Describe about the PESTEL Framework, Porter’s Five Forces Model and Analysis of potential contribution of Information systems to operations of Volga University?
The UK Universities are facing several challenges pertaining to funding of higher education, recruitment of overseas students and deciding upon the fee structures for the courses. In the light of several regulatory, economic and technology challenges faced by the university, adequate application of Information systems and Information technology may do wonders in terms of efficient management and growth of these Universities. This report presents information systems and strategy management analysis of a fictitious University named Volga University. The Volga University is supposedly based in the Britain land offering specialized courses to the domestic as well as the International students in the management studies field.
The understanding of the PESTEL framework for the Volga University would enable environmental scanning to the education institute that would help us in devising appropriate strategies for the management and operations of the University.
· Tighter rules on student immigration has made the student entry requirements more stringent, negatively affecting the admission in the University.
· The Government of UK imposing additional burden on the University for Education Courses has made the courses expensive.Economic Impact
· The increased competition from the Private Universities across UK and around the globe is attracting lesser students to Volga University, impacting imbalance in the economies of scale. This is also further impacting the addition in the fee structure of the courses offered at the University
· The impact of the major economic down turn of 2009- 2010, along with budget cuts to the education sector by the UK government has resulted in lesser demand for the education courses offered.
· The rising popularity of the Information Technology enabled courses is anticipating huge changes in the methods and ways of how management courses are offered in the University.
· The effective management of cross-cultural diversity between the students from varied backgrounds has become extremely necessary with changing times.
· The adoption of latest technology applications for supporting the education courses is been demanded by majority of the students.
· The Web based communities, forums and social networking platforms are bringing all the international students on a common platform, facilitating enhanced knowledge sharing and networking between the students.
· The Wi-Fi-enabled campuses and e-connectivity between the students and the professors of the institute has facilitated effectiveness in the functioning of the University.
· Volga University has initiated exclusive cycle tracks across the campus of the university. The petrol/diesel run vehicles are banned inside the campus. This small act of the management has contributed towards the reduction of carbon foot prints in its own way.
· The change in the education policy with the change in the legal requirements is a threat that Volga University has to undergo.
Each of the Porter’s five forces has been applied to the existing setup of the Volga University that offers several courses in the management study stream.
The intensity of competition among the existing Universities in UK is very high due to increasing demographic challenges and increased competition from the overseas universities. The Government policy for the education institutes is also becoming stringent, widening the intensity of competition between the existing universities in UK.
The Funding bodies to the education institutes, technology support enablers as well as all the support service facilitators including the instructors and professors are part of the suppliers of the University of Volga. Their Bargaining power is observed to be considerably low in comparison to the bargaining power of students, who are the prominent consumers of education.
The Bargaining power of Buyers (that is the students) is very high for the Volga University. The students have ample of options to pursue their higher education, and with technological advancement, there are several web learning services as well. Further, the variables such as tuition fees, duration of courses, technology support to the courses etc. influence this factor.
The unfavorable government policies for the higher education sector, since past five years in the UK province, makes the possible threat from new entrants severely bleak.
There is no substitution for Higher education. The e-learning courses, may be ad-on to the University Degrees, however they cannot match the market value attracted by a University Degree Course.
The overall observations and study of the PESTLE framework and the Porter’s five forces analysis suggests that the last five years have been very challenging for UK universities, including the Volga University. The following areas have to be improvised by the Volga University as per the observations, study and analysis of the Volga University in strategic context:
1. Strengthening of the overall brand image of Volga University and establishing a focused corporate communications plan- Adequate concentration on public relations, media publicity and overall promotion activities of the University, would help Volga University build and maintain a strong Brand Image in the International education Industry, which would highly assist the growth strategy of the University.
2. Concentrating on Strategies and techniques for improvisation in the Sales and Marketing Plan of the Volga University- Adequate techniques for improvisation in the customer relationship management, would add efficiency to the University. Also handling the student enquiries and promoting the University’s outreach are the further challenges that the university would have to handle.
3. Achieving Technological Innovation in terms of integration of technology and advanced Information systems in the educational courses offered by the University- Utilization of adequate technology support for the on campus courses offered by the University is the need of the hour. Usage of technology facilitates effective learning for the various courses offered as well as becomes cost effective in terms of lesser administrative work for managing the courses. Utilization of Information systems for offering more distance education courses may also be used as a strategic move by the University to face competition in the education industry.
The Porter’s value chain analysis would present the activities and functionalities for the Volga University that will be responsible for generating Value to the University in achieving its core competency of delivering Higher education in the management stream. The Following are the elements of the value chain model for Volga University.
The Primary Value Chain activities would comprise of the following-
1. Inbound Logistics- This would involve the overall relations with the suppliers of education materials and education infrastructure for the University. This includes course preparation development, curriculum planning, procuring specific hardware tools for learning, etc.
2. Operations- All the operations related to course development would be included in this variable. This would include editing and formation of the study material, allocating resources to the courses, making time tables, etc.
3. Outbound Logistics- Providing web access to the registered students, mail Liaoning with all the stake holders, delivering the right education to right students, etc. would be a part of Outbound Logistics activities for the Volga University.
The promotional activities for reaching maximum students would be a part of Sales and Marketing activities for the University. These would include all web advertising and print advertising activities. Merchandise marketing in terms of distributing University logo pens to the enrolled students, would also be a part of marketing activities for Volga University.
Coaching the enrolled students for their respective enrolled courses, conducting periodic assessments and test, facilitating with adequate learning support services and learning infrastructure, would be a part of services delivered by Volga University. The secondary activities would comprise of the following-
1. Procurement- Acquisition of educational resources from respective suppliers would be a part of procurement activities for the University.
2. Human Resource Management – The HR functions of selection, recruitment, development, motivation, appraisal and rewarding of the teaching as well as administrative staff of the Volga University would be a part of the HR management activity.
3. Technological Development- Technological development would include provision of technology based learning tools in class rooms and campuses, installation of Wi-Fi services for accessing free internet and facilitating students with advance learning applications is a part of the Technological development activity of the University.
4. Infrastructure – The Physical instate of art infrastructure of the Campus, including the well maintained classrooms, library, canteen, corridors and laboratories along with electronic infrastructure would comprise a prominent facility of the University.
The Value chain Analysis is indeed useful for analyzing the capabilities and competencies of the educational institutes and Universities and helps in rightly identifying the loop holes in functional activities of a business unit. The Value chain Analysis has thus acted as a tool in directing towards the strategic planning and management of the functional activities of the Volga University.
Analysis of potential contribution of Information systems to operations of Volga UniversityAccording to the observations and analysis, Volga University has an impeccable potential to develop in the areas of e-learning support services and may also offer distance learning education courses as well as examinations to its students.
This step towards adaptation of technological aids and information systems would enable convenience and ease to the students in their educational journey. Moreover, this would also add to the popularity of the University among the domestic as well as international students.
Adapting to the latest ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning Systems) would also be beneficial for the Volga University as its will help the University synchronize and update its activities on a real time basis. This adoption to latest information systems would link the entire campus of Volga University in to a single screen application. This would be indeed useful for strengthening the competencies of the courses offered by the University.
Conclusion
The globalization and technological advancements have eventually evolved as the key variables controlling the growth and direction of the educational universities and several education institutes. Technology undoubtedly offers convenience and ease to the students who are opting for educational services. Moreover adoption to some of the latest Information systems such as the Enterprise Resource Planning Systems would enable the University to function more efficiently and transparently. This better control and management over the activities of the University would benefit the Organization in the longer run. Thus the best method to fight the lack of government support in the education landscape of UK would be to improvise on the University’s core competency by adopting latest technology and information systems to strength the internal activities.
References
• Aksu Jumhur, Riza Ali, Reynolds Kenneth, Kursun Olcay, 2012, The Role of Information technology in Higher Education, Retrieved on February 3, 2015, from https://silkroad.ibsu.edu.ge/previous/fourth/8_02.pdf
• Daniel Elizabeth, 2008, Delivering benefits from information systems and information technology investments: a collaborative research program, The Open University Business School, Retrieved on February 3, 2015, from https://www.open.ac.uk/business-school/research/projects/delivering-benefits-information-systems-and-information-technology-investments-col
• Johnson Gerry, Whittington Richard and Scholes Kevan, 2011, Exploring Strategy, 9th edition, Prentice Hall: London
• Mote, C. D., 2011, Strategic Issues Facing Public Universities, University of Maryland, Retrieved on February 3, 2015, from https://www.aplu.org/NetCommunity/Document.Doc?id=2989
• Sellgren Katherine, 2013, Universities face financial challenges ahead, BBC News, Retrieved on February 3, 2015, from https://www.bbc.com/news/education-22765607
• Universities UK, 2012, Futures for Higher education analyzing trends, Retrieved on February 3, 2015, from https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Documents/2012/FuturesForHigherEducation.pdf
• Ward John and Peppard Joe, 2002, Strategic Planning for Information Systems, 3rd edition, Wiley: London
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