Strategic Planning for Midchester University - Case Study Example

Running Head: DEVELOP A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR MIDCHESTER Analyzing the Development There are many factors which the management of the university focuses on the issue of development. Some of the factors which the university emphasizes are the importance of its environment both internally and externally. Other factors which the university emphasizes have been analyzed under the PESTLE factors. The management of the Midchester University has also utilized Porters five forces in the development of their business. These development tools have made Midchester’s environment a better place for its educational purposes and issues to be developed and enhanced. Due to this conducive environment in the university, faculty members and professors have been able to identify and are in a position to establish various strategies which are aimed at creating competitive advantage over their competitors. Growth To ensure the university’s growth in business, the management should ensure that they develop a very good communication system between its outlets and within the management team. According to Kurtz (2011), reliable communication system is a crucial element in meeting the goals objectives of the university. Furthermore, the top management of the university should ensure to develop an effective human resource management which performs its functions with a mind of meeting the goals of the university. This can be effected by training and having qualified personnel in various management departments who will be responsible for making the departments to work towards achievement of mission and vision plan. Internal Strengths and Weaknesses of Midchester University The future of the university lies in maximizing the strengths and minimizing the weakness of the university. Some of the efforts which should be implemented as soon as possible are strategies of how to close the gap which was created by poor financial performance which hindered its system growth in the recent years. This requires a GAP analysis tool which can show the difference between the university’s performance now and in the future and how to fill the gap which has been created. Some of the internal strengths of the university include the good image of the university. Midchester has built a positive image in the minds of the students making the student to offer referral to other students. Referral is a very powerful promotional tool because the new students will get to know about the university and the product and services offered. Besides, the university has owned a large market share as compared to its competitors. This is very important to any university because it helps the university to maintain its leadership position in the market. However, there are various weaknesses in the university such as poor employee relationship within the university. This affects the employees mentally and can easily cause the employees to move to other companies. This weakness has also causes the employees to relate with the students poorly causing the returns on equity to drop from the normal percentage. Apart from this, it has been noticed that the university lacks a social change and the cultural coherence which are essentials for every profit making university. To strategize effectively on how to improve the future of the university, the SWOT analysis should be carried out Strengths Global location presence and internationally recognized A very strong financial base which has developed for a long time. Highly recognizable brand name Strong promotional and advertising campaign Employer of choice A strong mission statement and well established objectives Ethical concerns on individuals Weaknesses Lack of social change and cultural coherence Poor employee relationship within the university Public perception of low service value to students Lower return on equity of the overall university share Lower disposable income leading to lower spending on educative programs Opportunities Branding their educationa standards afresh implying reenergizing the university’s role. New internet and online learning platform which has not been exploited. Continuing and further online education strategies development strategies. New conversation and greener policies with regard to packaging and waste. Innovation within the education development and variety of choices in store. Threats Highly substitutable education model Stiff competition posed by universities which imitate the university’s education model. Shift away from local market to international and with more opportunities. Mature and highly competitive marketplace. Some of the issues which are subjected to cognitive biases comprises of the locations of the new campuses to be established, the amount to spend in the new locations and the sources of income and the procedures of decision making. Some of these cognitive biases in Midchester University are analyzed below. Location Midchester University Midchester University has developed to become one of widely popular and recognized brands in the world and besides, a highly successful project. The tens of thousands of campuses and schools of Midchesters which are located all over the world today are geared towards making this university well established across the entire world. This is an advantage to the university since it can serve many students in the wider market. Finances of Midchester University The performance of the university in terms of its financials can be summarized by the balance sheet statements which will give the amount of finance which was invested in the recent past. Furthermore, this balance sheet indicates the assets which the university has and how these assets contribute to the running of the university and the stability of the firm. The following balance sheet illustrates the general assets and liabilities which the university incurred within a span of five quarterly periods: Midchesters Balance Sheet Quarter Ending Sept 2010 Quarter Ending Jun 2010 Quarter Ending Mar 2010 Quarter Ending Mar 2010 Quarter Ending Dec 09 Current Assets Cash 2,160.6 2,160.6 1,978.7 1,978.7 2,063.4 Net Receivables 930.5 930.5 903.4 903.4 931.2 Inventory 102.6 102.6 99.2 99.2 111.5 Total Current Assets 3,597.0 3,597.0 3,450.4 3,450.4 3,517.6 Long-term Assets 20,754.1 20,754.1 19,754.2 19,754.2 20,254.5 Other Noncurrent Assets 4,856.0 4,856.0 4,606.0 4,606.0 4,689.4 Total Assets 29,207.1 29,207.1 27,810.6 27,810.6 28,461.5 Liabilities and Capital Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Current Liabilities Accounts Payable 489.8 489.8 488.8 488.8 620.4 Short-Term Debt 507.6 507.6 19.0 19.0 31.8 Total Current Liabilities 2,843.5 2,843.5 2,212.9 2,212.9 2,537.9 Long-Term Debt 10,492.9 10,492.9 10,420.1 10,420.1 10,186.0 Total Liabilities 15,962.5 15,962.5 15,127.5 15,127.5 15,078.9 Total Equity 13,244.6 13,244.6 12,683.1 12,683.1 13,382.6 PESTLE The following PESTLE analysis will show the environmental factors affecting or likely to affect the university in future. This analysis is a very important tool in an organization since it gives a picture of the performance of the university in terms of its macro-environmental conditions. These conditions are thought to affect the university and may hinder it from meeting the expected goals. Midchesters is a university which is located in United Kingdom and therefore we are going to look at the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors which have influenced this university in the UK. Political and legal factors Several political and legal factors influence the development of organizations in the United Kingdom and Midchesters University is one of them. Because of this, the management of Midchesters University considered several factors when planning. One of these considerations is the monetary and fiscal policies which impact on the performance of a university. The current economic situation in United Kingdom has been of importance since it emphasized on support of universities by the government and reduced interest rates for loans. The governmental influence has also contributed to the success of this university. For instance, the United Kingdom Fair Pay Commission which was formed by the government influenced the wages and conditions which the human resource functions. The rights of university staff in United Kingdom are valued highly enabling the university to be in a position to solve any issue regarding its staff and their rights. Besides the whole costs of getting legal acceptance to trade, the companies in United Kingdom enjoy special privileges like flexible laws in dealing with Franchises and multinational companies Social There are widespread social issues which affect Midchester’s performance in United Kingdom. The “industrial relations and work organization aspects” of the workplace in United Kingdom has enabled the university to create a relationship between employees and the management of the organization. Midchesters University’s jobs have often been criticized as jobs which are labor intensive and geared towards exploitation of the student. The university by use of strategies like campaigning and personal selling has been able to build its reputation (Erica et. al. par.4). They participate on one on one basis with the client which gives room the client to share views concerning the university. The university ahs also developed affiliations with famous foundations like the heart foundation which offers students a variety of menu meals with the heart foundations tick of approval which includes products such as their deli choices, salad range and grilled chicken burgers. Economic factors Several economic factors affect the operation of Midchester’s in United Kingdom. Global recession occurrence, for instance is a key factor that affected Midchesters market indirectly. Despite the fact that United Kingdom is stable economically and has not been affected by recession, there are a lot of instances of unemployment in this country. The effect of this scenario to the university was that it cut down the busying power of the students. During such situations people safe their money and in the process they cannot spend a lot of money. With a lower level in disposable income, prioritizing becomes an issue for individuals implying that they can spend more. The university is most likely to gain from low interests rates that are implemented to boost the economy. This implies that Midchester’s university in United Kingdom can acquire cheaper loans to implement its expansion and development plans. Environmental factors A university can never operate without having a viable environment which is conducive for work. The generation of carbon dioxide is an issue of concern United Kingdom which affects both the social, political and economic concerns. The use of technology has also warranted Midchesters to be keen because it also affects the environment. Due to the revelation of the fact that radiations of microwaves affect people, Midchesters has been in the forerun in using alternative products to these. The packaging that the university has adopted is also environment friendly and has therefore aided the university to boot its brand name. Technological factors Technology is very necessary for any organization to thrive in the world today. Midchester’s United Kingdom has over the years faced the challenge of maintaining a good technological system which is geared towards beating its competitors. The university has however been able to put in place an e-HR system which is powerful and which it allows the university to manage its employees in an efficient manner. The e HR system is also a method of making work easier by making sure that the process of recruitment and arrangement of workers is concerned. In almost all levels, the university has introduced the concept of technology. This has enabled the university to maintain its competitiveness in the market. Conclusion and Recommendations An appropriate strategic plan which must be implemented for future success for this university is creating a continuous uniformity of the experience across university’s locations. Midchester’s must align their processes and procedures to provide a similar service to all students, in order to foster continuing brand loyalty. If students come to expect the same positive experience at all restaurants repeat business is much more likely to occur. Midchesters wants to raise the percentage of recyclable materials that they use in their operations to limit the amount of waste they contribute to landfill. One initiative they have already undertaken was the removal of foam coffee cups and the use of cardboard instead. We recommend that Midchesters HR can focus attention on removing the foam packaging used for the Hot Cakes and continue to increase the recyclable materials they use If HR can come up with more recyclable materials they can use then they can bring their landfill contribution down greatly. HR needs to make management aware of this and try to make sure that suppliers used are thinking of the environment as well. HR needs to ensure that the packaging they get from suppliers is reliable and coming from legal and acceptable sources. By achieving this Midchesters is on the right track to achieving its main objectives with one being based solely around packaging. By minimizing waste Midchester’s will also satisfy their ongoing business objectives to keep low margins throughout their systems and processes. Marketing This is another strategy that is used by an organization to show the pricing, promotion, advertising, and education program design. Midchester University has been on the forefront in making use of marketing as her strategic move and method. It has started using online methods to advertise and reach to the online community. Research and development There are many methods that companies and organizations can use in order to achieve greater efficiency and lower costs of production. Research and development is one method that has been seen to help an organization achieve the desired efficiency and cost reduction. One of the ways that research and development has been seen to improve productivity and cost is the designing and churning of products which are simple to use and uses less parts. They also come up with products which are designed for manufacturing; they require a closer supervision so that they come up with better products. Research and design has also been known to help reduce the production of goods in an organization. One of the ways of reducing this is reducing the process of production. This is an important source of competitive advantage to the organization. It has been this way from time immemorial. Efficiency Midchester has made use of this strategy so much that it has a well distinguished use of economies of scale. Economies of scale in the case that it has a well balanced and wide division of labour. This way, the university has spread the fixed costs widely and evenly across all the functions of operations. Economies of scale and, in particular, division of labor have enabled the university to have employees who are specialized and well suited to work in the university. Quality Midchester has been known brand in quality. They have achieved quality in two aspects: one aspect of the quality is reliability and the other is excellence. Reliability is terms of doing perfectly what they are designed to do. The division of labour has been known to improve the quality in the sense that the workers handle tasks in perfect ways without many errors. Midchester Organization has been known to win in this area. Competitive use of information technology Midchester Organization, like any other organization has made use of information technology in the strategy. They have used information technology to have an online presence. They have made use of web developments to ensure that they reach to distant clients. With the Internet, they are able to sell their presence. They have automated many of their internal processes and also ensured that processes are performed faster. With information technology, Midchester has been able to interact with the suppliers and students. The students have been able to know of new products that have been developed in the organization. References Hoye, R. (2010). Sport Management: principles and applications. Butterworth-Heinemann Kurtz, D. (2011). Contemporary Marketing 2011. Cengage Learning Read More