Strategic positioning in Romanian higher education

Purpose - The study presented in this paper is intended to assist the decision-making process in Romanian higher education institutions on topics such as market structure analysis, market segmentation, positioning of the specializations, and the cannibalization between them. Design/methodology/approach - This paper describes a preliminary qualitative study that examines the primary motives that affect choice of specializations before developing and validating a measurement instrument. The objective of the questionnaire was to help managers collect information regarding perceptions on specializations from a pool of 344 students of a major Romanian business faculty. The data were used to generate a perceptual map, which disclosed a three-cluster solution. In a parallel study, an internal analysis of preferences on 1,390 subjects revealed the existence of three market segments: "the pragmatics," "the sociables" and "the diploma hunters." Findings - Facing competition, Romanian higher education institutions need to carefully plan their actions, and better manage their scarce resources. Originality/value - This study is one of the few that tried to develop, to reliability test and to validate a questionnaire in the field of higher education, and the first one that has analyzed the positioning of the specializations at the level of a business faculty.