Competitive strategy in higher education: developing distinctive competences in the search for differentiation

Abstract

This paper identifies and analyzes a competitive strategy based on differentiation in view of the present context of profound and significant changes in the environment of competition and the management of higher education institutions. Its main hypothesis is that the search for differentiation is based on the development of distinctive competences associated to the improvement of the teaching staff and to the creation of value for the costumer. It describes the business environment of higher education institutions in the beginning of the 21th century and analyzes two selected cases. Taking as a reference the resource approach and specifically the systemic model developed by Lado, Boyd and Wright, besides the competence in strategic management, those two institutions developed a solid basis for resource changes and a high capacity of value creation. They view education as a service, whose value is realized by the students on the basis of a set of attributes summarized in the term “academic excellence.” As a result, a new competitive position emerges and a fundamental change in the traditional paradigm of competition among private higher education institutions occurs. Key words: higher education, competitive strategy, competences.