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Table of Contents

Table of Contents.......................................................................................................1

1.0 Corporate Profile ............................................................................................... 3

1.1 History ............................................................................................................... 3

1.2 Vision, Mission and Objectives ........................................................................... 5

Vision ................................................................................................................... 5

Mission ................................................................................................................. 5

Objectives ............................................................................................................ 5

1.3 Corporate Social Responsibility ......................................................................... 6

2.0 External Factors ................................................................................................... 7

2.1 PESTEL analysis ................................................................................................ 7

Political factors ..................................................................................................... 7

Economical factors ............................................................................................... 8

Socio-cultural factors ............................................................................................ 8

Technological factors ........................................................................................... 9

Environmental factors .......................................................................................... 9

Legal factors ....................................................................................................... 10

2.2 Five forces industry analysis ........................................................................... 11

Threat of New Entrants (Weak) .......................................................................... 11

Threat of Substitute Products or Services (High) ................................................ 12

Bargaining power of suppliers (Weak) ................................................................ 12

Bargaining power of buyers (Medium) ............................................................... 12

Degree of Rivalry Among Existing Players (High) ............................................... 12

2.3 Competitive Profile Matrix ............................................................................... 13

3.0 Internal factors ................................................................................................... 15

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3.1 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis .......................... 15

3.2 Tows Matrix ..................................................................................................... 17

3.3 Boston Consulting Group Growth Share Matrix ............................................... 19

3.4 Product Life Cycle ............................................................................................ 21

Reminding Advertisements ................................................................................ 21

Maintain the brand names ................................................................................. 21

3.5 Financial Analysis ............................................................................................ 22

4.0 Strategy Development ........................................................................................ 26

4.1Current Strategy .............................................................................................. 26

4.3 Porters original generic strategies .................................................................. 30

4.4 Grand Strategy Matrix ..................................................................................... 31

................................................................................................................................. 31

5.0 Conclusions ........................................................................................................ 33

6.0 Recommendations .............................................................................................. 34

8.1 Articles ............................................................................................................ 36

8.2 Books ............................................................................................................... 36

8.3 Official publications ......................................................................................... 37

8.4 Websites .......................................................................................................... 37

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1.0 Corporate Profile

1.1 History

Raffles Education Corporation (REC) Limited established its first college in Singapore in

1990 and was founded by Mr Chew Hua Seng. REC provides services in thirty three

cities across thirteen countries in the Asia Pacific region. The Headquarters is located in

Singapore and currently employs two thousand nine hundred academic and

administrative staff. REC currently has more than thirty thousand students enrolled

(Raffles Education Corporation 2009).

REC currently operates with their main brand names such as Raffles Design Institute

(RDI), Raffles Merchandising Institute (RMI), and Raffles School of Business (RSB).

, , (Source: Raffles

Education Corp 2009)

REC has shown rapid growth, it started with one small college and is now a

multinational education provider in thirteen countries. This growth includes an increase

in the number of colleges and levels of education; ranging from Diploma, Degree to

Masters Level. The graph below will help to show REC growth.

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Source: (Raffles Education Corp 2009)

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1.2 Vision, Mission and Objectives

Vision

Vision is a driving goal, usually inspiring and on a long term basis (Dess et al 2008).

RECs vision is to be the premier education group in Asia Pacific (Raffles Education

Corp 2009).

RECs vision statement shows a strong direction for their employees and at the same

time it motivates their employees to reach REC long term goals.

Mission

Mission can be defined as a set of organizational goals that include both the purpose ofthe organization and its scope of operations and the basis of its competitive advantage,

It tends to be more specific and address question (Dess et al 2008).

REC is committed to provide quality education through their network of institutions in the

Asia Pacific region to develop industry relevant skilled professionals (Raffles Education

Corp 2009)

The mission statement of REC shows their short term goals. REC wants to provide the

same quality of education in all their branches located in the Asia Pacific and India. This

is to avoid one college having better standards than the other colleges. Due to this

RECs short term goal is to make sure they have standards of quality in all their

branches.

Objectives

RECs objectives are to provide high level of education ranging from arts, design, and

business management (Raffles Education Corp 2009).

Their objectives can be use to support their mission, such as providing high level

standard of education in all their branches. With this they will have a strong global

image.

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1.3 Corporate Social Responsibility

According to the Chew Hua Seng Foundation (2008) REC take part in the foundation to

help less fortunate students get economic help, in order to seek higher education. This

type of foundation sees things differently compared to other foundations. It does not

help to subsidize the education fee, Chew Hua Seng believes that it is better to help

with their basic social needs like health, water, sanitation, nutrition, and housing. They

believe without all this the students cannot perform at the best of their abilities.

Doing this will give REC a good image in their potential students perception, and

hopefully by doing this REC can attracts more students in the near future.

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2.0 External Factors

2.1 PESTEL analysis

According to David (2009) the external environment analysis will help to identify the

external opportunities and external threats that may refer to changes in the political,

economical, socio-cultural, technological, environmental, and legal (PESTEL)

framework. Each of the frameworks may link together and most likely will affect the

structure or scope of the business practice.

REC can use the PESTEL framework to analyze its environmental factors such as howthe external factors can affect RECs performance in the global market. Analyzing these

factors will let REC have an upper hand to deal with the threats and opportunities they

are facing.

Political factors

This basically includes how REC is affected by the development or changes that

happen in the political environment such as the laws, government agencies, and many

more (Kotler et al 2006).

Singapore government wants to make Singapore as an Education hub, which is one of

the reasons why students from all over the world are coming to Singapore to complete

and pursue higher education. Singapore has built up an international reputation as a

hub for world class education and research (Singapore Education Government 2006).

EduTrust certification and Fee Protection Scheme (FPS) are there to help and protect

international students (Singapore Government 2006). The EduTrust certification and

FPS are use to maintain the quality of teaching and facilities in order to meet the

standard requirement as the number of International students coming from all over the

world keeps increasing from year to year. The Parliament Report (2008) mentions that

there are currently eighty six thousand students currently studying in Singapore,

increasing from fifty thousand from 2002

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.

Economical factors

This will affect the buying behavior and spending patterns of consumers (Kotler et al

2006). It might also affect the growth of REC

Singapore has a corruption free, stable prices, and highly developed and successful

free market economy (International Business Publications 2008).

The growth in the Singapore economy will also benefit REC in attracting students from

all over the world. This will also help the economy to grow since the students will be

staying and studying in Singapore. On the other hand, Singapore will also reduce the

unemployment rate.

Socio-cultural factors

Kotler et al (2006) believe that the cultural environment is made up of institutions,

beliefs, religions and other forces that affect societys basic values, perceptions,

preferences and behaviors.

Different cultures will have a different impact towards the company. Started first in

Singapore, REC is used to a mixed culture, since Singapores cultures include;

Chinese, Malays, Indians, and other ethnic groups such as the European, Caucasians

and many more (Singapore Department of Statistic 2010).

In addition the ninety thousand professional expatriates working and living here also

bring their unique cultures and perspective that add value to the Singaporean culture

(College in Singapore 2009).

Singapore has a variety of music, foods, languages and religions due to the different

races that make up Singapore, Chinese, Malays, Indians and others. This will help the

international students that have different religions, language and culture to adapt easier.

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Technological factors

This is perhaps the most dramatic force that shapes RECs destiny (Kotler et al 2006).

Technologies made it possible to travel all around the world. Students will strive for the

best education they can get, if REC does not meet international technology standardsthen it will surely face troubles such as a decreasing number of students.

Singapore is keeping up with the dynamic change of technologies. It will not be difficult

for REC to adapt and implement new technologies in their college and universities. (IDA

2010). Recently Singapore University of Technology and Design signed a formal

agreement with Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This shows that Singapore

keeps on developing their technology so they will not get outdated (Ministry of

Education 2010).

Recently REC was developing their cyber museum with the National Heritage Board

(Raffles Education Corp 2009). It is an online platform that serves educational, social e-

engagement, and for marketing purposes to attract international students.

Environmental factors

In this case Raffles Education Corporation tends to use more environmental friendly

materials and goods that are able to get recycle (Raffles Education Corporation 2009).

Singapore is a developed country. They use newer, better and more eco-friendly

technologies. In Singapore there are many individuals, groups and organizations that

are starting to spend their time, money and effort to contribute something to the

environment in order to protect, promote and enhance Singapores clean and green

environment (National Environmental Agency 2002).

This will create a good impression and image in the eyes of international students that

are planning to pursue their higher education in Singapore.

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Legal factors

International students coming here to study need to sign a contract that will protect both

the students and the college or universities. It helps protecting the students from thecollege which performance are below actual standards. Regarding this the Singapore

government gives full support such as giving the Case trust and EduTrust awards to

some universities or college which meet the standard level.

Company like Council for Private Education Singapore (2010) is set up to regulate the

private education sector, it also facilitates to improve or uplift the level of education from

the private sector.

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2.2 Five forces industry analysis

It was developed and designed to analyze the economic and market forces that can

influence the industry profit. The five forces are the threat of new entrants, threat of

substitute products or services, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power ofbuyers, and degree of rivalry among existing competitors (Bensoussan and Fleisher

2008).

Threat of New Entrants (Weak)

-Cost of capital

To set up colleges or universities takes a huge sum of money, information and

experience in the related industry, it pushes the barriers to entry higher. When the

barriers to entry increase it limits the number of potential competitors that might come in

to the market.

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-Switching costs

Students who are currently enrolled in REC will not even bother to move to a new

college since it will be costly and inconvenient. Students will prefer to pursue and attaincertificates from colleges that are well known.

Threat of Substitute Products or Services (High)

Threat of substitute services may come from other private institutions that provide

similar services with lower cost. The threat of substitute services for REC will be coming

from online courses, seminar, workshop, or internship where the students learn about

the knowledge on the spot itself.

Bargaining power of suppliers (Weak)

For REC the bargaining power of suppliers will be low since REC is providing services

and only take goods such as the stationery, machinery and computers that will last for

more than two-three years. Due to that reason the supplier will not have much power to

bargain.

Bargaining power of buyers (Medium)

-Service provided is common

In this case the bargaining power will be medium; Since REC is not monopolizing the

market. There are competitors that provide similar services in the existing industry. So

the students will have medium bargaining power. It is due to the brand names of REC

that attract the students.

Degree of Rivalry Among Existing Players (High)

-Number of competitors

The rivalry among existing players will be high, since there are other well known

colleges or universities in Singapore that provide design and arts education such as

LaSalle College of the Arts and Nan yang Academy of Fine Arts. They are all roughly

equal in size so they watch each other carefully to match and counter their competitors

move.

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2.3 Competitive Profile Matrix

Raffles EducationCorp

Nan yang

Academy of FineArts

LaSalle College ofthe Arts

Key Success

Factors

Weigh

t Rating

Weighte

d Score Rating

Weighted

Score Rating

Weighted

ScoreBrand name 0.1 4 0.4 4 0.4 4 0.4variety of

courses 0.1 3 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.3facilities 0.2 3 0.6 3 0.6 4 0.8internship

programs 0.15 3 0.45 3 0.45 3 0.45advertising 0.1 2 0.2 2 0.2 3 0.3price

competitivenes

s 0.05 3 0.15 3 0.15 2 0.1

global

expansion 0.1 4 0.4 2 0.2 3 0.3service quality 0.2 3 0.6 3 0.6 3 0.6

Total 1 3.1 2.9 3.25

Source (created for this assignment, adapted from David Fred R, StrategicManagement concept and cases, 12th edition, 2009, prentice hall, New Jersey).

According to David (2009) the competitive profile matrix (CPM) is used to identify the

strengths and weaknesses of the firm and the major competitors.

The table shows REC ranked 2nd compared to its competitors, there is still room for

improvement. Another factor that REC can improve is advertising, the more they

advertise the more they can attract potential students from all over the world. REC can

advertise in countries which are not fully exposed with colleges or universities

specialized in design and arts.

In conclusion, REC needs to improve in order to win more market share and gain more

students in the future, thus being more competitive. REC strength lies on their global

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expansion and brand name. All the branches located at Asia Pacific and India give them

more market to penetrate. By using their strengths REC can conquer and target new

market in the future.

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3.0 Internal factors

3.1 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis

Wheelen and Hunger (2010) strongly believed that Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis can be use to develop the corporate

mission, objectives, strategies and policies. The SWOT analysis will cover both the

internal and external analysis.

Strengths

Internationally recognized REC is famous for their high level of education standards anow grew to become a multi-national college that operaaround Asia Pacific and India.

High standard of Teachingstaff

Lecturers at REC are coming from all over the world bringingdiverse background, wealth of technical knowledge, aindustry experience.

Inter College TransferREC are all around Asia Pacific and India, due to that reasonis possible to let the students experience the inter colletransfer , this will benefit the students as they can learn in neenvironments and experience learning in different countries.

Internship and CareerPlacement

Students in REC get the chance to experience their industhrough their internship and commercial projects. This helps tstudents to gain more knowledge regarding the industry, the

commercial companies will end up being there future employeWeaknesses

Limited Scope Branches and colleges are set up all around Asia pacific aIndia, but REC has not reached any other part of the world lAmerica and Europe which makes the REC brand only famoin Asia.

Different learning experience REC has established their branches all over Asia Pacific aIndia, thus it will result in different learning experience tinternational students will face. REC does their best to mainta quality of standards in all over their branches. For examdesign students in Singapore will not get a change to desi

and experience winter compare to those who study in China.

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Opportunities

Opening more branches Currently REC has closed the geographical gap, as they haveset up colleges across Asia Pacific to India. There are stillplenty of countries that REC can extend their college anduniversities to, by doing this REC can create a global brand and

imageDevelop Online class To be different from its competitors and to close the

geographical gap, REC can start developing online classes asthe technologies now make it possible to conduct onlineclasses.

Improve their other institute REC currently is famous for their RDI, REC can do moreadvertisements in the future to reposition their RMI and RSB inthe student's perception. Other than that REC can improve theirquality of education in RMI and RSB.

Develop their own advertisingcompany By doing this REC can place their students for training and

career as soon as they graduates.Threats

Local Colleges Local colleges have better knowledge about the cultures andpolicies in each country. Not to mention the price factor, wherethe local college can offer a lower price, which might be aserious threat for REC in the near future

Competitors providing the sameservices

In Singapore there are Nan yang Academy of Fine Arts andLaSalle college that provide high level of education focused ondesign and arts. They also provide a wide variety of courseslike business and hospitality

Political situations in the country Riot and government policy sometimes affect how RECoperates. Most of the foreign students will prefer a safe countrywith a stable economy. In the future REC needs to carefullyselect new countries for their branches.

Source: (Created for this assignment)

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3.2 Tows Matrix

Strengths (S) Weaknesses (W)

1. Internationally recognize

2. High standard of

teaching staff

3. Inter college transfer

4. Internship and career

placement

1. Limited scope

2. Different Learning

experience

Opportunities (O) S-O Strategies W-O Strategies

1. More Branches

2. Developed

Online class

3. Improve their

other institute

4. Develop their

own advertising

company

1. REC can expand into

foreign markets and

improve their brand

image for their entire

institute. (S1, S2, O1,O3)

2. Provide an inter college

transfer to let the

students experience a

new environment.

(S1,S2,S3,O1)

3. Develop E-class to reach

more students

(S1,S2,O2)

4. Create an advertising

company for the purpose

of internship and career

placement. (S4,O4)

1. Opening more branches.

(W1, O1)

2. Develop E-class to expand

its scope and reduce the

different learning

experience. (W1,W2,O2)

3. By preparing RECsadvertising company, REC

can improve their institute

and reduce the different

learning experience.

(W2,O3,O4)

Threats (T) S-T Strategies W-T Strategies

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Intern

al

Factor

sExterna

l

Factors


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1. Local College

2. Competitors

providing the

same services

3. Different

political

situations in the

country.

1. Using their brand name

to compete with local

college.

(S1,S2,S3,S4,T1)

2. Be different by giving

good internship and

career placement, inter

college transfer, and

provide good lecturers..

(S2,S3,S4,T2)

3. REC can try to influence

and cope with the

different political

situations based on their

experiences entering

other market.(S1, T3)

1. Partnership with local

colleges. (W1,W2,T1)

2. Partnerships with local

colleges enable REC tooffer better education and

customize its services to

cope with the differences.

(W1, W2,T2,T3)

3. Closing the geographical

gap by forming alliances

with local colleges.

(W1,T1)

Source: (Created for this assignment, adapted from Wheelen T. L,& Hunger J David,

Strategic Management and Business Policy, 11th

edition, Prentice Education Inc, 2008,New Jersey)

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3.3 Boston Consulting Group Growth Share Matrix

According to Wheelen and Hunger (2010) the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Growth

Share Matrix is the simplest way to portray the firms portfolio of investments. In the

BCG matrix each of the firms product or services are plotted on the matrix according tothe number of sales and the growth rate.

(Source: Created for this assignment, adapted from Haberberg A. & Rieple A., 2008,

Strategic Management: Theory and Application, Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press)

All fashion related course such as fashion marketing and fashion design are the most

famous course in REC. The RDI courses are at the cash cow stage in the BCG matrixbecause students from all over the world know about REC and their strengths at these

courses.

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The cash generated from the REC courses will be use in the Star segments for which

RMI and RSB are still growing. REC can use the cash to do advertisement to attract

more number of potential students.

In the near future all RECs courses will be in the cash cow segments, the cashgenerated there will be use to do reminder advertisement for the consumer to remind

them what REC specialized at.

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3.4 Product Life Cycle

Source: (Created for this assignment, adapted from Kotler Philip et al, principles of

marketing, 3rd edition, prentice hall, 2008, Australia)

Each product or service has a limited lifetime. The product life cycle will help to analyze

and identify the position and strategies for the firm (Kotler et al 2008).

RDI is in the mature stage as shown in the BCG matrix in the cash cows. RDI is

generating income that able to sustain REC in the industry. While RMI and RSB are still

in the growth stage, they still have the potential to grow and attract more students.

Few strategies that REC can do in this following stage are:

Reminding Advertisements

At this stage, REC can do advertising just like when they first opened up, the difference

is they are not introducing the college, but they are reminding the potential customer

and students that REC offers a high level of education and the colleges are located all

over Asia Pacific and India.

Maintain the brand names

REC needs to maintain its brand names in order to attract future potential students.

Good brand images will affect the students decision to choose REC instead of its

competitors.

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3.5 Financial Analysis

This part will analyze how REC operates judging from their financial ratios. Here listed

are some common ratios that a firm can use to analyze and evaluate how they perform

from last year compare to this year.

Source: ( Raffles Education Corp 2009)

Liquidity ratio S$'000 S$'000

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2009 ratio 2008 ratio

Current

ratio

Current Assets 278,0310.89

145,3960.41

Current Liabilities 311,297 350,653

Acid

test

Current Assests- (Inventory+Prepayments)

278031-(597+146,453) 0.42

145,396- (368+52,529) 0.26

current liabilities 311,297 350,653

Cash

ratio

(Cash+ Short term securities ) 115,3140.37

68,5020.2

current liabilities 311,297 350,653

(Created From REC 2008, 2009 and Brealey, Myers & Allen, 2009)

Liquidity ratios are used to measure the company short term financial strength by

measuring the relationship between current assets and current liabilities. (Libby et al.2009).

The current ratio indicates that the short term solvency of both years is below the

accepted standard of 2:1. However, their performance has improved from 0.41:1 to

0.89:1. This show that in 2009 they are more solvent as they have $0.89 worth of

current assets for every $1 worth of current asset.

In term of immediate solvency, REC is also below the accepted standard of 1:1. In 2009

the company was more solvent. This means that REC is able to make short term

investment and increase their profitability instead of holding their assets.

Profitability ratioS$'000 S$'0002009 ratio 2008 ratio

Net Net profit x 100 51,591 x100 25.5 99,406 52.31

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profit

margin%

x100%

sales 201956 190,020

Return

onAssets

Net income 51,591 x 100

2.6%Average totalassets

(772,185+278,031)+(770,306+145,396)

Return

on

equity

Net income 51,591 x 1009.9%

99,406 x

100 26.7%

equity 518,960 372,719


Net profit has decreased from 52.31% to 25.55%. The fall in the net profit might be due

to the uncontrollable expenses in relation to sales. Libby et al. (2009) believe that

profitability ratios primarily measure the overall success of the company.

The decrease in RECs return on equity shows that the company has taken out more

loans reducing profitability.

Overall, RECs profit dropped a lot from 2008 to 2009. It shows the net profit margin

dropped almost by half. Return on equity it dropped by almost twenty percent.

Efficiency ratioS$'000 S$'0002009 ratio 2008 Ratio

Cash

turnover

Net Sales 201,9562.04

190,0202.77

cash 98,766 68,502

Accounts Net Sales 201,956 1.69

Average (162,120+76526)/224


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Receivable

Turnover

Receivables

Bad Debt

to salesratio

Bad debts 4,834

0.024

449

0.0024sales 201,956 190,020


Compared to 2009, 2008 had a better cash turnover. Account receivable turnover is

done to find out how much time REC take to collect the money.REC has 2.04% bad

debts to sales ratio. This shows that some of their creditors have not paid them the

money. This can be improved by improving their management system.

REC in this case is being efficient as a college as the accounts receivable shows that

the students only pay once a year. RECs bad debts show that REC collects all the

money since the ratio is a small value.

Financial Leverage RatioS$'000 S$'000

2009 ratio 2008 ratioTotal

Debts to

Assets

Total Liabilities 510,690

0.48

534,170

0.58Total Assets 1,050,216 915,702

Debt to Total Debt 510,690 0.98 534,170 1.43

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equity Total equity 518,960 372,719

Interest

Coverag

e Ratio

Earning before interest

and tax

72,886+10,43

6 7.98

105,354+3,32

9 33.53

interest expense 10,436 3,329(Created From REC 2008, 2009 and Brealey, Myers & Allen, 2009)

Libby et al. (2009) believe that the leverage ratios are use for analyzing the companys

ability to meet its long term obligations. In this case RECs total debts to assets have

decreased from 2008 to 2009, assets increased as the ratio was lower.

In terms of their debts to equity ratio, it shows that to each asset is equal to 0.98 debts.

This shows a better performance from last year

While RECs interest coverage ratio shows a decrease in performance in 2009. This is

the ability to cover the interest that REC needs to pay, there is a significant decrease in

REC performance. Other reason might be REC take more loans so REC have more

interests to pay out.

4.0 Strategy Development

4.1Current Strategy

REC currently followed few strategies that had been developed by their top

management. The figure below will help to illustrate RECs current strategies

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The figure above shows four main strategies that REC currently follows, such as they

want to build existing depths, expand college networks, create value at University City,

and strengthen academic credibility.

The strategies that REC currently adopts will help REC to maintain its position in their

current market as well as entering new market. Building more depth at existing college

will help REC to gain more market share in their current market. They expand their

network to enter new market.

Creating value at University City and Strengthen their academic credibility will let them

have better brand name regarding their brand. This will be use in the future to attract

potential students.

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4.2 Ansoff growth matrix

Source: (David Fred R, Strategic management concept and cases, 12 th edition, prentice

hall, 2009, New Jersey)

With the help of the above matrix REC can select the right strategy to deal with themarket they currently serve and product they have.

For the market penetration strategy, since REC is serving their current market with their

current services REC should do more advertisement to create brand awareness in the

market and to compete with the competitors

At the same time REC can develop the market development strategy. REC needs to do

a market research on the number of potential students and competitors in the market

and prepare a good marketing strategy to sustain the company in the new market.

Customize the product to meet the local requirements, match the price with the

competitors, rephrase the marketing promotion with the local languages, and select

strategic place to build the college.

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An alternative and suggestion for future consideration is to develop an online course in

order to be unique and different from its competitors. With the online course REC can

penetrate into new market with their new services the online class. The online class atthe same time can serve more students at once regarding where they are.

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4.3 Porters original generic strategies

Source: (Hubbard G., Rice J., & Beamish P., 2008, Strategic Management: Thinking,

Analysis, Action, 3rd ed., Frenchs Forest, Australia, Prentice Hall)

Porter suggested that there are three types of strategies that an organization can

pursue in order to have a sustainable competitive advantage. (Beamish 2008)

In the education industry REC is stuck in the middle, since they are famous for arts and

design but there are also other institutes that provide the same courses such as Lasalle

College of the Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.

In the future REC may want to provide differentiation by providing their courses via the

internet. Online course will help REC to be different and at the same time close the

geographical boundaries.

REC can also cut down the cost as they have branches all over Asia Pacific and India,

since REC is open to the resources in different areas which enable REC to operate

effectively and efficiently.

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4.4 Grand Strategy Matrix

Source :( created for this assignment, adapted from David Fred R, Strategic

Management concept and cases, 12th edition, 2009, prentice hall, New Jersey).

Grand Strategy matrix can be use to prepare an alternative strategies based on two

factors such as the competitive position of the firm and the market growth in the

industry.

REC is plotted in quadrant I, it shows that REC has strong competitive position and

rapid market growth. In the Singapore market itself REC is rank second after LaSalle.For this following quadrant REC can develop alternative strategies to overcome future

challenges.

REC is currently using market development and market penetration as have been

discussed in Ansoff matrix. In this matrix it will explain more about the alternative

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strategies REC can develop and implement in the future such as the forward integration

and related diversification.

Forward Integration for REC will be building and creating their own advertising agency

and clothing store. Building their own advertising agency and clothing store will allow

REC to give a career placement for the students. The advertising agency itself can be aplace where students are going to do their internship.

Related Diversification in REC case is to develop or take new courses from university

partner, by doing this REC can attract more students since they have variety of major in

which students can enrolled with. This will serve as an alternative strategy if the market

penetration and development are not doing well. By preparing this REC will be more

prepare to face the challenges in the dynamic market.

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5.0 Conclusions

In conclusion, RECs performance shows that it has improved from 2008 to 2009. ThePESTEL framework shows how the different factors impact RECs operations, as so far

REC can cope well with the external factors.

With the SWOT analysis and TOWS matrix, REC will know its current strengths and

weaknesses, thus this will help REC to fully maximize its strength to avoid their threats

and capture their opportunities. PLC and BCG also help to analyze the correct

strategies to use in the stage where REC is in right now, which is in star section moving

to cash cow, the growth going to maturity stage.

The CPM shows that REC ranked 2nd in the market, this will help REC to benchmark

with its competitors in what REC is lacking in at. REC shows their strengths and

weaknesses compare to its competitors Nan yang and LaSalle as shown in the matrix.

With this REC can evaluate and compete with their main competitors in the market.

Financial ratios are also calculated to see how REC perform in the previous years

compare to this year performance. The ratios will help investor to see how REC

performance increases from year to year.

In short REC performance is still far from the best, slowly but surely RECs performance

shows an improvement from 2008 to 2009.

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6.0 Recommendations

In the future REC might consider doing partnership or joint venture with local college in

order to attract the local market. Since the local college will have better knowledge

about the laws, regulation, customs, and culture of the market.

They can expand their colleges into new countries and REC can establish itself in the

global market. At the same time they can reduce the geographical gap by providing their

services in new markets.

REC can also improve their financial performance, as the financial analysis shows that

they havent do really well this past two years. REC can do this by stop borrowing

money and start paying their short term liabilities or loan. Another way on how REC canimprove their financial performance is by having an alliances or partnership with another

design college.

Online courses is now possible and by doing that REC can attract international students

from all over the world. This is another alternative for REC to reduce the geographical

gap.

Last but not least REC can diversify their services in related industry. Currently REC is

providing services with 3 main partners such as RDI, RMI, and RSB. In the future REC

might want to add more subjects and courses to attract more students with their wide

variety of courses available for the students to enroll with.

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7.0 Learning Evaluation

This assignment helps to explain how strategic management can be use to a company

like REC deal with its external environment as well as their internal environment. It also

helps to develop its future growth strategies.

This assignment summarized all other previous modules to critically analyze how the

firms like REC perform in the market. Strategic Management also helps in decision

making for the company.

With the help of this assignment, now REC can be clearer of its current position in the

market and REC can start benchmarking with better competitor in the market.

Learning this module and completing the assignment give a clear use of how strategic

management can be use in senior management to do business decision and plan for

future strategies.

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8.0 Reference list

8.1 Articles

-Peoples Action Party, 2008, Singapore as an education hub, oral answer to questions

Singapore as an education hub, (Online), (Last updated on Monday, 26

th

may 2008),Available at: (http://www.pap.org.sg/articleview.php?id=3461&mode=&cid=23), Viewed

on 26th August 2010.

8.2 Books

-Beamish Hubbard Rice, Strategic Management Thinking Analysis Action, 3th edition,

Pearson Education, 2008, Australia.

-Bensossan b. B. & Fleisher c. S., Analysis Without Paralysis : 10 tools to make better

decisions, Prentice Hall, 2008, New Jersey, USA

-Brealey R. A., Myers S. C. & Allen F., 2009, Principles of Corporate Finance, New

York, USA, McGraw-Hill

- Haberberg A. & Rieple A., 2008, Strategic Management: Theory and Application,

Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press

-David Fred R, Strategic management concept and cases, 12 th edition, prentice hall,

2009, New Jersey

-Dess Gregory D et al, Strategic Management text and cases, 4th edition, McGraw-Hill

Irwin, 2008, New York.

- Hubbard G., Rice J., & Beamish P., 2008, Strategic Management: Thinking, Analysis,

Action, 3rd ed., Frenchs Forest, Australia, Prentice Hall

-Johnson et al, Exploring Corporate Strategy Text and Cases, 7 th edition, Prentice hall,

2005.

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-Kotler Philip et al, principles of marketing, 3rd edition, prentice hall, 2008, Australia.

-Kotler Philip et al, Marketing Management An Asian Perspective, 5 th edition, Prentice

hall, 2009, Singapore.

-Libby R., Libby P. A. & Short D. G, 2009, Financial Accounting, 6 th Edition, New York,

USA, McGraw-Hill

-Wheelen T. L,& Hunger J David, Strategic Management and Business Policy, 11th

edition, Prentice Education Inc, 2008, New Jersey

8.3 Official publications

-Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) , 2010, The WORLD Factbook :East & South East

-Asia - Singapore, (Last updated on August 19th, 2010), Viewed on 26th August 2010.

-International Business Publications (IBP), 2008, Singapore : Recent Economic and

political Developments Yearbook; 5th Edition, Washington Dc, USA.

-Raffles Education Corp, Entrepreneurship Innovation & Empowerment, 2009 Annual

Report, Singapore.

-Singapore Department of Statistics, 2010, Singapore in Figure 2010, available at

http://www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/references/sif2010.pdf , Viewed on 24th August, 2010.

8.4 Websites

-Raffles Education Corp, 2008, Vision, Mission and Philosophy, (Online) Available at:

(http://www.raffles-education-corporation.com/), Viewed on 26th August 2010.

-Singapore Education, 2006,Education on Singapore, (Online) Available at:

http://www.singaporeedu.gov.sg/htm/abo/abo01.htm, Viewed on 25th August 2010

-European University,2010,Why study in Singapore,(Online) Available at:

http://www.euruni.edu/en/Campuses/EU-Partner-in-Singapore/Why--

Singapore/Why_Study_In_Singapore.html, Viewed on 25th August 2010

37
http://www.raffles-education-corporation.com/http://www.singaporeedu.gov.sg/htm/abo/abo01.htmhttp://www.euruni.edu/en/Campuses/EU-Partner-in-Singapore/Why--Singapore/Why_Study_In_Singapore.htmlhttp://www.euruni.edu/en/Campuses/EU-Partner-in-Singapore/Why--Singapore/Why_Study_In_Singapore.htmlhttp://www.raffles-education-corporation.com/http://www.singaporeedu.gov.sg/htm/abo/abo01.htmhttp://www.euruni.edu/en/Campuses/EU-Partner-in-Singapore/Why--Singapore/Why_Study_In_Singapore.htmlhttp://www.euruni.edu/en/Campuses/EU-Partner-in-Singapore/Why--Singapore/Why_Study_In_Singapore.html


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-Maps of World, 2009,Culture of Singapore,(Online) Available at:

http://www.mapsofworld.com/singapore/culture.html Viewed on 25th August 2010

-Colleges in Singapore, 2009,Singapore Universities and Colleges, (Online) Available

at: http://collegesinsingapore.com/education.html Viewed on 26th August 2010

-CPE, 2009, Council for Private Education, (online) Available at:

http://www.cpe.gov.sg/ Viewed on 26th August 2010

-IDA, 2010,Technology Event, (Online) Available at:

(http://www.ida.gov.sg/Technology/20060418114224.aspx), Viewed 26th August 2010

-Raffles Design Institute, 2008, Cyber-Museum, (Online) Available at:

(http://www.raffles-design-institute.edu.sg/index.php?

option=com_content&view=article&id=33:cyber-museum&catid=3&Itemid=18), Viewed

on 26th August 2010.

-National Environment Agency, 2002, Environmental Awards, (Online) Available at:

(http://app2.nea.gov.sg/ecofriend_awards.aspx), Viewed on 26th August 2010.
http://www.mapsofworld.com/singapore/culture.htmlhttp://collegesinsingapore.com/education.htmlhttp://www.cpe.gov.sg/http://www.ida.gov.sg/Technology/20060418114224.aspx),%20%20Viewed%2026th%20August%202010http://www.raffles-design-institute.edu.sg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33:cyber-museum&catid=3&Itemid=18http://www.raffles-design-institute.edu.sg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33:cyber-museum&catid=3&Itemid=18http://app2.nea.gov.sg/ecofriend_awards.aspxhttp://www.mapsofworld.com/singapore/culture.htmlhttp://collegesinsingapore.com/education.htmlhttp://www.cpe.gov.sg/http://www.ida.gov.sg/Technology/20060418114224.aspx),%20%20Viewed%2026th%20August%202010http://www.raffles-design-institute.edu.sg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33:cyber-museum&catid=3&Itemid=18http://www.raffles-design-institute.edu.sg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33:cyber-museum&catid=3&Itemid=18http://app2.nea.gov.sg/ecofriend_awards.aspx

sm michael bestari

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