The University as a Multinational Corporation

Ahmed A. Ahmed; C. P. Rao

Ahmed A. Ahmed and C. P. Rao

Kuwait University, Kuwait

Volume 6: 2011, pp. 119-138; ABSTRACT

This paper argues that universities are emulating multinational companies in a variety of ways. Both are expanding abroad in search of revenues and markets. As a source the U.S. dominates in both, while developing countries in general, and Asian countries in particular, dominate as a destination for both. The paper points to the leading role of business education in universities’ globalization and suggests some reasons for this. The study uses models from international business literature to explain the stages through which universities pass in their globalization process: exports, non-equity forms, and equity forms. Business strategies are similarly shown to apply where the EPRG model and the corresponding Bartlett-Ghoshal model are used to explain universities behaviour just as they explain business behaviour. The study is conceptual in nature based on the authors’ observations and reflections and has yet to be empirically tested.

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