University Strategic Management: A Businessman′s View

The basic concepts of strategic management from the business world are of great value to university administrators in responding to serious threats in their environment. Although there are strong similarities between business and university strategic management, the differences make university strategic management, and particularly the university chief executive′s role in it, much more difficult for the following reasons: (1) the profit motive in business in not present in universities;(2) faculty tenure restricts universities′ freedom to reallocate resources; (3) faculty governance limits the authority of university administrators; (4)universities are more political than business; (5)state university systems impose many constraints on strategic management. Despite these difficulties in implementing these business concepts in universities, strategic management is important for the success or even survival of a university.