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chotaerang
Joined: 23 Mar 2004
Location: In the gym
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 Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 2:06 am Post subject: What makes hagwons go bust? |
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| I'm curious about this - especially tales of hagwons that made an effort but still bombed. Thanks for any input. |
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teacher!
Joined: 19 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 2:34 am Post subject: |
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The list of reasons is sooooo long!
1) owners/managers not having a clue about how to run a business (balance profits against loss, keep supplies in stock, respond to customer complaints, deal effectively with lousy employees, etc.)
2) not being able to read the market (can the local area support a/another hagwon? is the hagwon serving the needs of the local constituency?)
3) not having A CLUE what education is about (I've never met anyone in a management in a hagwon with any kind of English/education background)
4) the fickleness of the consumer (moms abandon a hagwon before real results have time to happen, don't know how to measure progress or assess quality of teaching)
I think that last one is really one of the biggest ones. One of my saddest experiences was working at a hagwon that only lasted 3.5 months, and the boss was hands down THE most professional, nicest guy who really cared about education that I'd ever met. The whole thing went bust pretty quickly, a large part of which was because the owners didn't go in with enough start up capital (expected a ton of students right away), but I know he had problems from day one convincing the moms that the school was viable. |
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linky123
Joined: 12 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 2:45 am Post subject: |
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Bad management. That includes managing the teachers and the clients (parents). Like other businesses, when you don't have enough business due to a bad product lineup, you will lose the customer base through first the word of mouth and next irreversable reputation of being a bad hakwon. It's basic econ 101.
well... Actually, you could also go under if the owner spends all this profits on boos and whores, accumulating a massive debt. |
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T-dot
Joined: 16 May 2004
Location: bundang
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| Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 3:54 am Post subject: |
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Owners with no previous knowledge of the ESL industry who are just looking to make a buck.
Bad choice of supervisor.
Piss poor at marketing their school and curriculum.
Disorganized; not enough research and experience.
Piss poor teachers that could care less if the school goes belly up or hiring a newbie as their first teacher.
Cannot compete with the big franchises.
Expand too quickly.
Not enough funds to overcome the lulls of the market.
These are in no particular order and off the top of my head. |
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Kikomom
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: them thar hills--Penna, USA--Zippy is my kid, the teacher in ROK. You can call me Kiko
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| Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 4:33 am Post subject: |
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| T-dot wrote: |
| Piss poor teachers that could care less if the school goes belly up or hiring a newbie as their first teacher. |
Glad to see someone owning up to the Teachers part of the equation. And it can work both ways. A popular, effective teacher can most definitely bring success to a hagwon, but there's an element of experience involved in this. And the hagwon owner's attitude goes a long way too.
Not that a newbie can be completely ineffective every time. Talent, a trained or natural instinct towards education, and a strong desire to succeed may be some things an equally conscientious hagwon boss can stumble upon in a noob like a diamond in the rough. |
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AgentM
Joined: 07 Jun 2009
Location: British Columbia, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 10:12 am Post subject: |
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| Kikomom wrote: |
| T-dot wrote: |
| Piss poor teachers that could care less if the school goes belly up or hiring a newbie as their first teacher. |
Glad to see someone owning up to the Teachers part of the equation. And it can work both ways. A popular, effective teacher can most definitely bring success to a hagwon, but there's an element of experience involved in this. And the hagwon owner's attitude goes a long way too.
Not that a newbie can be completely ineffective every time. Talent, a trained or natural instinct towards education, and a strong desire to succeed may be some things an equally conscientious hagwon boss can stumble upon in a noob like a diamond in the rough. |
Yeah, even though I will be a n00b next year, I don't think that hagwons which are just starting up should hire complete noobs among their first few teachers. Newbies are fine for when you're established/ expanding with a staff that has some experience, but if I was starting a hagwon, I wouldn't hire a newbie right off the bat. |
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iggyb
Joined: 29 Oct 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 12:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Competition is also fierce. |
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