Strategy and Context: Retrenchment in Canadian Universities

This paper examines the strategies employed by six Canadian universities in response to funding restrictions. It focuses on the link between the intraorganiza tional context, decision-making process and strategic outcome. The contexts of the six universities are explored by analysing the behaviour of key interest groups. The link between these contexts and the strategies that were adopted is discussed. It is argued that in order to understand strategy-making, we must adopt an integrated approach that incorporates an understanding of context, process and outcome, and the complex, dynamic relationships between them. It is also proposed that research in higher education needs to address, more carefully, the question of decision- making processes and to develop the different models that can help to explain decision outcomes.