STRATEGIC MODELING FOR A PRIVATE UNIVERSITY OF BANGLADESH: STATE OF THE ART AND LOOKING BEYOND Showkat Ara Khanam* Muhammad Ruhul Amin** ABSTRACT This paper strives for sketching a strategic modeling for private universities in Bangladesh. The purpose of the work is to provide guidelines for these universities so that they can achieve strategic advantages and leapfrog their competitors’ strate- gies. Various Western and non-Western strategic models are examined and their converging and diverging characteristics are spelled out. The problems of applying the Western models in the context of the organizations of developing countries are identified. The research finds that the authorities of Bangladesh’s private universi- ties are prone to run the management activities in line of the strategic models set by the Western authors which is the most important contributing factor behind the management failure of these knowledge industries. The present work seeks to devise a viable strategic model named Structural Strategic Intertwining model for underdeveloped countries (S2IU) as the appropriate strategic management which seeks a middle path between the twin-extremes of the top-down and bottom-up approaches. It purports to put a fair check on the unbridled power-exercise of the top-down model and exerts control on the down-trodden awkwardness of an organization’s falling prey to the bottom-up paradigm. The proposed non-Western strategic theory thus provides a space of nurturing loose autonomy with high levels of accountability, transparency and vibrancy. Key Words: Competitiveness, Strategic Management, Modus Operandi, Minimax Strategy, Program Improvement INTRODUCTION Strategic modeling helps all levels of management hierarchy to strategically manage the organization by reviewing the past, reactivating the present and revital- izing the future for an organization. Despite manifold potentials for flourishing and prospects for flowering, most private universities of Bangladesh nowadays stand at critical crossroads at a time when the country improved its competitive index (CI) on global standards. This work that the scarcity of a viable strategic paradigm, lack of strong vision, absence of effective mission and the inherent or in-built shortcom- ings of the chosen strategies, the higher education on private sectors suffers the major setback. The purpose of this paper is to strive for sketching a strategic model- ing for these universities so that they can achieve strategic advantage and leapfrog their competitors’ strategies. * Assistant Professor of Strategic and International Management, Green Business School, Green University of Bangladesh ** Professor, Department of International Relations, The University of Dhaka Journal of Green Business School, Volume 1, Issue 1, January - December 2018 Structurally and content-wise, the present paper is organized into five sections. Section one is introduction which includes the researcher’s hypothesis, research methodology, limitations and analytical roadmap. Section two analyzes the significance and importance of building strategic models for organizational effectiveness and management efficiency. A comparative perspective of Western and non-Western models is described in section three with detailing of the converg- ing and diverging characteristics of these models and explaining the reasons why the Western models cannot be applied in the managerial tasks of the organizations of the developing countries. Section four is an effort to devise a non-Western model entitled Strategic Structural Intertwining Model which is suitable for efficiently managing the business organizations of most organizations in the developing coun- tries located in African and Asian continents. The basic characteristics and features of the proposed model along with its operational modus operandi are discussed in this section. Section five draws a conclusion. HYPOTHESIS There is no denying the fact that the managers of organizations in develop- ing countries face problems when applying Western models in the day-to-day business operations which requires a viable strategic management model suitable in the context of the realities of their business world. This research is based on the theme that the strategies of the developing or underdeveloped countries of most Afro-Asian countries are conceptually, qualitatively and fundamentally different from those of the developed countries in the West both in the theoretical construct and in the operational challenges. This leads the researcher to structure the hypoth- esis in order to devise a sustainable strategic model which is conducive for the business operation of the developing countries in general and for the private univer- sities of Bangladesh in particular. METHODOLOGY The present work is based on both primary and secondary sources of mate- rials. The books and literatures published globally on strategic management model- ing are widely studied to understand the different perspectives of strategic manage- ment and efforts are made to test their goodness of fit for the organizations of devel- oping countries. The website, brochure, leaflet and other information sheets on the private universities of Bangladesh are considered to have a clear picture of the oper- ational aspects of these knowledge industries. The archives and records of the Ministry of Education of Bangladesh Government are reviewed to understand the government policy to run this service sector. The high profile management execu 54 | Page Strategic Modeling for A Private University of Bangladesh: State of the Art and Looking Beyond tives of the Ministry of Education, University Grand Commission as well as the corporate and business executives of a number of notable private universities are also interviewed to comprehend the discrepancies between the theory and practice of running the universities at private level. Sampling In total, there are over 100 universities privately run in BD. Some of these knowledge providing service industries are performing excellently, some of them moderately and others are performing badly. While sampling, researchers selected the required number of universities from among all categories of universities based on their performances. The criteria for judging the performance based stratus of these universities include ranking provided by different evaluating organizations, job market demand of their graduates, technological capabilities, management capabilities, standard of teaching and so on. Limitations While gathering data and installing this research, the author encounters a number of practical issues posing challenges to the present work and thus serving limitations for this. The data and information on private universities are not easily available. The data that can be collected are not well-documented and well-orga- nized. Most of the authorities and executives of private universities as well as the Ministry of Education are unwilling to disclose privacy which provides the author an impression that they are skeptical about the data and resources possessed by them right at this moment. Some people even smell conspiracy if they are asked about any aspect of their university. WHY STRATEGIC MODELING? We need to unlearn many aspects of strategic management that we learnt before and relearn them in view of the characteristics featured by Bangladesh’s private universities. Like other business organizations, private universities always face challenges from the rival universities. Each and every university is committed to compete and strives to achieve competitive advantages. Each and every of such organizations must always tend to leapfrog the rivals’ strategies in order to gain efficiency and effectiveness by outweighing the management performances of the competing universities. A private university which is a non-business organization or knowledge firm needs to increase its Return on Investment (ROI) for its survival and sustainable growth. Strategic modeling works as the important means to that direction. 55 | Page Journal of Green Business School, Volume 1, Issue 1, January - December 2018 Certain terms, such as policies, strategies, objectives and vision need to be clarified first in order to fight the ambiguity contained in their underlying connota- tions. The word ‘policy’ refers to the means by which short-term objectives are achieved, whereas ‘strategy’ indicates the means by which long-term objectives are attained. Strategies include both plans and actions thereby classifying into intended strategies and realized strategies. The term ‘objective’ refers to specific results that an organization seeks to achieve in order to realize its mission. Objectives that are sought in more than one year are called long-term objectives. Thus annual objec- tives are considered as the short-term gains that are realized to achieve long term goals. Thus strategies are future-oriented that affect an organization’s long term prosperity for at least five years. The term ‘strategic modeling’ refers to the structure or paradigm based on which an organization can craft its strategic management in order to formulate its strategies and get economic and non-economic benefits through the implementa- tion of its adopted strategies. Through strategic management a university can achieve and maintain competitive advantage. The competitiveness of an organiza- tion represents anything that it does especially well compared to rival organiza- tions. For instance, Sylhet International University (SIU) offers