Reassessing resource allocation strategies in higher education: methods for analysis

Outlines the imperative of higher education organizations to remain in the forefront of strategic planning thinking. They are the breeding ground for innovative approaches to competitive and co-operative advantage in the commercial world. Attention is drawn to models of higher education organization which have been matched by similar strategic paradigms in business. The growing popularity of supply-side methods of competitiveness is investigated in the context of the collegiate system of higher education. Core competences are now as important as customer focus in strategic planning. Core competences relate to all resources that a university has. Appropriability indices give a measure of how institutions can begin to measure some of their core competences from the ground up. Another method for understanding and assessing core competences is to apply system network mapping. System networks are complex webs of interrelationships between staff and other facilities which give the organization valuable competitive advantage and which are not easily imitated. Introduction