College of Business Administration

King Saud University

 

 

Strategic Plan 2011–2016

(Updated in December 2013)

Mini version

 

 

 

Established in 1959, the College of Business Administration (CBA) at King Saud University (KSU) is the most prominent business school in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. CBA has educated many outstanding business professionals, entrepreneurs, and political leaders in Saudi Arabia and in the Middle East region.

Parallel to the new Vision (2030) of KSU, CBA has developed its Strategic Plan for the period of 2011–2016. The CBA’s Strategic Plan 2011–2016 has been developed following assessment of the external and internal environments and wide-consultation with all stakeholders over a two year period. Since strategy formulation is an organization’s process of developing a vision and mission statements; establishing long-term goals and objectives; and defining appropriate strategic initiatives, metrics, and timeframe; the process provides directions for decision-making and allocating institutional resources effectively. In this context, the Strategic Plan of CBA has been developed in a systematic process. The plan has six strategic areas of thrust: (1) education, (2) research, (3) faculty and staff, (4) partnerships, (5) resources, and (6) accreditation. CBA pledges to pursue and realize each of these strategic areas of thrust during the period 2011–2016.

The plan will be implemented through a multidisciplinary and an integrated systems  approach with the active involvement of all the departments of the college and its stakeholders. Additionally, CBA has a tradition of reviewing its mission regularly, once every two years. Since the review process involves its stakeholders, it incorporates their opinions and perspectives in the plan.

               

King Saud University (KSU), one of the premier institutions of higher education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was established in 1957. The university is a public institution that offers a broad range of both undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the fields of humanities, natural and health sciences, and community services. KSU includes 23 colleges and offers more than 450 programs, 66% of which are at the graduate level. There are also 12 central supporting deanships. The university currently has 63,068 students and 5,149 academic staff, who come from 42 different countries.

KSU is ranked among the global universities—a genuine indication of its rising international reputation. In 2010, KSU received recognition from notable international academic ranking agencies: 1st place in the Arab world, 18th in Asia, and 186th globally according to Webometrics; 200th globally by Times Higher Education-Quality Standard (QS); and 261st in the Shanghai Jiaotong ranking.

Within the framework of higher education in Saudi Arabia, the Council of Higher Education is the supreme governing body of all universities and higher education institutions. The council is responsible for approving the establishment of new institutions, academic units, and programs at any given institution. The university rector (equivalent to the president of an American university), is appointed by the King of Saudi Arabia. Within the university, the University Council is the supreme governing body, which is chaired by the minister of higher education. Vice rectors (equivalent to the vice-presidents of an American university) are appointed by the Higher Education Council.

 

The College of Business Administration (CBA) was founded in 1959. Since then, CBA has educated many prominent business professionals, entrepreneurs, and political leaders in Saudi Arabia and in the Middle East region. At CBA, the dean is the chief academic officer, who is appointed by the minster of higher education upon the recommendation of the rector of the university. Four vice deans assist the dean. The College Council is the major decision-making body, assisted by the department councils of each department in the college. The College Council is composed of the dean; vice deans; Chairs of all departments; and three faculty representatives, one of whom is a member of the University Scientific Council. Many operational aspects of CBA are centralized and funded at the university level.

CBA programs reflect the mission of the college and the needs of its stakeholders. CBA encourages and supports achievement by all its students. Its dedicated learning support resources create a distinctive learning environment in the college. Additionally, CBA is committed to offering effective educational programs to aspiring mid-career business professionals at the graduate level. The graduate programs offered at CBA are very competitive and have established stringent admission criteria in order to identify and select only committed students with high potential for advanced study.

The program offerings of CBA include bachelors, masters, and doctoral level degrees. The student body at CBA benefits from a nurturing conducive learning environment supported by excellent physical infrastructure and highly advanced technological facilities. Students are aided by an interactive open forum to express their views and grievances to the administration. An e-portal has been created and professionally managed to discuss issues related to academics at the college; this portal serves as a major forum for student interaction, and at any given point in time, 100 or more students are discussing academic matters therein. The e-portal provides extensive help to the administration to understand and monitor student views, opinions, and grievances effectively and to understand the strengths and weaknesses of faculty members in their continuous efforts to deliver course materials effectively in the classrooms.

 

 

The Strategic Plan outlines the overall direction for creating the desired future of the College of Business Administration (CBA) at King Saud University (KSU). The strategic framework outlined in this plan defines where CBA is heading, and why it does so. The plan includes the vision, mission, core values, goals, and objectives of the college. CBA has a tradition of regularly reviewing its vision and mission, and, as such, strategic planning. The fundamental intent of this process is to combine academic excellence with commitment to innovation, quality, and service so that CBA becomes the best among its peers, both nationally and internationally. CBA has, thus, developed this Strategic Plan for the period 2011–2016.

 

The Strategic Planning Process

Generally, strategic planning is carried out every five years. The first step in the planning process is the review of the existing mission statement. Since strategy formulation is an organization’s process of developing vision and mission statements; establishing long-term goals and objectives; and defining appropriate strategic initiatives, metrics, and timeframe; the process provides directions for decision-making and allocating institutional resources effectively. In this context, the Strategic Plan of CBA has been developed in a systematic process. The plan has six strategic areas of thrust: (1) education, (2) research, (3) faculty and staff, (4) partnerships, (5) resources, and (6) accreditation.

 

1- Education: CBA’s approach to education stresses the depth and rigor of discipline-specific study, which drives and informs the breadth of its curriculum. It encourages its students to explore their field of study deeply, in the sense of real-world relevance combined with an array of skills, such as effective communication, critical thinking, and problem solving. In addition, CBA aims at rigorous academic programs, extracurricular enrichment, and personal and professional development of students. CBA plans to continue its commitment to maintain a distinctive academic environment.

 

2- Research: CBA is committed to conducting profound research that contributes to the advancement of business knowledge and practices. The college encourages its faculty members to produce intellectual contributions of high quality. CBA recognizes and celebrates intellectual contributions by its faculty members that create new knowledge, strengthen its scholarly environment, or find practical solutions to business, organizational, and community-related problems. Such recognition offers guidelines for faculty hiring and resource allocation. Its current and potential faculty shall know CBA’s research priorities. In addition, the college encourages research collaboration and dissemination of research interest among its faculty members. Financial and technical support, internally and externally, are made available and easily accessible to the college faculty.

 

3- Faculty and Staff: Faculty and staff are the major resources of the college. CBA places great emphasis on recruiting, training, developing, and retaining highly qualified faculty and staff. This will result in continuous improvement across the different activities of the college, which include teaching, research, and community service.

 

4- Partnerships: CBA is aware that academic and industry partnerships bring a lot of great ideas and opportunities to its faculty and students. Such partnerships can transform students’ learning experiences and awareness of global issues, facilitate faculty engagement in research, and ease the transfer and use of technology and innovation. CBA is therefore ardent on building and strengthening strategic partnerships with academic and professional organizations, as well as other organizations at local and global levels.

 

5- Resources: The government mainly funds CBA as one of the colleges in the KSU system—a public university. The university allocates adequate financial, physical, human, and technological resources to the CBA. The resource allocation is important for the college’s stability at the operational level; however, expanding the resource base would enable CBA to leverage its strength for continuous excellence. CBA, therefore, places a great deal of importance on exploring new funding channels and expanding its current funding resources.

 

6- Accreditation: Since academic accreditation is a way of confirming quality, accountability, and transparency, CBA is eager to confirm its adherence to these values by attaining accreditation from national and international accreditation bodies that are relevant to business schools.

 

The CBA Vision

To be a leader in business education and research that contributes to building a knowledge-based economy.

 

The CBA Mission

The mission of CBA is “Creating a distinctive educational environment to prepare business professionals and leaders with international perspectives; conducting research that contributes to the advancement of business knowledge and economic development; and building effective partnership with local and global communities.”

 

The CBA Core Values

• Excellence
• Transparency
• Team Spirit
• Accountability          
• Responsiveness

The following are the strategic goals and objectives of CBA as specified in the Strategic Plan 2011–2016:

 

Education

Goal: Establish and maintain an environment that ensures a high quality of business education at CBA.

Objective 1: Select highly competent students into its programs

Objective 2: Enhance academic programs and teaching practices that are in line with  both international academic standards and market/stakeholder needs

Objective 3: Provide students with adequate support services and opportunities for participating in extracurricular activities

 

Research

Goal: Conduct profound research to contribute to the advancement of business knowledge and practices.

Objective 1: Support quality research and maintain an active research culture at CBA

Objective 2: Encourage and facilitate the production of high quality scholarly output  through optimal utilization of internal and external research resources available to  CBA members

 

Faculty and Staff

Goal: Recruit, develop, and retain outstanding faculty and excellent staff to improve the teaching, intellectual contribution and service effectiveness of the college.

Objective 1: Recruit, recognize, and retain outstanding national and international faculty members and staff

Objective 2: Develop skills of faculty members in teaching and research and job-skills of staff members in variety of administrative areas

 

Partnership

Goal: Build and strengthen strategic partnerships with business communities, professional organizations, and other constituencies at the local and international levels.

Objective 1: Build strategic partnerships with the business communities and leading business schools and involve them in all CBA activities

Objective 2: Enhance the CBA’s outreach relationship with alumni and involvement in related communities

Objective 3: Brand the CBA’s image as a leading business school in the local and global communities

 

Resources

Goal: Expand and maintain adequate resources to help achieve the CBA’s mission.

Objective 1: Generate more resources from internal and external sources

 

Accreditation

Goal: Attain and maintain accreditation from reputable national and international accreditation bodies and professional organizations.

Objective 1: Attain academic accreditation from both national and international accreditation bodies

 

 

1- Select highly competent students into its programs

Initiative 1: Maintain and apply robust criteria that ensure the admission of high-quality students

Initiative 2: Maintain diversity in the CBA student body

 

2- Enhance academic programs and teaching practices that are in line with both international academic standards and market/stakeholder needs

Initiative 1: Conduct a market-need analysis to find out the competencies required by students

Initiative 2: Periodically review, update, and develop academic programs

Initiative 3: Communicate clearly to all faculty members regarding the CBA’s academic expectations in teaching

Initiative 4: Communicate to all students regarding the CBA’s expectations of their learning and academic performance

Initiative 5: Increase the use of technology in teaching and learning

Initiative 6: Use effective and innovative teaching methods such as case studies, business  simulation games, role-playing, cooperative learning, and group projects

 

3- Provide students with adequate support services and opportunities for participating in extracurricular activities

Initiative 1: Enhance services offered at student services unit to provide academic advising, social and psychological counseling, career-planning advice, and placement services to all students

Initiative 2: Maintain a high standard of student services, including catering, photocopying   and printing facilities, IT services, and information resources

Initiative 3: Enhance the extracurricular programs in the following areas: social, sports, intellectual, cultural, and community and environment

 

4- Develop and support a more active research culture at the CBA

Initiative 1: Make research a priority emphasis at the CBA

Initiative 2: Encourage and publicly recognize research contributions

Initiative 3: Reward the overall research achievements of individual researchers

Initiative 4: Provide incentives for faculty and students to be actively engaged in research

Initiative 5: Balance the time and load of faculty members between teaching, administrative responsibilities, and research to increase research output

Initiative 6: Ensure that each department is developing a research plan

Initiative 7: Support and promote research collaboration at interdisciplinary levels,between faculty members and graduate students, and within departments
 

5- Encourage and facilitate the production of high quality scholarly output through optimal utilization of internal and external research resources available to CBA members

Initiative 1: Increase the quantity of publications in peer-reviewed journals (PRJs)annually

Initiative 2: Designate a distinctive award for publication in high-impact journals

Initiative 3: Enforce the policy that requires doctoral-level students to publish at least one research article in a peer-reviewed journal before graduation; encourage master’s level students to do so

Initiative 4: Maximize the number of worthy proposals submitted for external funds and grants

Initiative 5: Ensure that the financial resources of the CBA Research Center are allocated to the most promising research proposals

Initiative 6: Provide both monetary and non-monetary support for all scholarly activities

Initiative 7: Reward all distinguished intellectual contributions other than publications in journals

Initiative – 8: Solicit organizations to sponsor new research chairs

Initiative – 9: Identify the available research grants and encourage faculty members to benefit from those grants

 

6- Recruit, recognize, and retain outstanding national and international faculty members and staff to achieve CBA’s goals in education, research and services

Initiative 1: Appointing distinguished new faculty members annually

Initiative 2: Invite professionals and practitioners to participate in teaching at the CBA

Initiative 3: Appointing outstanding graduates as teaching assistants (TAs) in   each department in the college annually

Initiative 4: Increase staff members every year until the achievement of desired level of service satisfaction.

Initiative 5: Assess the level of faculty and staff satisfaction

Initiative 6: Establish a mechanism to reward outstanding teaching, research, and service performance

 

7- Develop skills of faculty members in teaching and research and job-skills of staff members in variety of administrative areas

Initiative 1: Motivate faculty members to attend conferences yearly

Initiative 2: Encourage faculty members to attend training sessions yearly

Initiative 3: Encourage staff members to attend training sessions yearly

 

8- Build strategic partnerships with the business communities and leading business schools and involve them in all CBA activities

Initiative 1: Involve business leaders and alumni on the CBA Advisory Board

Initiative 2: Involve the business community and alumni on departmental advisory  boards

Initiative 3: Invite business/industry leaders to the CBA to actively participate in curriculum review and design, as guest lecturers, in other co-curricular activities,  and in scholarly activities

Initiative 4: Create an “idea café” to discuss topical issues with organizations, faculty members, and students

Initiative 5: Expand local organizations’ role in sponsoring CBA events

Initiative 6: Establish institutional strategic partnership with leading business schools to facilitate the exchange of knowledge

Initiative 7: Increase collaboration with national and international business schools in conducting distinguishing research

Initiative 8: Exchange students with selected international business schools

Initiative 9: Develop agreements with selected international business schools for faculty exchange programs

Initiative 10: Develop joint programs with international business schools

 

9-Enhance the CBA’s outreach relationship with alumni and involvement in related communities

Initiative 1: Increase job placement and on-campus recruiting

Initiative 2: Increase CBA participation in local and regional exhibitions, tradeshows, and other business events

Initiative 3: Provide professional training, executive education, seminars, and consultation to the business and other communities

Initiative 4: Increase CBA participation with other communities, including local schools, to spread knowledge about business education and entice good high school graduates to consider business education as a future career

Initiative 5: Create, update, and enrich the CBA Alumni Database

Initiative 6: Involve alumni in CBA academic activities

Initiative 7: Disseminate CBA publications to alumni and friends

Initiative 8: Involve CBA alumni to facilitate the relationship of the CBA with their organizations

Initiative 9: Encourage CBA alumni members to provide financial and advisory support  to CBA activities

 

10- Brand the CBA’s image as a leading business school in the local and global communities

Initiative 1: Expand the visibility of the CBA centers, programs, and activities to the community

Initiative 2: Encourage CBA faculty members to participate in the public media

Initiative 3: Participate in national and international conferences, workshops, seminars, etc.

Initiative 4: Enhance the CBA image through various promotional products and activities
 

11- Generate more resources from internal and external sources

Initiative 1: Seek donations from businesses and other organizations to increase CBA’s resource base

Initiative 2: Solicit donations from selected CBA alumni

Initiative 3: Generate additional revenue through organizing business seminars, conferences, workshops, and executive educational opportunities

Initiative 4: Provide consultation to businesses to enhance the college’s income

Initiative 5: Research projects with business community

Initiative 6: Approach the central administration of the university to get an increase in the annual budget of the CBA

 

12- Attain academic accreditation from both national and international accreditation bodies

Initiative 1: Appoint committee(s) for preparations for NCAAA accreditation

Initiative 2: Allocate adequate funds and resources for the completion of the project

Initiative 3: Assign tasks to committee members with set deadlines

Initiative 4: Apply for eligibility to initiate programmatic accreditation from the NCAAA

Initiative 5: Conduct a programmatic self-study to identify gaps in order to improve the academic deficiencies

Initiative 6: Form a Committee called AACSB Accreditation Committee with dedicated CBA members

Initiative 7: Allocate adequate funds and resources

Initiative 8: Obtain pre-accreditation eligibility from AACSB

Initiative 9: Prepare a standards alignment plan (SAP) and submit it to AACSB with the help of the mentor

Initiative 10: Work with a peer-review team (PRT) to improve academic processes based on the PRT’s recommendations

 

The strategic management process of an organization does not end with the strategy formulation phase alone. Implementation of the strategy is the most crucial phase of strategic planning because there must be a translation of strategic thought into strategic action. Moreover, successful strategy formulation does not guarantee successful strategy implementation. Having understood this concept clearly, CBA has pledged to implement the plan through the direct supervision of the vice dean for quality and development under the directions of the dean of CBA.

The plan will be implemented through a multidisciplinary and integrated system approach with the active involvement of all of the departments of the college and its stakeholders. In order to help guide and support the implementation of the plan, a task force that consists of committed staff, faculty members, and representatives from the current student body and community has been established for each objective in the plan. An external consultant may be hired, or some of the tasks pertaining to the achievement of some objectives in the plan may be outsourced when it is deemed necessary.

Furthermore, periodical reports will be generated and forwarded to department heads, educational administrators, and leaders of the college for their further action and continuous improvement initiatives. It has been made clear that the implementation process will be strictly carried out as per the set timelines, targets, key performance indicators (KPIs), and so on. CBA has also decided to have a mass communication session with all staff, employees, and other stakeholders every six months in order to update them on achievements and progress and get their feedback on the implementation of the plan.

 

 

1. A. Correlation of KSU and CBA Visions:

The KSU vision “to be a world class university and a leader in building the knowledge society” coincides with the CBA’s vision, which is “to be a leader in business education and research that contributes to building knowledge economy.”  Both vision statements concentrate on leadership in knowledge building. But CBA’s vision is concerned with its specific field of knowledge, which is business and economics.

1. b. Correlation of KSU and CBA missions:

The mission of KSU is “to provide distinctive education, produce creative research, serve society and contribute in building the knowledge economy and community through learning, creative thinking environment, the optimal use of technology and effective international partnership.”

At the same time, the mission of the CBA speaks about “to create a distinctive educational environment to prepare business professionals and leaders with international perspectives; to conduct profound research that contributes to the advancement of business knowledge and economic development; and to build effective partnerships with local and global communities.” These two missions are correlated in their aspects as shown in table 1.1:

Table 1.1 correlations of KSU and CBA missions

Aspects	KSU Mission	CBA Mission
1-Education	Providing distinctive education	Creating a distinctive educational environment
2-Research	Producing creative research	Conducting profound research
3-Social responsibility	Serving society	Preparing business professionals and leaders with international perspectives
4-Knowledge	Building the knowledge economy and community through learning	Advancing business knowledge and economic development
5-Technology	Using technology optimally	Creating a distinctive educational environment
6-Partnerships	Building effective international partnership	Effective partnership with local and global communities

 

1. Correlation of strategic objectives:

1. KSU Strategic objectives:

The KSU plan has 9 strategic objectives to support its mission, as shown in Table 1.2:

Table 1.2: KSU strategic objectives

No.	Strategic Objectives	Description
1	Good in everything, great in focus areas	Advance in international ranking through strengthening our comprehensive university with academic areas of research and teaching excellence
2	Distinctive faculty	Attract and develop distinctive faculty
3	Less is more	Achieve needed quality by reducing KSU’s student volume, increasing the share of graduate students and raising entry requirements
4	Stronger graduates	Enable KSU students to learn hard and soft skills through their academic life
5	Building bridges	Build bridges internally within KSU and externally with local and international groups
6	Supporting learning environment	Create an engaging environment at KSU for faculty, students, and staff
7	Sustainable future	Build KSU’s endowment and diversity sources with the government
8	Flexibility and accountability	Create a performance contact with the government
9	Organizing for purpose	Establish an organization and governance that support KSU’s mission

 

b. Mapping CBA strategic objectives with KSU objectives:

The CBA is a circle in KSU’s chain of identities. Accordingly, the CBA’s strategic objectives have been established to be parallel with those of KSU. Table 1.3 shows how each CBA strategic objective intersects with a KSU strategic objective.

 

 Table 1.3: Mapping of CBA’s strategic objectives with KSU’s7  objectives

KSU OBJECTIVES
CBA OBJECTIVES		(1) Good in everything great in something	(2) Distinctive faculty	(3) Less is more	(4) Strong graduates	(5) Building bridges	(6) Supportive learning environment	(7) Sustainable future	(8) Flexibility and accountability	(9) Organize for purpose
	1-Select highly competent students into its programs
	2-Review, update, and develop academic programs that are in line with both international academic standards and market/stakeholder needs
	3-Promote a culture that leads to excellence in teaching at CBA
	4-Provide students with needed support services adequately
	5-Create an environment that encourages students to participate in extracurricular activities
	6-Develop and support a more active research culture at CBA
	7-Publish in well-recognized national and international academic journals pertinent to the CBA majors/specializations
	8-Encourage and facilitate the production of other intellectual contributions
	9-Enhance and maximize utilization of internal and external research resources available to CBA members
	10-Recruit more outstanding national and international faculty members and staff to achieve CBA’s goals in education, research, and services
	11-Recognize and retain highly valued faculty and staff at CBA
	12-Develop faculty members’ skills in teaching and research
	13-Provide job-skills training to staff in a variety of venues
	14-Involve the business community in all CBA activities
	15-Build strategic partnerships with leading business schools
	16-Enhance the CBA’s outreach and involvement in business and other communities
	17-Enhance the relationship with CBA alumni
	18-Brand the CBA’s image as a leading business school in the local and global communities
	19-Generate more resources from external sources
	20-Request more resources from the KSU Central Administration for CBA
	21-Attain academic accreditation from National Commission on Academic   Accreditation and Assessments (NCAAA)
	22-Attain business accreditation from Association to Advanced Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)

An initial committee was formulated by the dean of the college from 10/06/1431 to 24/05/2010. In an effort to prepare for the Strategic Plan, the committee held seven consulting meetings in 2008. Those meetings were attended by select staff including both at senior and junior levels at CBA. Two other meetings were held with the most important external stakeholders, including the CBA Advisory Board members, industry leaders, Ministry of Business and Industries officials, Ministry of Higher Education senior officials, the Saudi Chamber of Commerce, and some distinguished alumni of the CBA. Several more meetings were also held with members of the community, in which different people from a variety of social classes were represented. From those meetings a framework for the vision and mission was developed. Some major strategic ideas and objectives were also drafted during this time. Subsequently, the outcomes of this initial committee were used in the work of the current committee. The members of the initial committee were as follows:

 

1. Dr. Ahmed Salim Al-Aameri (Dean) (Chair)

2. Dr. Sulaiman A. Al-Hudhaif (Vice Dean for Quality & Development) (Vice-Chair)

3. Dr. Mazen Faris Rashid (Vice Dean for Graduate Studies & Research) (Member)

4. Dr. Doha Saleh (Vice-Dean for Girls Affairs)

5. Dr. Hamad Al-hoshan (Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs)

6. Dr. Firas M. Khaldi (Head of Quality Unit) (Member)

7.Prof. Sundaram Nataraja (Head AACSB Accreditation Unit) (Member, Recorder)

8.Mr. Waleed Idris Abdulqayum (was assigned as Secretary)

 

The Current Committee (Updated in May 2013):

 

The dean of the CBA formed the current Strategic Planning Committee on 14/05/2013. The members of the current committee are as follows:

1. Dr. Moaddi M. Almeth-heb (Dean) (Chair)
2. Dr. Mohammed Al-Mohaiwly (Vice Dean for Academic Affairs) (Member)
3. Dr. Abdullah M. Alharbi (Vice Dean for Quality & Development) (Member)
4. Dr. Khalid Al-Aiban (Vice Dean for Graduate Studies & Research) (Member)
5. Dr. Doha Saleh (Vice Dean for female section) (Member)
6. Dr. Maher Badawi(Head of Quality Unit) (Member)
7. Dr. Sundaram Nataraja (Head of AACSB Accreditation Unit) (Member, Recorder)
8. Dr. Suliman A. Zakaria (Head of Documentation Unit) (Member)
9. Dr. Mahmoud A.Saleh (Head of Development Unit) (Member)

 

The review process began in April 2012 by inviting different CBA stakeholders to visit the college’s website, read its mission, and fill out a brief questionnaire. As a result, substantial suggestions were received from stakeholders pertaining to the scope and content of the CBA mission. The intent was to use these suggestions and feedback as a base for developing corresponding goals and objectives in the strategic planning context. As part of the process, a market-need survey was conducted to identify and understand the current business environment, both locally and globally, and its needs in terms of competencies and skills required in CBA graduates, as well as in the development of new academic programs and curricula. Valuable data and information were collected through this survey and incorporated in the strategic planning process. In addition, the CBA referred to a number of leading business schools’ strategic plans as the study of best practices and to serve as points of reference to benchmark its Strategic Plan.

 

In May of 2012, CBA organized a workshop for its stakeholders. The CBA management team made sure that the stakeholders’ population was well represented in this workshop. Invited individuals included: (1) administrative and educational managers at CBA and KSU; (2) the current student body; (3) CBA alumni, (4) senior managers and leaders from local businesses and industries; and (5) government officials. There were 96 participants in the workshop, which was organized in such a way as to enable active round-table discussions. Discussions that emerged in the round-table sessions were very productive and helped the college to review the previous mission and come up with three improved alternatives. These statements were then submitted to an ad hoc committee appointed by the dean to develop a unified and effective single mission, incorporating the major elements and important aspects raised and suggested by the CBA stakeholders. The new mission statement was then emailed back to the workshop participants in June 2012. Most of the participants voted in favor of the refined mission statement, while few (4 out of 81 respondents) suggested rephrasing the mission. Hence, the final version of the mission statement has been derived.

 

Following the summer break from July to August 2010, the review process was resumed in September 2010. The suggestions received from the workshop participants through emails were reviewed by the ad hoc committee. At this time, the CBA also had the opportunity to seek the opinion of its mentor assigned by the Association to Advanced Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) on the newly developed mission statement. In October 2010, when the mentor visited CBA to provide mentorship on its preparations for AACSB international accreditation, he guided the CBA in crafting its mission statement. The mentor’s suggestions were taken in finalizing the mission statement. The final stage of the review process was the approval of the new mission by the College Council in early January 2011.

 

The Strategic Planning Committee conducted a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threat (SWOT) analysis upon carefully studying both the external and internal factors and elements that have affected the CBA in terms of education, research, students, services, and partnerships with communities and business schools in the last five years. The factors are as follows:

1. Demographic changes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. According to 2010 Census, there was a large rise in the youth population (over 40% are below the age of 15), with a high youth unemployment rate despite the strong demand for highly skilled labor (30% of Saudi youth are unemployed) in the Kingdom (Saudi Census Bureau, 2010). Hence, there is a greater need to study the market needs and conduct a skill-gap analysis. CBA, as the business education provider, could help the community combat unemployment.
2. Low Saudi school outcomes: According to the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) that was held in 2007, the eighth-graders in Saudi Schools were ranked 62nd out of 64 countries being studied. Additionally, Saudi Schools ranked 51st out of 56 countries in science, and 80% of Saudi eighth-graders showed “little to no math skill” in TIMSS. This clearly warrants an urgent solution for the young citizens in the country.
3. A paradigm shift: There was a paradigm shift in the economy from oil dependency to non-oil economic sectors. More businesses are emerging in the non-oil sector in order to compete with other economies.
4. Support for the higher education sector: The support is remarkably augmenting. Evidently, the current 2012–2013 budget of the kingdom has been extraordinarily important for higher education growth in the kingdom.

1. National policy focus: The national policy focus is on creating a knowledge-based economy. The leadership in the nation has a clear focus on creating a competitive, knowledge-based economy, which in turn creates demand for business education in the country.
2. Competitive scenario: The competitive scenario of higher education in the GCC region has been externally forcing universities and colleges in the kingdom to be quality oriented and have a distinctive competence and competitive advantage over their counterparts in the region.

 

Along these lines, CBA has made a SWOT analysis; and the factors are given below:

Area	External nvironment	Internal nvironment
Students	Opportunities   Possible to recruit high caliber students Challenges Continued application of specific student admission criteria Attracting good students from inside and outside the Kingdom	Strengths CBA’s location -Riyadh The most prestigious university in the Kingdom A substantial number of the College’s graduates occupying senior level leadership positions in both the public and private sectors Openness to change and development Dealing with technology efficiently Achievement motives among all   Weaknesses Student engagement in learning activities is minimal Students’ English language skills needs attention
Faculty and Staff	Opportunities Cooperation agreements between KSU and a number of world universities Faculty training development   Challenges Motivation and accountability Competitiveness in attracting faculty Acute shortage of female faculty Attractive opportunities for faculty outside the College	Strengths A substantial number of faculty members employed as consultants for a number of establishments in the management and economic fields Availability of prestigious academic authority figures in the College Diversity of nationalities, cultures, and educational backgrounds among faculty members at the College Largely body of competent faculty Weaknesses Shortage of doctorally qualified female faculty members in all the disciplines in the College Preoccupation of some faculty members outside the College and University
Curricula and Academic Programs	Opportunities General tendency to expand higher education in the Kingdom Interest from part of the leadership positions and the public in development in all fields Increasing need for graduate studies programs in the various disciplines of the College Pressing need for parallel education Good reputation of CBA’s graduate studies program in the job market New programs can be developed Programs can be development for community development Programs can be developed for leadership development   Challenges Motivation and accountability Several other universities in the kingdom is growing	Strengths Importance of the CBA’s disciplines for the national economy and job market A curriculum benchmark with what is available in other universities in the region and throughout the world Continued upgrading of the curricula to keep up with global developments Using English as the language of instruction Use of technology in teaching Weaknesses Continuation of old-fashioned ways of teaching by some faculty members Lack of continuous updating of the academic programs on the College’s website Inadequate distance-learning vessels at the College
Educational nvironment and nfrastructure	Opportunities Economic stability and the growth of the business sector The current economic and social developments in Saudi Arabia Extensive growth and expansion in the various national economic sectors Willingness on the part of the business community leaders to cooperate with the College and provide it with support in the development process Challenges Ability to find alternative adequate resources Strong competitiveness the College is facing from current public, private, and foreign business administration colleges, in addition to those colleges that are expected to open after the liberalization of the higher education service sectors Massive technological challenge in the area of educational programs, teaching methods, and the role of the Internet and the World Wide Web	Strengths University’s support of the development plans New College facilities and infrastructure Availability of a young work force at the administrative level (College staff) Proactive approach of the College Deanship to carry out development Adequate student services Adequate support staff Adequate learning resources Weaknesses Total reliance on government funding and limitations of alternative resources Implementation of the role of research centers and units and linking them to the community Implementation of the role of the College Journal

 

Based on the SWOT analysis and the discussions, the most important strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats may be stated as follows:

Strengths (S)	Weaknesses (W)	Opportunities (O)	Threats (T)
Support and commitment from KSU’s administration to development plans A benchmark curriculum structure that is comparable—in most of the departments—to what is available in other universities in the region and throughout the world A largely competent faculty Openness to change and development Dealing with technology efficiently	Lack of relevant Arabic college-level books and references in certain disciplines and inadequacy or obsolescence of those that are available Total reliance on government funding and limitations of alternative resources Non-use of computers and the Internet in teaching and internal communication by some faculty members	Ability to apply international performance indicators and benchmarks regarding CBA’s inputs, operations, and outcomes General tendency towards developing higher education technology Partnership agreements between KSU and a number of world universities Willingness on the part of the business community leaders to cooperate with the College and provide it with support in the development process A substantial number of the College’s graduates occupying senior level leadership positions in both the public and private sectors Pressing need for parallel education	Massive technological challenge in the area of educational programs, teaching methods, and the role of the Internet and the World Wide Web Current competitiveness among universities in the Kingdom in attracting faculty members Attractive opportunities for faculty outside the College Ability to find sufficient additional resources

 

 

GAP ANALYSIS:

A gap analysis was made in early 2012 to align the quality CBA with the 21 standards of AACSB Accreditation. The analysis results are given below:

AACSB Standard	Improvement Item	Additional Resources Needed	Measurement of Performance	Timeline	Responsibility
1	Arrange to post the mission at prime locations of CBA	SAR 4000	Completed	Feb 12	Dean
1	Supply an object, in which the mission is written, to be kept on the table of everyone’s workstation	SAR 9000	Completed	Apr 12	Vice Dean for Quality & Development
2	Implement the revised policies and guidelines of CBA’s Intellectual Contribution Profile (ICP)	None	Completed	Sept 2012	Dean and Vice Dean for Research and Postgraduate Studies
11	Develop and implement a faculty orientation program for newly hired faculty members	None	Completed	Sept 2012	Dean
6	Designate audit courses in individual programs for the purposes of implementing and measuring Assurance of Learning	None	Completed	August 2012	Dean, Vice Deans, and Graduate Program Directors
16	Widely implement the Assurance of Learning mechanism in undergraduate programs	None	Process is underway/ ongoing	Academic year 2011–12	Dean, Vice Deans, and Department Chairs
18	Widely implement the Assurance of Learning mechanism in general master’s programs	None	Process is underway/ ongoing	Academic year 2011–12	Dean
19	Widely implement the Assurance of Learning mechanism in general master’s programs	None	Process is underway/ ongoing	Academic year 2011–12	Dean

 

Indicators and benchmarking are analytical tools used to determine whether CBA’s standards are competitive and meaningful compared to its peer institutions and peer programs and thus acceptable for the stakeholders. The benchmarking process has enabled CBA to take actions to improve the areas in which the peer institutions have comparative advantages. Table 5.1 shows the indicators and benchmarking of CBA with other peer institutions.

Quality Attributes	CBA’s Benchmark/ KPI	Point of Reference - 1 (King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia)	Point of Reference - 2 (National University of Singapore)	Point of Reference - 3 (University of Central Missouri, USA)
Departmental Governance Has an effective mission statement Has a well-established organizational governance/structure Has effective academic programs to offer Has a good link/network with the industry, alumni, and other stakeholders Has adequate facilities	Effective Good Yes Mediocre Very good	Effective Good Yes Yes Very good	Effective Well established Yes Very good Very good	Average Good Yes Mediocre Adequate
Admission Standards a-Minimum entry qualification   b-English Proficiency   c-Numerical Ability	12 years of schooling   CGPA of 3.5 out of 5.0 scale in the Prep year   5.0 IELTS score or 500 TOEFL score	12 years of schooling   TOEFL 500/ IELTS 5.0   Placement test	12 years of schooling   TOEFL 550/ IELTS 6.0   School grades	12 years of schooling   TOEFL 550   SAT
Progression rate a-Year one to two b-Year two to three c-Year three to four	87% 96% 92%	96% 92% 89%	92% 99% 98%	79% 86% 82%
Graduation Rate Percentage of students who completed the program of study compared with the number of students who entered the program in a given intake	90%	87%	96%	72%
Curriculum Total number of credit hours required for graduation   Number credit hours required in common business core   Number of credit hours required in major area   Number of credit hours required for internship/ practicum/Co-op training	145(114+ 31 Prep Year) Credit hours     18   48 + 15 (Electives)     06 Credit hours	124 Credit hours     51 Credit hours   36 Credit hours   03 Credit hours	136 Credit hours     63 Credit hours     33 Credit hours       06 Credit hours	121 Credit hours     48 Credit hours     30 Credit hours     Nil/optional
Faculty Member Qualification Percentage of faculty members in the department with doctoral qualifications Percentage of faculty members in the department with master’s level qualification Percentage of faculty members in the department active in research and publication Percentage of faculty members in the department having more than three years of teaching experience	93%     7%       93%       96%	79%     21%       82%       75%	100%     Nil       100%       97%	74%     22%       66%       71%
Student Learning Average number of students in a classroom (department level) Average ratio of students per one faculty member (department level) Availability of adequate learning resources (including computer labs, virtual libraries, Internet-connected classrooms, etc.)	45       20     Adequate	34       31     Adequate	27       21     Abundant	29       19     Adequate

 

The following are the 75 implementation projects that CBA has developed to implement its strategic initiatives during the period of 2011–2016. The strategic initiatives have been grouped into seven categories for implementation and the accountability purposes as given below:

Category 1: Dean’s Accountability	Category 2: Vice Dean for Academic Affairs	Category 3: Vice Dean for Research & Graduate Studies	Category 4: Vice Dean for Quality & Development	Category 5: Department Chair	Category 6: Program Director	Category 7: Administrative  Manager
11.2	1.1	6.1	2.1	3.4	3.3	10.4
12.1	1.2	6.2	2.2	10.2	3.4
12.2	3.1	6.3	11.1	10.3	7.3
13.1	3.2	6.4	17.1
14.1	4.1	6.5	17.2
14.5	4.2	6.6	21.1
15.1	5.1	6.7	21.2
15.2	10.1	7.1	21.3
15.3	14.2	7.2	21.4
15.4	14.3	7.4	21.5
15.5	14.4	7.5	22.1
16.1		8.1	22.2
16.2		8.2	22.3
16.3		9.1	22.4
17.3		9.2	22.5
17.4
17.5
18.1
18.2
18.3
18.4
19.1
19.2
19.3
19.4
19.5
20.1
27	11	15	15	3	3	1

 

Category 1: Projects under Dean’s Accountability:

No.	Project Title	Strategic Initiative	Deadline		KPI
			Start Date	End Date
1	Reward for Outstanding Teaching, Research, and Service performance	11.2. Establish a mechanism to reward outstanding teaching, research, and service performance.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least two faculty members rewarded annually in every department.
2	Conference Attendance	12.1. Motivate faculty members to attend conferences yearly.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least one attendance and/or participation per faculty member per year.
3	Faculty Member Attendance in Training Sessions	12.2. Encourage faculty members to attend training sessions yearly.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least two attendances per faculty per year.
4	Staff Member Attendance in Training sessions	13.1. Encourage staff members to attend training sessions yearly.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least two attendances per staff member per year.
5	Business Leaders and Alumni on the CBA Advisory Board	14.1. Involve business leaders and alumni on the CBA Advisory Board.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 10 business leaders and alumni added to and/or maintained on the CBA Advisory Board.
6	Sponsorship for CBA Events	14.5. Expand local organizations’ role in sponsoring CBA events.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least two sponsorships responsive with local organizations that are sponsoring the CBA events.
7	Strategic Partnership with Leading Business Schools	15.1. Establish institutional strategic partnership with leading business schools to facilitate the exchange of knowledge.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least two strategic partnerships established with leading business schools in a given academic year.
8	Collaboration with National and International Business Schools	15.2. Increase collaboration with national and international business schools in conducting distinguishing research.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least 10 publications or any other scholarly output resulting from collaboration with other business schools in a given academic year.
9	Student Exchange program	15.3. Exchange students with selected international business schools.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least 10 students exchanged with other business schools in a given academic year.
10	Faculty Exchange Program	15.4. Develop agreements with selected international business schools for faculty    exchange programs.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least three faculty members having participated in a faculty exchange program in a given academic year.
11	Joint-degree Programs with International Business Schools	15.5. Develop joint programs with international business schools.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least one joint-degree program established within a three-year period.
12	Job Placement and On-campus Recruitment	16.1. Increase job placement and on-campus recruiting.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 40% of the graduating students in a given academic year benefitting from job placement and on-campus recruiting activities.
13	CBA Participation in Local and Regional Events	16.2. Increase CBA participation in local and regional exhibitions, tradeshows, and other business events.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least one (event) participation of CBA in regional or local exhibitions, tradeshows, and other business events in a given academic year.
14	Professional Training & Executive Education	16.3. Provide professional training, executive education, seminars, and consultation to the business and other communities.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least five professional activities offered to business and other communities in a given academic year.
15	Connect with Alumni and Friends	17.3. Disseminate CBA publications to alumni and friends.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least one annual publication of CBA has been distributed to alumni and friends.
16	Relationship with Alumni’ Organizations	17.4. Involve CBA alumni to facilitate the relationship of the CBA with their      organizations.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least two organizations of alumni members per program have been actively linked and involved on an ongoing basis.
17	Financial Support  from Alumni	17.5. Encourage CBA alumni members to provide financial and advisory support to CBA activities.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least SR 1,000,000 has been raised for CBA activities through this method annually.
18	Visibility of CBA to the Community	18.1. Expand the visibility of the CBA centers, programs, and activities to the community.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least 10% increase / improvement in the visibility of CBA with its community: Increase 10% on the college publications i.e., handbook, annual report, etc. At least 10% increase in Visitor-count on the CBA website.
19	Participation of CBA in the Public Media	18.2. Encourage CBA faculty members to participate in the public media.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least two faculty members from each department have participated in the public media annually.
20	Participation in National and International Events	18.3. Participate in national and international conferences, workshops, seminars, etc.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	CBA has participated in at least five events in a given academic year.
21	CBA Image Building	18.4. Enhance the CBA image through various promotional products and activities.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least one promotional product and one activity have been produced/ organized in a given academic year that would enhance the CBA’s image.
22	Donations from Businesses and Other Organizations	19.1. Seek donations from businesses and other organizations to increase CBA’s resource base.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least 5% of the CBA financial resources covered through this source.
23	Donations from selected CBA Alumni	19.2. Solicit donations from selected CBA alumni.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	Raise a minimum of SAR 1 million annually.
24	Generating Additional Revenue	19.3. Generate additional revenue through organizing business seminars, conferences, workshops, and executive educational opportunities.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	Generate at least SAR 1 million annually.
25	Business Consultation	19.4. Provide consultation to businesses to enhance the college’s income.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	Generate a minimum of SAR 1 million annually.
26	Research Projects	19.5. Research projects with business community.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 10 funded research projects secured annually.
27	Increase in CBA Budget	20.1. Approach the central administration of the university to get an increase in the annual budget of the CBA.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 10 % of increase in the annual budget of the CBA.

 

Category 2: Projects under Vice Dean for Academic Affairs Accountability

No.	Project Title	Strategic Initiative	Deadline		KPI
			Start Date	End Date
1	Admission Criteria	Maintain and apply robust criteria that ensure the admission of high-quality      students.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 90% of the students admitted into the programs of CBA have CGPA of 4.0 out of 5.0 scale; while the remaining could have not less than 3.75 out of 5.0 scale.
2	Diversity in Student-body	Maintain diversity in the CBA student body.	Fall 2014	ENPP*	At least 5% of the CBA student body represented by international students.
3	Academic Expectations	3.1. Communicate clearly to all faculty members regarding the CBA’s academic expectations in teaching.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	Hold at least one workshop/seminar in the beginning of every semester specifying the academic requirements related to teaching and learning.
4	Student’s Aggregate Responsibilities	3.2. Communicate to all students regarding the CBA’s expectations of their learning   and academic performance.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 70% of the students in the current student-body who are informed about the academic expectations in a given academic year.
5	Student Services Unit	4.1. Enhance services offered at student services unit to provide academic advising, social and psychological counseling, career-planning advice, and placement services to all students.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least one time each student at CBA to be provided with an effective service in a given semester
6	Standard of Student Services	4.2. Maintain a high standard of student services, including catering, photocopying   and printing facilities, IT services, and information resources	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least a 75% score of satisfactory or better status from the student satisfaction survey on non-academic services
7	Extra-curricular Programs/Activities	5.1. Enhance the extracurricular programs in the following areas: social, sports, intellectual, cultural, and community and environment.	Fall 2014	ongoing	Organize at least 50 different extra-curricular activities per year At least 70% of students participating in extra-curricular activities every year
8	Appointment of Distinguished* Faculty Members	10.1. Appointing distinguished new faculty members annually.	Fall 2011	ongoing	At least 10 new distinguished faculty members appointed annually. *Distinguished: faculty members with five years of good teaching record and five publications in top peer reviewed journals (PRJ) in the last five years.
9	Department Level Advisory Board	14.2. Involve the business community and alumni on departmental advisory                        boards.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	A combination of at least 10 industry leaders and alumni representatives included/maintained to form a departmental-level advisory board.
10	Participation of Business/Industry Leaders in Curriculum Review	14.3. Invite business/industry leaders to the CBA to actively participate in curriculum review and design, as guest lecturers, in other co-curricular activities, and in scholarly activities.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least two industry experts invited to and participating in each program of study offered at CBA.
11	An Idea Café	14.4. Create an “idea café” to discuss topical issues with organizations, faculty members, and students.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least two discussions held in each semester or at least three meetings held in the idea café in any given academic year.

*ENPP = Extended to next planning period

 

Category 3: Projects under Vice Dean for Research & Graduate Studies Accountability

No.	Project Title	Strategic Initiative	Deadline		KPI
			Start Date	End Date
1	Emphasis on Research	6.1. Make research a priority emphasis at the CBA.	Fall 2011	ongoing	At least one scholarly output per faculty members in a given academic year.
2	Recognition of Research Contributions	6.2. Encourage and publicly recognize research contributions.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least one outstanding researcher being recognized in a given semester.
3	Reward for Overall Research Accomplishment	6.3. Reward the overall research accomplishment of individual researchers.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least one researcher being recognized in a given year for his/her overall research output.
4	Incentives for Research Engagement	6.4. Provide incentives for the faculty members, who engage students to actively participate in research.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least 10 faculty members are given incentives in a year for engaging students in active research.
5	Faculty Member’s Time Dedication on Research	6.5. Balance the time and load of faculty members between teaching, administrative responsibilities, and research to increase research output.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least one leading faculty members who are given free time for research activities in each department annually.
6	Development of a Research Plan	6.6. Ensure that each department is developing a research plan.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	The department-level research plan to be developed at least by the end of the first month of the new academic year. At least 75% of the stated plan has been achieved in the end of the given academic year.
7	Research Collaboration	6.7. Support and promote research collaboration at interdisciplinary levels,     between faculty members and graduate students, and within departments.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least two joint research initiatives stated in each department research plan. At least 75% of the stated target is achieved.
8	Publications in Peer-reviewed Journals	7.1. Increase the quantity of publications in peer-reviewed journals (PRJs)    annually.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least one PRJ publication per faculty member once in every two academic years; at least one publication per faculty member in ISI Indexed journal once in every three academic years.
9	Award for Publication in High Impact Journals	7.2. Designate a distinctive award for publication in high-impact journals.	Fall 2013	Ongoing	At least one publication that is published in a journal which has an impact factor of 3.5 or higher in a given academic year.
10	External Funds and Grants for Research	7.4. Maximize the number of worthy proposals submitted for external funds and grants.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 10 research proposals submitted, and at least three external grants obtained, in a given academic year.
11	Research Center Resources	7.5. Ensure that the financial resources of the CBA Research Center are allocated to the most promising research proposals	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 10 research proposals/projects financially supported annually.
12	Support for all Scholarly Activities	8.1. Provide both monetary and non-monetary support for all scholarly activities	Fall 2011	Ongoing	Support for at least one scholarly output is provided per faculty member, other than a ISI Indexed PRJ article publication, in a given academic year. Examples of other scholarly work are provided in Appendix A.
13	Reward for Distinguished Intellectual Contributions	8.2. Reward all distinguished intellectual contributions other than publications in journals	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least one reward given in an academic year
14	Sponsorship for New Research chairs	9.1. Solicit organizations to sponsor new research chairs.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least one new research chair established in a two-year period.
15	Use of Research Grants	9.2. Identify the available research grants and encourage faculty members to benefit from those grants.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least 50% of the available grants used by faculty members in a given academic year.

 

 

Category 4: Projects under Vice Dean for Quality and Development Accountability

No.	Project Title	Strategic Initiative	Deadline		KPI
			Start Date	End Date
1	Market-need Analysis	2.1. Conduct a market-need analysis to find out the competencies required by    students	Fall 2014	Summer 2016	At least one survey conducted every three years to understand the required competencies in each program
2	Review of Academic Programs	2.2. Review, update, and develop academic programs that are in line with both international academic standards and market/stakeholder needs	Fall 2011	Ongoing	The curriculum of each program to be updated at least once in every five years
3	Faculty and Staff Satisfaction	11.1. Assess the level of faculty and staff satisfaction.	Fall 2014	Ongoing	At least 75% favorable score on the faculty satisfaction survey; and at least 70% retention rate.
4	CBA Alumni Database	17.1. Create, update, and enrich the CBA Alumni Database.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 50% of the total number of CBA alumni included in the Alumni Database with up-to-date information on them.
5	Alumni Involvement	17.2. Involve alumni in CBA academic activities.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least three alumni members involved in each program related academic activities in a given academic year.
6	Committee for NCAAA Accreditation	21.1. Appoint committee(s) for preparations towards NCAAA accreditation.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least one program level committee appointed for each program.
7	Resources for Accreditation Project	21.2. Allocate adequate funds and resources for the completion of the project.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least six hours of the teaching load will have been reduced for faculty members in a given academic year. At least one office space will have been allocated per program.
8	Task Allocation to NCAAA Accreditation Committee Members	21.3. Assign tasks to committee members with set deadlines.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 70% of the total tasks will have been allocated within the committee members annually.
9	Eligibility for NCAAA Accreditation	21.4. Apply for eligibility to initiate programmatic accreditation from the NCAAA	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least the application for “one program” will have been submitted in a given academic year.
10	Self-study Process	21.5. Conduct a programmatic self-study to identify gaps in order to improve the academic deficiencies.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least the programmatic self-study will have been completed within a year’s time from the formation of the accreditation committee.
11	Formulation of AACSB Accreditation Committee	22.1. Appoint committee(s) for preparations for NCAAA accreditation.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least the committee will have been formed with dedicated and committed members.
12	Resources for AACSB Accreditation	22.2. Allocate adequate funds and resources for the completion of the project.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least six hours of the teaching load has been reduced for faculty members in a given academic year. At least one office space has been allocated per program.
13	Pre-Accreditation Eligibility from AACSB	22.3. Assign tasks to committee members with set deadlines for obtaining eligibility.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	Al least the Pre-Accreditation Eligibility application is submitted on or before June 2011.
14	Standards Alignment Plan (SAP)	22.4. Apply for eligibility to initiate programmatic accreditation from the NCAAA.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least the SAP will have been completed within a year time from the date when eligibility for pre-accreditation was obtained.
15	Peer Review Team (PRT) Visit	22.5. Work with a peer-review team (PRT) to improve academic processes based on the PRT’s recommendations.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least the PRT visit will have been scheduled within five years from the eligibility clearance from AACSB.

 

 

Category 5: Projects under Department Chair’s Accountability

No.	Project Title	Strategic Initiative	Deadline		KPI
			Start Date	End Date
1	Effective and Innovative Teaching Methods	3.4. Use effective and innovative teaching methods such as case studies, business   simulation games, role-playing, cooperative learning, and group projects.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 70% of the courses and/or 70% of the faculty members using innovative and effective teaching methods.
2	Participation of Professionals and Practitioners in Teaching	10.2. Invite professionals and practitioners to participate in teaching at the CBA	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 10 professionals and practitioners collaborating with the college.
3	Appointment of Teaching Assistants	10.3. Appointing outstanding graduates as teaching assistants (TAs) in each department in the college annually.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least one TAs appointed in each department every year.

 

 

Category 6: Projects under Program Director’s Accountability

No.	Project Title	Strategic Initiative	Deadline		KPI
			Start Date	End Date
1	Technology in Teaching and Learning	3.3. Increase the use of technology in teaching and learning.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 70% of the courses in each program and/or 70% of faculty members utilizing Learning Management Systems (LMSs), such as Blackboard.
2	Effective and Innovative Teaching Methods	3.4. Use effective and innovative teaching methods such as case studies, business   simulation games, role-playing, cooperative learning, and group projects.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least 70% of the courses and/or 70% of the faculty members using innovative and effective teaching methods.
	Doctoral Level Student to Publish	7.3. Enforce the policy that requires doctoral-level students to publish at least one research article in a peer-reviewed journal before graduation; encourage master’s level students to do so.	Fall 2011	Ongoing	At least one research article accepted/published in a peer reviewed journal by every doctoral student prior to their graduation from the program (evidence required).

 

Category 7: Projects under Administrative manager’s Accountability

No.	Project Title	Strategic Initiative	Deadline		KPI
			Start Date	End Date
1	Appointment of Support Staff	10.4. Increase the number of staff members every year until the achievement of desired level of service satisfaction.	Fall 2011	ongoing	At least three new support staff members added every year.

 

 

The following schedule provides the suggested budget for the implementation of the strategic objectives:

Strategic Thrust Area	Strategic Objective	Budget Suggested	Possible Source
Education	Admit highly competent students into its programs	No special budget required	------
	Review, update, and develop academic programs that are in line with both      international academic standards and market/stakeholder needs	SR 500,000 to hire international experts	University
	Promote a culture that leads to excellence in teaching	SR 200,000 for e-learning and simulations	University
	Provide students with adequate needed support services	SR 300,000 to hire psychologists and social workers	University
	Create an environment that encourages students to participate in extracurricular         activities	SR 500,000 for extra- curricular facilities	University
Research	Develop and support a more active research culture at CBA	SR 300,000 to train faculty in research methodology by involving international experts in research	Research Center at CBA
	Publish in well-recognized national and international academic journals pertinent to CBA majors/specializations	SR 500,000 for supporting research	Research Center at CBA
	Encourage and facilitate the production of other intellectual contributions	SR 500,000 for supporting faculty	Research Center at CBA
	Enhance and maximize utilization of internal and external research resources available for the CBA members	No special budget required	------
Faculty and Staff	Recruit more outstanding national and international faculty members and staff to achieve CBA’s goals in education, research and services	SR 1,000,000 for recruitment	University
	Recognize and retain highly valued faculty and staff at CBA	SR 300,000	University
	Develop faculty members’ skills in teaching and research	SR 300,000 for training	Deanship of Skills Development
	Provide job skills training to staff in a variety of venues	SR 200,000 for training
	Involve the business community in all the CBA’s activities	No special budget required	------
	Build strategic partnership with leading business schools	No special budget required	------
	Enhance the CBA’s outreach and involvement in business and other communities	No special budget required	------
	Enhance the relationship with the CBA’s alumni	SR 100,000 for Alumni Meet	University
	Brand the CBA’s image as a leading business school in the local and global     communities	SR 500,000 to participate in exhibitions, tradeshows, and other events	University
Resources	Generate more resources from external sources	No special budget required	-----
	Request more resources from the KSU Central Administration to CBA	No special budget required	-----
Accreditation	Attain academic accreditation from National Commission on Academic Accreditation and Assessments (NCAAA)	SR 3,000,000 for preparation	Deanship Quality
	Attain Business Accreditation from Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)	SR 3,000,000 for preparation	Deanship Quality

 

 

Within the framework of the Strategic Plan, there are a number of factors that could lead the latter to deviate from the course set for it to achieve its goals. The problem would start with the failure to achieve the goals of the developmental programs and initiatives that would be estimated by Key Performance Indicators (KPI). That failure would lead to the deviation from what was planned for the sub-goals. Finally, failures would pile up at the level of the sub-goals and make their way to the core goal.

Studies point to a number of factors at the origin of such failures. In fact, planning itself may carry within it causes of failure. These may be in the exaggerated hopes that may play roles when setting up the plan’s objectives or the lack of sufficient resources—whether human or financial—to meet the plan’s requirements. Even when the plan’s goals are objective and reasonable, we can still identify at least five factors that could bring about failure for CBA’s Strategic Plan:

 

Identification of Risks

The processes followed for potential risks identification in the college were brainstorming, inception of relevant reports and documents, analysis of tasks, and interviews.

 

Risk Areas

Major Risk Areas	Risks	Indicators (Annually)
Educational opportunities: Higher level of CGPA requirements for student admissions	Resistance by community	Number of students admitted
Faculty Resources: Recruiting distinguished faculty members	Unable to attract eminent faculty members	Number of renowned faculty members recruited
Technology in teaching	Resistance of some faculty members and some students	Number of faculty members and courses using the latest technology in teaching and learning
Research: Creating a research culture at CBA	Availability of free time for faculty research; reduction in teaching load	Number of faculty members actively involved in quality research
Research: Production of interdisciplinary and interdepartmental research output	Some departments may not cooperate for joint research Some faculty members may not collaborate for interdisciplinary research	Number of joint research outputs
Mandatory research & publication requirement for doctoral students	Some of the doctoral students may not be able to publish the required paper; hence, their graduation may be hampered	Number of doctoral students published during their studentship with CBA
Involving industry professionals in teaching activities at CBA	Business Professionals are too busy to be involved in CBA	Number of Professionals being invited for guest lectures, seminars, etc.
Appointment of teaching assistants (TA) in female section	Many of the female TAs are unwilling to go abroad for higher studies	Number of female TAs who have earned higher qualifications abroad
Student exchange & faculty exchange	Schools that are open to student exchange may not understand the Islamic values of our students	Number of students and faculty members participating in exchanges
Partnership with leading business schools internationally	The best practice in the partner institution may not be applicable to our social/cultural environment.	Number of successful partnerships created and maintained

Scope: This communication plan is related to all communications related to the strategic plan and its implementation. It has been created in the context of the overall CBA communication plan and policies.

Communication Objectives:

• To make sure all stakeholders are aware of the progress of the strategic plan
• To gain buy-in from stakeholders and keep them supportive of the execution plan
• To get feedback and input from all involved parties about the implementation of the strategic plan
• To support, monitor, control, and successfully implement the strategic plan

General Communications Guidelines:

• All messages will be audience-specific.
• Messages will be distributed through an appropriate channel.
• The team will communicate what people who need to know before they need to know it.
• Communication will be tailored based on what people need to know.
• All critical communications must be approved by management prior to distribution.
• Only the director of strategic planning or the vice dean for quality will be able to distribute the official press releases.
• Project-wide meetings will be held at all important milestones.
• Regular, unbiased reporting will be undertaken.
• The project team will listen and act on feedback.

 

Targeted Constituencies:

Head of strategic planning at the university; dean; vice deans at CBA; Chair of departments; head of units; team leaders of taskforces for the implementation plan; faculty and staff; businesses and communities; current students; and alumni

 

Key Messages:

CBA will be reporting to different stakeholders different messages regarding the strategic plan depending on their concerns and involvement. Most communications will be related to one of the following messages:

• General Orientation: About the mission, vision, and values of the institution
• The progress of the strategic plan in general
• Project Status: Whether the project is currently operating within the agreed schedule, budget, and quality targets
• Project Issues: The impact of the issues currently affecting the project and the actions taken to resolve them
• Project Risks: The risks that may affect the project and the actions taken to mitigate, avoid, or reduce them
• Project Deliverables: The deliverables completed to date and the items that are scheduled for completion within the next reporting period
• Project Resources: The overall level of resourcing in relation to the Resource Plan and any resource constraints currently affecting the project

 

Feedback Mechanisms: Feedback will be obtained after main communication activities in one of the following methods:

• Surveys
• Feedback forms
• Complaint forms
• Telephone surveys
• Independent audits at various units

 

The primary purpose of this Change Management Plan is to delineate the system for requesting, evaluating, deciding, and tracking possible changes to the CBA Strategic Plan’s scope, execution, and deliverables. The plan will establish a Change Control Process that delineates the method by which proposed changes are approved or rejected based on the analysis of the change and the implication of the proposed changes on schedule, budget, and scope and explains a procedure by which the strategic plan project team members and stakeholders can request changes. The project-management office will manage those requests and defines how the results of analysis and evaluation are recorded. Furthermore, the Change Management Plan provides a method of controlling and monitoring strategic plan project changes. Anticipated change is defined as any activity that alters the scope, schedule, deliverables, or costs of the project. The key objectives of this plan are to identify changes in scope or other unplanned activity in advance and to control them; ensure that new requested changes are justified and that affected deliverables are identified and modified accordingly; obtain authorization to proceed with the changes and assign them to appropriate individuals to be completed; and monitor the progress and cost of the changes.

 

1. Research articles published in a peer reviewed journal
2. Research articles published in a non-peer reviewed journal
3. Research monograph
4. Book
5. Chapters in a book
6. Peer reviewed conference proceeding
7. Peer reviewed paper presentation
8. Faculty research seminar

 

Source: www.aacsb.edu/resources

 

End of the CBA Strategic Plan 2011-2016