Competitive Advantage and Organizational Effectiveness in Higher Education

Competitiveness is an interesting subject nowadays, and today has permeated from local to global business of all sorts. With the current globalization of the markets, basically there is no sector where the competition has not grown significantly including the higher education sector; which has become a classic study of the transition from a benign, stable and non-competitive environment to a highly dynamic, unpredictable one. The domestic HEIs in Kenya is no exception; in most cases, both private and public higher educational institutions tend to duplicate programmes and courses; and under the Module II programme public universities source their private sponsored students from the same pool as the private one - thus increasing the severity of competition among these institutions in the local marketplace - this in most cases does stunt the students enrollment numbers, and hence, a great strain in financial resources and ability to survive in the long run. To cope with this challenges, HEIs that are better equipped to respond to market requirements, and are prepared to make constant improvements in the efficiency, performance, and hence, their academic and administrative affairs, are expected to gain and sustain competitive advantage and in the long-run organizational effectiveness and thus survival. In this study, the researcher used multiple strategic theories: the Porter's theories of competitiveness, the theory resources and capabilities (RBV), the stakeholders' engagement theory to test the competitiveness of Kabarak University and its ability to gain competitive advantage and hence organizational effectiveness in the marketplace. A research survey of senior administrative staff of Kabarak University was undertaken. A total of 45 questionnaires were distributed, from which 33 usable questionnaires were obtained, giving as effective response rate of 73%. Within the nature and scope of this study, many questions were raised; some were adequately answered, with many pending thus opening many more areas for future research study. For the organizational resources perspective: students educational satisfaction, student academic & personal development, capacity to maintain or expand resource base, professional development and quality of faculty, resource for quality programs, faculty and students, and finally ability to acquire, save and use resource effectively clearly came out as the most critical requirements for the University to gain competitiveness. From Porter's generic competitive strategies it seems that the University is kind of "stuck-in--the middle, which in effect is due to the failure to develop strategic directions by the managers: in market share, internal generated capital resources, and overhead controls to be a market leader. From organizational resources undertaking: Under stakeholders engagement two critical factors clearly came out strongly: collaboration with private business/industry enterprise and partnership with other higher education institutions that are need to strengthen its competiveness was found to be inadequate. For organizational effectiveness: staff performance in teaching and academic, institutional reputation and distinctiveness came out as most important factors that would allow the University to gain competitive advantage over its competitors. As a result a series of action can be taken by the University, including: students enrolment and retention strategy, acquiring and retention of competent faculties, advocating for strategic alliance and partnership with high schools and middle-level colleges, advocating for industry-academia collaboration, ensuring curriculum design in line with today's industry requirements, and finally innovation among others. Finally, the study has the potential to contribute to improvement in the strategic management and policy making in both public and private HEIs in Kenya.