Business Consulting assignment for London School of Science and Technology (LSST)
Question
Task: how can the London School of Science and Technology (LSST) use Business Consulting assignment techniques to analysis and usage the businesses operational performance
Answer
Introduction
The Business Consulting assignmentfocuses on understanding the issues faced by LSST based on the use of strategic frameworks like PESTEL, 4Cs, and SWOT Analysis. The use of the strategic frameworks contributes to generating in-depth research.
Brief Overview of LSST
LSST was established in 2003. It operates as a private institution in the United Kingdom. LSST accounts to be one of the most prominent educational institutions based in the United Kingdom that services the need of around 4000 students pertaining to different campuses based in different regions like Wembley, Aston, Luton, Elephant, and Castle. Courses on subjects like Business Management, Health and Social Care, Information Technology, and Computing are taught to students in LSST. Further, LSST also focuses in terms of acting as a credible employer for faculties in higher education in the field of finance and accounts. However, on this Business Consulting assignment we observe the current recruitment process is both complex, and also time-consuming so potential academic staff tends to join some other universities. Thus, the focus of LSST is on developing and introducing a sophisticated process for carrying out the needed recruitment of the right types of academic staff (London School of Science and Technology, 2022).
The vision, mission, and values of LSST are focused on providing a healthy environment for all students to pursue their higher studies in any chosen stream. Different universities, all around the world, have taken resorted to effective technologies for providing high-quality education services to their students. Thus, the focus of LSST is also to enhance the degree of digital emphasis for improving the teaching process which in turn helps in enhancing the competitive advantage of the organisation in the education sector (London School of Science and Technology, 2022).
Issues faced by LSST
LSST faces a range of different issues identified on this Business Consulting assignment listed below:
• LSST faces a declining market trend owing to the entry of new entrants in the ever-competitive educational market that tends to enhance the level of competitiveness in the higher education system
• The entry of new educational institutions into the existing higher education market of London has made it very competitive for the existing higher educational institutions
• On this Business Consulting assignment project we observed that the operation of LSST is based on traditional business processes which make it difficult for the organisation to compete with new entrants in the sector. The lack of availability of digital technology applications in the education framework of LSST limits its growth and competency. LSST thus suffers from needed up-gradation in the pedagogical framework.
• LSST also suffers from a lack of needed resources for providing distant or part-time education to distant learning students or students that are interested in carrying out part-time learning.
• The existing recruitment system of LSST is not efficient enough in tackling the threat imposed by the entry of new educational institutions into the higher education market of the United Kingdom.
• LSST is not identified as a credible employer. It does not help in providing an effective way for recruiting potential staff to meet the needs of the higher education students.
• For the last 10 years, the courses taught by LSST, in the domain of financial management and accounting, happen to be the same ones. The courses reflect a lack of up-gradation.
• The recruitment and human resources management strategies of LSST account to be inefficient and complex which affects the productivity of the recruitment and human resources operations of the organisation.
Situational Analysis of LSST
The Business Consulting assignment situational analysis of LSST is carried out based on evaluating the external and internal business environment of the higher education organisation. The analysis of the external environment is carried out based on the application of PESTEL Analysis and 4Cs tool for evaluating the macro and micro business environment setting of LSST. The use of the SWOT Analysis tool is made for evaluating the internal business environment of LSST.
Business Consulting assignment - PESTLE Analysis
Influence of Political Factors
The United Kingdom Government has framed some new regulatory reforms and policies that have increased the tuition rates for the higher educational courses. Likewise, the grants for educational funds that were rendered by the UK Government have also ceased owing to the passing of the new regulations. The new immigration policies in the United Kingdom require the European students, interested in going in for higher education, to bear tier4 student visas (Scott &Mhunpiew, 2021). It is note that the global position for UK is not comfortable (Handley 2018).
Influence of the Economic Factors
UK’s higher education sector accounts to be a significant contributor to the economy of the region in that the contribution made by it to UK’s GDP amounts to £95 billion. Further, the higher education sector in the UK also accounts to be a potential employer in that it has generated around 815,000 employment opportunities in the region (Universities UK, 2021). However, the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused UK’s higher education sector to suffer a loss of about £2.6 billion (Deloitte, 2022).
Influence of the Social Factors
Since 2012, the number of students entering the higher education market in UK has increased (Kalolo 2019). Around 80 percent of the tertiary students opt for degree program. Since 2017, a constant increment of around 2 to 3 percent of employment of academic staffs is noted (Floyd 2022). In 2017, around 439.955 staffs were recruited. Further, better employee turnover in the higher education market of UK is also noted(Silesbarcena, 2019).
Influence of Technological Factors
The pedagogical structure of the UK’s higher educational institutions is significantly influenced by the use of potential technologies like the incorporation of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The enhanced digitalization of the education framework in the UK has contributed to growing the level of competence and efficiency resulting in student satisfaction. Moreover, the development of Learning Management System (LMS) applications and also the flipped learning framework has enhanced the level of interactivity associated with higher education (Blundell et al., 2022).
Influence of the Legislative Factors
On this Business Consulting assignment we identified that UK Parliament is revisiting the bill regarding Subsidy Control for helping the higher educational institutions operating in the region gain needed financial grants. The gaining of financial subsidies would help the higher educational institutions to enhance their research and development potentials. The Office for Students (OfS) in the UK continually works in promoting both equal opportunities for students and freedom of speech along with the different higher educational institutions (Owen, 2022).
Influence of the Environmental Factors
The higher educational institutions based in the UK are required to meet the environmental objectives concerning the reduction of energy consumption levels, reduction of consumption of fossil fuels, reduction of the levels of carbon footprints, and also in the development and maintenance of greenery in the college campuses (Mayo, 2019).
Application of 4Cs
Company
LSST established in 2013 operates as a private educational institution based in the UK that provides higher education services to the students pursuing education in areas like business management, healthcare, and information technology (LSST, 2022).
Customer
The customers of LSST are:
College students from diverse backgrounds
New students that desire to complete the courses by attending part-time classes
Foreign students and other students living in remote areas
Individuals that are ACCA or CIMA qualified
Individuals interested in becoming teaching staffs
Students interested in taking Accounting and Financial Management Courses
Academic staffs in Accounting and Financial Management
Business Consulting assignment Competitor analysis
The UK universities are increasingly competing for students, staff, funding resources for pursuing research activities, and also for rewards and accolades (Woodgates, 2021). The main competitors of LSST are Imperial College London, King’s College London, and University College London. These colleges offer different subjects for meeting the knowledge needs of students coming from different backgrounds. They also have effective ways of recruiting staffs.
Collaborator
The breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic has required the higher educational institutions in the UK to work in a collaborative manner for the development of online courses in a shared manner. Likewise, they are also required to team up with other higher education providers for gaining access to high-quality staffing resources. Sharing expertise and efficiency promotes greater sustenance in the face of potential contingencies (Clay & Fry, 2020).
Business Consulting assignmentSWOT Analysis
Strengths
• This Business Consulting assignment identified that LSST fosters an interactive environment in the pursuit of rendering higher education training and research
• The programs rendered by LSST are both industry-oriented and flexible
Weaknesses
• Lack of proper staffing resources and digitalized learning environment
• Lack of collaboration with other educational institutions and universities
Opportunities
• Growth of entry of foreign students in the UK
• To focus on the development of a technology-based and shared learning environment
• To collaborate with higher education providers for gaining quality staff
Threats
• Growth in the level of tuition fees and reduction in subsidies and grants for promoting research is another issues identified on this Business Consulting assignment
• The incidence of COVID-19 and Brexit with also new immigration laws has affected the flow of foreign students to the UK
Issued gained from the Analysis
• LSST’s lack of effective collaboration with higher education providers has affected the quality of staff resources
• The lack of incorporation of a strong digitalized learning environment in LSST has made the learning environment gain a traditional look
• The reduction in government subsidies with strong immigration laws has affected the research potential of LSST with also the inability of gaining students from EU countries
Conclusion
The use of strategic frameworks like PESTEL, 4Cs, and SWOT Analysis is used for analysing the issues faced by LSST. Three different issues are derived from the analysis carried out on this Business Consulting assignment.
References
Blundell, R., Green, D.A. & Jin, W., 2022. The U.K. as a Technological Follower: Higher Education Expansion and the College Wage Premium. The Review of Economic Studies, Business Consulting assignment89(1), pp.142-80.
Bothwell, E., 2020. Coronavirus: global student flows to suffer ‘massive hit’ for years. [Online] Available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/coronavirus-global-student-flows-suffer-massive-hit-years [Accessed 02 June 2022].
Clark, D., 2022. Universities with the highest number of students in the UK 2020/21. [Online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1168605/largest-universities-in-the-uk/#statisticContainer [Accessed 02 June 2022].
Clay, J. & Fry, J., 2020. Collaboration is key for universities to survive Covid-19. [Online] Available at: https://universitybusiness.co.uk/comment/collaboration-is-key-for-universities-to-survive-covid-19/.
Deloitte , 2022. COVID-19 and impacts on the higher education sector. Business Consulting assignment[Online] Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/public-sector/articles/covid-19-and-impacts-on-the-higher-education-sector.html [Accessed 02 June 2022].
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Kalolo, J.F., 2019. Digital revolution and its impact on education systems in developing countries. Education and information technologies, 24(1), pp.345-358.
London School of Science and Technology, 2022. About Us. [Online] Available at: https://www.lsst.ac/about.
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LSST , 2022. What Makes Us Different. [Online] Available at: https://www.lsst.ac/about/we-are-different [Accessed 02 June 2022].
Mayo, N., 2019. How green is my university [Online] Available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/how-green-my-university [Accessed 02 June 2022].
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