Strategic Focusing: Market-Oriented Strategies for Public Institutions

This article by Dorothy Leland and John Moore is from Public Purpose (PDF), the magazine of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities:

Today's higher-education environment has become increasingly competitive, and many public colleges and universities have begun to adopt market-oriented strategies as a result. This competitive environment is driven by a number of forces . . . . In this environment, conventional strategic planning may not be sufficient to provide colleges and universities with a viable strategy for positioning themselves competitively. . . . Not surprisingly, a growing number of institutions are adopting planning processes that also focus on the aspects of their mission-related work that have the most potential to enable them to stand out from a crowded field of competitors.