Strategic university groups and their relationship to performance: The case of Chile

The Chilean higher education market features a large number of private institutions and high levels of competition. Understanding how it operates is essential to ensure proper management of the institutions, the success of the Chilean educational system and for the design of public policies that maximize its efficacy. This article provides an empirical analysis of the current state of the Chilean university market from a management focus, particularly concerning the analysis of strategic groups. In particular the Chilean university market is described and analyzed based on empirical and theoretical literature on strategic groups. We identify the dimensions and variables that generate competitiveness in the sector and define homogenous groups of Chilean universities. The findings reveal the existence of homogenous groups that are highly heterogeneous in terms of competitiveness and which are linked to the results obtained by each group. The final section presents the main implications of this study for the institutions in this sector as well as for public policy making.