Study on effective value chain management of public and private schools

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Study on effective value chain management of

Public and Private Schools; Empirical case

study from South India

Praveen Kumar Perumal

1750401

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business

Administration (Business Management) from Liverpool John Moores University.

Word Count: 18,481 (Excluding Table of contents, bibliography and appendices)

August 2013

Dublin Business School

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Declaration

I, Praveen Kumar Perumal, declare that I am the sole author of this dissertation and during

the period of registered study I have not been registered for any other academic award or

qualification, nor has any of the material been submitted wholly or partly for any other

award. I have personally carried out all the work except the references from the articles

which is included in the bibliography.

Signed: Praveen Kumar Perumal Date: 13th August 2013

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 5

Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 6

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 7

1.1. Background of the Problem.................................................................................. 7

1.2. Aim & Objective .................................................................................................. 8

1.3. Suitability of the Researcher ................................................................................ 9

1.4. Learning Style ...................................................................................................... 9

1.5. Recipients of the Research ................................................................................. 10

1.6. Organization of the Dissertation ........................................................................ 10

2. Literature Review...................................................................................................... 11

2.1. Role of Technology in Education....................................................................... 11

2.2. Management tools .............................................................................................. 13

2.3. Schools in India .................................................................................................. 14

2.3.1. Current Scenario ......................................................................................... 14

2.3.2. Quality of Education ................................................................................... 16

2.4. Value Chain Models ........................................................................................... 17

2.4.1. Importance of Value chain .......................................................................... 17

2.4.2. Value Chain Models in Education .............................................................. 18

2.5. Gaps in Literature ............................................................................................... 20

2.6. Research Question .............................................................................................. 21

3. Methodology ............................................................................................................. 23

3.1. Research philosophy ....................................................................................... 24

3.2. Research approach .......................................................................................... 25

3.3. Research strategy ............................................................................................ 25

3.4. Research Choice ............................................................................................. 26

3.5. Time Horizon .................................................................................................. 27

3.6. Techniques and Procedures ............................................................................ 27

3.7. Sampling Method ........................................................................................... 30

4. Plan ........................................................................................................................... 31

4.1. Practical Efforts .................................................................................................. 31

4.2. Validity and Reliability ...................................................................................... 31

4.3. Research Limitations .......................................................................................... 31

4.4. Researcher Bias .................................................................................................. 32

4.5. Ethical Implication ............................................................................................. 32

4.6. Cost of Primary Research ................................................................................... 33

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4.7. Time Allocation.................................................................................................. 34

5. Findings and Analysis ............................................................................................... 35

5.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 35

5.2. Cross Case Analysis ........................................................................................... 46

5.3. Observational Analysis ...................................................................................... 50

6. Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 51

6.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 51

6.2. Summary and relation to literature ..................................................................... 51

6.3. Recommendations .............................................................................................. 53

7. Self-Reflection .......................................................................................................... 54

Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 60

Appendices ........................................................................................................................ 66

Introductory E-mail ....................................................................................................... 66

Interview Guide ............................................................................................................ 67

Interview Questions ...................................................................................................... 68

Consent Form ................................................................................................................ 69

Table 1: Cost of Primary Research………………………………………………………35

Table 2: Time Period…………………………………………………………………….35

Table 3: Types of school and their legend……………………………………………….37

List of Figures

Figure 1: Value Chain Model 1 …………………………………………………………18

Figure 2: Value Chain Model 2 …………………………………………………………19

Figure 3: Value Chain Model 3 …………………………………………………………20

Figure 4: Research Onion………………………………………………………………..23

Figure 5: Data Collection & Analysis Process…………………………………………..28

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Acknowledgements

The researcher would like to thank all the people who are involved in the research and

made this research to be completed on time. A special thanks for the following,

 First of all his supervisor Dr. P.J. Paul who has guided him throughout his

research and gave valuable feedback to shape this research into a fine master

piece of dissertation.

 The entire participant’s for their time and involvement in participating in the

interview process.

 His friends, colleagues and other staffs of DBS for helping him and providing

valuable suggestions throughout the course for his development.

 His family members and wife who showed immense care and love and supported

him to complete this dissertation.

 Finally God for the blessings to complete his dissertation successfully.

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Abstract

This research will study the effective management of several attributes in value chain like

resource utilization, quality of education, infrastructure, administration, marketing etc. It

is a qualitative study and interviewing the management personnel’s like principals and

correspondent of private and public schools in India will outline the competitive

advantage of their schools through strategies in management system and also lack of

management system within the organization. The literature review finds the advantage of

private schools over public schools and will make this research more valuable by further

conducting this cross study evaluation. This study will help the schools to identify their

need and drawback of current management practice and also examines the competitive

advantage of private schools over public schools. It also differentiates the system of

practice within the management by analyzing the value chain of public and private

schools. This research will outline the existing system of value chain in schools in

Chennai (India) and will also provide information for future researchers who are

interested in detailed analysis of competitive strategies in value chain management of

schools.