Introduction
A day care center is the care of a child during the day by a person other than a child’s parent or legal guardian, typically performed by someone outside the child’s immediate family. Day care is typically an ongoing service during specific periods, such as the parents’ time at work. The service is known as child care. Day care centres are an easy target because they’re the most institutional form of childcare, but this quality can work in their favour too: They’re usually regulated, offer a structured setting, and care is well-supervised.
Experts say this arrangement can work well for children of any age as long as the center is of high quality. In our country, there is an existing Republic Act 6972 which is “An act establishing a day care center in every barangay, instituting therein a total development and protection of children program, appropriating funds therefore, and for other purposes”. This republic act aims to defend the right of the children to assistance, including proper care and nutrition, and to provide them with special protection against all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to their development. This act was approved in Nov. 23, 1990.
Background of the Study
We, the researchers of this study, have decided to choose this topic for our thesis because we believe that each child has a potential, and we’d like to help them develop it from their very young ages. Having this topic would make us more familiar with caring for children and even right parenting. Aside from that, our topic also relates to the marketing mix of a day care center, also since it’s the core of our knowledge as marketing students.
Studying the marketing mix and assessing the current effectiveness of the marketing mix of businesses (the selected day care centers) will benefit us if we choose to venture into a child care business or if we will work in a business involved in marketing child care services and the likes.
In this study, we have gathered information that reveals the origin and modern day qualities of a day care center. It is interesting to see how the history of day care centers has developed day care centers through the years. From 1950s, according to a Philippine Presentation, day care centers in the Philippines have actually been decided by non-Filipinos, affecting all Filipino children.
Theoretical Framework
We have chosen the Marketing Mix model, also known as the 4Ps, as our theoretical framework. As the study focuses on the marketing aspects of the involved companies, it is important and an obvious choice to rely on the 4Ps model.
Elements of the marketing mix are often referred to as the “Four Ps,” a phrase used since the 1960’s. Product – it is a tangible or an intangible service that is mass produced or manufactured on a large scale with a specific volume of units. Intangible products are service-based like school industries, tourism industries, or codes-based products like cellular phones and credits.
A less obvious but ubiquitous mass produced service is a computer operating system. Teaching also need to be taken into consideration. Every product is subject to a life-cycle including a growth phase followed by an eventual period of decline as the product approaches market saturation. To retain its competitiveness in the market, product differentiation is required and is one of the strategies to differentiate a product from its competitors.
Price – the price is the amount a customer pays for the product. The business may increase or decrease the price of product if other stores offer the same product.
Promotion – represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the marketplace. Promotion has four distinct elements: advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion. A certain amount of crossover occurs when promotion uses the four principal elements together, which is common in film promotion. Advertising covers any communication that is paid for, from cinema commercials, radio and internet adverts, through print media and billboards.
Public relations are where the communication is not directly paid for and includes press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs, and events. Word of mouth is any apparently informal communication about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or people specifically engaged to create word of mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays an important role in word of mouth and public relations (see Product above).
Place – a way of getting the product to the customer and / or how easily accessible it is to customers.
To businessmen, managers, and would-be business owners, to understand the current preferences of parents with children that they enrol in day care centers. This will help identify factors affecting product preferences which can be used ideally for product development and can be used to effectively forecast trends for these selected day care centers.
- To marketing students, as they can learn the different strategies on the business improvement.
- To the customers, they can have a better understanding on how their personal preferences affect the products and establishments that offer said products. This will also help customers cope in the ever changing development of products and services.
- To the future researchers, researchers undertaking similar studies can utilize the outcome since it can be used as part of the literature and studies review. Other researchers can also make use of the methodology in the undertaking of their own research work.
- To us, the researchers, being familiar with this industry and having the knowledge to manage a day care center, this study is a clear choice to further expand the horizons of the researchers. This information can someday help the researchers have an understanding day care business, perchance that the researchers would venture in a child care industry.
In addition to what has been mentioned, this also offers a variety of job opportunities in different levels, from skilled employees to managerial positions, which many are not aware of.
Definition of Terms
- Product – something that is sold as commodity which can be a product or service
- Price – the quantity of one thing that is exchanged or demanded in barter or sale for another
- Place – a physical environment where you place your product
- Promotion – the act of furthering growth or development of something, it is the sale of merchandise thru advertising, publicity or discounting
- Customers – one that purchases commodity or service, an individual having some specified distinct trait
- Day Care – supervision of and care for children or disabled adults that is provided during the day by a person or organization
- Ubiquitous – existing or being everywhere at the same time.
