Whither an MBA at Strutledge? Strutledge is a small private liberal arts school
ID: 458143 • Letter: W
Question
Whither an MBA at Strutledge? Strutledge is a small private liberal arts school located within 50 miles of a major urban area in the southeast United States. As with most institutions of higher education, Strutledge’s costs are rising, and its enrollments are decreasing. In an effort to expand its student base, build valuable ties with area businesses, and simply survive, the Board of Regents is considering establishing an MBA program.
Currently no undergraduate degree is given in business, although business courses are taught. The dean of the school visualizes the MBA as an interdisciplinary program emphasizing problem solving, communication, and global awareness. Faculty expertise would be supplemented by instructors from local industry. The use of local faculty would better connect the university with the business community and provide opportunities for employment of the program’s graduates.
In terms of competition, a major state-funded university that offers an MBA is located in the adjacent urban area. Strutledge hopes that state budget cutbacks and perceptions of overcrowded classrooms and overworked professors at public institutions will open the door for a new entrant into the market. The Board of Regents also feels that the school’s small size will allow Strutledge to tailor the MBA program more closely to area business needs.
Several members of the Board are concerned about recent reports of the dwindling value of an MBA and are wondering if a better niche could be found with another graduate degree, perhaps a master of science in business analytics or something in the education or healthcare field.
Develop an information/decision support paper including the following:
-Recommend an action for the Board of Regents.
-Propose a course of action plan that includes quantitative analysis methodologies to assist the Board of Regents with making this decision.
-Justify all of your recommendations.
Note: This is a formal information/decision support paper that you are developing for the President as she prepares to address the topic to the Board of Regents. Be sure to include a title page and use APA 6th Edition format to include paragraph level headings. References are required.
Explanation / Answer
The Board of Regents must establish the objectives of the new program, considering whether it has the resources needed to achieve them. STRUTLEDGE faces increased costs and declining student enrollment, and want to increase income, with payment of tuition and subsidies, for it must expand the number of students and improve relationships with nearby businesses.
In my opinion, STRUTLEDGE must consider not only the MBA program, but also offer master's degree in other areas of high demand, such as information technology and Medicine and Health, this will give the institution greater exposure and enhance its reputation for who is wishing to enter one of these new programs.
Obviously the cost of establishing each of these programs will be different, taking into account salaries, marketing, facilities and services, that will be necessary to attract new students, as well as the level of competition it will have from other universities with similar offers, which should create the requirement of marketing to get new students.
For decision-making is necessary to determine the possible gains resulting from each of the income less the estimated costs, which STRUTLEDGE could get with each of the new programs and check them under different scenarios of success: Favorable, unfavorable
And then determine the best decision for the college according to the criteria of maximax, MAXIMIN, or EQUAL Likelihood:
Graduate possible gains
Program Favorable Unfavorable
MBA $XXXXX $XXXXX
Medicine and Health $XXXXX $XXXXX
InformationTechnology $XXXXX $XXXXX
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