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 1

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

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).

, Education Corp 2009)

(Source: Raffles

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.

Source: (Raffles Education Corp 2009)

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 of the 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.

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.

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 how the 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.

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 standards then 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. 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 eengagement, 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. This shows that Singapore keeps on developing their technology so they will not get outdated (Ministry of

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 the college 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 of buyers, 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 attain certificates 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

Nan Corp Key Success Weigh Weighte Rating d Score 4 0.4 3 3 3 2 0.3 0.6 0.45 0.2 Factors t Brand name 0.1 variety of courses facilities internship programs advertising price competitivenes s global expansion service quality Total Source (created 0.05 3 0.15 3 0.15 0.1 0.2 0.15 0.1 Arts

yang the Arts Weighted Weighted Rating Score 4 0.4 3 4 3 3 0.3 0.8 0.45 0.3

Raffles Education Academy of Fine LaSalle College of

Rating Score 4 0.4 3 3 3 2 0.3 0.6 0.45 0.2

0.1 0.3 0.6 3.25 Strategic

0.1 4 0.4 2 0.2 3 0.2 3 0.6 3 0.6 3 1 3.1 2.9 for this assignment, adapted from David Fred R,

Management 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 and now grew to become a multi-national college that operates around Asia Pacific and India. High standard of Teaching Lecturers at REC are coming from all over the world bringing a staff diverse background, wealth of technical knowledge, and industry experience. Inter College Transfer REC are all around Asia Pacific and India, due to that reason it is possible to let the students experience the inter college transfer , this will benefit the students as they can learn in new environments and experience learning in different countries. Internship and Career Students in REC get the chance to experience their industry Placement through their internship and commercial projects. This helps the students to gain more knowledge regarding the industry, these commercial companies will end up being there future employers Weaknesses Branches and colleges are set up all around Asia pacific and Limited Scope India, but REC has not reached any other part of the world like America and Europe which makes the REC brand only famous in Asia. REC has established their branches all over Asia Pacific and Different learning experience India, thus it will result in different learning experience the international students will face. REC does their best to maintain a quality of standards in all over their branches. For example design students in Singapore will not get a change to design and experience winter compare to those who study in China.

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Opportunities Opening more branches

Develop Online class

Improve their other institute

Currently REC has closed the geographical gap, as they have set up colleges across Asia Pacific to India. There are still plenty of countries that REC can extend their college and universities to, by doing this REC can create a global brand and image To be different from its competitors and to close the geographical gap, REC can start developing online classes as the technologies now make it possible to conduct online classes. REC currently is famous for their RDI, REC can do more advertisements in the future to reposition their RMI and RSB in the student's perception. Other than that REC can improve their quality of education in RMI and RSB.

Develop their own advertising company By doing this REC can place their students for training and career as soon as they graduates. Threats Local colleges have better knowledge about the cultures and Local Colleges policies in each country. Not to mention the price factor, where the local college can offer a lower price, which might be a serious threat for REC in the near future Competitors providing the same In Singapore there are Nan yang Academy of Fine Arts and services LaSalle college that provide high level of education focused on design and arts. They also provide a wide variety of courses like business and hospitality Riot and government policy sometimes affect how REC Political situations in the country operates. Most of the foreign students will prefer a safe country with a stable economy. In the future REC needs to carefully select new countries for their branches. Source: (Created for this assignment)

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3.2 Tows Matrix Strengths (S)

Intern al Factor s

Weaknesses (W) 1. Limited scope 2. Different experience Learning

1. Internationally recognize 2. High standard of

Externa l Factors

teaching staff 3. Inter college transfer 4. Internship placement and career

Opportunities (O) 1. More Branches 2. Developed Online class 3. Improve their

S-O Strategies
1. REC can expand into

W-O Strategies 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 RECs

foreign improve

markets their

and brand

image for their entire institute. (S1, S2, O1,O3)

2. Provide an inter college

other institute 4. Develop company their

transfer students new

to

let

the a

own advertising

experience

environment.

advertising company, REC can improve their institute and reduce the different learning (W2,O3,O4) experience.

(S1,S2,S3,O1) 3. Develop E-class to reach more (S1,S2,O2) 4. Create an advertising students

company for the purpose of internship and career placement. (S4,O4) Threats (T) S-T Strategies W-T Strategies
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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

1. Partnership

with

local

to compete with local college. (S1,S2,S3,S4,T1)

2. Be

colleges. (W1,W2,T1)
2. Partnerships

with

local

colleges enable REC to offer better education and customize its services to cope with the differences. (W1, W2,T2,T3)
3. Closing the geographical

different by giving internship transfer, and and

good college

career placement, inter provide good lecturers.. (S2,S3,S4,T2)

3. REC can try to influence

gap by forming alliances with (W1,T1) local colleges. with the

and

cope

different experiences

political entering

situations based on their other market.(S1, T3) 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 to the 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 matrix because 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 cash generated 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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Current ratio Acid test Cash

Current Assets Current Liabilities

2009 278,031 311,297

ratio 2008 145,396 0.89 350,653 145,396- (368+ 0.42 52,529) 350,653

ratio 0.41

Current Assests- (Inventory+ 278031Prepayments) current liabilities (597+146,453) 311,297

0.26

(Cash+ Short term securities ) 115,314 68,502 0.37 current liabilities 311,297 350,653 ratio (Created From REC 2008, 2009 and Brealey, Myers & Allen, 2009)

0.2

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 ratio Net Net profit x 100

S$'000 2009 51,591 x100

ratio 25.5

S$'000 2008 99,406

ratio 52.31
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profit margin Return on Assets Return on equity sales 201956

x100 190,020

Net income 51,591 x 100 Average total (772,185+278,031)+(770,306+145,39 assets Net income 6) 51,591 x 100

2.6%

99,406 x 9.9% 100 372,719 26.7%

equity 518,960 (Created From REC 2008, 2009 and Brealey, Myers & Allen, 2009)

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 ratio Cash turnover Accounts Net Sales cash Net Sales Average

S$'000 2009 201,956 98,766

ratio 2.04

S$'000 2008 190,020 68,502

Ratio 2.77

1.69 201,956 (162,120+76526)/2

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Receivable

Receivables 4,834 201,956 0.024 449 190,020 0.0024

Turnover Bad Debt Bad debts to sales sales

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

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 Ratio Total Debts to Assets Debt Total Liabilities Total Assets

S$'000 2009 510,690 1,050,216 510,690

ratio 0.48

S$'000 2008 534,170 915,702 534,170

ratio 0.58

to Total Debt

0.98

1.43
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equity Interest Coverag

Total equity

518,960

372,719 105,354+3,32 33.53

Earning before interest 72,886+10,43

and tax 6 7.98 9 interest expense 10,436 3,329 e Ratio (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, 12th edition, prentice hall, 2009, New Jersey) With the help of the above matrix REC can select the right strategy to deal with the market 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 at the 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 a place 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. The PESTEL 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 can improve 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, 26th 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, 12th 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, 7th 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, 6th 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.

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http://www.singaporeedu.gov.sg/htm/abo/abo01.htm, Viewed on 25th August 2010 -European University,2010,Why study in Singapore,(Online) Available at:

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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:

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