Strategic Mergers of Strong Institutions to Enhance Competitive Advantage

Abstract

Strategic mergers are formal combinations or amalgamations of higher education institutions with the aim of enhancing competitive advantage, or merging for 'mutual growth'. Recently, in a number of countries, there has been a decided shift from mergers initiated by governments, and dealing mainly with 'problem' cases, towards institutional-initiated mergers involving strong institutions, and with clear strategic objectives. These issues are addressed and a case study is presented of the 2004 merger that created the new University of Manchester, which aims to be among the top 25 universities internationally by 2015.