Proposed Business Strategy for a Nonformal Architecture-Related Education Start-up (Case Study: Klass Academy)

Architecture is arguably one of the most complex and broad subjects, both for academic study and professional practice. Thus, many architecture students and practising architects participate in nonformal architecture-related learning activities. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented impact on both formal and nonformal education systems worldwide; with the inevitable closure of schools and institutions, the sudden shift to virtual learning becomes mandatory. These drastic digital accelerations have caused the customers’ behaviour to change adaptively - the use of online education service and the market demands in nonformal education show an increasing trend. This paper presents a contextual and relevant business strategy for Klass Academy - a startup company in nonformal educational business - amid the pandemic and post-pandemic scenarios. It will underpin how the company could maintain its competitiveness by first analysing the existing business condition - both externally and internally, using several tools and theories from the literature study: Market Analysis, Porter’s 5 Forces, and Research-Based View Analysis. The findings from conducted analysis determine the proposed business strategy recommendations - with the use of Ansoff matrix as an analysing tool. The formulated strategies in this paper are categorised as Product Development Strategy and Diversification Strategy.