Introduction
With the increased importance and influence of environmental issues in the business world, it is imperative to find out those issues which are important in both business school curricula and textbooks. It is also anticipating that business students are fairly knowledgeable about these issues. It has been seen that business school students have a limited working knowledge of the environment (Barnes & Ferry 1992).
But, environmental issues are not covered in the majority of the business strategy, international management, marketing, and strategic management textbooks. The world is marked by a progressively more rapid rate of change. Academic institutions are among those institutions in society, which are least prepared to respond quickly to changes (Barnes & Ferry 1992). Acclimatizing to new developments and shifting to new areas of inquiry do not come easily for these institutions (Barnes & Ferry 1992).
The objective behind developing the post-graduate curricula is not only to improve the academic level of the students but also to improve the knowledge of business and corporate professionals, but unfortunately, the management courses provided by the various universities not include the practical knowledge (Barnes & Ferry 1992).
Developing Post-Graduate Studies in Strategic Management
The aim of any business school should be to develop the course, which creates the synergy between academic as well as business world. The objective of the business school should be to develop higher education of excellence (Buyya & Ramamohanarao 2008). The courses designed should be based on the practical knowledge of the student and the textbooks should include the corporate and business case study, so that the management students learn about the present scenario in the corporate world. The course must include special knowledge and technical skills. The business schools should develop their rules and regulations for selecting the applicants like there should be rigid standards of qualification for the entrance of new students.
The ICFAI business school will be opened in the United States and its masters program would include the courses like MBA, on-line MBA, Post graduation in Strategic management, executive MBA and Business school MBA. The Masters is an academic degree conferred by a business school or university for those who complete two year of prescribed study after the bachelor’s degree (Buyya & Ramamohanarao 2008). It recognizes the expertise in an academic discipline or professional field of study, which is gained through intensive course work and through a comprehensive examination. Whereas the curriculum of these courses would include corporate education, corporate training, practical & real case studies of the organization, long learning cases and regional business associations.
Introducing a new master’s program
Post graduation in strategic management program is primarily for commerce and arts graduates who are seeking practical and professional specialization in management as well as in corporate world. It’s also appropriate for professionals with a background in related disciplines who are working in the companies as the middle managers. In present years, the demand for educational courses in management has expanded rapidly (Buyya & Ramamohanarao 2008). This has led to a huge demand for the professionals like marketing executives, finance executives, HR executives, etc.
The new master’s program of ICFAI business school will emphasize on building the student’s technical background. Its key objectives is that on completion of this course, the candidates will have considerable expertise in key areas of marketing, corporate planning and international marketing (Buyya & Ramamohanarao 2008). The program will help the students to apply the acquired techniques and knowledge to develop and implement awareness in organizations. This would help the management students to analyze and examine different projects to meet current and future needs of an organization (Buyya & Ramamohanarao 2008).
The program has numerous unique features:
Ø The students will comprehend global and domestic economic theories and their application to the business setting.
Ø The students will understand the strategic theories, the formulation and implementation of strategy. It will promote the use of industry standards (MBA Program Objectives 2008).
Ø The half of the program focuses on highly specialized topics such as distributed systems, marketing, international business, and human resource, etc. It includes a compulsory project where students have to attend three to four week projects.
Ø The management students will be able to identify customer needs and participate in the process of developing products and services to meet these needs (MBA Program Objectives 2008).
Ø The students would be explained about the importance of SWOT analysis, Environment scanning.
Ø The students will understand the importance of internal and external appraisal of industry.
Ø Students would be able to expand their insight and skills in developing the project management, enterprises and entrepreneurial activities (MBA Program Objectives 2008).
Ø The students will have an appreciation of the political, environmental, legal and regulatory setting of the organization.
The masters program of the business school would emphasize on the corporate education and training of the students. The students would be acknowledged with the day to day problems that the companies are facing (MBA Program Objectives 2008). The business school would emphasize on the live case studies, so that the students learn about the difficult ties that are faced by the organization.
The ICFAI business school will stress on giving the practical knowledge to the students rather than filling their minds with theoretical knowledge (Mathew 2005). The business schools would have links with the various universities and the corporate in order to provide better project training to the students (MBA Program Objectives 2008). The institution would emphasize on the 100% placement of the students.
Corporative Universities belong to the enterprise that requires permanent and efficient human resources. It is said that at the end of the present decade, the corporative universities will go beyond in number as compared to the traditional universities (Guadilla 2004). If the corporative universities will grow enduringly, the traditional universities would decrease. The learning modes of the corporative universities are continuously incorporating the modality of distance teaching.
The business school would also look forward for the corporate training of the students. Corporate training is a training solution that provides real knowledge of business. Training would help to build the right skill levels amongst the students, which in turn will support them in handling the various projects. Tuition fee for the students is determined at the beginning of an academic year. Tuition fee can be paid at once or in installments. The mode of paying will be regulated at the time of admission (Mathew 2005).
Structure of the strategic management course
The ICFAI business school programme delivers 40 Master level credits each year. Each section is awarded 10 credits. The range of unit or section varies between the first and second year as well as according to the knowledge and experience of the students. The modules for the first year include: Marketing and Strategic Management I. For the Second year, the modules include: Strategic Human Resource Management, Corporate strategic planning and Dissertation.
Contents: The strategic Management contents would include introduction to strategic management; corporate governance and social responsibility; Environmental scanning and Industry analysis; strategy formulation; strategy implementation; Strategic issues in entrepreneurial ventures and businesses.
Faculty: The faculty of ICFAI business school will include: Josep Arno, faculty for HR; Michael Bashshur, faculty for Organization Behavior; Xavier Calsamiglia, faculty for economics; Lluís Mosella Ximénez, faculty for business environment; Bernard Retali, faculty for Corporate strategy; Oscar Gutierrez, faculty for finance, etc (MBA faculty 2008).
Evaluation: The students in ICFAI business school would be timely evaluated. They would be given proper feedback about the paper, by the faculty members. There would be a special room for evaluating the students’ performance.
Regional Implementation strategy
Before starting the master’s programme, it is important to evaluate the regional atmosphere of the place. Local strategies mainly focus on the home-market and implement a policy that is more responding to local needs, values and demands. This usually happens on a regional basis like Western European countries or Northern part of Europe. In the US, the University of Chile and the University of Southern Indiana is one of the oldest universities. In Latin America, University of Chile is the most impressive institution. The students in the United States would first prefer these institutes.
It is very important that the ICFAI business school provides the extra curricular programmes so that the students prefer it. The Business school has to develop its own strategy to survive in the market. The ICFAI business school has to select the top faculties like Samuel Hollander, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, etc.
As far as the glocal view is concerned, it refers to the individual, group, division, unit, organization and community which is willing and is able to think globally and act locally. It is important to plan and implement the global strategy to launch itself in international market. Global strategy is based on a strategy that entails a long-range planning that is designed to achieve desired goals. For business, strategy involves an incorporated and coordinated set of commitments and actions to increase competitive advantages and to obtain the targeted returns. To develop internationally, I would like to develop the branches of business school in the other countries. I would make the proper use of distribution channels.
Comparative Analysis of various MBA institutions
Every MBA institution has its own courses and curriculum. The curricula differentiate on the basis of the number of subjects, number of projects and the exams criteria, as many institutes have the semester or module system and some have the yearly system. Some of the universities like Ben-Gurion University of Israel provide the courses like Humanities and Social Sciences, natural Sciences, engineering Sciences, health Sciences, management, etc.
It emphasizes on the various student development programmes whereas the University of Deusto is one of the most well-known and prestigious academic institutions in Spain, which has campuses both in Bilbao and San Sebastián (University of Deusto 2008). The Business College of this University was founded in the year 1916 and it was the first college for nearly 50 years in Spain. It became the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration in the year 1973. These universities differ on the basis of the services and education provided by the institutions. Both of the universities are the prestigious as well as renowned institution. The selection of the institutes sometimes depends on the needs and demand of the student.
Review of International MBA’s
In the present scenario, the area of management is receiving a large amount of attention because the organization and the environment are becoming more and more complex (Barnes & Ferry 1992). The globalization process has caused the dispersion of international management. Such a process of transmission may be contributing to an increasing homogeneity of managerial practice around the world but significant differences will still remain.
The importance of MBA programmes has resulted in diverse systems and intended to guide prospective students in their choice. International accreditation provides the independent way to judge the quality of degrees, and is also honored by three global bodies (Wiggett 2008). These are the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB); the Association of MBAs (AMBA) and European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS). Grading the institutes also helps in choosing a university or business school but it is very different from accreditation (Wiggett 2008).
According to the Boston University’s School of Management, it has been seen that business schools are years behind the corporate practices. The students are not provided with any kind of practical knowledge. These universities include business and society textbooks and a number of business law textbooks which deal with environmental issues (Barnes & Ferry 1992).
References
Barnes, AJ & Ferry, JK 1992. Creating a niche for the environment in the business school curriculum. Journal of Business Horizon
Buyya, R & Ramamohanarao, K 2008. An Innovative Master’s Program in Distributed Computing. Journal from the University of Melbourne
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Ben-Gurion University of the Negev 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008 from http://profiler.bgu.ac.il/
Guadilla, CG 2004. UNESCO Forum “Knowledge, Access and Governance: Strategies for Change. Access to higher education: Between global market and international and regional cooperation.
Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008 from http://www.bi.no/Content/Study____56448.aspx
MBA Program Objectives 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008 from http://www.hpu.edu/index.cfm?contentID=5209&siteID=1
MBA Faculty 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008 from http://mba.upf.es/upf_fulltime_programme_13_en.php?op=3
Mathew, MJ 2005. Business Management. Jaipur: Sheel Sons publisher
Postgraduate Diploma Management Studies 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008 from http://www.ucs.ac.uk/study/courses/postgraduateCourses/BusinessAndManagement/ManagementStudies.aspx
University of Deusto 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2008 from http://www.hamline.edu/law/adr/ecus/deusto.html
Wiggett, M 2008. Evaluating the quality of an MBA through published rankings. Retrieved May 21, 2008 from http://www.educaweb.com/EducaNews/interface/asp/web/NoticiesMostrar.asp?NoticiaID=2720&SeccioID=3326
