The renewal of strategy development and implementation is important in the context of the changing higher education landscape. Changing government policy and the political agenda require a university to engage in careful strategy development and implementation which result in long-term sustainability. The political interest of the government will place more pressure on universities to align their strategy and directions as performance-based rewards are linked to institutional performance outcomes in teaching and research. It is yet to be seen how performance-based funding could improve internal quality assurance in universities as more focus will be on aligning resources to attract performance funding. Such a strategy may not lead to internal enhancements and it may also scrutinise academic work in assessing and rewarding teaching and research performance. Lack of emphasis on careful planning and implementation could have implications for institutions in the current competitive environment. The author concludes that careful and intelligent strategy development and effective implementation and monitoring are based on the quality of institutional leadership which drives change and improvement.