INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS: Maturing Markets Part III — Avoiding Complacency
This article is the third in a series examining the implications of maturing markets for international schools.
In part one, I examined the economics of maturing markets; in part two, the implications. Here the view is internal. What are the signs of management complacency when facing maturing markets?
When a market is growing, errors are easy to hide. Riding on the crest of market growth, it is easy to survive and prosper.
In contrast, maturing markets expose sloppiness.
Maturity may force you to confront, maybe for the first time, strategic dilemmas and operational deficiencies. Buoyed by success, the signs of decline may be present long before management, notices or chooses to do anything about them.
In other words, a school’s successes may be the cause of later difficulties.
In his 2009 book, How The Mighty Fall, Jim Collins identified the stages of business decline. These stages are adapted below into four signs that a school might not be reacting to changing market conditions.
