group projects

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

The company designs and manufactures electronic products in Taiwan and China, avoiding unnecessary iterations by designing next to the factories, preventing problems using our experience to solve issues on the spot.

“We take responsibility for the complete project, from industrial design and firmware all the way to mass manufacturing and logistics. Companies rely on us to avoid being stuck in the middle of any number of suppliers all pointing fingers at one another if something goes wrong.

For quite a few years we cooperated with local factories to do majority of the electronic design, but even with tight on the ground management that approach had too many problems, so we now do all electronic hardware design and firmware development in-house.

To create a successful electronic device you need the expertise of a lot of different companies and experts. Our team has the full breadth of skills and experience, and our Taiwan head office is right in the middle of Asia’s silicon valley, where devices such as Pebble and Nest had to be completely redesigned to make them manufacturable.

While we work very closely with various vendors at the same time we also act as the IP Custodian for our clients, sharing info with suppliers only on a need to know basis.

We focus on embedded devices in mid-range production quantities, from 50 high-tech security systems for airports to 50,000 dive planners, as long as the value per order is at least US $ 100K.”

PROBLEM AND/OR OPPORTUNITY

How best to promote our Brand?

This project will be based on a review of our website and brochure/marketing materials and coming back with analysis and recommendations.

DATA

This project will include:

• An analysis of the marketing channels and strategies used by competitors in the sector
• An analysis on whether our value proposition is clearly communicated over to potential new clients
• How to improve SEO and engagement
• Compare strategies for blog content

COMPANY INTRODUCTION

This company helps launch foreign organisations into the Chinese market by assisting with social media marketing, IT solutions and e-commerce. This company has experienced rapid growth from a small start up to now employing 18 members of staff across both its Chengdu and Beijing Offices. With clients mainly based in Israel they are now looking to expand into the European and US markets helping firms in these locations crack the Chinese market.

This organisation works with a variety of different clients bringing a range of different sectors into the Chinese market including; Technology; Agriculture and Consumer Products.

Located in the software park area of Chengdu this company has a modern work space located in an up and coming part of the city. The young team and their aspirational goals make this a very exciting internship opportunity.

PROBLEM AND/OR OPPORTUNITY

We are working on a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution for international companies who wish to sell products to the Chinese consumer. We have built a dashboard with the aim of providing our customers’ brands a better understanding regarding how they perform in the online market based on investment, sales and clients data. We would like students to review the dashboards effectiveness from the perspective of a Chinese consumer based on known trends and existing studies to date.

DATA

The students would review the dashboard in its current format and provide feedback and recommendations based on it’s desired utility. It would also be recommended for students to conduct research about competitors offering similar SaaS solutions to provide evidence base suggestions on potential improvements in line with our strategies of growth as a business.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

This company is a leading provider of financial services in Asia, and its mission is to help make people’s lives better through good financial planning. Their core philosophy is to focus on each individual client to find the solution that best meets their objectives. They also assist with offshore company formation, corporate insurance, and risk management.

PROBLEM AND/OR OPPORTUNITY

This company is a leading provider of financial services in Asia, and its mission is to help make people’s lives better through good financial planning. Their core philosophy is to focus on each individual client to find the solution that best meets their objectives. They also assist with offshore company formation, corporate insurance, and risk management.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, they were using networking events to gain most of their sales leads and were able to establish a good rapport with potential clients. For this project, the company would like to know to what extent is social media really the right platform for lead generation, and how else can they market financial planning?

DATA

Students should conduct a full or partial review of the company’s digital offering, this could include website and/or evaluations of company’s digital promotional materials specifically in relation to client lead generation.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

The project is located within a specific department of the Shenzhen Technology University (SZTU).

PROBLEM AND/OR OPPORTUNITY

Professors Dr. Gordana Kierans and Dr. Qian Chen have initiated a research project called ‘Financing the Circular Economy’. The purpose behind this project is to learn, in conversation with decision-makers at banks and investment companies, if they have already financed a green, sustainable, and/or circular company. If yes, they want to know which criteria companies use during their decision-making process.

Half-structured interviews with experts from Zurich, Frankfurt, and other major cities have already started. Next, the professors plan to expand their outreach in order to include other areas of the world.

DATA

The student project would require researching contact persons at banks and investment companies responsible for sustainable investment into sustainable/circular companies. Each student will receive a specific region of the world to focus on.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Our company was established in 2013 and located in Shenzhen, China. We are a manufacturer of digital accessories and have integrated design, research and production. We are committed to the research and development of USB 3.0 products and charging products, including USB 3.0 hub, card reader, multi-port charger, multi-function adapter and super intelligent products.

We offer a strict quality and production management system to provide professional OEM and ODM services for well-known foreign brands.

With an excellent appearance and product design, our company has attracted many customers’ attention at domestic and international exhibitions.

PROBLEM AND/OR OPPORTUNITY

Currently, they have two types of ergonomic products: an ergonomic table and a laptop monitor desk stand. They are looking to launch these two products to the markets above. Their brand is aiming to convey an image of high quality and good design; thus, they’re positioning their price range slightly higher than the existing offerings in the market. Furthermore, they are exploring more ergonomic products to launch this year.

They would like to:

1. Understand the potential market of ergonomic products in the target countries. Among all the products, what are the best potential products for them to develop in upcoming years?
2. Who will be their target consumers to buy ergonomic products, and what are their profiles?
3. What is the customer’s journey when buying ergonomic products, and what are the important factors that customers consider when purchasing?
4. How to reach the consumers via online channels, and how to market their brand to consumers effectively with minimal marketing costs.

DATA

• Review website effectiveness and accessibility
• Product viability – Review our ergonomic table and laptop monitor desk stand to assess viability for Australian Market
• Evaluations of associated advertising, promotional material, manuals & brochures

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

“A gifting service that makes every city just 3 hours away”

“After being in a long-distance relationship, we quickly found out how difficult it was to stay connected beyond our normal communication patterns. Conquering both the time zone differences and distance is no easy feat; sending a simple message with a cup of coffee could at times be a difficult task.”

So, in February 2016, we set out to fix this issue that couples in a long-distance relationship face every day by launching the first cross-regional gifting service, which delivered Starbucks coffee to loved ones in San Francisco and Taiwan. Started by a group of talented young entrepreneurs, we set out to turn the tide for people in long-distance relationships which also include families, students studying abroad, people working abroad and of course, international business partners. We were (and still are) insistent on providing tangible gifts, that are personalized, regionalized, and most importantly, delivered in 3-hours.

In 2017, we officially launched Giftpack, a platform that makes every city just 3 hours away. In just a few clicks on our App or Website, you can order a gift that is carefully curated by some of the best product and service providers in the respective region of your loved one; and your gift will be delivered in 3 hours by one of our well-trained packers. From now on, your heart can easily fly across any region no matter how far it is.

PROBLEM AND/OR OPPORTUNITY

We have a corporate gifting platform powered by AI with several initial tractions and we want to better understand our buyer persona in the US and Taiwan. For example, the Real estate brokers in Los Angeles and try to figure out why they need the strong gifting service and what would be the best way to get their feedback and sales. Our product is ready to sell but we are lacking ideas and strategies on how to make the niche sales happen.

In terms of the data we have to hand and need help analysing: We are monitoring the conversion of our sign-ups and the orders as the top KPI. We can provide feedback, tracking, reviews from our current clients in the US. But a tiny part of them are in Taiwan, and let’s why we need help on verifying which way is the best localization of bringing Taiwanese clients on board with their gifting needs.

We also conduct and record a lot of user interviews to make sure we service special needs.

DATA

We would like students to review the product and associated marketing materials.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

This start-up is China’s first Consultancy Company to take into consideration the influence that Environmental Psychology (EP) has on language learning and personal development. Through event planning and management, they design learning environments to help individuals maximize their learning outcomes. The start-up environment is a very fast-paced environment and participants should be prepared for a more flexible internship experience.

As they are promoting a rather abstract concept, this company organises lots of events to: 1) promote the company and its field of activity 2) make more people experience for themselves the differences between a learning environment tailored with EP knowledge compared to a traditional one 3) promote the idea that learning happens everywhere, in multiple forms.

PROBLEM AND/OR OPPORTUNITY

The company has developed a Dissertation Research Internship program that allows final year students to turn their dissertation write-up into a professional internship experience. In other words, as long as students’ dissertations topics are related to the areas of research of our company, the students will go about their research as they would do in order to be able to graduate, but they would also get an Internship Certificate and a Professional Recommendation Letter for work that would otherwise probably end up on a library shelf. There are many benefits to this program, so the company is interested to find the most effective marketing strategy to engage more students in this program, but also close long term partnerships with universities.

DATA

The students will be able to interview the founder of the company to find out more about their marketing strategy to date. Students will be able to compare data and find effective solutions for the company to promote this project more efficiently. They will have access to the website and social media data to analyse the current strategy.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

This is a Chinese owned, professional publishing and events company with a focus on print consumables (ink, toner etc) and 3D printing. They launched successfully in 2007 and are now the leading media company within these industries, in the world.

Their core products are:

• Several big trade shows
• Monthly magazines in 5 different languages (English, Chinese, Spanish, Russian and Korean)
• A weekly TV show
• A news service on their website and social media

PROBLEM AND/OR OPPORTUNITY

The level of engagement in digital channels used by our organisation and its global imaging competitors has a significant impact upon the relevance and reputation of the brand

We would like an analysis undertaken of our competitors use of digital media. This would include websites, social media, video, newsletters that are used to connect and engage with their audiences. I would provide information on between 10 and 20 competitors and their associated data. I would be expecting a thorough report of each competitor’s channels, analysing the aspects of those channels that engage the best with the audience. I would expect recommendations that my company should follow to increase our audience engagement with our brand.

DATA

Students will have access to our existing client data as well as competitor data which is sourced via our paid subscription to Alexa (https://www.alexa.com/)

Those working on the project can also poll some of those engaged with different audiences and see what is their preferred supplier(s) are of news, view and industry information

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

PROBLEM AND/OR OPPORTUNITY

We are a Chinese company based in China that provides human resource services to our Chinese clients who hire foreign English teachers. Our clients are mainly schools, kindergartens and training centers. There is a shortage of suitable foreign English teachers within China. With a view to source more English-speaking teachers for our clients, we need to understand how to identify and engage with talent already within China as well as attracting teachers who have English as a first language to come to China to work.

The goal for the research project is to identify the types of candidates in English-speaking countries who may be willing to travel to China to teach English, as well as the best mechanisms to attract them. Essentially, what are the reasons and motivations the people are willing or not willing to go to China to work and how can we as a business engage with them better?

DATA

The target interviewees age-range can be from recent graduates to anyone under the age of 50 (after 50 there are visa complications).

We hope that from the data analysis you conduct we will be able to establish:

• What proportion of individuals from English-speaking countries who have a bachelor degree or higher are willing to go to China to teach English? Among those people, what’s the proportion of gender, age, previously visited China?

For those considering going to China to teach English

• How to do they find offers to teach in China, website (names of the websites), agencies, friends or other ways?
• Among those people who are willing to teach in China, what’s the proportion of the ones who have previous teaching experiences?
• What are the most attractive locations (first-tier cities, second tier cities or small cities)?
• What are their salary expectations (by range)?
• What kind of schools are they willing to teach in (i.e. kindergartens, primary/secondary schools, training centers or others such as volunteerism)?
• What are the reasons or the motivations to go to China to work? And the proportion of the different reasons (may be useful to identify existing ‘expat’ teachers if possible).
• How long do they normally plan to work in China for (i.e. >one year, one year, 2 years, unsure)
• What help or support do they need and expect to go to China to work?
• Other questions that may support the result of reaching our marketing research goal.

For those who wouldn’t consider going to China to teach English

• What are their main concerns or difficulties?
• What could be done to attract them/ change their minds?
• Would they be interested in doing other types of jobs in China other than English teacher? If so what kind of jobs are they interested in?

How well-suited are our online and offline materials in terms of appealing to those considering travelling abroad to teach English?

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Our company is located in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong Province, and forms part of China’s ambitious plans as being the transportation hub of the Greater Bay Area policy. Our company has recently expanded its business operations to source, procure and export mining chemicals for the Australian and African market.

PROBLEM AND/OR OPPORTUNITY

Our company is located in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong Province, and forms part of China’s ambitious plans as being the transportation hub of the Greater Bay Area policy. Our company has recently expanded its business operations to source, procure and export mining chemicals for the Australian and African market.

Through collaborating with Australian university students, we hope to be able to analyse the Australian mining chemicals market and decision making process for product segments such as water treatment chemicals, dust control chemicals, flotation chemicals and extraction chemicals. Depending on research time available, we hope students will be able to focus primarily on the following:
– investigate market data on flotation chemicals (collectors, depressants, flocculants, frothers, dispersants) and extraction chemicals (Diluents, Extractants) for the Australian market;
– conduct research into the major purchasing decision criteria for flotation and extraction chemicals;
– scoping out opportunity of launching a b2b e-commerce marketplace where mining companies can safely procure chemicals from China for flotation and extraction chemicals.

We hope to ultimately use this data to launch a website or b2b online marketplace targeted specifically for the Australia market.

DATA

Data required to complete this research project will come from the following sources:
– Industry reports accessed via university scholarly articles and journal database, and other online sources
– Contacting major users of mining chemicals

Students may be provided introductions to relevant Australian and state government and industry association bodies as a way of enriching their industry contacts.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Our company was established in 2013 and located in Shenzhen, China. We are a manufacturer of digital accessories and have integrated design, research and production. We are committed to the research and development of USB 3.0 products and charging products, including USB 3.0 hub, card reader, multi-port charger, multi-function adapter and super intelligent products.

We offer a strict quality and production management system to provide professional OEM and ODM services for well-known foreign brands.

With an excellent appearance and product design, our company has attracted many customers’ attention at domestic and international exhibitions.

PROBLEM AND/OR OPPORTUNITY

We are launching ergonomic products in Singapore and choose to sell via online channels (Shopee, Lazada, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, landing page). Our brand is aiming to convey the image of high quality with good design, thus we position our pricing slightly higher than existing offerings in the market.

We would like to:

1. Understand the potential market of ergonomic tables in Singapore including who are our competitors in Singapore and how their products image are perceived

2. Who will be our target consumers to buy ergonomic products, and what are their profiles

3. What is the customer’s journey when buying ergonomic products, what are the important factors that customers perceive

4. How to reach the consumers via online channels, and how to market our brand to consumers effectively with minimal marketing cost

DATA

• Review effectiveness of prospective online channels
• Review competitor online presence and e-commerce barriers to competition
• Profile potential customers and research important factors to purchasing this type of product online
• Marketing review of possible options and identify best routes to market in terms of effectiveness and cost/time efficiency