Strategy & Quality Enhancement Practice
Strategy with Quality Enhancement in Mind
For many clients, strategy selection and quality enhancement are two sides of the same coin. The ambition to achieve international accreditation or recognition in global rankings requires the charting of an institutional development trajectory with a coherent strategic plan and its properly resourced execution.
Clients are generally not seeking a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Some prefer traditional multi-year strategic planning with KPIs, milestones and continuous updating. Others engage in more effectual strategizing to capture entrepreneurial opportunities as they are presenting themselves. Agile and hybrid approaches are increasingly common as well.
Whatever the ambition and approach is, XOLAS has the expertise and resources to support clients in realizing their development objectives.
Why Work with XOLAS
XOLAS supports clients in strategy development and implementation, in organizational refocusing and transformation, as well as in their efforts to enhance operational effectiveness. In doing so, we also provide our clients with an external market perspective and facilitate the translation of project outcomes into external recognition by stakeholders and quality assessment bodies.
Decision-makers nowadays require sound business analytics to rationalize strategic objectives and resource commitments. XOLAS applies a data-driven approach and builds analytical tools to give clients clarity on market positioning and likely impact of their development intentions.
Our Services
XOLAS covers the strategy & quality enhancement advisory needs of business schools and universities comprehensively. Examples of our work are:
Strategic plan development with traditional and agile methods, conversion of strategy outcomes into project portfolios and programs, identification of corresponding resource needs
Accreditation gap analysis, derivation and management of development action plans, mapping development outcomes into accreditation reporting
Ranking management targeting entry into international rankings or improvement of ranking positioning
Evaluation of leadership effectiveness in the context of institutional transformation and renewal
Qualitative-quantitative assessment of internationalization, strategy development and improvement action plan based on cross-institutional and evidence-based benchmarking
Measurement and targeting improvement of business impact and societal relevance, mapping the impact- related ecosystem
XOLAS advises clients in all stages of their institutional development. We particularly excel when faced with problem-solving challenges that require ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking and creative solutions.
The Strategy and Quality Enhancement Practice focuses on macro-level institutional strategy. The practice is complemented by more in-depth portfolio and technology services and a separate risk-management practice to address your advisory needs in these areas.
StrategyMetrics
StrategyMetrics is a benchmarking tool jointly developed with Rotterdam School of Management (RSM). It enables business schools and universities to assess their strengths and areas of improvement by utilizing rankings and other public data.
StrategyMetrics allows our clients to adopt an evidence-based approach to gain a more nuanced understanding of their comparative performance relative to peer institutions. Customized analytics permit a more accurate assessment of how change management activities can improve institutional standing in international rankings.
For further information on StrategyMetrics, please click here.
State-of-the-Art Insights
XOLAS produces occasional white papers and publishes books and articles in practitioner media and newspapers to advance state-of-the-art practices of management education. We furthermore engage in a dialogue with the business school community by disseminating knowledge outcomes via social media, conferences, webinars and any other means available to us.
XOLAS team members publish regularly on strategy & quality enhancement issues in higher education. Recent examples (all co-authored) are:
The Continuously Rewired Business School«, in: AACSB Insights, 8 June 2022.
Managing Quality in Education Ecosystems: The Emerging Challenges in: EFMD Global Focus, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2021, Special Supplement, pp. 51-55.
Your experts
Please send your inquiries to strategy@xol.as
Prof. Dr. Mathias Falkenstein
Co-Leader of the XOLAS Strategy & Quality Enhancement Practice
Prof. Ulrich Hommel, Ph.D.
Co-Leader of the XOLAS Strategy & Quality Enhancement Practice