Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau is considering starting a Civil Engineering university subsidiary. A PESTLE analysis found opportunities in government infrastructure projects increasing demand for engineers. Porter's five forces showed threats from new entrants and substitute degrees. A SWOT analysis identified strengths in experienced staff and laboratories but weaknesses in lecturing experience. Human resource strategies included recruiting CECB staff and outsiders, and managing future staff between the university and consultancy.

1. MBA FOR EXECUTIVES
MODULE ASSIGNMENT : MANAGING HUMAN CAPITAL AND
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Student Name : LOHITHA CHANDANA
Module Lecturer : ANAND WALSER

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Executive Summary
Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB) is the leading consultancy firm in Civil
Engineering. The feasibility of starting a Civil Engineering university subsidiary to CECB was
discussed here. The PESTLE analysis was used to study the Macro Environment. Porter’s five
forces analysis was used to analyses the Industry Environment. The Strength and Weakness of
the company was asset using SWOT analysis. Then the Human Resources Strategies were
discussed. Present staff and their qualifications of CECB were discussed. The staff requirement
and their qualifications for the university were discussed. Initial staff recruitment and future
staff recruitment methods were suggested comparing the available resources and demand.
Risks are common to all businesses. The available risks and their mitigation methods were
discussed at the end.

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................ 4
2.0 Company Overview......................................................................................................... 5
2.1 Historical Development ............................................................................................... 5
2.2 Current Status of the company ..................................................................................... 5
3.0 New Service of the Company ..................................................................................... 5
4.0 Business Environment Analysis.................................................................................. 6
4.1 PESTLE Analysis........................................................................................................ 6
4.2 Porter’s Five Force Analysis...................................................................................... 10
4.3 SWOT Analysis......................................................................................................... 11
5.0 Human Resource Strategies ...................................................................................... 13
5.1 Assessment on present staff of CECB ........................................................................ 13
5.2 Future Activity Plan and HR requirement .................................................................. 13
5.3 Staff Recruiting Methods and their qualifications....................................................... 15
5.4 Future Staff Management........................................................................................... 16
5.5 Absent Management .................................................................................................. 17
6.0 Risk............................................................................................................................... 18
6.1 Identifying the Risk ................................................................................................... 18
6.2 Analyzing the risk...................................................................................................... 19
6.3 Risk Mitigation.......................................................................................................... 20
7.0 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 21
References .......................................................................................................................... 22
Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 23

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List of Table
Table 4.1 – Impact of Political decisions ............................................................................... 6
Table 4.2 – Impact of Economic Conditions.......................................................................... 7
Table 4.3 – Impacts of Social Conditions .............................................................................. 8
Table 4.4 – Impact of Technology......................................................................................... 8
Table 4.5 – Impact of Legal Conditions................................................................................. 9
Table 4.6 – Impact of Environmental Conditions................................................................... 9
Table 5.1 – Staff Requirement and reasons.......................................................................... 14
List of Figure
Figure 5.1 – Ranks and their qualifications.......................................................................... 13
Figure 5.2 – Student variation with time.............................................................................. 13
Figure 5.3 – Proposed ranks for the university..................................................................... 16

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1.0Introduction
CECB is the leading Civil Engineering Consultancy firm in Sri Lanka. They do their
consultancy works mainly on buildings, roads, water supply projects and port construction
projects. CECB has selected as the company to introduce a new service. The new service is
starting Civil Engineering Faculty. CECB has advantages and disadvantages of starting a
Faculty. PESTLE analysis, SWOT and Porter’s five force analysis are used to analyses the
environment. The new faculty is under the existing company. Few methods are available for
recruitment of staff to the new faculty. Part of CECB staff can be recruit to the new faculty or
external people can be taken to the faculty. Career development and performance management
have to be done. Every business has risks. It is important to identify risk and available methods
to mitigate them.

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2.0 Company Overview
2.1 Historical Development
CECB was established in 1973. At the beginning CECB provided consultancy services for
water supply projects. After the Mahawali development project CECB expanded their
consultancy works on Roads, Building, Irrigation, Harbours and Air ports. In 1998 CECB
established their construction firm as Central Engineering Services Limited. (Central
Engineering Consultancy Bureau, 2017)
2.2 Current Status of the company
At the present CECB provide their services on consultancy, construction, Laboratory,
Environmental Study, Geological Investigation, and Survey. CECB has employed more than
400 Engineers at the present. They are Civil Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Mechanical
Engineers and Plumbing and Sewer Engineers
3.0New Service of the Company
Possibilities of starting a new Civil Engineering Faculty is discussed in this report. The target
group of the business is Advanced Level examination passed students. There are several special
features of CECB. Undergraduates may get several benefits because of this. Having
construction sites all over the country. Dealing with Structural, Electrical and Mechanical
designs. As a result of this, the undergraduates would be able to have their training close to
their home town. They will be able to get sound knowledge on Building Services

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4.0Business Environment Analysis
4.1 PESTLE Analysis
PESTLE conditions and their impact on the new service is discussed below. (Koumparoulis,
2013)
4.1.1 Political
Political decisions are important. Most of the opportunities and threats are created based on
this. Political decisions and their impacts are discussed below.
Table 4.1- Impact of Political decisions
Political Decision Impact
Sri Lankan Government has decided to start
several infrastructure development projects.
(Central Expressway, Sethsiripaya stage
three project etc...)
Has increased the demand for Civil
Engineers and their reputation
Low interest rate loans for higher studies Has increased the trend on learning in private
universities.
Selecting less number of students for higher
education in government universities
Maintaining very strike regulations against
the quality of academics
Have to invest large amount of money to
maintaining the quality of the education
Tax reductions for foreign investors Foreign universities come to Sri Lankan
market and the market become more
competitive

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4.1.2 Economic Conditions
Several economic conditions like employment rate, exchange rate, inflation rate, credit
availability, spending pattern and their effect on the business is discussed below.
Table 4.2 – Impact of Economic Conditions
4.1.3 Social Impact
This may include literacy rate, education level, lifestyle, age distribution, career attitude and
population growth
Economic Condition Impact
Economic growth High Economic growth improve living
standards and wide the market. Sri Lankan
Economy growth has decreased in past years.
This may has caused some curtailment of the
market.
Government debts Present debts of the country is US dollar
8503.2 billion. This has made reduction of
government investment in free education.
Interest rate Interest rates of lending was increased in the
past. This has caused low private sector
investments.
Exchange rate Exchange rate has increased in past years.
This has increased the cost of imported
items.

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Table 4.3 – Impacts of Social Conditions
Social Conditions Impact
Career attitude – having a degree has become
a common incident but having an
Engineering degree is a special situation.
People like to have reputation and having
respect from others. Demand for learn Civil
Engineering has increased because of this.
Population growth Population growth has not changed a lot in
last years.
Age distribution As per the Central bank report nearly 40% of
the population is less than 29 years. 25% is
less than 19 years. The market is good for the
new industry.
4.1.4 Technology
Technology also play a major role in business. (Craig S. Fleisher, Babette E. Bensoussan, 2007)
Table 4.4 – Impact of Technology
Technology Impact
Development in software use in Civil
Engineering
New software has made the Engineers’ life
easy. Having knowledge on this may guide
to a sustainable career.
Development in digital communication Online courses and distance learning
methods are more popular in the current
market
High Level of technology changes New methods and machineries are invented
to the industry daily, having knowledge on
this is important to sustain in the society.

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4.1.5 Legal Conditions
Table 4.5 – Impact of legal Conditions
Legal Condition Impact
Education institutions have minimum
standards
The university has to hire highly skilled
people. This may cost high.
All the student cannot have higher education
directly
Curtail the available market of the company
4.1.6 Environment
How the business effect on environment is discussed below.
Table 4.6 – Impact of Environment Conditions
Environmental Condition Impact
Solid waste management has become a
significant problem in the present
Solid waste management is under the scope
of Civil Engineers, the demand for the Civil
Engineers has increased.
New trend on Green building and Green
universities
The new faculty has to build as a Green
university. This may cause high initial
investment
Doing business an ethical and sustainable Doing construction on environmental highly
damaging projects may cause bad image
towards the university

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4.2 Porter’s Five Force Analysis
This can be used to analysis the Industry Environment.
4.2.1 Threat of new entrants
Threats of new entrants are having skilled and experience staff, laboratory facilities,
maintaining the quality, having relationships with the industry. The company needs to have
high investment to build the university and marketing. Investing on an industry which has low
threats have some risk. Investing on this has a low risk because the threats of new entrants are
high. (Christopher Masinde Indiatsy, Mucheru Stephen Mwangi, Evans Nyamboga Mandere,
2014)
4.2.2 Power of buyers
Power of buyers means, buyers having chance to compare the services get the best out of the
available opportunities. There are private campuses which offer Civil Engineering degrees.
Because of this, new university has to provide skilled academic staff and new laboratory
facilities. They also have to develop a market targeted course content.
4.2.3 Power of suppliers
The suppliers of the universities are lectures. The have high demand because the lectures and
resource persons are few. Other private universities try to attach these persons because it
increases their reputation. These lectures have been paid a large amount. This also reduce the
profit.
4.2.4 Threats of substitutes
Some private universities offer degrees in Information Technology, Business administration,
art, media, other field of engineering and etc. This may narrow the market for Civil Engineering
degree. This may also reduce the profit. The attraction can be increased by offering a job after
completing the degree.
4.2.5 Rivalry among establish firms
Existing firms has made a competitive market. Some firms offer foreign degrees. They have
high demand in job field. Some engineers in CECB work as part time lectors in those firms.

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4.3 SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is used to analysis Micro Environment.
4.3.1 Strengths
 Having experienced staff in both design and constructions.
 Nearly 400 Engineers are employed in CECB. They are employed in Civil, Electrical,
Mechanical and Plumbing areas.
 Doing consultancy and construction works all over the country
 CECB is rich with lab facilities. Soil tests, Concrete tests and Asphalt test are carried
out.
 Working with Sri Lankan and foreign contractors.
 Well established Consultancy firm in Sri Lanka. Providing consultancy services for 45
years.
4.3.2 Weakness
Weakness may reduce taking the advantage of opportunities. Understanding the weakness is
important to plan the works.
 Having less experience on lecturing
 Have not prepared a syllabus for academics.
 University Grant Commission has not recognized as a university yet.
 No enough space for a large batch.
4.3.3 Opportunities
Identifying opportunities is important to manage the strengths and weaknesses. Strengths have
to be used to take the advantages. Offering low interest loan for higher studies (Ommani, 2011)
 Having high demand for Civil Engineers.
 Sri Lankan government has invested in infrastructure development projects.
 Less number of students are selected for government universities
 Continually reduction of allocations for free higher education

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4.3.4 Threats
Threats are also external factors. The threats can be happened are
 Reducing money allocation for infrastructure development projects.
 Increasing admission for government universities.
 Tax reductions for foreign universities to establish their campuses in Sri Lanka.
 Occurring disasters and making life threats for Civil Engineers.
 Happing failures in projects (eg- Uma Oya project)

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5.0Human Resource Strategies
5.1 Assessment on present staff of CECB
CECB is rich with Site Engineers, Specialist Engineers, Deputy General Managers, Additional
General Managers, Corporate Additional General Manager, and General Manager. Their
qualifications are shown in the below table. (Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau, 2017)
Figure 5.1 – Ranks and their qualifications
5.2 Future Activity Plan and HR requirement
The number of student in the university is gradually increasing with the time. Staff requirement
is also increasing. Identified human resources are listed below. (University of Peradeniya,
2017)
Figure 5.2 – Student variation with time
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
First Year Students
Second Year Students
Third Year Students
Fourth Year Students

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Table 5.1 – Staff Requirement and reasons
Employee Requirement Reasons
Head of the department Requirement in constant Is needed to make the syllabus and
exam board
Senior Lecture Civil Requirement is increasing Their support is needed to make the
syllabus.
Senior Lecture Mechanical
and Electrical
Requirement is constant They are needed to make the
syllabus. Electrical and Mechanical
subjects are only in first year.
Lecture Civil Requirement is increasing They are needed to cover the subject.
Civil Engineering Lab staff Requirement is increasing Does not need in first year. Rest years
have more civil Engineering
practical
Lecture Mathematics Requirement is constant Only first and Second years have
mathematics
Administrative officers Requirement is increasing Number of students is increasing
with the time.
Supportive staff

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5.3 Staff Recruiting Methods and their qualifications
The following vacancies have to fill at the initial stage. The vacancies and their required
qualifications are as follows. (University of Peradeniya, 2017)
 Head of the department
The following qualifications are needed. Must be a professor in Civil Engineering Field. Must
have working experiences. Former department head of Government University or private
university is the best person. Having world recognize name is important because this is a new
university. The best way of appointing the department head is identifying the qualified person
and offering the job directly.
 Senior Lectors
Both CECB internal staff and external people are recruited for the position. The expected
qualifications are as below. The minimum qualifications for CECB internal staff are having 10
years of experience in one field, be a Charted Engineer, having Master of Science of
Engineering and be an Arbitrator. The minimum qualifications for the out siders are previous
experience in lecturing, being a member of world recognize institutes.
 Lectures
Lecture positions are open for both CECB staff and outsiders. The minimum requirement for
the position is being a Charted Engineer or First Class Honor’s degree. The candidatures are
selected through an interview.
 Mathematics, English and General Subject lectures
Mathematics, English and General Subject lectures are filled with lectures from the outside.
CECB staff does not have any experience in these fields. The candidatures who have previous
experience in lecturing will have the priority.
 Technical officers and Laboratory attendant
Technical officers must have knowledge on instruments and site practices. It is important to
have previous experience on Soil, Cement, Concrete and Asphalt tests. Mainly focus on CECB
staff. CECB assistant technical officers can be taken after a training programme.

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 Marketing Executives
The best way is finding executives from outside. Applications will be called from interest
candidatures. The priority will be given to experienced person. Capability of handling online
marketing is important. Mort marketing Executives are needed at the initial stage. They can be
reduced after developing market share.
 Administrative officers
CECB staff does not have experience in handling university students’ problems. The best way
is looking for outsiders. The priority will be given to the persons experience in universities.
5.4 Future Staff Management
Some positions may vacant in the Consultancy Firm because of staff recruitment to the
university. The plan of filling the positions is discussed below.
5.4.1 Staff Management in the University
The proposed ranks of the university lectures as follows (University of Peradeniya, 2017)
Figure 5.3 – Proposed ranks for the university

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The following actions are taken to build the skilled pool.
 The salary increments will be given once a year and it will be increased with their rank.
 Extra allowances will be given for conducting researches.
 CECB staff have less experience on teaching. Seminars will be organized to improve
this.
 Lectures are encouraged to do researches and publish them in journals. This will help
to increase the university ranking.
 Agreement will be signed with foreign universities to have training programmes.
 The experienced staff will be entitled to long term foreign training. The fresh staff will
be entitled to short term trainings. The rest staff will be entitled to have long term local
trainings. These training programmes may contain advanced technologies and
construction works. (Armstrong, 2009)
5.4.2 Staff Management in CECB
The Senior Engineers will transfer their works to Junior Engineers. This will be done step by
step.
 The junior Engineers will have more chances to move with senior Engineers and clarify
their inquiries.
 The seminars regarding design and site activities will be organized with foreign
Engineers.
 The senior Engineers will be released one a week to supervise juniors’ works.
5.5 Absent Management
Absent is a major problem for all companies. The main reason for this is high work load and
inapposite working environment. Defining the job scope, arranging flexible working hours,
arranging trips and social works, attendance allowances may reduce this problem. (Armstrong,
2009)

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6.0 Risk
Risk are something that may go wrong. Necessary measures are taken considering the risks.
This is called risk management. The main steps of the risk management are (Robert D. Hisrich,
Michael P. Petersa, Dean A. Shepherd, 2017)
1. Identifying the risk
2. Analyzing the risk
3. Necessary treatments
4. Monitoring and reviewing
The key treatments of the risks are reduction, transferring, accepting.
6.1 Identifying the Risk
Risk can be identified in few categories. They are market risk, credit risk, liquidity risk,
technology risk, legal risk, health risk and reputation risk. Identified risk of CECB in each
categorizes are as follows (Craig S. Fleisher, Babette E. Bensoussan, 2007)
6.1.1 Market Risk
 Reduction of prices in other foreign Engineering degrees due to fluctuation of Sri
Lankan rupee.
 Increasing the prices of lab instruments.
 Increasing the prices of Engineering design software.
 Market share of the construction consultancy of the firm can be reduced as a result of
low concentration.
6.1.2 Credit Risk
 Delay in clients’ payment for consultancy works.
 Secession of a student who got scholarship for the course.
6.1.3 Liquidity Risk
 Inability of making payments for the loans which was taken for university construction.
6.1.4 Technological Risk
 World trend of Civil Engineering changing their direction toward new subjects to Sri
Lanka.

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 Arrival of new machineries and test to the industry. Even the lectures have not got
experienced this.
 Online marketing campaign may be useless as a result of using older methods.
6.1.5 Legal Risk
 University Grant Commission may refuse to grant the degree or the recognition process
may take long time.
 Changing the minimum qualification to enter the university.
 Formulation of new lows for mandatory subjects in Civil Engineering.
6.1.6 Reputation Risk
 Projects may delay due to less involvement of experienced engineers.
 Leaving of Senior Lectures and other officer.
 Error can be happened as a result of low experience of Junior Engineers.
Consequences and likelihood of these risks are discussed under coming sections.
6.2 Analyzing the risk
The likelihood and consequence of the risk is analyzed here. (Robert D. Hisrich, Michael P.
Petersa, Dean A. Shepherd, 2017)
Increasing the price of lab instruments and software can be happened. The probability is low
and the effect is high at the initial stage. Market share can be reduced. The impact of reducing
market share is high. The impact of delay payment is high. The company cannot run without
money. But the probability is moderate. The probability of changing the direction of Civil
Engineering is very low. The probability of rejecting the syllabus is low. but the impact of this
is very high. The probability of delaying the project is moderate, but the impact is high too.
The mitigation actions are taken based on this.

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6.3 Risk Mitigation
It is important to take necessary mitigation methods considering the risk.
 Signing agreement with Lab instruments suppliers and Civil Engineering Software
producers.
 Establishing separate rank breakdown system for consultancy works and university
 Offering scholarship after signing proper agreements.
 Make arrangement to get paid once a month.
 Arranging insurance for the university buildings.
 Offering long term and short-term training courses for lectures in foreign universities.
 Offering seminars for students with companies.
 hiring local online marketing experts to handle the marketing campaign.
 Submitting the syllabus of the faculty at the very beginning for approval. Taking the
advices of expertise for making the syllabus.
 Identifying the important subjects for Civil Engineering field and including them in the
syllabus.
 Continuing the present project with part time consultant of senior engineers.
 Offering high salary and other facilities to lectures.

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7.0 Conclusion
All the people like to have reputation and get respect from the others. Civil Engineers are
respected than others because they work with people. This has increased the demand for Civil
Engineers. CECB is the leading civil engineering consultancy company for last 15 years. It has
made its in foreign countries too. CECB have many strengths than other companies to start new
Civil Engineering Faculty. CECB staff can be recruit for the new faculty but the necessary
action must be taken to cover the works. All the company has risk. Risk is higher than the other
while introducing a new business. CECB has strength to manage these risks. Starting a new
Civil Engineering faculty is one of the best business options that CECB can have.

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References
Armstrong, M., 2009. Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice.
11th ed. s.l.:s.n.
Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau, 2017. Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau Sri
Lanka CECB. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cecb.lk
[Accessed 12 October 2017].
Christopher Masinde Indiatsy, Mucheru Stephen Mwangi, Evans Nyamboga Mandere, 2014.
The Application of Porter’s Five Forces Model on Organization Performance. European
Journal of Business and Management, 6(6), pp. 75-86.
Craig S. Fleisher, Babette E. Bensoussan, 2007. Business and Competitive Analysis. 1st ed.
s.l.:FT Press.
Koumparoulis, D. N., 2013. PEST Analysis: The case of E-shop. International Journal of
Economy, Management and Social Sciences, 2(2), pp. 31-36.
Ommani, A. R., 2011. SWOT analysis for farming system businesses. African Journal of
Business Management, 5(22), pp. 9448-9454.
Robert D. Hisrich , Venland Ramadani, 2017. Effective Entrepreneurial Management.
s.l.:Springer International Publishing.
University of Peradeniya, 2017. Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya. [Online]
Available at: http://eng.pdn.ac.lk/
[Accessed 15 October 2017].

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