, Ph.D., is dean at the Knauss School of Business at the University of San Diego. He lives in Del Mar.
Being a business school dean, I’m constantly reflecting on everyday life through the lens of the classroom. What lessons can be learned in the “real world” that make the textbook come alive for students? After witnessing my wife’s craving fulfilled almost instantaneously from her phone, I was reminded that the warp and weft of any organization’s successful strategy depends on two things — innovation and uniqueness.
Consider higher education as a case study. The competitive environment is densely packed with barely differentiated institutions that deliver a certificate of achievement to customers — the academic degree. According to U.S. News & World Report, the number of colleges in the United States has been declining since 2012. Worse, enrollments have also decreased byA decreasing number of suppliers combined with a decreasing number of buyers usually triggers alarm bells in an industry.