International Business School in London - Essay Example

?TABLE OF CONTENTS: PART MARKET ANALYSIS PART 2: BUSINESS PLAN Introduction 2. Overview of International Business School A Brief overview of the School International & Local Context SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Threats Internal Analysis Business Strategy Market Segmentation Knowledge Based Resources & Core Competencies Value Chain Analysis Associations 3. Conclusion 4. Bibliography PART 1: MARKET ANALYSIS: The MBA (Masters of Business Administration) is not simply the result of the higher education process in business studies and management; it also exists as part of a business network itself, with public and private schools competing for billions of pounds sterling in contracts from eager and motivated students worldwide. In seeking to establish a Business School in London, England, this business plan will build a sales, investment, marketing, and operations plan for the ‘International School of Business Innovation’ to be established in 2011. The school will initially pursue a goal of enrolling domestic and international students in an online program with a 4 week on-site seminar in London conducted yearly. In initiating operations, the school will market to and see the enrollment of both foreign and domestic students. Due to the limitations of budget, initial marketing internationally will be conducted in a manner that targets the students of India and Pakistan particularly, due to the demand for higher business education in those countries popularly. PART 2: BUSINESS PLAN: 1. Introduction In building and establishing a Business School in London with an intention of offering MBA (Masters of Business Administration) degrees to international and domestic students, the most important factors are the business plan, philosophy of education, and location. In searching for the ethos for the school, the general approach to business that would guide operations from a position of philosophy, the management committee evaluated the writing, work, and experience of many of the top 100 CEOs internationally and historically. One of the most respected CEOs is Jack Welch, the former General Electric business leader who is well known for innovation in the corporate sphere and managing companies at the highest level. Jack Welch is currently associated with an online MBA school in the United States that offers an affordable business education to students anywhere in the world. “As a part of his effort to provide quality educations at an affordable cost, the Jack Welch Management Institute moves away from the stereo type business institutions that charge their students an average $100,000 for a MBA degree . On average, The Jack Welch Management Institute charges $600 per credit hour. This translates to students receiving an accredited MBA degree for just over $20,000. The realization of his dream for a management institute came through the coming together of a group of investors led by Michael Clifford who purchased the ailing Myers University in Cleveland in 2008. These investors hammered out a deal with Welch to establish the Jack Welch Institute of Management based on his management style and philosophy that brought him and general electric to the heights they both attained in society.” (OnlineEdu, 2010) As a start-up business venture, the MBA School proposed for establishment in London will follow the online MBA program model given as example in the Jack Welch Management Institute and seek to provide affordable, world-class business education to students worldwide in the form of an online-only school. 2. Overview of International Business School The first aspect required for the development of the project of creating an online MBA program for international and domestic students is to create a management team and business plan for the venture. In managing the main operations executively myself, I see also a need for a minimum of a five person management team who would oversee the establishment of the school. This group would lead the effort to secure financing, sign the lease for the location, manage the IT infrastructure, student admissions, and course development. This team will be assembled from the talented people graduating this year from business school, as well as based in senior management and academic talent. Our school and project also needs a name, and thus following the example of the Jack Welch institute, it has been determined that the school needs a symbolic leader and unified business philosophy for launching the program publicly. Due to the demand from Indian and Pakistani students in the UK for higher business education, the project will initially market to students in these regions as well as in the UK. While this traditionally means a great deal of paperwork involving student visas, I believe that the online nature of the program will reduce the requirements for this, as students are only required to attend a 4 week seminar in London rather than a full year of coursework in residence. From this base of recognized executive leadership, a strong core team of management staff, an online business model with a yearly seminar, and, and marketing to the South Asian student demand for MBA’s in London, I decided to call the school the ‘International School of Business Innovation, London, England’ and prepare the marketing plan for financing on this basis. A Brief overview of the School The International School of Business Innovation will be established in London, England in a Strand location with a public office and administration center that will be the setting for the core management team and admissions office. This office will coordinate not only admissions, but also the marketing and IT strategy. As the school is based primarily online, the management team should include 2 to 3 members whose specialty is online education and information technology. The school will base its website on the Moodle CMS, an open source content management system designed for educational use. This software will allow the school to conduct courses exclusively online. In order to verify and finalize the students professionally for graduation, the school will conduct a 4 week seminar each semester on location in London in the Strand. By requiring the students to attend this seminar, the school can guarantee a higher standard of quality in its teaching and student body than would be possible otherwise with only online coursework. International & Local Context The International School of Business Innovation will be based in the Strand area of London, and will need to acquire accreditation both nationally and internationally as a Business School. As the UK education accrediting system is accepted worldwide, and highly respected in the target areas of India and Pakistan where the school will be marketed, there should be no anticipated problems with recognition of the degree. However, in order to secure the accreditation, our management team and professional lecturers must be from the highest standing in academia. Thus, the primary effort of the school initially will be to attract top business academics internationally as core members of the staff. The school will be based in online coursework and classes. Because of this, the school can seek international students from any country and enroll them together. This is an important aspect of the business plan, and goes to illustrate the international character of the school through online business and globalization. SWOT – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Threats The strengths of the school model are in reduced costs through online coursework. This saves the students money vs. the cost of an international education pursued exclusively on-site in London, creating a service in a high demand area that undercuts the prices of the competition while still providing a world-class education. Innovation is the key mantra of the school. As such, the online coursework should represent innovation itself in developing the curriculum. The weakness of the business model is related to the competition in the field and building recognition and respect for the brand. Just as the Jack Welch institute was able to build upon the brand Welch had created through years of experience and practice running one of the largest international companies, so too must our school recruit a number of world class business executives to build our name and brand against the competition. The opportunities in this sector are great, for we can scale based on student demand following the IT model, but still focus on recruiting and building a high standard of educational offerings. The threats of this business model and plan are primarily the cost of start-up and the ability to receive swift accreditation for the classes and program. We will also need to process student visas for the onsite seminar held for four weeks at the end of the semester. Internal Analysis Internally the business plan seeks to build on a five member core team of managers who will also build the IT infrastructure for the website and course offerings. In going with an open source CMS like Moodle, the company can stay on the cutting edge of online education but still save costs vs. proprietary or custom built software. Yet, still the company will need a strong IT development staff of 5 to 7 people to manage the website professionally and build the online coursework. We additionally see the need to hire 7 to 10 respected academic lecturers in Business management for the teaching staff, though the model allows that these teachers may also teach business classes online, part-time, while still employed or teaching at other schools. In attracting top caliber, part-time lecturers for one class of instruction via distance education, the school can build a higher quality of education more quickly through innovation. Business Strategy The business strategy will build on the cost savings of distance education and seek to internationalize the online program with centralization in London. The online coursework should save money for international students. Nevertheless, by requiring a 4 week on-site seminar in association with the online coursework, all students will have the ability to travel to London. We would also like to build internships with London-based businesses on this model. Academics will be given the ability to teach via distance education methods online while already employed at other universities, or while still operating in a business environment. In this manner, the school can also offer coursework taught by top CEOs while they are still active on the job. Market Segmentation The further specialization of the school will be in Business Management for Information Technology. As the school is targeting online coursework, this is natural. However, in looking at industries such as software development and outsourcing, we see a huge and growing demand in the next ten years, currently unmet. This is further reinforced by the referencing of the South East Asian markets of India and Pakistan, where interest in IT education is also the strongest. By building on these two factors together, the school can also build innovative teaching and coursework that specifically addresses Information Technology, and recruit CEOs from the IT field to build name brand recognition for the enterprise. Knowledge Based Resources & Core Competencies As the core competency of the International School of Business Innovation will be related to Information technology, and the main way that the students will interact with coursework and staff will be online, the school must build a world-class website with a deep offering of online websites for the students. Many of the programs and casework of the students can themselves be related to student activity building web content. Furthermore, as the students will be attending a four-week seminar in London, the school should concentrate on building this as a business centre that can be used in other contexts when the students are not present, for example for business seminars and lectures. In association with this centre there should be a library with business materials, books, and magazines with an IT centre and lounge for staff and students. The facility may also have a bookstore, and the bookstore should integrate with the website for course offerings. Value Chain Analysis The business plan includes a clear method to attract students by providing cost savings in acquiring an MBA through online study. The school can also save on attracting world class professors and CEOs to teach at the school by employing them part time while they are already teaching or working at another institution. The marketing campaign can also be built online targeting a global audience of students. Following the IT methodologies, the International School of Business Innovation can quickly scale with student demand. Associations The International School of Business Innovation will seek associations primarily with business leadership in the IT field, in order to grow a specialized market sector attracting international IT graduate students in Business Management. This may include CEOs at top IT companies internationally teaching online in association with the program. 3. Conclusion In conclusion, the International School of Business Innovation has a path to success by specializing in online education, distance education, and Business Management targeted specifically at the IT sector internationally. While the school will initially market to South East Asia and India and Pakistan for students, the IT methodology of online coursework based in web study can easily scale internationally, the International School of Business Innovation can build marketing campaigns, tie-ups, and associations with other groups, corporations, and schools online easily. The International School of Business Innovation seeks to build a world-class education for international students that include on-site study in London at a four week business seminar. In association with this, the International School of Business Innovation will build a business centre at the Strand that can function to host other business seminars and lectures. 4. Bibliography: Best MBA (2010), Worldwide Ranking of 100 Best MBA Programs, Best MBA - Global Survey, Web, viewed 8 January 2011, http://www.bestmba.org/>. 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Online Education Blog (2010), General Electronics CEO starting an Online Business School, Online Degree, Online Education, January 26th, 2010, Web, viewed 8 January 2011, . Online MBA Rankings (2010), Welcome to Online MBA Rankings!, Online MBA Rankings.com, 2010, Web, viewed 8 January 2011, . QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited (2010), Studying an MBA in UK and Ireland, Top 10 Business Schools for MBAs in UK,Top MBA, 2010, Web, viewed 8 January 2011, . Reich, Blaize Horner (2000), Designing the IT Course Within an Executive MBA Program, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 3, 2000, Web, viewed 8 January 2011, . Romero, Denisse (2010), Top Ten Online MBA Programs, MBAs.com, 2010, Web, viewed 8 January 2011, . U.S. News (2011), Best Business Schools, U.S. News & World Report, L.P., 2011, Web, viewed 8 January 2011, < http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools>. U.S. News (2011), Best Graduate Schools, U.S. News & World Report, L.P., 2011, Web, viewed 8 January 2011, . Read More