Strategic Planning - Assignment Example

? Strategic Planning Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Context of the Study 3 Part Research 4 Macro-environment 4 Argentine Educational Sector5 Underlying Challenges 7 Part 2- Strategic Options and Choice 8 Option 1(Longitudinal Perspective) 8 Option 2 (Cross-sectional Perspective) 9 Part 3- Human Resources 11 Cultural Difference 11 Building Relationship 11 Communication and Negotiation 11 Reference 13 Context of the Study According to Donnelly (2004), educational system in Ireland has reformed after the political reform of the country during 1990s. Irish colleges have changed their age old stance of focusing only on domestic students. Globalization of educational system has forced Irish colleges to think beyond domestic boundaries in order to attract international students. Higher educational system of Ireland has already experienced a boom due to rapid internationalization during the period of 1995 to 2007, which is known as ‘Celtic Tiger years’. In that era, China was an important source for student immigration in Irish colleges but supply of international student has reduced after the recession which has painstakingly reduced industrial output of Irish economy. As a result of industrial slowdown in Ireland, private parties have reduced higher education funding for universities and colleges (ICEF Monitor, 2012). In such context, Irish government has taken initiative known as “Education in Ireland” in order to market the existing education programme in Irish universities and colleges in international markets such as Argentina, Brazil, China, India, USA etc. Irish Government has planned to implement recommendations made by Hunt Report (2011) in order to attract international students. According to Wolf (2002), small countries like Ireland can improve their economic condition by attracting foreign labour force that can augur well with Irish culture with the help of Irish education that has been consumed by them through their educational degree programme in Irish colleges. Attracting foreign students in Irish colleges is due to the unequal supply and demand equation for international students, for example, a student might decide not to take admission in Irish college despite the fact that Irish educational system is capable of delivering quality education. Hence, due to involvement of customer perception variables, Irish colleges need to build their brand among international students in order to convince them that Irish colleges are capable of delivering quality education. The researcher in the study is head of Strategic Planning Division of Irish owned and managed college and board of the college has asked the researcher to prepare strategic recommendation for the college on how to increase its penetration in Argentine educational sector and simultaneously increase its Argentine student base. Hence, following sections of the study will try to throw some light on issues like macro environmental analysis of Argentina, analysis of educational sector of Argentina, challenges regarding cultural and managerial practices in both countries, identifying strategic options etc. Part 1- Research Macro-environment To understand a country, one must take a step forward to analyze macro-environment of the country; hence the researcher will analyze macro-environment of Argentina in terms of PESTLE analysis. Political Argentina can be called as pariah state due to its unstable political environment which is complemented with nepotism, corruption and cronyism. Gabriel Torres (who is senior analyst in Moody's) has stated that, “Argentina's inability to solve its political differences is a problem, contentious politics make the country less able to cope with the impact of economic shocks” (Mercopress, 2009). Although political instability in the country has hampered the economic growth in the country but Argentine government has taken initiatives during 1990s to reform the educational sector in order to increase privatization and internationalization of higher education sector. Educational reform initiatives of Argentine government will attract foreign universities and colleges who want to establish strategic tie-ups with domestic colleges and universities (Fogarty, 2008). Economical The country is still recovering from severe economic crisis of 2001 to 2002. Despite being on the verge of economic recovery, gross domestic product (GDP) rate of the country is more than 6% over the course of last three years. Strong GDP growth rate of the country is a gift of its abundant natural resources, which is exported to foreign countries in order to ensure international money inflow to the economy. Abundance of mineral and human resources has attracted foreign investors from countries like USA, UK, Japan, China, Germany, France and many other developed countries. These foreign investors are also planning to invest in educational sector of Argentina in order to develop globalized future workforce who can connect with local culture easily. Social Social structure of Argentina is more inclined to personal value system, family ties, relationship between society members etc. For example, people in Argentina prefer to live with their parents, grandparents and other members of family and critical decisions are taken on the basis consensus of family members. Parents take decision regarding higher education of their children by taking suggestions from relevant opinion leader in the society. Almost 97% of the population is literate in the country, which is second highest in countries where Latin and Spanish are native language. The country has highest percentage of college and university students in context to other Latin American countries. Technology Unequal distribution of technological advancement is major technological drawback for the country, for example, foreign investors have invested fund in technological advancement and infrastructural development in urban areas like Buenos Aires (capital of Argentina), Cordoba and Rosario whereas technological up gradation of rural area is pretty much neglected. Educational system in the country lacks in modern technological integrations such as Wi-Fi classrooms, virtual classroom, computer literacy etc. Environment Ministry of Public Health supervises the environment policies in the country. The government of the country has established various departments such as Sub secretariat of Environmental Planning who can supervise the environment sustainability activities of foreign firm in the country. Due to availability of plenty of natural resources and controlled activities of industries, green house gas or carbon footprint problem is pretty less for the country in comparison to other Latin American countries. Legal Federal and Provincial courts are two verticals of Argentine court system. Legal issues in the country are handled through three types of provincial court systems such as labour court, criminal court and civil court. Currently, education system of the country is governed through legal framework which is known as Federal Education Act. Universities of the country follow ‘Law on Education’ no. 11612/95 in order to establish tie ups with foreign universities and colleges (Arias, 2005). Argentine Educational Sector Brief History of Educational System of Argentina Although the education system in the country was established in the year 1852 but 1420 Law of Basic Education was passed 32 years later (Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 2008). Within next 50 years, percentage of enrolment in school and colleges was tripled (Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 2008). Participation of private schools and colleges was increased significantly with each passing decade, which is showing that public colleges and universities of Argentina are unable meet the growing demand for higher education among Argentine population. Privatization of educational sector of the country can be shown in the following manner. (Source: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 2008) Design of Educational System Recently, educational sector of Argentina has been revamped by two laws such as Federal Law of Education and National Law of Education. Under the federal law, Federal Council of Education was formed in order to provide guideline regarding schooling years in the country. Federal Law of Education has created a new educational cycle was created which is known as General Basic Education Level (EGB), under EGB, it is mandatory for Argentine population to undergo 9 years of general basic education in addition to 5 years of kinder education. On the other hand, National Law of Education has worked on deciding the content and quality of education in the country. For example, the law emphasized more on job oriented education in comparison to theoretical education in order to prepare industry ready human capital of the country. College and University Education Higher education system of Argentina in monitored and coordinated by Ministry of Education and CIN or Consejo Interuniversitario Nacional. These authorities take care of issues like public-private partnerships, affiliation of colleges, national validation of foreign colleges and universities. Argentine government spends almost 5% of its educational budget on improving college level education in the country. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for colleges and universities is more than 60 percent in the country (Rozada and Menendez, 2002). Level in Higher Education Two types of higher level studies exist in the country, 1- university level and 2- non-university level. Under non-university level, students can get their educational degree through vocational studies or technical institutes named as Institutos de Formacion Tecnica. Under university education, students need to go through formal higher educational programmes such as Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate degree. Colleges in the country belong to various educational bodies such as national universities, private universities, other universities and national institutes. Foreign universities or colleges planning to expand its Argentine student base need to coordinate with CONEAU or “Consejo Nacional de Evaluacion y Acreditacion Universitaria supervis”, which is responsible authority for such matter. Distribution of Colleges and Universities Students in Argentina prefer to take admission in national universities of the country; so forth, national universities of the country contain almost 80 percent of college students of the country. There are more than 35 national universities in the countries which offer both under graduate and post graduate degree program to students where number of private universities is more than 40. Underlying Challenges It has been already mentioned in the macro-environmental analysis that major business challenges in Argentina include lack of infrastructure, biased government policy, fluctuation of currency value etc.; hence no further discussion is needed in this context. Enders (2004) and Teichler (2004) have stated that, students take admission to foreign universities in order to be part of global citizenship with the help of foreign education. Now, the concept might not work in case of Argentina because culturally Latin American countries in comparison to European nations. There is no doubt that Argentina can be classified as more off developing nation in contrast to developed nation due to its economic condition. The study will use natural cultural dimension model proposed by Hofstede (1998 and 2001) in order to identify underlying cultural and managerial challenges in Argentina. Fundamentally, management of Argentine universities and colleges are influenced by risk-avoidance culture of the country. Culture of Argentina is instructive in comparison to culture of Ireland, for example, argentines do not prefer to take risks in order to achieve better results whereas risk proneness is much higher for Irish individuals. Cultural dimensional of the country can be explained in the following manner. (Source: White, Arcienaga and Gonzales, 2010) According to high value of Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) in the table, management of universities do not want take risks or uncertainties by allowing unknown foreign universities to establish strategic tie ups with local universities. In order to decrease the uncertainties, educational authority in the country has implemented complex and stringent rules for foreign colleges and universities. High value of Power Distance Index (PDI) of Argentina is showing that, there is unequal distribution of power in society which is clear indication of unstable cultural environment. Low Individualism (IDV) value of Argentina is showing that, college students are not much self confident about taking decisions regarding taking admission in foreign colleges by themselves. In short, management challenges in Argentina include over indulgence of personal relationship or nepotism, risk avoidance, protectionism etc. Part 2- Strategic Options and Choice It is evident from the above analysis that foreign colleges need to work more on negotiating with governing body of Argentine education system in order to get rid of strong protectionism in the country. Option 1(Longitudinal Perspective) The Irish college can send its students to Argentine universities and colleges for three to six months tenure, these students will create positive word of mouth about the Irish college among other students in the foreign universities through the mutual interaction. In the first stage, the Irish owned and managed college should target the mid tier colleges in Buenos Aires in order to establish partnership and sign MoU or memorandum of understanding. Above mentioned student interchange program between the Irish college and Argentine colleges or universities will be part of the MoU. Now the question is the need of the Irish college to attract Argentine students is purely educational or financial? Answer of the question will decide the dimension of strategic option. In such context, the study will miss the opportunity if it fails to give a look to the recommendations made by Sumantra Ghoshal (2005) that colleges should work on increasing quality of the education rather than counting money on providing average quality education to large number of students. Hence it can be assumed that the Irish college needs to strive for providing quality education to Argentine students by implementing the internationalization strategy in stepwise and systematic manner. Student exchange program is the first phase of the international process on the other hand offering higher educational degree program to students of the Argentine partner colleges will be the second phase of the strategic planning. Advantage In the long run, alumni of the Irish college in Argentina will spread good word of mouth about the college among Argentine students and act as opinion leaders for motivating more students to join the Irish college. Cross cultural student exchange will help board of the Irish college to understand cultural and managerial implication in Argentina which will actually help them to formulate more appropriate strategy to increase its Argentine student base. Disadvantage It is a lengthy process; there is guaranty in short term return on investment that will be made by the Irish college to establish partnership with selected colleges of Buenos Aires. Hence it can be said that available strategic option is capital intensive process. The strategic option is not a holistic one which can not only attract Argentine students to take admission in the Irish college but develop a positive brand image of the Irish college in the Argentina. Hence it can be said that adjusted version of the strategic option can be used by the Irish college as a subpart of its internationalization strategy to expand its Argentine student base and develop relationship with colleges and universities of Argentina. Option 2 (Cross-sectional Perspective) There is possibility that Irish government can change the existing visa requirement for foreign students in near future which might the foreign student inflow of students in the country. These are external threats which can’t be predicted or controlled by the Irish college but they can monitor and control internal threats such as lack of brand awareness of the college in Argentina, lack of interest of Argentine students in the subjects that were offered by the colleges, poor quality accommodation facility for Argentine students etc. According to IDP Education (2012), international students are not just economic migrant but they are representative of export industry of a particular country. The Irish college should coordinate with Irish government in order to increase tenure for staying of Argentine students in the country after the completion of their graduation. Such collaborative approach will help the college to create positive image among Argentine students by giving them the confidence that they will get the time to find job in Ireland after the completion of their degree program. The college should take following three filter framework in order to increase its Argentine student base. Name of the Filter Activity Advantage 1. Market Research Send Market research team to Argentina in order to prepare a detailed report regarding demand of streams subjects in graduate or post graduate degree program of foreign universities among Argentine students, potential local marketers who can promote the brand of the Irish college among students etc. The college will get clear about existing challenges and opportunities in Argentina. 2. Marketing After getting the market research report, the Irish college needs to appoint local agents who can use both online and offline channels to attract argentine students to take admission in the Irish college. The process will generate brand awareness about the Irish college within short time frame. 3. Conjoint Model One team of the strategic group of the college will coordinate with CONEAU department of Argentina in order to ease the visa, financial scholarship and educational loan process for Argentine students who are planning to take admission in the Irish college whereas other team will work with local Irish government in order to ease visa, immigration and accommodation of Argentine students. Increase the confidence level among Argentine students while studying in the Irish college. The Irish college should use the juxtaposition of both cross-sectional and longitudinal strategic options in order expand its Argentine student base in sustainable manner in future course of time. Part 3- Human Resources According to research scholars such as Kogut & Zander (1992), Grant (1996), Youndt et al (1996) and Teece (1986), human resource is one of the most vital assets for organizations. Hence, sustainability and success of the strategic option for the Irish college in Argentina will be significantly depend on how it response to existing human resource challenges in Argentina. The Irish college needs to address following issues. Cultural Difference It has been already shown in the previous discussion by using cultural dimension model of Hofstede that, culturally Argentines do not prefer to take risks or uncertainties and decisions within the family. Hence, it is expected that Argentine parents will not be ready to send their children to an unknown Irish college for higher studies. In such situation, the Irish college needs to use local agents who know the local language and culture in order to convince the parents and students regarding educational quality and career opportunities in Ireland. These local agents will conduct knowledge session for prospective students in order to provide information regarding the Irish college and solve their queries regarding the degree program of the college. Building Relationship Academicians and principal of the Irish college need to visit Argentina and deliver speeches regarding the benefits of graduate and post graduate degree program of the college to Argentine students, one to one conversation will definitely build the stepping stone to develop relationship with Argentine students and parents. Communication and Negotiation The Irish college authority should take help of local individuals (having contacts and reputation in educational ministry of Argentina) who have knowledge of Spanish and Latin in order communicate and negotiate with local educational authority and government personnel regarding strategic decisions for establishing educational relationship with Argentina. Reference Arias, M. F., 2005. The Federal Law of Education in Argentina: Its Application in the Province of Buenos Aires. Archivos Analiticos de Politicas Educativas, 13(8), pp. 1-19. Donnelly, R., 2004. Critical evaluation of the impact of global educational reform: An Irish perspective. The International Journal of Educational Management, 18(6), pp. 351–359. Enders, J., 2004. Higher education, internationalisation, and the nation-state: Recent developments and challenges to governance theory. Higher Education, 47(3), pp. 361-82. Fogarty, J., 2008. Education in Argentina: Past, present and future tendencies. [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 22 March 2012]. Ghoshal, S., 2005. Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4(1), pp. 75-91. Grant, R. M., 1996. Towards a knowledge-based theory of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 17, pp. 109-122. Hofstede, G., 1998. 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Mercopress., 2009. “Lack of political stability” weighs on Argentina’s credit ratings. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 March 2012]. Rozada, M. G. and Menendez, A., 2002. Public university in Argentina: subsidizing the rich? [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 22 March 2012]. Teece, D., 1986. Profiting from technological innovation. Research Policy, 15(6), pp. 285-305. Teichler, V., 2004. The changing debate on internationalisation of higher education. Higher Education, 48(1), pp. 5-26. White, P., Arcienaga, A. and Gonzales, L. C., 2010. Argentina’s Innovative Capacity – Which Direction? [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 22 March 2012]. Wolf, A., 2002. Does Education Matter? London: Penguin Books. Youndt, M. A., Snell, S. A., Dean, J. W. and Lepak, D. P., 1996. Human Resource Management, Manufacturing Strategy and Firm Performance. Academy of Management Journal. 39 pp. 836-65. Read More