162 Strategic Leadership
A process of strategic leadership offers colleges and universities a chance to
do something that they often do not do well, which is to listen. What they hear
may be distortions or resentments based on emotion or limited information, or
complaints that serve political or self-interested agendas, yet the voices of dis-
sent and criticism need to heard. They should be drawn into the institution’s
self-understanding and become the occasion for hard thinking about its strategic
position. The widespread perception that universities arrogantly resist change and
are unresponsive to the public’s needs casts a dangerous pall over all institutions,
whether or not they are guilty as charged. Institutions can use the strategy process
to register critiques from their constituencies that they must address. By consider-
ing the issues strategically, they can move them to a higher plane of significance
and make them an appropriate part of their agendas.
Every college or university is more or less conscious of its competitors, although
they are typically so numerous and so diverse that intense bilateral rivalry is
more the exception than the rule. As we have suggested previously, an essential
dimension of strategic self-understanding comes from the comparative analysis of
benchmarks, strategic indicators, programs, and capabilities. Organizations know
themselves best when they can see themselves through a reflexive comparative
lens. It is impossible to understand one’s own strategic identity without com-
petitor analysis since strategy has to do precisely with one’s position relative to
others. Alfred et al. (2006) spell out many of the factors needed to assess competi-
tive position, including (1) cost, (2) convenience, (3) form of program delivery,
(4) quality, (5) innovation, (6) systems and technology, (7) networks with other
institutions, (8 ) administration and governance, (9) culture, (10) reputation,
(11) resources, and (12) distinctiveness.
Competitor analysis leads in many directions. It may help to reveal and to
define the need for a long-term commitment to increase donor support or show
that salaries must become or remain competitive with a group of peers. In some
cases, the competitive analysis is pointed and specific and leads to the construc-
tion of new facilities or to the introduction of a new program of scholarships. If
an institution comes to believe that its competitive position is being challenged,
it often will try to move heaven and earth to keep its place.
SWOT Analysis: Strengths and Weaknesses
Based on experiences in strategic planning seminars on both sides of the Atlan-
tic, I would conclude that if anything is always associated with strategic planning,
it is the SWOT analysis. The analysis of an institution’s strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats (SWOT) is itself a form of integrative thinking that
describes an institution’s position in the world. If it is done well, it achieves an
insightful synthesis of the internal and external realties that define an organi-
zation’s possibilities. Scanning the environment with a focus on what matters
most to a given institution prefigures some of the tasks of an effective SWOT