Environmental change and strategic positioning in organizations: analyzing three higher education institutions

Abstract

This paper studies the relation between interpretive schemes and the strategic positioning of Alfa University, Mackenzie  Presbyterian University and the Adventist University Center — located in Greater São Paulo, Brazil —, considering the changes in Brazilian educational policy in the period between 1990 and 2000. Strategic positioning was evaluated by analyzing resource, product/service and marketing strategies. Interpretive schemes were identified based on the values and beliefs shared by the top executives. According to the comparative analysis of the three educational establishments, the interpretive schemes act as a filter that influences the way in which they evaluate their environment, mediating their strategic positioning and justifying the differences found among the strategies adopted by them under the same environmental constraints.