Abstract
Adapting a product to suit local requirements is a well-known international marketing strategy. Branch campuses generally adapt programs to suit local requirements. However, the academic fraternity has resisted adaptation on concerns about the dilution of academic standards. This study uses data from five branch campuses to examine the link between adaptation and financial and academic performance. The results indicate that adaption leads to increased financial performance but does not maintain academic standards. The study recommends strategies to maintain a balance between an ethnocentric approach, which calls for similar academic standards, and a geocentric approach, which requires adaptation.
Highlights
Universities are looking to internationalize to target worldwide segments with their program offerings (Bhayani, 2015; Nelson Oly Ndubisi, Naidoo, & Wu, 2014)
Courses and programs offered at branch campuses are substantially less than what is offered at the home campus
One of the universities explained their product offerings : “There was an email from the vice president, responsible for international affairs to all the deans indicating opening up of the branch campus in Dubai
Summary
Universities are looking to internationalize to target worldwide segments with their program offerings (Bhayani, 2015; Nelson Oly Ndubisi, Naidoo, & Wu, 2014). On the other hand, Kerr (1990) argues that due to divergence in educational systems across the world, universities are expected to adapt their products in accordance with the host countries. The adaptation debate overlooked the fact that universities cannot be compared to commercial firms. This is because, a commercial firm’s focal point is the consumer and it is run by senior management, whose objectives are to generate an economic surplus (Sugden, 2004) and to function like multinational corporations (Marginson, 2013). Commercial offshore locations, in order to achieve economic efficiency and augment revenues, usually offer adapted and many times sub-standard products that satisfy the consumer (Bhayani, 2014; Nixon, Scullion, & Hearn, 2016). Existing research regarding adaptation has generated inconclusive results with regard to economic efficiency (Tan & Sousa, 2013)
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