A 1995 grant produced the manuscript, In Pursuit of Prestige: Strategy and Competition in U.S. Higher Education, co-authored with Dominic J. Brewer, Rand Corporation and Susan M. Gates, Rand Corporation.
The researchers' work was the result of a two-year study of the challenges facing American higher education institutions based on visits to twenty-six diverse institutions throughout the country. They offered a comprehensive analysis wherein higher education was viewed from an industry perspective. The authors emphasized strategy and competition in their study and identified four key revenue "markets": student enrollments, research funding, public fiscal support and private giving. The researchers then identified three important core strategies within the markets: degree level, scope of activities and resource allocation. Focusing primarily on strategy in revenue allocation institutions were characterized by three broad strategy types: prestige-based, prestige seeking, and reputation based. The institutions were also assessed based on financial health.
The researchers found financially healthy institutions existing among each institution type. However, they concluded that prestige seekers ran the risk of financial distress by investing in prestige at the cost of meeting customer (student) demand, thereby risking reputation and prestige. They also observed that prestige was rewarding in the education industry: affording flexibility to select students and grant financial aid, lower faculty load, attract higher private giving, and garner larger state appropriations. Yet they concluded that prestige seeking as a strategy was risky for the financial health of institutions and might not be in society's best interest.
The researchers concluded that there is no single mode of excellence in the higher education arena. They believe that the industry as a whole does not appropriately balance the benefits and costs of prestige seeking because all stakeholders do not have an equal voice in resource allocation.
