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Environmental scanning project for online professor...

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1 Dominique Santoyo

Environmental Scanning

Environmental Scanning/ Project 1 Dominique Santoyo Marketing 314

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Environmental Scanning

Over the years, going Greek and joining a sorority has continuously been a popular decision that female college students contemplate doing, even disputing the negative stereotypes you hear about Greek life in the news. One thing that doesn’t always come to mind is that all sororities are a business at the end of the day. I am going to focus primarily on Phi Mu Fraternity. Phi Mu Fraternity was founded in 1852, in Macon, Georgia at Wesleyan College. At the time these women were not allowed to have a social group like the men had, so they were founded as a Philomathean society, also known as a literary society for academics. Phi Mu is the second oldest sorority to exist and has chosen to keep Fraternity in their title because, “Wesleyan was the first institute to grant bachelor's degrees to women and is known as the birthplace of the collegiate sorority. However, some sororities predate the term "sorority" and are thus known as "fraternities for women." Phi Mu is one such sorority, as its formal name is Phi Mu Fraternity.” (Phi Mu, 1) In 2018 Phi Mu women have continued the legacy of their founders, Mary Elizabeth Myrick Daniel, Mary Ann DuPont Lines and Martha Bibb Hardaway Redding for going on 166 years come March 4th, also known as Founder’s Day. In that time over 175,000 Phi Mu women have been vibrant members of college campuses and we have chartered over 247 chapters.” (About Us, 2) Across the United States. My environmental scan for Phi Mu Fraternity will elaborate more on social, economic, technological, competitive and regulatory forces, also known as environmental forces. Social factors tend to focus on an environments demographics such as its population profile, diversity in race and ethics and generational cohorts. “Statistics show that as of 2017, 20.4 million students enrolled in college and out of those, 11.5 million were female students.” (NCES, 3) Phi Mu Fraternity has a sole purpose of focusing on college women between the estimated ages of 18 to 23, however those are set, just as long as the women are in college. The

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racial standards of being invited to join Phi Mu are not set to a certain ethnicity, Phi Mu strives to be a diverse fraternity for college women. As time continues on, the type of women and trends Phi Mu looks for change. Each generation is different and if Phi Mu didn’t adjust to what the new norm is for college women, then Phi Mu Fraternity as business would no longer exist, instead they would be a chapter from the past. The next focus is on economic factors. This pertains to things such as the incomes, expenditures and resources used within the Fraternity that are able to keep them as a functioning chapter across the United States. Phi Mu Fraternity’s biggest target are collegiate women on campuses. This is where a majority of the Fraternity’s money comes from. Being a part of Phi Mu also means having to pay monthly dues. These dues can range from $50 at one university to $800 at another university and they all cover different things. For example, at Tarleton State University the average monthly dues for active women are $59 that goes directly to the chapter. Other schools such as the “University of Tennessee pays on average $838” (Phi Mu, 4), these prices vary so much because at Tarleton State, Phi Mu does not have a house whereas at Tennessee they do. Within the academic year, dues will increase to pay certain dues directly to nationals/headquarters to help them maintain a steady income too. Throughout the years monthly dues will changed just as the economy does too, however because Phi Mu has so many chapters across the US doesn’t mean that if the prices increase in one state that they all must increase in all the other states. Phi Mu Fraternity headquarters runs as the main business and each chapter on university campuses function as branching off from the main business. Another way Phi Mu Fraternity inquires income is continuing on the women’s legacies and creating alumni chapters in which you also must pay dues to be in, which consist of a, “$252 initiation fee and then a $20 yearly fee” (Alumna Initiation, 5) after that. There do become issues of women leaving the

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chapter because they cannot afford their dues, in which if it is because of a family crisis/devastation that has occurred Phi Mu Fraternity has a scholarship that women may apply for in order to help them cover not only their sorority dues but also their university dues. Otherwise Phi Mu statistics show that more women stay in the fraternity than the women that leave so financially they can afford to lose women and still stay functioning especially due to headquarters making each chapter meet a certain quota for women in their chapter and if they don’t meet that number then the chapter is fined, therefore Phi Mu headquarters are still making their numbers financially. However typically women who join a sorority go through the process and are made aware of the financial obligations that come with it and therefore having the choice to not go through the recruitment process if they cannot afford it. Lastly, due to Phi Mu being a “not for profit Fraternity” (Phi Mu Fraternity, 6) it is up to the in their collegiate chapters to help raise over millions of dollars for Phi Mu’s philanthropy also known as Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. This donation is made up of numerous fundraisers hosted by Phi Mu chapters raising money for the children and to keep the legacy of Mary, Mary and Martha alive. Phi Mu Fraternity technological forces come from their communication efforts. Being a fraternity there is not much science or engineering aspect behind it but instead they use technology to communicate across the world. Headquarters has main website for active members, alumnae and potential new members to go and explore. Each chapter has their own specific website for their campus so collegiate women can look more into who these women are and how to contact them and when recruitment is occurring on a specific campus. Along with both Nationals and each specific chapter have social media accounts to relate their information to the public. Headquarters biggest way of reaching other women is from active members sharing and socializing their information to other women across social media. They want their pictures

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and names to come across women who aren’t currently members, this is a huge way of recruiting new women into their fraternity. They also rely on formal communication through emails to active women, by sharing certain important things that only pertain to active members that they don’t want to share over social media. Another important technological aspect Phi Mu uses is collecting data from current chapters and past chapters and creating an “archive of data” (History, 7) for Phi Mu women to go back and reference. Competition is the fourth environmental force, which focuses on alternative choices other than Phi Mu Fraternity. Phi Mu Fraternity falls under a pure competition, which there are many other sororities, but they are all similar in what they do. Phi Mu is a part of the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), which consist of 26 sororities including Phi Mu. NPC is a “… values-based organization, the 26 members of NPC live their missions, with their members providing millions of dollars in philanthropic support to dozens of worthy causes and pursuing millions of additional hours in community service. From Supporting victims of sexual assault, to leading bystander’s intervention programs, to fighting for body-positive campus cultures, sorority women are at the forefront of solving some of the most pressing challenges facing collegiate women today.” (National Panhellenic Conference, 8) NPC also has a rule that once you are initiated into a certain sorority you are now allowed to drop the sorority and join another NPC sorority because it goes against binding to a sisterhood. This also brings in another competitor, which are other sororities that are not a part of the National Panhellenic Conference. There are sororities that are focused are their religious beliefs or their ethnic backgrounds or certain interests. For example, Sigma Phi Lambda is based on these women’s Christian beliefs, whereas Zeta Phi Beta focuses around the collegiate women’s ethnic backgrounds, and Sigma Alpha is a sorority founded around the agricultural society. All sororities are similar in which it is

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a collaboration of women who are asked to join a group of women who pay dues, put on fundraisers to support their philanthropy and strive to carry out the legacy of the member before them. There is a lot of competition in Greek life for women, but it is ultimately about how Phi Mu Fraternity presents themselves not only nationally but also locally. Lastly, the final environmental factor is regulatory forces. Phi Mu Fraternity has a whole process in which women must understand and abide by and if they choose to break any of these rules there are consequences they must face. Phi Mu women have system where Nationals created bylaws for all of the chapters across the United States, and within the bylaws it explains what is and isn’t allowed within the Fraternity. The bylaws consist of about 33 pages that state different rules, in which the first and most important one states that, “Violation of the rules or standards of the Fraternity or of the college or university; violation of the laws of the United States or any state thereof.” (Bylaws, 9) This although may seem very broad, but that is because National could not create a very detailed list of what is and isn’t allowed because laws are different in each state and on campuses, so this states that they must be followed no matter what they are. Other rules state that Phi Mu women must remain in good financial standings, in which they pay their bill on time every month, remain in good academic standing, maintaining a certain GPA approved by the Fraternity, etc. These laws/rules are here to set and maintain Phi Mu’s ideal noble womanhood in which these standards are what headquarters expects every woman to abide by in order to keep their Fraternity/business from being in any negative news therefore hurting their potential growth and business. Phi Mu has set up a system in the case of where the fraternity women do not abide by these rules they must be sent to the discipline committee which will then review their case and determine their possible punishment. In this process a fraternity woman has the opportunity to speak on behalf of herself and her mistakes to the discipline

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committee twice and then to the entire collegiate chapter and then to nationals if the case is not settled prior. They have created these multiple steps so that a woman has a chance to redeem herself before possibly being dismissed from the Fraternity completely for not following the rules. Phi Mu Fraternity’s name is the most important factor of their business because it is what is publicized so just as a company doesn’t want employees that will cause failure in the company, the fraternity doesn’t want women who hurt their branding. Phi Mu is the second oldest sorority that exists and has been around for going on 166 years. I believe that they will continue to grow and face the new challenges that come to them and attract more collegiate woman to join this sisterhood for a lifetime. Although at the end of the day Phi Mu is business with a thousand more environmental factors in it that most of the women realize, it is their hard work and dedication that keep this fraternity alive and striving through the changing economy and generations. These women will maintain the legacies that have been passed down to them, and whole heartedly put in effort to keep the fraternity successful because despite the competition that may occur there is always something in Phi Mu that other sororities don’t have, and it takes the right women to realize it and want it.

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Environmental Scanning Works Cited:

1. “Phi Mu.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Feb. 2018, aaaaen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_Mu. 2. “About Us | Phi Mu at a Glance | The History of Phi Mu Fraternity.” Phi Mu, aaaawww.phimu.org/about-us/. 3. “The NCES Fast Facts Tool provides quick answers to many education questions aaaa(National Center for Education Statistics).” National Center for Education Statistics aaaa(NCES) Home Page, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, aaaances.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372. 4. “Phi Mu (ΦΜ).” Office of Sorority & Fraternity Life, 25 Aug. 2017, aaaagogreek.utk.edu/chapters/phi-mu-%CF%86%CE%BC/. 5. “Alumna Initiation.” Phi Mu, www.phimu.org/for-alumnae/alumna-initation/. 6. “Phi Mu Fraternity | The Faithful Sisters.” Phi Mu, www.phimu.org/. 7. Historyit. “Phi Mu Digital History.” Phi Mu Digital History, phimu.historyit.com/. 8. National Panhellenic Conference” National Panhellenic Conference, aaaawww.npcwomen.org/about/. 9. “Bylaws.” Phi Mu, www.phimu.org/wp-aaaacontent/uploads/2016/09/Discipline %20Manual.pdf....