Devry

The company that I chose is DeVry Inc. It is a publicly traded, for-profit, higher education organization.

Question 1

The region that I want to explore as a potentially profitable place for DeVry Inc. to do business in is the UAE and specifically, Dubai. In assessing the firm’s potential to be profitable; we need to look at the characteristics of Dubai that will have both positive and negative impacts on business. Specifically, we need to look at the potential liabilities of foreignness, which are inherent disadvantages that a foreign firm experiences while operating in a host country. Let’s start by looking at the aspects of the UAE that may have a positive impact on DeVry’s profitability.

The overall economy of the UAE has been growing steadily over the past decade and the value of GDP has more than doubled. The CIA’s World Factbook ranked the UAE as 21st in GDP per capita and 27th in GDP growth in 20081. Originally an oil-rich region, non-oil GPD has been the major driver behind most of the recent economic growth. The main non-oil sectors of the economy are manufacturing, trade, real estate, construction, transport, storage and communication, and finance. Dubai has been primarily responsible for the growth of the non-oil sectors in the region2. People are rapidly moving into the region from abroad to work or get educated. In fact, expatriates currently make up about 80% of the total population3. As the economy continues to grow and diversify, the demand for knowledge workers will increase in a wide array of fields. This should increase the demand for higher education within the region and thus make it a more profitable market to operate in.

The UAE government recognizes the impact that education will have on the nation’s economic development and has adopted strong policies aimed at improving the educational system. The president of the UAE once said, “The greatest use that can be made of wealth is to invest it in creating generations of educated and...