Re-thinking the marketing mix for universities: new challenges, new opportunities and new threats
The context of the challenge that faces most universities as the world around them rapidly, and sometimes unpredictably, changes is outlined. There are opportunities for those that are able to adapt quickly. From a Darwinian perspective, only the fittest are likely to survive in what will be an increasingly competitive and difficult operating environment. The essence of the argument is that universities need to re-think the culture, capacity and capabilities upon which they have traditionally been built. This will necessitate a fundamental review of what resources are invested (or divested) in them, how they are used and how to respond in a real market where the learner will be sovereign, as higher education becomes consumerised.
This paper shows that the economics of nonrival goods cannot be fully comprehended without taking into account the role of intelligence differences among economic agents. The analysis focuses on Paul Romer’s contributions and explains that the study of the economics of ideas (memes) through an institutional lens alone misses the crucial economic implications of the interplay between genes and memes. Ideas appear to be nonrival if and only to the extent that we neglect wide individual differences in the capacity to appropriate ideas. Differences in intelligence among humans make the theoretically and politically appealing non-rivalry of ideas a practical falsehood.