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in a Disruptive Environment

KEITH W. HOUCK

VICE PRESIDENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE AFFAIRS
VALENCIA COLLEGE

Just a few years ago, the neighborhood Blockbuster store colleges and universities. By afording a larger population access
was a major center of activity. By providing people with easy to higher education at a lower cost and within a short commute
access to new and classic movies below the movie theater of their homes, community colleges caused a massive change to
cost, Blockbuster dominated the market in the distribution of higher education.
movies and electronic games. Patrons enjoyed the convenience Are there lessons to learn from the recent changes in the home
of viewing movies in their homes; however, they had to select movie delivery business that will beneft community colleges?
their movies during set business hours, wait in line to pay, and What are some of the potentially disruptive waves that may
return the movies to the store location afer viewing. Blockbuster impact the way community colleges deliver education and how
successfully built a network of over 9,000 locations, but recently could this infuence our basic business model? From a college
the last 300 stores were closed in America (Selingo, 2013a). business ofcer’s perspective, there are a number of potentially
Te originally innovative Blockbuster model was replaced by disruptive waves to consider.
Netfix, a web-based model, and Redbox, which still required the
customer to pick up and return their movies but at a much lower The Cost Shift
cost and at convenient times. In his book COLLEGE (UN)BOUND, Jefery J. Selingo (2013b)
Te rise and fall of Blockbuster might easily be characterized by indicated that, across the country, the state disinvestment in
Harvard Professor Clay Christensen’s defnition of “disruptive higher education has been swif and has largely gone unnoticed
change”. He defnes disruptive change as a transformative event by the public. At the institutional level, Valencia College has
that changes or alters a product or service. Disruption occurs seen the state’s portion of its operating budget decrease from
to industries in a manner which changes the landscape of their more than 60% to less than 40% in 10 years. Tuition is now the
market and the product or service is replaced by a lower cost and primary funding source for the college’s operations.
more efective model (Christensen & Eyring, 2011). For individuals, the move to a “user fee” mentality has placed a
Te advent of the community college system serves as another major burden on students and the fnancial aid system. Articles
good example of disruptive change. Community colleges were like “Is College Still Worth the Price?” (Wang, 2009) point out
established as territorial monopolies to provide higher education the amount families pay for college has skyrocketed more than
to those who could not easily attend traditional residential 400% from 1982 to 2008. About half of Americans think that

16 LEADERSHIP Vol. 19.3 Winter 2014

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