A Cross-Case Study Of The Competitive Advantage Of Private Higher Educational Institutions In Kuching, Sarawak

This study examined the competitive advantage of private higher educational institutions (PHEIs) in Kuching, Sarawak. The primary focus of the study was on how PHEIs analyze and manage their external and internal environments and exploit their internal resources in order to position their institu...

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Main Author:	Lindong, Lambat Anak
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2007
Subjects:	L7-991 Education (General)
Online Access:	http://eprints.usm.my/51500/1/Lambat%20Anak%20Lindong.pdf
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id	my-usm-ep.51500
record_format	uketd_dc
spelling	my-usm-ep.515002022-02-14T03:47:04Z A Cross-Case Study Of The Competitive Advantage Of Private Higher Educational Institutions In Kuching, Sarawak 2007-06 Lindong, Lambat Anak L7-991 Education (General) This study examined the competitive advantage of private higher educational institutions (PHEIs) in Kuching, Sarawak. The primary focus of the study was on how PHEIs analyze and manage their external and internal environments and exploit their internal resources in order to position their institution to gain competitive advantage. The study also examined the distinctive competencies of PHEIs. It examined how the PHEIs exploit their distinctive competencies to gain and sustain competitive advantage in order to achieve market success in the higher education industry. Seven research questions were formulated to guide the study. The research was carried out through a case study of four PHEIs in the city of Kuching. The mostly qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with key informants, documents analysis and observations. The research findings revealed that: the management of PHEIs are not deliberate and systematic in their strategic planning, basing their decision more on intuition, although they do take stock of the external and internal factors affecting their institution. The five competitive forces espoused by Porter (1980) were found to be applicable in the study and depending on their strength, these forces do influence the competitiveness of PHEIs. In addition, the PHEIs do try to exploit their internal resources to deal with the competitive forces and make their institutions more competitive. The study also discovered that in order to be more competitive, the PHEIs adopted the differentiation focus strategy in their early years of establishment, after which there were attempts to switch to the differentiation strategy. It was also revealed that the distinctive competencies of PHEIs which could confer on them competitive advantage were mostly temporary and hence, the competitive advantage accrued was not sustainable. Finally, the market success of PHEIs was defined and the success of each PHEI was measured against a number of indicators. Overall, it was discovered that the PHEIs in the study were struggling to make ends meet. The implications of the findings are discussed and recommendations made to the PHEIs and higher education policy-makers to improve the competitiveness of PHEIs and to make them providers of quality higher education; and to researchers on the directions of related future research. 2007-06 Thesis http://eprints.usm.my/51500/ http://eprints.usm.my/51500/1/Lambat%20Anak%20Lindong.pdf application/pdf en public phd doctoral Perpustakaan Hamzah Sendut Pusat Pengajian Ilmu Pendidikan
institution	Universiti Sains Malaysia
collection	USM Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	L7-991 Education (General)
spellingShingle	L7-991 Education (General) Lindong, Lambat Anak A Cross-Case Study Of The Competitive Advantage Of Private Higher Educational Institutions In Kuching, Sarawak
description	This study examined the competitive advantage of private higher educational institutions (PHEIs) in Kuching, Sarawak. The primary focus of the study was on how PHEIs analyze and manage their external and internal environments and exploit their internal resources in order to position their institution to gain competitive advantage. The study also examined the distinctive competencies of PHEIs. It examined how the PHEIs exploit their distinctive competencies to gain and sustain competitive advantage in order to achieve market success in the higher education industry. Seven research questions were formulated to guide the study. The research was carried out through a case study of four PHEIs in the city of Kuching. The mostly qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with key informants, documents analysis and observations. The research findings revealed that: the management of PHEIs are not deliberate and systematic in their strategic planning, basing their decision more on intuition, although they do take stock of the external and internal factors affecting their institution. The five competitive forces espoused by Porter (1980) were found to be applicable in the study and depending on their strength, these forces do influence the competitiveness of PHEIs. In addition, the PHEIs do try to exploit their internal resources to deal with the competitive forces and make their institutions more competitive. The study also discovered that in order to be more competitive, the PHEIs adopted the differentiation focus strategy in their early years of establishment, after which there were attempts to switch to the differentiation strategy. It was also revealed that the distinctive competencies of PHEIs which could confer on them competitive advantage were mostly temporary and hence, the competitive advantage accrued was not sustainable. Finally, the market success of PHEIs was defined and the success of each PHEI was measured against a number of indicators. Overall, it was discovered that the PHEIs in the study were struggling to make ends meet. The implications of the findings are discussed and recommendations made to the PHEIs and higher education policy-makers to improve the competitiveness of PHEIs and to make them providers of quality higher education; and to researchers on the directions of related future research.
format	Thesis
qualification_name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.)
qualification_level	Doctorate
author	Lindong, Lambat Anak
author_facet	Lindong, Lambat Anak
author_sort	Lindong, Lambat Anak
title	A Cross-Case Study Of The Competitive Advantage Of Private Higher Educational Institutions In Kuching, Sarawak
title_short	A Cross-Case Study Of The Competitive Advantage Of Private Higher Educational Institutions In Kuching, Sarawak
title_full	A Cross-Case Study Of The Competitive Advantage Of Private Higher Educational Institutions In Kuching, Sarawak
title_fullStr	A Cross-Case Study Of The Competitive Advantage Of Private Higher Educational Institutions In Kuching, Sarawak
title_full_unstemmed	A Cross-Case Study Of The Competitive Advantage Of Private Higher Educational Institutions In Kuching, Sarawak
title_sort	cross-case study of the competitive advantage of private higher educational institutions in kuching, sarawak
granting_institution	Perpustakaan Hamzah Sendut
granting_department	Pusat Pengajian Ilmu Pendidikan
publishDate	2007
url	http://eprints.usm.my/51500/1/Lambat%20Anak%20Lindong.pdf
_version_	1747822075576320000

A Cross-Case Study Of The Competitive Advantage Of Private Higher Educational Institutions In Kuching, Sarawak

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