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Chronicle of Higher Education: The Campus Cold War — Faculty vs. Administrators

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Student Art

Innovation – Standardization – Commoditization run along a continuum.  Today we unpack some of the ideas that hasten (and prohibit) leading practice discovery; how quickly goods and services become a “human right”; why all of this is relevant to education communities and why some believe that commoditization is a myth.

From the Wikipedia

In business literature, commoditization is defined as the process by which goods that have economic value and are distinguishable in terms of attributes (uniqueness or brand) end up becoming simple commodities in the eyes of the market or consumers. It is the movement of a market from differentiated to undifferentiated price competition and from monopolistic competition to perfect competition. Hence, the key effect of commoditization is that the pricing power of the manufacturer or brand owner is weakened: when products become more similar from a buyer’s point of view, they will tend to buy the cheapest.

Related:

Why High-Tech Commoditization Is Accelerating

After months of hard work, the top five teams met at USPTO headquarters today for the final round of the 2025 National Patent Application Drafting Competition. 🏆 And the winners are … ⬇️

🥇 First place — @UofMNLawSchool pic.twitter.com/uwNSJR0oBy

— USPTO (@uspto) April 4, 2025

From creating a race car safety device that protects drivers from injury to revolutionizing chemotherapy, Spartans have contributed to more than 3,300 inventions. #SpartansWill pic.twitter.com/dchCs0BFBx

— MSU (@michiganstateu) February 21, 2025

For 58 years, 7-Eleven has been protecting its iconic semi-frozen soft drink, the Slurpee. But it doesn’t stop there. The store has more than 200 registered trademarks to protect its goods and services, including “Oh thank Heaven for 7-Eleven” in 1978 and “Brainfreeze” in 1993. pic.twitter.com/b9bkkcijGg

— USPTO (@uspto) July 11, 2025