A Strategic Model to Promote University of Choice Decisions Among the International Students

The internationalisation of higher education has become increasingly important for many higher education institutions (HEIs) globally. To recruit national and international students, HEIs must invest in effective digital marketing and recruitment strategies. This study investigated the development of a strategic university of choice model that can assist universities in the recruitment of international students. A survey was completed by 306 international students studying at a South African university. The factors identified in this study included academic programme and quality, visa requirements, country/city attractiveness, lectures in English, costs, student life, safety and security, university location, university reputation, and assistance from the international office. The strategic university of choice model could assist university marketing personnel to develop a focused, targeted, and cost-effective digital marketing and recruitment strategy to recruit international students.

Digital Business Strategies

This chapter discusses digital strategies that can be used in business contexts. The chapter begins by discussing different enterprise configurations that can be used with computerization. The chapter then provides an overview of enterprise IT services. Next, key indicators of sustainable performance for IT services are analyzed using the balanced score card perspective. The chapter then puts forth a four-part IT management planning model. Next, a strategic model is put forth for integrating business systems, applications, and infrastructure. The chapter then discusses how to align digital and business strategies, and it analyzes the structure of the digital aims and strategies of business. The chapter concludes by applying these concepts to examples.

ANALYSIS OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF A POLITICAL PARTY IN ROMANIA USING THE CONCEPT OF BALANCED SCORECARD

The research is a case study on the analysis of the financial performance of a political party in Romania, at the end of 2020, using the strategic model for measuring the performance of the Balanced Scorecard. A review of the existing international scientific literature and case studies was conducted to define a balanced plan of performance indicators for one of the four perspectives of the BSC theoretical model, namely the financial perspective, which is common to both an economic organization and a political organization. The paper evaluates the financial activity of a political party through a computer application - BSC Designer Light, whose architecture allows customizing the theoretical model of the Balanced Scorecard on the activity of a political organization. The purpose of the scientific approach is to evaluate the result of the financial activity, quantifying the scores obtained by the analysed party for each indicator and sub-indicator defined within the financial perspective. This study can be a consistent basis for expanding research to assess the performance of a political party from an electoral or parliamentary perspective and can be a viable alternative to current methods of quantitative evaluation used by political parties in analysing the activity results.

SALENG ABENTHO: A STRATEGY TO REDUCE COSTS OF LOCAL RESOURCES-BASED MADURESE CORN FARMING

Madurese corn is one of the leading agricultural commodities of Madura. Its opportunity is quite prospective, given that the national corn-based industry shows a positive trend from year to year. The problem is that the corn cultivation by the Madurese people is merely oriented to serving the purpose of meeting food needs rather than a profit-oriented one. This is because the planting costs are relatively expensive with a thin profit margin. Therefore, a cost-efficient strategy for local resources-based Madurese Corn Farming is required. The present study is expected to produce a strategic model for using local resources to reduce the costs of Madurese corn farming. This study was carried out in Gapurana Village, Kalianget Sub-district of Sumenep Regency Madura, using the qualitative descriptive approach. Data were collected by observation and in-depth interviews and analyzed using the Mils and Huberman model. The results showed that local resources, especially social resources in the form of solidarity ‘saleng abentho’, effectively reduced the costs of Madurese corn farming. This resource could be managed and institutionalized by involving farmer groups and policies to realize an industrial-scale Madurese Corn Farming.

Based on COVID-19, Analysis of The Strategic Model of E-commerce Enterprises – a Case Study of Xiaohongshu (RED)

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce and social media pervade people’s daily life, while offline businesses suffer from loss from traffic. In this paper the SWOT analysis method is employed to examine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for RED, which, as one of the top content social e-commerce platforms in China, achieves outstanding performance under the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper tackles RED’s unique marketing and operating strategies, as well as its weaknesses that relate to operation and costs, and threats that relate to competitors and commercialization. Beside these disadvantages, profitable opportunities also arise from internal and external environment. At the end, the paper provides suggestions for capturing profitable opportunities under the pandemic and Chinese new regulations on cross-border e-commerce.

Militant Competition

Militant groups often use violence, perversely, to gain attention and resources. In this book, the authors analyze how terrorist and rebel organizations compete with one another to secure funding and supporters. The authors develop a strategic model of competitive violence among militant groups and test the model's implications with statistical analysis and case studies. A series of model extensions allow the authors to incorporate the full range of strategic actors, focusing in particular on government efforts to counter and deter violence. The results indicate that the direct effects of competition are not as clear as they may seem, and interventions to alter competitive incentives may backfire if states are not careful. This is a timely contribution to a growing body of political economy research on militant group fragmentation, rivalry, fratricide and demonstrative violence.