Tag Archives: Strategic Positioning

Competitive Advantage Comes From Internal Capabilities

In a nutshell, over my past 10 posts, I have advocated that most private colleges and universities should pursue a focused differentiation strategy based on a unique mission and vision that solves a significant problem for its target customers. My … Continue reading

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Why Do Kids Go to College?

In graduate school, I had a particularly curmudgeonly professor who claimed that college was simply post-adolescent day care, and that parents paid tuition and other fees just to get their kids out of their hair for four years until they … Continue reading

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The Rankings Game

A few months back, I was meeting with one of our alums, and he asked me how I would categorize universities in terms of quality. I was taken by surprise, so I had to think for a minute, and then … Continue reading

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The Limitations of the “Comprehensive” University

There is a prevalent sense among academics that a university is meant to be “comprehensive” i.e. provide a full range of programs and degrees at the undergraduate and graduate level. In fact, the dictionary definition of a university is a … Continue reading

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Why Should I Go To Your School Instead of a Cheaper One?

The first half of most Strategic Management textbooks are often filled with the various models of Michael Porter. Around Chapter 4, the Strategic Positioning model is usually introduced: Like many of Porter’s models, Strategic Positioning is easy to grasp, but … Continue reading

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