Management Development Programs: How Firms Select a Provider and What They Want from Future Programs

ABSTRACT

Over the last few years, the rapidly expanding market for management development programs (MDPs) in Australia is one that has gained significant attention from many public universities. However, in response to this increased demand, many suppliers from the private sector (e.g., management consulting firms) have also entered this market. Accordingly, the market for MDPs can be described as being very competitive. The purpose of this exploratory research is to provide insights for public universities which should help them better understand the needs and wants of buyers. Armed with this information, public universities should then be in a position to compete more effectively with providers from the private sector. In order to provide such insights, this empirical research was motivated by two broad research questions: (1) How do organizations purchase MDPs? (2) What design characteristics would current purchasers of MDPs like to be built into future MDPs? As part of the first research question, this study examines the thirteen choice criteria used by organizational buyers to select a particular supplier.

KEYWORDS:

• Management development programs
• organizational buyer behavior
• choice criteria
• future requirements
• Australia