Strategic Development: Past, Present and Future - Essay Example

? Strategic Development Past, Present and Future Table of Contents 0 Introduction 4 2.0 Understanding and evaluating the past strategic developments 4 3.0 Understanding the way the changes are made 7 4.0 Reasons for which the changes are made 9 London South bank University realized that the university need to model itself as an epitome of educational excellence. The university has always tried to propel itself in the sights and minds of the students and professors and the nation itself as a foremost champion of educational excellence. The long history of the university is marred with various political incidents. Incidents of severe political intervention by the politburo class have resulted in the waning of the educational quality. There have been numerous occasions where the university has been put forward in the brink of various outrages by the students as well as the professors due to political indifference. The political indifference resulted in the mass scale evasion of classes. After the intervention by Margaret Thatcher the political instability was quelled back (Warren, Reeve and Fess, 2005). In order to repel back the political instability large scale changes were made in the management and administrative level. The changes in the administrative and the management level is an indication of the long standing commitment of the university towards the creation of a better administrative system which is free from the political prejudice. Apart from that the other reasons was to transform the university as one of the torch bearers of educational prowess. 9 5.0 Analysis of the current strategic situation 9 5.1 Threat of potential entrants 10 5.2 Threat of suppliers 11 5.3 Threat of substitutes 11 5.4 Bargaining power of buyers 12 5.5 Threat of industry rivalry 13 6.0 Evaluation of the internal resources and capabilities within the context of Resource Based View 13 7.0 Synopsis of the strategic situation of London South Bank University 15 8.0 Strategic directions for the future 15 8.1 Exploration of a limited range of strategic options 15 8.2 Evaluation and assessment of the strategic choices 16 8.3 Application of Ansoff’s growth strategies 16 9.0 Recommendations 18 It is recommended that London South bank University follow Porter’s generic strategy. This kind of strategy will help to achieve an all around development in both improvements of the service as well as the improvement of the market. The new educational services will include devising a set of new course wares. These course wares will be developed to facilitate in the learning process of the students. Such course wares are in serious needs for students coming from abroad. The new course wares will include materials that will speed up the learning ability of the students coming from different international countries. The existing educational services and course wares will undergo developments for inclusion of features that were missing in the earlier version and at the same time the prices will be slashed. The development of the educational services and market base of the students is only the tip of the ice berg. The real effort lies in achieving educational excellence and operational excellence. The introduction of new course wares and new students will lead to the opening up of new institutes and more learning centre. This will call for more effort to manage such large swathes of students. So here in lies the need to improve the operational aspect of London South Bank University. The other recommendations are improvisation includes the research and business and enterprise wing of London South bank University. Both of these areas need extensive capital resources. The availability of the increased capital resources in these two departments will lead to the swift take off of different types of research projects. 18 Reference List 19 1.0 Introduction Strategic development is all about applying the most appropriate measures in order to adapt to the present situation and at same time controlling the outcome in the future. The company or organization which is planning to apply new strategy has two options to fall back upon. The first option is either to rely completely on the information from the present situation or to rely on the combined information of present as well as past data (Wright and Ashill, 2013). The second type of strategic decision makes sure that the company is analyzing the present situation and at same time making sure that the strategic decisions are able to meet the shortcomings which could not be met previously. The present research topic tracks the strategic development of London South Bank University through a period of 10 to 15 years. The evaluation of the strategic developments through a period of ten to fifteen years is supported with further evaluation of the current strategic situation (Warren, Reeve and Fess, 2005). Based on the evaluation of the strategic developments and choices made through a long period of ten to fifteen years and analysis of the present strategic situation, new strategic choices are suggested. 2.0 Understanding and evaluating the past strategic developments In order to understand the past strategic development and evaluation it is necessary that the strategic development for the past 10 years be studied more closely. The early year of the London South Bank University was tumultuous. It would not be proper to say that the start has been great, rather the start has been quite bleak. The tenacity of the people like teachers, students and staff slowly came to be the heart and mind of the university and this propelled it to extra ordinary heights as it is today. These people influenced and still continue to influence the London South Bank University significantly. The combined influence of the people helped the university to take bold and unfaltering steps, even when war was ravaging the whole country. These implanted deep within the core culture of the University, the power to surge ahead through troubled times. Looking back at the string of strategic developments that occurred through the past one decade there are certain things that becomes noticeable quite easily without dispensing much effort. These are diversity, innovation and entrepreneurial leadership initiatives. There is a more or less correlation between the strings of events throughout history with the strategic developments taking place in London South bank University. London was on point of explosion of bio diversity in the nation about a decade ago. People from different parts of the world came looking for work, study in London. London South Bank University welcomed this new ethnically diversified population by proposing new measures and policies to include people from all ethnic background and nations. This marked the intent of London South Bank University to create a multi ethnic student force on a serious level. An evaluation of the strategic decision to create multi ethnic student group must be evaluated on a broader scale. The University envisioned placing it students in leading roles where they might have to travel to far and distant places and meeting people from different ethnic background and culture and still emerging as a leader and a problem solver. Rather than thrusting the students in uncertain waters just when their career is taking off, London South Bank University decided to prepare a the students ready for the challenge even before it all started. Today the student body is a mixture of multi lingual, multination, multi ethnic, and multi cultured pack. The constant interaction with people from different background helps the students become familiar with other ethnic and cultural practices. This way if the students are placed in countries or in places that do not offer the same kind of comforts their homeland had for them, they may not feel alienated after all. Innovation has been in the heart of the London South Bank University from the beginning. The University has never left any stones unturned to provide the students the ability to develop innovative skills through constant mentoring, guidance and of course on hand experience. The past one decade has seen some significant changes in the approach taken by London South bank University to imbibe the sense and the need for innovation. Some the significant changes include the inclusion of the on field experience rather than just relying on textbook wisdom. The traditional way in which the students were led in the path to be innovators was relying on text book methodology. Although for the past one decade the practice of leading the students in the path of becoming innovators has turned from being just theoretical in nature to being more practical in nature. The goal was to get outside the realms of textbooks and onto the field of real life application. The idea is that in order to be innovators of some sort one does not need to be develop some state of the art and never-used before equipment or idea or methodology, rather it is all about doing the simple thing in a very innovative way. The idea is to fuel the enthusiasm of being innovators in one’s own way by taking the small joys of inventing and designing something that may not have a lot of utility, but nevertheless is a fun to the innovator. The guidance and encouragement of the teachers and staff help to build the steeping stones towards being innovators of serious nature. The Yearly Future Designer showcase is one the examples of the legacy started long ago. The Future Designer Showcase hosts some off the book innovative ideas of the students. The ideas presented at the exhibit may not bear any important functional utility or commercial viability but nevertheless there is touch of innovation and newness in each and every exhibit presented. Studies have indicated that the entrepreneurship and innovation goes hand in hand. This is perhaps the reason why the London South Bank University started its entrepreneurship cell a long time ago. The minds which can seek to innovate and create something new and wonderful is also able to propagate it among the masses so that others can also take advantage of its utility. Such kind of activities of turning new ideas and products into a profit making scheme is one of the specialities of London South Bank University. The business and enterprise cell of the university help budding entrepreneurs to get rudimentary ideas to be an entrepreneur, to be self starters. It has been more than 4 decades since the entrepreneurship development has been going on, but only in the past one and two decades the entrepreneurship developments got a face makeover. Some of the more recent changes made in the entrepreneurship cell is the inclusion of the specialist centre, knowledge transfer centre, business start up centres, intellectual property and licensing, funding opportunities. These kinds of developments helped the university provide the knowhow and support to the students to start up their own business initiatives. 3.0 Understanding the way the changes are made The strategic decisions, steps and events that occurred through a period of 10 to 15 years are traced through the history in order to understand the long term strategic choices adopted by London South Bank University. Tracing the strategic decisions and steps that took place throughout the history proved to be a hard task since there are very few sources that arrange the events in a chronological way (North and Smallbone, 2007). London South Bank University had many sites opened at various places in and around UK at beginning of the 2000. One of the sites was sold off in 2001, and this marked the first step towards integrating the whole educational institute by cutting away the loose ends (Pearson, 2007). The university rechristened itself and changed its name to a brand new name of London South Bank University. This marked the beginning of a new effort to start functioning as a brand new educational institute under the new name. The next year a new and modernized teaching facility was opened called the Keyworth Centre. The inauguration of the new teaching facility is one of the long term initiatives to facilitate students in their learning process and at same time improve the cognitive learning ability (Oliver, 2010). Various researches are carried out in cognitive learning area, by some of the well known research bodies in order the learning ability of the brain to learn through gestures and pictures. These points to the fact that the research bodies of the London South bank University were encouraged to turn their research works as commercially viable products. The next couple of years did not witness any kind of major strategic changes. In 2009, Professor Martin Earwicke was appointed as the vice chancellor (Ohmae, 2009). The appointment of the vice chancellors throughout the history of London South Bank University played a crucial role since the appointment of vice chancellors have always ushered in a set of new developments, which benefitted the university immensely. 4.0 Reasons for which the changes are made London South bank University realized that the university need to model itself as an epitome of educational excellence. The university has always tried to propel itself in the sights and minds of the students and professors and the nation itself as a foremost champion of educational excellence. The long history of the university is marred with various political incidents. Incidents of severe political intervention by the politburo class have resulted in the waning of the educational quality. There have been numerous occasions where the university has been put forward in the brink of various outrages by the students as well as the professors due to political indifference. The political indifference resulted in the mass scale evasion of classes. After the intervention by Margaret Thatcher the political instability was quelled back (Warren, Reeve and Fess, 2005). In order to repel back the political instability large scale changes were made in the management and administrative level. The changes in the administrative and the management level is an indication of the long standing commitment of the university towards the creation of a better administrative system which is free from the political prejudice. Apart from that the other reasons was to transform the university as one of the torch bearers of educational prowess. 5.0 Analysis of the current strategic situation The current situation analysis involves performance of two kinds of analysis; one is the analysis of macro environment or competitive environment, and the other one is analysis of the internal environment of London South Bank University. In order to perform an environmental analysis Porters 5 Forces Model will be done. Along with Porter’s 5 Forced Model an internal analysis will be done using the Resource Based View Theory. Fig 1: Porter’s 5 Forces Model Source: (Jones, Mothersbaugh and Beatty, 2009) 5.1 Threat of potential entrants The threat of potential entrants is high in case of educational sectors. This is because of the reason that the educational sector unlike the manufacturing sector is not a capital intensive sector, rather it is a skill and knowledge based sector. The start-up cost is very high low and involves low investment, which does not take significant time to be recovered. This means that the entry barrier is very low. Since there are lot in investors willing to provide enough money to start any educational service so there is significant backup in terms of capital and experience. This also indicates that the chance for a new entrant making a significant impact in the educational sector is very high (Hilton, 2004). The kind of reputation, good will and strong support of well known researchers and professors London South Bank University has gather over the years, is very hard for the new entrants to replicate if not impossible. So on an overall basis, the threat of new entrants is quite high for London South Bank University although the reputation of the University is better than many well known universities. Being one of the premier institutes in the field on education, London South Bank University boasts of having some of the most well known teachers and professors. The association of the well known teachers many of whom have contributed to the society is extra ordinary ways makes it an easily opted University among the students. New educational institutes take significantly long time to garner such reputation, good will and educational excellence (Garrick, 2011). The start up of any educational institutes in developed nation like UK needs strong support of academicians and not to mention the politicians. London South Bank University has been related very closely with the political development of UK, given the fact that it is more than 100 years old. So the university does enjoy political patronage to some extent, which is something very hard come up with for a new educational institute. 5.2 Threat of suppliers The threat of supplier is negligible and almost nil for London South Bank University, with the only exception of the threat of suppliers of fund. The funds are one of the most crucial means to support the student entrepreneurs in realizing their dream projects. If the funds are cut short then the London South Bank University will suffer a major blow in the development of its entrepreneurship cells. 5.3 Threat of substitutes The threat of substitute is moderate to low for London South Bank University. This is because of the reason that there are very few alternatives to education. The threat of substitute products is denoted by the switching costs of the students and the professors. The substitutes can be thought of other professional bodies that offer same kind of educational opportunity but at a much lower cost (Ohmae, 2009). For example the distant education course of London South Bank University offers students with a chance to carry out distant course on different subjects. The cost of such distant education course is significantly higher than the other professional courses given by other professional bodies. For example London South Bank University offers distant educational courses on accounting and finance, which comes at quite a high price (Pearson, 2007). Professional bodies which are not affiliated with any kind of educational institution and in fact is run by a group of professions offer the same exposure to the students but at almost half of the cost. So the most imminent threat comes from the professional bodies that offer the same course with same value addition. 5.4 Bargaining power of buyers The bargaining powers of the customers are represented by the bargaining powers of the students, teachers and non teaching staff. The bargaining power increases if the buyer notices that there are more number of substitute products or substitute services. Apart from that the bargaining power also differs on the value added services offered. London South Bank University offers various courses and trainings which differ from other reputed educational institutions in terms of value added service (Rayner, 2009). For a country like UK and even more importantly for a place like London people do not settle for the second best when it comes to choosing the right educational institute. The costs and expenses associated with studying in such a institute is not regarded as the most important classifier for students. Although not all type of students may not share the same philosophy regarding the trade off between costs and reputation. For example students from affluent families may not find it difficult to bear the expenses associated on being part of a reputed institute like London South Bank University. Although the international students particularly from countries like India and China find it a little difficult to cope up with the yearly study expenses. Since London South Bank University takes in students both on National and International level, so this presents a cause of concern (Warren, Reeve and Fess, 2005). The international students are sometimes not able to cope up with the high costs of the educational. So they may simply shift their preference towards other educational institutions. So this means that the bargaining powers of the students are moderately high among the international students. 5.5 Threat of industry rivalry The industry rivalry is denoted by the ability of the university to attract new and bright students. The lineage of students who have enrolled, those who have completed their education and have successfully placed themselves in various leading roles is spectacular. Thus it becomes evident that the London South Bank University has always attracted the well off and bright students (Wright and Ashill, 2013). A close look at the data published by the education ministry suggests that that over the years London South Bank Universities has lost its sheen as one of the most sought after universities (Oliver, 2010). There are various reasons that can be cited for the decreased popularity over the past few years. One of them is the non availability of the start up funds. Other more popular universities have witnessed a surge of the bright students coming from different parts of the country and also abroad. This is mainly due to the good prospect offered by London South Bank University in letting the students learn the ropes of entrepreneurship first hand and at same time get easy access to loan money to start up entrepreneurial activities. 6.0 Evaluation of the internal resources and capabilities within the context of Resource Based View London South Bank University has always insisted on maintaining excellent relationship between teachers and students. This has resulted in evolvement of fiduciary relationship between the teachers and students. The excellent relationship between the teachers and students is evident from the fact that students and the management take initiative of recognizing and awarding the services rendered by the extra ordinary teachers. Teachers who have left a deep and lasting impression in the lives of the students are recognized for their effort. In order to make sure that the students and the professors do not get on the wrong foot, the student-teacher interaction programmes on the personal level was initiated a few years back and is till carried on. This close interaction between students and teaching staff helps to maintain a relationship of trust and dependability (Mintzberg and Waters, 2009). This helped to nurture the ability to think out of the box and develop new ideas. The best way to evaluate the internal resources is to divide the resources into two types which are tangible resources and intangible resources. The tangible resources are the physical resources, financial resources, human resources. The intangible resources are intellectual and technological resources and reputation. London South Bank University has some of the finest lecture halls and auditoriums and research laboratories (Tammo, Ruud and Theeo, 2006). Apart from that London South Bank University is funded by well known investor groups who take pride in the legacy of the university. The human resources is one of the most treasured resources. They include the bright students, who are facilitated and guided by the encouraging professors and the non teaching or administrative staff, who have provided immense support in taking important decision. In intangible resources London South Bank University holds the privilege of having its very own intellectual property and licensing department. This department helped some of the bright student entrepreneurs and research fellows seek intellectual right on various innovative ideas and products. 7.0 Synopsis of the strategic situation of London South Bank University London South bank University figured out that if it is not heading the warning signs early on, then it may not be possible to patch up the loopholes and deficiencies in the system. So its strategic options included mainly finding teachers and students who would propel the name of the university to extra ordinary heights and help it live up to its legacy (Reinartz and Kumaar, 2002). The mere incorporation of some brilliant line of professors and students is only half of the work done. The other half remains with the inclusion of operational excellence. The operational excellence is one of the gaping loopholes that continue to plague the university ever since the break out of the world war. The second most important strategic decision adopted by London South Bank University is bringing in operational excellence. 8.0 Strategic directions for the future The strategic directions for the future include a list of strategic choices. The strategic choices are justified with proper reasoning to indicate their applicability and their non applicability (Keeble, 2000). The strategic choices are suggested based on the analysis of the strategic advantage of London South Bank University and the strategic analysis of the environment in which it functions. 8.1 Exploration of a limited range of strategic options Two kinds of strategic options available to London South bank University; one is the application of Ansoff Growth strategy and the other is the applications of the Porters Generic Strategy. The choice of the strategy is dependent upon the strategic objective of the university, the present business environment demands, as well as the strategic needs (Warren, Reeve and Fess, 2005). If London South Bank University is following the Porters Generic Strategy then it can perform three different and distinct functions; one is achieving the cost leadership, then product differentiation and the third is focus strategy. Ansoff’s Growth Strategy gives London South Bank University, the opportunity to introduce new educational services or existing educational services into either new market or old market. Here market is denoted by the students from the new field of study as well as the existing field of study. 8.2 Evaluation and assessment of the strategic choices The evaluation and assessment of the strategic choices indicate that the most appropriate choice will be Ansoff’s growth strategy. If the university is looking for ways to increase its annual revenue, then the use of this particular strategy will help to diversify into new and existing markets as well as carry out development of the educational services. Instead of following Porter’s generic strategy, Ansoff’s growth strategy will be followed which is enable to performance both product development as well as market development (Wright and Ashill, 2013). 8.3 Application of Ansoff’s growth strategies The applications of the Ansoff’s growth strategies help London South Bank University in achieving 4 different advantages. One is increasing the intake of existing educational service for by the already existing student mass. This can be done if the price offered for the particular educational service is waived off. This will attract the existing student base to take up the service. The existing educational service can also be offered to new student body or the new student group. This will lead to diversification of the market (Hilton, 2004). For example the international students coming from different countries can take up the existing educational services. This will lead to transfer of knowledge between the different nations. London South Bank University can also develop different types of course studies. The course studies will be devised in lines with the current trend of the industry as well as the way similar course studies are prepared by the other well known universities (Dodd, 2010). The development of these course studies involves introduction of the new product or service development. The new course studies can be offered to the existing student base as well as the new students coming from other international countries. In the first few months of the inception of the new courseware the price will be kept at minimal level in order to be competitive. Then as the popularity increases the price of the course wares can be reduced. 9.0 Recommendations It is recommended that London South bank University follow Porter’s generic strategy. This kind of strategy will help to achieve an all around development in both improvements of the service as well as the improvement of the market. The new educational services will include devising a set of new course wares. These course wares will be developed to facilitate in the learning process of the students. Such course wares are in serious needs for students coming from abroad. The new course wares will include materials that will speed up the learning ability of the students coming from different international countries. The existing educational services and course wares will undergo developments for inclusion of features that were missing in the earlier version and at the same time the prices will be slashed. The development of the educational services and market base of the students is only the tip of the ice berg. The real effort lies in achieving educational excellence and operational excellence. The introduction of new course wares and new students will lead to the opening up of new institutes and more learning centre. This will call for more effort to manage such large swathes of students. So here in lies the need to improve the operational aspect of London South Bank University. The other recommendations are improvisation includes the research and business and enterprise wing of London South bank University. Both of these areas need extensive capital resources. The availability of the increased capital resources in these two departments will lead to the swift take off of different types of research projects. Reference List Dodd, J., 2010. Market research on the internet — threat or opportunity. Marketing and Research Today, 26(1), pp. 61–66. Garrick, G., 2011. The evolution of marketplace information into the 21st century. Journal of Advertising Research, 36(5), pp. 3-8. Hilton, R.W., 2004. Managerial accounting: creating value in a dynamic business environment. Chicago: McGraw-Hill. Jones, M. A., Mothersbaugh, D. L. and Beatty, S. E., 2009. Switching barriers and repurchase intentions in services. Journal of Retailing, 7(6), pp. 260–274. Keeble, D., 2000. 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