“Unintentional demarketing” in higher education

There have been so many abortive efforts to increase demand, resulting actually in driving customers away – this epitomizes “demarketing” and it is, by all means, “unintentional”. This chapter presents the developments in a sector where the consequences of such “unintentional demarketing” have often been overlooked. It highlights the “demarketing” consequences that were not envisaged by the HEI sector, which according to Levy, equates to “marketing myopia” arising from the unintentional demarketing initiatives by those institutions that should have known better. In their bid to embark upon ostensible demarketing (or sometimes strategic demarketing), HEIs have only ended up “cannibalizing” their flagship brands and/or services. Typical examples considered in this chapter include (i) the rampant revised editions of best-selling textbooks with very little value-added; (ii) polycentric misunderstanding of regionally adapted texts in order to appeal to erroneously perceived new frontiers (e.g. Asia and the Middle East); and (iii) the launch of inappropriate programmes and/or courses, which are little more than “a flash in the pan”with no sustainable basis for achieving medium-to long-term goals.