Business School Strategy for College of Business at the University of Sharjah - Case Study Example

A Business School Strategy" for College of Business in the University of Sharjah Name: Grade Course: Tutor’s Name: 12th, December, 2009 Introduction University of Sharjah’s college of business administration is one of the oldest colleges in the university and works towards being the leading business school globally and regionally. There is however competition in this field of business and the school has to strive to be at the top, be competitive and remain competitive. This is the reason why the school needs a new mission and a new strategy. The new strategy has the mission to be globally competitive in producing professional business leaders. The new strategy has been developed due to the findings of an analysis of the current strategy as discussed below. Analysis of the Current Strategy University of Sharjah has so many colleges one of which is the college of business administration. This college has its own missions, vision, objectives and strategies used to accomplish its objectives. It has the following mission; to train students to be managers of the future with leadership skills that can enable them lead the region as well as lead organizations of local, regional and global level organizations (UOS, 2009). Missions are guided by the vision of an organization and the mission determines what objectives the organization will develop to ensure the mission is accomplished. The objectives are met by using certain strategies. The organizations therefore set aims depending on their visions, and the aims are accomplished by strategies which are to accomplish objectives aimed at accomplishing the main aim of the organization. The strategies consider who is involved to ensure the aims are achieved, what should be done to ensure the aims are achieved, what resources are needed and how it can be achieved (the processes involved). University of Sharjah’s business administration college has the following vision. That the college aims to be a leading provider of education and research on business in the region (UOS, 2009). For the organization to ensure that its operations are in line with its vision the organization has to have objectives or goals that will help it achieve its vision’s aim. University of Sharjah’s college of business administration’s aim is to train students to be the future managers and leaders of all levels of organizations locally, regionally and internationally. Apart from being in place for producing future leaders, the organizations works towards high quality education and being the leader in the region. The objectives of the business school are as follows: “Produce competent graduates with academic excellence and entrepreneurial skills”. “Recruit and retain high quality Faculty” “Improve the teaching and learning environment” “Improve research productivity of the College” “Ensure that College research is in the service of the community” “Improve student satisfaction with College processes and programs” “Increase relationship and cooperation with the community and expose the relevance of our program to the business community”. “Develop a spirit of cooperation and feed back with the alumni”. “Develop spirit of cooperation and awareness with high schools” (UOS 2009). University of Sharjah’s College of Business Administration’s Strategies The college of business administration has the following goals; to provide a conducive environment for learning and teaching students to gain effective organizational management intellectual, communication and professional skills, to train students to be prepared to be leaders in the government and business organizations in other countries and the gulf region and to develop an environment that will build confidence in students to always strive for excellence while maintaining ethical standards (UOS p. 3). These goals are achieved by an already developed strategy. The business school has a strategy that selects students with qualifications necessary to study business administration and trains the students under specific department to produce different professionals in business administration. Professionals and leaders are produced through departmental management of the business school. It has the following departments managed to achieve the aim of the school: a). Department of Accounting, Finance & Economics which has the mission to produce accountants. This department offers Bachelor of Science in Accounting. b). Department of Management, Marketing and Public Administration which has the mission to produce public administrators and business administrators. It offers Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Bachelor of Science in Public Administration. c). Department of Management Information Systems whose mission is to produce information system managers. It offers Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems. d). Executive MBA Program which deals with Executive management of business administration and producers executive managers/officers. Each department has its own study plan which describes the courses that the students are suppose to do in order to become what the school wants them to be (professional leaders of organizations at all levels). The study plan is according to various levels, that is, there are study plans for freshmen (1st level), sophomores (2nd level), juniors (3rd level) and seniors (4th level). The study plans have the specific courses that the students have to do at different levels and the time needed for such course to mould then into leaders that the school aims to create (UOS pp.12, 26,27 and 28). SWOT analysis This helps determine the strengths and weaknesses of the school’s strategy and the opportunities and threats to the school. The strengths: The strategy has the ability to produce highly qualified leaders because of specialization at different levels, it has facilities necessary for the business school and it has good change management. Due to its quest to ensure quality assurance n teaching and learning, the school plans to use innovative teaching and assessment practices (UOS p. 2). The business school has small group classes (a total of 900 among 4 departments and four levels of providing necessary skills and knowledge) that encourage personal contact with the teaching staff; it has good facilities and selects qualified students to mould into specific professional leaders (CCSU, 2009 & UOS p. 2). Opportunities: University of Sharjah’s college of business administration has the ability to develop new undergraduate courses for example in human resource management, finance and marketing and also has the potential to develop other masters programs and expand on the already developed ones (UOS p. 2). Threats: The school faces threats from other business schools that can also produce professional managers (UAE Colleges and Universities 2009 ; IBCU 2009). To remain a leader, it has to develop another mission which is to prepare the students to compete in the tough professional job market. Weaknesses: There is competing demand for students’ time. Five-Force analysis The supplier power in this case are the providers of education and the facilities necessary for the learning and teaching to go on in the business school (Recklies 2009). Because of the availability of many business schools (there are so many business schools some of which even offer online education (UAE Colleges and Universities 2009; IBCU 2009), there is competition for trainers or professors. The consumer power is the students’ availability or scarcity (Recklies 2009): According to the university’s catalog, the school started with 160 students in 1997 and currently has 900 students (2008). The school has a considerable number of students but it has to put in more effort to attract more students in order to compete in the field of business schools since there are so many schools at the regional level, international level and even regionally (UAE Colleges and Universities 2009 ; IBCU 2009). Threat of substitutes can be threats from other schools that can offer substitute courses to the ones that the school offers (Recklies 2009). There is no threat of substitutes as the trend taken by the world (globalization and development of new technologies) forces organizations to change with time. University of Sharjah’s college of business administration is one of these organizations and plans to incorporate innovative teaching and assessment practices into its strategy (UOS 2). Threat of new entrants means development of same business schools with same courses and same strategies (Recklies 2009). Currently, this is not evident. Competitive Rivalry amid members: This shows how much competition exists among the organizations that do the same business. In this case it is the intensity of competition among business schools or colleges that offer the same courses as University of Sharjah’s college of business administration and have the same strategies (Recklies 2009). There are so many business schools competing for students and to be leaders in this field. The colleges are both at the international level and at the regional level. It is however not clear the strategies the other business colleges use since release of information about a school’s strategy acts as a threat to their success. With this kind of competition, there is need for a strategy that will help the school achieve its aim and remain competitive. This means that the organization is in a very competitive situation prompting for another mission as described above. The new mission therefore is on competition: preparing the business school graduates to strongly compete in the tough professional job market. The new strategy has the following goals: to provide a conducive environment for learning and teaching students to gain competitive organizational management intellectual, communication and professional skills to an international level, to train students to be prepared to be leaders in the competitive market considering what the market offers both in the government and business organizations in other countries and the gulf region and to build confidence in students to always strive for excellence while maintaining ethical standards (UOS 3). Research has to be conducted on the competitive market on learning and teaching strategies and new developments to ensure the school remains competitive. Achievement of the goals will still be handled at departmental levels with specific departmental objectives set and how to achieve them considering the new mission determined. The study plans will be developed considering the school’s aim to be globally competitive. Conclusion It is very important to get knowledge through experience. By doing an exercise on developing a business school’s strategy, my knowledge on strategy development has improved. It has given me the confidence to face the outside environment when approached to develop a strategy by any organization not only a business school. The use of SWOT and porter’s five forces practically reveals the need for reasoning logically when developing a strategy. This exercise was very encouraging and I would recommend more of such exercises (2or3) involving different organizations of different levels (international/regional/local). Works Cited CCSU School of Business, Strategic Business Plan: SWOT Analysis, 2009. Retrieved on 12th Dec, 2009 from: http://web.ccsu.edu/business/sbp4.htm International Business Colleges and Universities (IBCU),2009. Retrieved on 11th Dec, 2009 from: http://www.uscollegesearch.org/international-business-colleges.html Recklies Dagmar, Porters 5 Forces, 2009. Retrieved on 11th Dec, 2009 from: http://www.themanager.org/Models/p5f.htm UAE Colleges and Universities, 2009. Retrieved on 12th Dec, 2009 from: http://www.araboo.com/dir/uae-colleges-universities University of Sharjah College of Business Administration (UOS), College Catalog 2007- 2008, 2008. Retrieved on11th Dec, 2009 from: http://www.sharjah.ac.ae/English/About_UOS/UOSPublications/UOSCatalog/Documents/College%20of%20Business%20Administration.pdf . University of Sharjah, Business Administration College, 2009. Retrieved on 11th Dec, 2009 from: http://www.sharjah.ac.ae/English/Academics/Colleges/BusinessAdmini/Pages/welcome.aspx Read More