Strategic Management Report: Critical Success Factors and CPM Analysis

This report undertakes a strategic management analysis of three Malaysian universities: Open University Malaysia, Wawasan Open University, and Asia e-University. The introduction defines strategic management and its importance, followed by an overview of the education sector in Malaysia. The main body delves into each university, detailing their establishment, affiliations, vision, mission, and critical success factors such as blended pedagogy, technology, and quality. The report also presents and explains a Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM) to compare the universities based on key success factors. The analysis includes factors such as learning centers, technology, and quality of education. The report concludes with a summary of the findings, highlighting the strategic approaches and competitive positioning of these institutions. The report provides a comprehensive overview of strategic management principles and their application within the context of higher education in Malaysia.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Introduction of organization -.....................................................................................................3
Analysis of the critical success factors........................................................................................5
Presentation and explanation of the competitive profile matrix.................................................8
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The term Strategy refers to the long term aims and objectives of an organization. It also
render a course of action for achieving the goals of the company. Strategic Management refers to
the process of examining, monitoring and controlling all the things that are important for an
organization to meet out its aims and objectives. It involves analysis of strengths and weaknesses
of the organization Chou & Pramudawardhani, (2015). There are various factors such as
Innovation, changing technology and changes in demands and expectations of the customers that
forces the firms to think over their present strategies that helps to take decision for improving the
growth and success of the firm. It helps to plan for improving the future of company. Strategic
Management is a procedure that helps the firm to develop its strategy. The process is consisted of
various stages such as environmental scanning, development of strategy, implementing and
evaluating the strategy. It helps to provide an overall direction to the organization. The Report
will outline critical success factors of three different Universities in Malaysia and competitors
profile matrix.
MAIN BODY
Introduction of organization -
Education sector of a country that involves various types of educational provider,
universities, agencies, schools etc. that helps in development of knowledge and skills of students.
The Report is based on three Universities of education sector of Malaysia that are Open
University Malaysia, Wawasan Open University and Asia e- University.
1) Open University Malaysia -
Open University Malaysia is a type of Private University in Malaysia. It was established
in year 2000. The chancellor of the University is Tun Jeanne Abdullah. Open University
Malaysia is located in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. It is affiliated by ICTLC and AAOU etc. The
website of the University is www. Oum.edu.my The University is owned and controlled by a
technology firm that is known as Multimedia Technology Enhancement Operations that mainly
focuses on offering educational services. It was established in year 1999. It is a group that
controls 11 different Public universities in Malaysia Basile, Kaufmann & Savastano, (2018). The
group is based on the strengths, capabilities and quality of the educational services provided by
its Universities.

Motto -
The motto of Open University Malaysia is to provide educational services to all the
students, to transform the lives of students by offering better facilities for future growth and
success of the students.
Vision –
The vision statement of Open University Malaysia is to become a top University of
Malaysia by offering flexible services to the students.
Mission –
The mission statement of Open University is to provide wide access of educational
services to the students by implementing advance technology, offering flexibility in learning, and
providing learning environment to students at competitive rate.
2) Wawasan Open University -
Wawasan Open University is a type of Private University in Malaysia. It was established
in year 2006. University is established in Penang, Malaysia. The main campus of the University
is located at Penang Island in north-east. University is affiliated by ICDE and AAOU. The
website of Wawasan Open University is www.wou. edu.my. It provides the access of
educational facilities through Open Distance Learning (ODL). In year 2007, for the first time
students get enrolled for studying different types of courses in the University. There are four
different types ODF schools in the University that are school for science and technology, School
of education, School of business and School of Social science etc Ginter, Duncan & Swayne,
(2018).
Vision -
To inspire learning, promoting innovation and to support the personal growth of students
to achieve the mission, University focuses on providing better quality of education in vibrant
learning environment.
Mission -
To provide various opportunities to students in higher education and to deliver excellent
facilities and aims to support knowledge and to provide scholarships to all the Malaysians
Peppard, & Ward, (2016).
Values -

University focuses on promoting its values such as providing opportunities of personal
development of the students, maintaining honesty in the process of offering educational services,
recognising the efforts of the employees and to focus on development of the nation. It belives in
providing equal opportunity of learning to all the students.
3) Asia e- University -
Asia e-University is a type of Private University in Malaysia. It was established in year
2007. Organization is located in Selangor, Malaysia. It offers various programmes through
offline as well as online mode. The institution was founded by foreign minister in Asia
Cooperation Dialogue. Their major aim is to provide quality education to through different
projects and Asia e-University is one of them. University is also an important member of various
organizations that are involved in providing educational facilities. It is affiliated by ICTLC,
ACU, ICDE, AAOU etc.
Motto -
The motto of University is to provide learning experience to the students in
approximately 34 different countries.
The vision and mission of the University is to offer effective and exploratory learning,
promoting education and learning through electronic means and to support entrepreneurial
learning. It offers various programmes such as postgraduate, undergraduate, and executive level
programmes for the students. The main campus of the University is located in Kuala Lumpur.
There are various learning centres of the University that are situated in Malaysia and also in
other countries also. University is operating large number of Learning centres in all the regions
such as Central, Eastern, Northern and Southern etc.
Analysis of the critical success factors.
Critical success factors -
The term refers to all those components that are necessary for achieving vision, mission
and objectives of the company. Firm should be aware of its fundamental success factors because
these will help the management of the company to achieve objectives of the business. Critical
success factors are in contrary with success criteria. It should be personalized based on the
departments of the firm and each and every type of role in the organization have their own
critical success factors.
1) Open University Malaysia –

Blended pedagogy –
It is a method of education that involves online material and traditional methods for
teaching. The pedagogy helps to improve learning of the students through different strategies.
Management of the University has adopted the blended method for delivering quality education
to the students. It consists of managing the learning by self, methods of online learning and
traditional method of learning like classroom interaction. It provides flexibility in learning. For
self learning of the students, the University provides various modules to the learners.
Technology -
Technology helps the education institutes to provide better learning to the students and
also help in improving their engagement in various activities of the University. To support the
online learning of the students, Open University Malaysia provides facility of digital library it is
a database that consist of journals and books in electronic format. It helps to provide education
facilities to all the students in various countries.
Training and development of teachers -
Ministry of Education (MOE) in Malaysia has made significant contribution in improving
the quality of education of the faculties in the country. The collaboration between the University
and Ministry of Education has resulted in increase in in-service teachers in the University. This
has also helped the organization to provide high quality education to the students.
Special learner groups -
University has made significant contribution for the development of the society. It
provides incentives to various groups like senior citizen, single mothers, underprivileged.
University provides discount up-to 75% in fees for disabled members, Senior citizens etc. At
present approximately 114 disabled people are studying in the University.
Internationalisation -
Open University Malaysia has made efforts for entering in various countries at
international level for providing educational services to the students from all the backgrounds. It
has centres for learning in Yemen, Bahrain etc. And it is also planning to set up centres in
Ghana, Vietnam etc.
2) Wawasan Open University -
Quality -

University is committed for offering quality experience of learning to the students. It has
also implemented a system for assuring the quality of education. University has set the
benchmarks for improving the quality standards against the practises of international level
institutes.
Services to support the learning -
Wawasen Open University also offers various types of services for supporting the
learning of the students. It offers the facility of Tutor for counselling of students over the
telephone. University has implemented Learning Management System (LMS) to provide support
for online learning of the students.
Innovation -
University has started a project called Open Educational Resources for offering three
different types of courses for the students. It has also implemented operating procedure for
identifying top reputable repositories. Various parts of degree programmes are Microeconomics,
Masters of education and Bachelor of Technology Luthra, Garg & Haleem, (2016).
3) Asia e- University -
Technology -
Asia e- University has made wide commitment towards implementing advance
technology so that, it can enhance the quality of learning of the students. University has adopted
blended learning method for offering a flexible method of learning for all the students. It
comprise of faceto face teaching, online learning and learning by self etc. Bromiley, Rau &
McShane, (2016)
Knowledge Centre -
University has developed one of the best knowledge centre in Malaysia. The centre offers
various facilities such as it provides educational services through approximately 100,000 books,
1.2 million research papers and 600,000 books on major subjects offered by Asia e-University.
The centre plays a major role in promoting research, learning and teaching activities of the
University.
Learning Management System -
University also provides facility of learning through Personalized Learning Space which
is also called Learning Management System (LMS). The system provides the students the facility

of sharing the information, access books and materials, information related with developments
and matters related with academic field etc.
Quality -
University is committed towards providing better quality of learning experience to the
students through distance learning and open learning. It is offering the study programmes from
more than eight years. University is providing educational services through more than 40
academic programmes and approximately 200 professional and executive courses for the learners
Morden, (2016). To improve the quality of education, Asia e-University is focussing on seven
E's. These are empowered learning that is driven by demand of students, exploratory learning
that is supporting the creativity. Providing the opportunity of learning without any restrictions
etc.
Presentation and explanation of the competitive profile matrix.
Competitive Profile Matrix -
It is a technique that supports the organization to compare itself with other companies in
the industry. It supports the companies to understand the factors of external environment and
level of competition that is prevailing in the industry Moutinho & Vargas-Sanchez, (2018).
Competitive Profile Matrix Table
Critical
success
factors
Open University
Malaysia
Rating Wawasan Open
University
Rating Asia e-
University
Rating
Ranking Currently, the ranking
of University in the
world is 5004.
4 At present, the
ranking of University
in the world is 8925
Ocasio, Laamanen &
Vaara, (2018).
3 Currently,
it is at
10249th
position in
the world.
2

Learning
Centres
Currently, University
is operating
approximately 37
learning centres.
3 University is
providing its services
of distance learning
in partnership with
various institutes.
2 IT is
offering its
services to
approximat
ely 80
countries
in the
world
Netland, T.
H. (2016).
4
Technol
ogy
It is providing facility
of digital library that
consist of journals and
books in electronic
format.
2 University has
developed Learning
Management System
(LMS) to support
online learning of the
students, Open
Educational
Resources.
3 Knowledge
centres,
Learning
Manageme
nt System.
4
Fees The fees for diploma
in University is started
from minimum RM
10, 530 Sullivan,
Thomas & Rosano,
(2018).
4 The rate of diploma
in University is
started from RM
26,237.
2 The fees
for getting
degree of
diploma
from Asia
e-
University
is started
from RM
15000.
3
Learning
Program
University is offering
more than 44 learning
3 It offers learning
programmes at
2 It has a
wide
4

mes programmes. postgraduate as well
as undergraduate
level. Also provides
programmes for
bachelor's degree.
network of
learning
centres in
in all the
regions
such as
Central,
Eastern,
Northern
and
Southern
etc.
Explanation -
 Open University Malaysia is at 5004th position in the world as compared to other
Universities that are Wawasan Open University and Asia e- University. These are far
away in terms of rankings. Therefore, 4th rating has been given to Open University
Malaysia.
 Asia e- University is offering educational facilities in nearly 80 countries which is more
than other Universities that is Asia e- University and Wawasan Open University.
Therefore, 4 th rating has been provided to it.
 Asia e- University has been given 4th rating because it has made significant efforts for
implementing advance technology such as Learning Management Centres, Knowledge
centres etc. as compared to other competitors such as Wawasan Open University and
Asia e- University etc.
 Open University Malaysia has been given 4th rank as compared to other Universities
because it is offering diploma courses at lower cost compared to similar institutes in
Malaysia. This will be a benefit for the students because they will not required to invest
large amount of funds for getting similar degree from other Universities.

 Asia e- University has been provided 4th rating because it is having large number of
learning centres in all the regions of the country. And it is also controlling 4 different
schools for providing different courses as compared to other Universities of Malaysia
Yeoh & Popovič, (2016).
CONCLUSION
The above Report has outlined the meaning of strategy, process of strategy. It has
provided a brief introduction of three different Universities of Malaysia that are Open University
Malaysia, Wawasan Open University and Asia e- University. Open University is controlled by
Multimedia Technology Enhancement Operations which is controlling total 11 public
Universities. The Report has also described that Wawasan Open University is offering courses
through four different types ODF schools in Malaysia. Further, the Report has explained critical
success factors of all the three different Universities that helps to improve the success and
growth of the Institutes. Such as Blended pedagogy, Training and development , Quality of
education etc. Report has also outlined Competitive Profile Matrix for all the critical success
factors.
REFERENCES
Basile, G., Kaufmann, H. R., & Savastano, M. (2018). Revisiting complexity theory to achieve
strategic intelligence. International Journal of Foresight and Innovation Policy. 13(1-2).
57-70.
Bromiley, P., Rau, D., & McShane, M. K. (2016). Can strategic risk management contribute to
enterprise risk management? A strategic management perspective. A Strategic
Management Perspective (October 20, 2014). Forthcoming: Bromiley, P., Rau, D., and
Mcshane, M. 140-156.
Chou, J. S., & Pramudawardhani, D. (2015). Cross-country comparisons of key drivers, critical
success factors and risk allocation for public-private partnership projects. International
Journal of Project Management. 33(5). 1136-1150.
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health care
organizations. John Wiley & Sons
Luthra, S., Garg, D., & Haleem, A. (2016). The impacts of critical success factors for
implementing green supply chain management towards sustainability: an empirical

investigation of Indian automobile industry. Journal of Cleaner Production. 121.142-
158.
Morden, T. (2016). Principles of strategic management. Routledge.
Moutinho, L., & Vargas-Sanchez, A. (Eds.). (2018). Strategic Management in Tourism, CABI
Tourism Texts. Cabi.
Netland, T. H. (2016). Critical success factors for implementing lean production: the effect of
contingencies. International Journal of Production Research. 54(8). 2433-2448.
Ocasio, W., Laamanen, T., & Vaara, E. (2018). Communication and attention dynamics: An
attention‐based view of strategic change. Strategic Management Journal. 39(1). 155-167.
Peppard, J., & Ward, J. (2016). The strategic management of information systems: Building a
digital strategy. John Wiley & Sons.
Sullivan, K., Thomas, S., & Rosano, M. (2018). Using industrial ecology and strategic
management concepts to pursue the Sustainable Development Goals. Journal of cleaner
production. 174. 237-246.
Yeoh, W., & Popovič, A. (2016). Extending the understanding of critical success factors for
implementing business intelligence systems. Journal of the Association for Information
Science and Technology. 67(1). 134-147.
Online -
Key Success Factors. 2017. [Online] Available Through :
<http://library.oum.edu.my/repository/158/1/key_success.pdf>
Open Educational Resources. 2018. [Online] Available Through : <https://teachonline.ca/tools-
trends/open-educational-resources-experience-wawasan-open-university-penang-malaysia>

1