Dissertation on Corporate Model in Almarai for Business Development

This dissertation investigates the implementation of a Corporate University Model within Almarai, a major food and beverage company in the Middle East. The research explores the concept of corporate universities, their motivations, and their validity in large organizations, particularly within the FMCG industry. It examines the potential of applying an apprenticeship model and blended learning approaches within Almarai, focusing on business sustainability and the impact of learning and development on employee performance. The methodology employs a pragmatism philosophy with inductive reasoning, utilizing both survey and interview strategies for data collection. The analysis of collected data highlights the necessity and importance of the corporate university model, particularly in supporting apprenticeship programs for future business ventures in the Middle East. The study concludes with recommendations for Almarai, emphasizing the value of a corporate university model for talent retention and business growth. The dissertation also acknowledges the limitations of the study and suggests areas for future research.

Running head: DISSERTATION
Corporate model in Almarai University
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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Abstract
The following research has been carried out on the implementation of the Corporate University
Model in Almarai University. The use of the corporate university is being considered to be as
one of the most important future additions in the University models. The presence of the
corporate models in the university can help in the development of the individuals and also lead to
future business development. Such a development will be one of the most essential elements of
the business organization. The specialty of the corporate university lies in the fact that such a
model allows both the education along with the training for the employees and students. The
collaboration of education as well as specialized training is important for the success and
development of the business. The research has provided all the details related to corporate
university and has experimented the different factors and perspectives related to the corporate
business model. The selection of the different secondary sources especially the FMCG industry,
the use of the corporate model and the apprenticeship model in the universities and the
development areas have been discussed in detail in the following research. The methodology
chapter has provided the philosophical stances, designs used in the research and the strategies
along with the methods use to complete the research. The analysis of the data collected from the
survey and the interview has revealed the necessity and importance of the corporate university
model in the universities. The apprenticeship model supported in the corporate business ventures
is believed to be the future of the business especially in the Middle East. The recommendation
and the compact conclusion based on the research has been an additional specialty in the
following research.

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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all the people who have helped him to carry out and accomplish the
research as this one of my most wonderful experiences. I would like to express my gratefulness
to my adviser, Mr. ___________________________, for his guidance and support. I would like
to thank my supervisor Mr. ________________________, without his help it would not be
possible or me to overcome all the challenges those I have faced while carrying out the research.
I am thankful to my parents for their love and support. I am also thankful to my friends who
helped me in collecting the data. I would like to thank all the participants of the research those
provided me their valuable time and opinion to complete the research efficiently.
Thanking you all,
Yours sincerely
(Signature)

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................8
Overview......................................................................................................................................8
1.1 Problem statement...............................................................................................................10
1.2 Research aim........................................................................................................................11
1.3 Research objectives.............................................................................................................11
1.4 Research questions...............................................................................................................11
1.5 Significance of the study.....................................................................................................12
1.6 Structure of the dissertation.................................................................................................12
1.7 Summary..............................................................................................................................13
Chapter 2: Literature review..........................................................................................................14
2.1 Overview..............................................................................................................................14
2.2 Concept of Corporate University.........................................................................................14
2.3 Motivations behind Corporate University...........................................................................15
2.4 Corporate University in public and private sector...............................................................15
2.5 Validity of establishing corporate university in large organizations...................................16
2.6 Disadvantages of using corporate university model............................................................18
2.7 FMCG industry....................................................................................................................19
2.8 Significance of applying apprenticeship model in Almarai Company................................19

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2.9 Blended learning models associated with corporate universities........................................21
2.10 Relevance to Almarai Company........................................................................................22
2.11 Concept of business sustainability.....................................................................................23
2.12 Impact of learning and development on FMCG industry..................................................24
2.13 Deliverables of corporate university..................................................................................26
2.14 Literature gap.....................................................................................................................26
2.15 Summary............................................................................................................................27
Chapter 3: Research methodology.................................................................................................28
3.1 Overview..............................................................................................................................28
3.2 Research outline...................................................................................................................28
3.3 Research philosophy............................................................................................................29
3.4 Giving reasons for using pragmatism philosophy...............................................................29
3.5 Research approach...............................................................................................................29
3.6 Giving reasons for using inductive approach......................................................................30
3.7 Research design...................................................................................................................30
3.8 Giving reasons for using descriptive and exploratory design..............................................31
3.9 Research strategy.................................................................................................................31
3.10 Giving reasons for using survey and interview strategy....................................................31
3.11 Sampling technique and sample size.................................................................................32
3.12 Giving reasons for using simple random probability sampling technique........................33

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3.13 Data collection process......................................................................................................33
3.14 Giving reasons for using primary and secondary data collection process.........................33
3.15 Data Analysis.....................................................................................................................34
3.16 Justification for using Statistical and Secondary Analysis................................................34
3.17 Research methodologies....................................................................................................34
3.18 Giving reasons for using quantitative and qualitative data analysis technique.................35
3.19 Research limitations...........................................................................................................35
3.20 Ethical considerations........................................................................................................36
3.21 Reliability and validity......................................................................................................36
3.22 Summary............................................................................................................................37
Chapter 4 Analysis and Discussion...............................................................................................38
4.0 Research Analysis and Discussions.....................................................................................38
4.1 Statistical Analysis...............................................................................................................38
4.2 Interview Transcript.............................................................................................................51
Chapter 5........................................................................................................................................58
5.0 Conclusion and Recommendation.......................................................................................58
5.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................58
5.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................59
5.3 Implication of the Study Findings.......................................................................................60
5.4 Reflection on the study........................................................................................................61

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5.5 Limitation of the study.........................................................................................................61
5.6 Future Scope........................................................................................................................62
5.7 Summary of the whole study...............................................................................................62
References......................................................................................................................................63
Appendixes....................................................................................................................................72
Appendix 1.................................................................................................................................72
Questionnaire.............................................................................................................................72
Appendix 2.................................................................................................................................76
Interview Questionnaire.............................................................................................................76

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Chapter 1: Introduction
Overview
Corporate university is a recent concept that is gaining popularity recently and is established
around the world. As commented by Adsit et al. (2015), a corporate category university is
described as an educational institution that is considered as a strategic tool designed with the aim
of assisting the parent company for achieving goals and objectives. The corporate universities
develop and foster individuals with the ability to learn and gain knowledge that is required by the
human resources in the corporate world. The number of corporate universities has increased to
2000 from 400 of them in 1993 that includes Motorola, Walt Disney and Boeing. However, as
argued by Schultz (2015), corporate universities are also defined as the public universities that
are being forced to develop corporate style behavior. The concept of corporate universities is
different from that of main stream university, as these universities emphasize on learning and
developing corporate behaviors and knowledge.
The goals of corporate universities are different from that of the traditional universities that
majorly emphasizes on learning and gaining knowledge. The typical goals of the corporate
universities is to establish a common culture, loyalty and belongingness towards a company,
organizing education, ensuring a competitive nature in the modern economy, retaining the
employees and starting ad supporting change in the organization (Adsit et al. 2015). Thus, it can
be said that the corporate universities facilitates valuable education and training to the employees
along with helping the business organizations to retain and promote the key skills of the
employees. Corporate university for Alamaria Company is beneficial for retaining and promoting
key employee skills and sustaining the competitive business market in The Middle East and Arab
world.

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Sustaining in the competitive business environment is difficult and challenging and business
organizations require talented and experienced employees for sustaining the competition. High
employee turnover rate, getting talented employees and retaining the existing experienced
employees are major challenges. Establishment of corporate universities by the companies
provides them with the opportunity of training and guiding the employees according their their
organizational needs thereby, successfully achieving organizational goals and objectives (Rees
and Smith 2017).
Almarai Company is one of the largest integrated food and beverage companies in the
Middle East that was established in 1976 with an employee base of 45,000 with its head quarter
in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. The company deals with manufacturing and distributing food and
beverage products such as dairy, infant formula, juices, yoghurt, poultry and bakery. The
Almarai Company begun with 350 cows and expanded its business rapidly over the past 30
years. The company is now responsible for more than 200,000 cows at the global platform and is
the world’s largest vertically integrated dairy company. The Company has collaborated with
Pepsi Co. in 2009 and from then has successfully acquired a large number of businesses
(ArabianBusiness.com 2019).
The vision of the Company is to conduct research and development continuously in the
search of healthy products that has high nutritious value for ensuring customer satisfaction and
taste. In order to sustain the journey of continued research and development, the Company needs
to focus on the process of continuous learning. As a result, the Company emphasizes on
supporting education and excellence, training and developing local talents and safety and
security for both internal and external stakeholders. For example, the Company has employed
hundreds of local, talented and fresh graduates through the Graduate Professional Trainee

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program to support continuous learning, attracting new talents and supporting new talents. This
is an initiative undertaken by Almarai for using the corporate university model for sustaining the
tough business environment (Almarai, 2019).
1.1 Problem statement
In spite of the growing popularity of corporate university, there are some potential
problems that make successful execution of the corporate universities difficult. As a result, this
can lead to negative consequences such as the learners turn cynical slowly and the ability of the
corporate university in providing education becomes insignificant. Alamarai is a traditional
university facing issues such as high turnover rate, difficulty in getting and recruiting talents,
retaining the existing talents from the local citizens for fulfilling the government standards. As a
result, it is important for Alamarai to focus to establishing corporate university in the company
for sustaining in the competitive business environment (Rademakers 2014).
Another issue that is identified in this study is analyzing the practicality of implementing
the apprenticeship model for Alamarai. Inappropriate implementation of model results in
developing inappropriate study model for the university that hampers grooming the individuals
suitable for the corporate world. Additionally, developing a successful corporate university is
expensive, as they have to train and groom the students according to the needs and demands of
the corporate world of Middle East countries and Arabic world. Moreover, from the human
resource perspective, recruitment and selection process is an issue, as going to campuses and
recruiting is costly and time-expensive (Gubik and Wach, 2014). Thus, this study aims towards
identifying the gaps and analyzing the gaps followed by proposing steps for overcoming the
issues Alamarai is facing in terms of employee turnover and retaining trained employees. The

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successful branding of corporate university is questioned if the model developed and
implemented for Alamarai company is not planned carefully.
1.2 Research aim
The aim of the study is to draw out the road map Almarai Board to establish the
Corporate University in head and regional offices.
1.3 Research objectives
The objectives of the research are:
1. To understand the vitality of establishing corporate university in large organizations such
as Almarai company
2. To analyze the practicality of applying the apprenticeship model in Almarai
3. To examine the blended learning modes associated with a corporate university and its
relevance to Almarai business
4. To structure framework of development programs for 3 key job family layers (frontline
staff, middle management, and leadership)
1.4 Research questions
The questions of the research are:
1. How learning & development functions affect the business sustainability & performance
of employees?
2. What are the main deliverables of the corporate university in FMCG industry?
3. Can apprenticeship programs support Almarai’s goal of recruiting & retaining talented
Emiratis to help achieve the legal localization ratio requirement in the GCC?

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1.5 Significance of the study
Analyzing the impact of corporate university in Alamarai on the business sustainability
and performance from the human resource is important because this study will help in
understanding the return on investment of establishing a Corporate University at Almarai. This
research is significant, as this will provides an opportunity to analyze the practicality of
implementing apprenticeship model in Alamarai. Analyzing the practicality will help in
determining whether the establishment of corporate university will be beneficial for Alamarai
company for sustaining the business competition successfully (Ellis and Kuznia 2014).
Additionally, this research is also significant because conducting the research will help in
investigating the different types of learning models that are associated with corporate university
and their relevance with Alamarai business organization. The research will also help in
structuring relevant framework for developing programs for developing job roles such as
leadership, frontline staffs and middle management (Leary and Roberts 2014).
1.6 Structure of the dissertation
The introductory chapter is crucial as this provides a background of the topic selected for
the study along with identifying the point based on which the entire is conducted. Accordingly,
the aim of the research and the objectives are developed that helps in rationalizing the research.
The literature review chapter that addresses the main variables based on which the overall
chapter is developed followed by critically analyzing the factors affecting the variables. The
methods of the research that has been used are defined followed by justifying the selection of the
specific methodologies along with clarifying the research ethics that are compulsory for
completion the study successfully. Data is collected in this chapter and analyzed so that the
research aim and objectives are achieved. The last chapter deduces conclusion by providing a