component in the context of the global online education market have been broken down and analyzed. Threat of New Entrants
The online education market has high growth potential, however, capital required for entering the market is moderate. The technological complexity and technical expertise required for entering the market is also moderate as the software solution require only a few programmers and software developers along with the teachers that can develop the course content for online learning. Additionally, government support for the online education is high due to the adoption of digitalization in various developed and developing countries which lowers the barriers of entry for the new vendors. Therefore, new entrants present a high threat to the major competitors in the market. Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Online education solutions and services are mainly used in various educational institutes and corporates. However, fewer government regulations positively impact market growth. There are a number of suppliers and substitutes providing online education in the market due to moderate capital requirements. The competition among the suppliers is also high due to their high concentration. Therefore, the bargaining power of suppliers is presumed to be low. Bargaining Power of Buyers
The online education solutions and services are mainly used to enhance the learning process and reach the audience having lack of resources to get good education and industry skills. This results in high buyer concentration in the market as on a global level there is necessity of qualified and educated individuals in developing as well as underdeveloped countries. The brand identity is moderate as learning material is same and it has nothing to do with the brand. Additionally, the technical expertise required to operate the online education solution is low as the solutions and services are easy to use. Therefore, the bargaining power of buyers is expected to be moderate in the online education market. Threat of Substitutes
There are a number of substitutes in the online education market due to moderate technical expertise required for the development of the solution and provision of services. Additionally, inclination of buyers towards the substitute players is high due to many players offering alternative solutions to online education, i.e., traditional methods of learning which are more effective than web-based distance learning. The differentiation is low among the competitor’s products. Therefore, the threat of substitutes is expected to remain high.
1.1.5 intensity of Rivalry
The market is expected to witness a high competition among the existing players. Key market players are investing heavily in research and development to improve the online learning experience of the users which helps them to stay ahead in terms of the market share. Additionally, the brand loyalty of the buyers is low due to high concentration of alternative solutions by different players and governments of various countries. Hence the rivalry in the market is considered to be high.
