????盡管如此，這所學校的教學特色很快就遭遇到來自沃頓（Wharton）、哥倫比亞大學（Columbia）和哈佛大學（Harvard）等商學院巨頭以及歐洲和亞洲學校強有力的挑戰(zhàn)。

????說實話，雷鳥的聲譽和底蘊或許永遠也無法跟大牌商學院相媲美。即使在最輝煌的年份，它的錄取率（通常徘徊在70％至80％之間）也遠遠高于主流商學院，后者的錄取率不到20%。錄取新生的平均GMAT成績亦是如此——雷鳥的新生成績通常在600分左右，比最好的商學院低100分以上，后者的成績往往在700分以上（入學考試的滿分為800分）。

????此外，雷鳥全球管理學院經常陷入無止境的轉變模式之中。赫伯格于1989年接管這所學校時，迎接他的是“一個經典的轉變”挑戰(zhàn)?！皠倎頃r，墻面缺漆、未修復的道路和設施老化等問題讓我疲于應對，一時難以顧及其他，”在一次口述歷史采訪中，他回憶道?！敖處熡惺疁?，學生表現(xiàn)不佳。不少學生都在隨波逐流，缺少雄心壯志?！?/p>

????當時，這所學校沒有得到主流評價體系的認可，進而無法進入美國商學院排行榜。除了一個每年能帶來30萬美元收入的語言培訓項目之外，雷鳥當時根本就沒有在職高級管理人員培訓項目。由該校委托的一項研究表明，雷鳥的畢業(yè)生更加看重彼此間的校友之誼，對母校的感情并不深厚?！耙怯腥颂嶙h給母校寫一張支票，他們的反應很可能是，‘憑什么啊？’我能夠畢業(yè)完全是自身努力的結果，跟他們有什么關系，”赫伯格這樣說道。

????2004年，赫伯格終于從雷鳥校友、NBA球隊菲尼克斯太陽（Phoenix Suns）的老板山姆?加爾文手中爭取到一筆6,000萬美元的冠名權捐款承諾，這所商學院似乎即將迎來轉機。加爾文的確捐贈了1,300萬美元的現(xiàn)金，但沒能按照時間表兌現(xiàn)剩余的捐款承諾，他和校方最終同意取消他的冠名權。

????后來，西班牙人、馬德里IE商學院前院長安吉爾?卡布雷拉于2004年底接替赫伯格出任校長一職。當時，雷鳥的財政狀況已經岌岌可危?！拔襾淼臅r候，這所學校正在損失大筆資金，”卡布雷拉在接受口述歷史采訪時回憶稱?！坝捎诮虒W實踐無法跟上需求的變化，我們正處于一個異常艱難的時期?！?/p>

????2012年7月，卡布雷拉離開雷鳥，出任喬治?梅森大學（George Mason University）校長。在接受口述歷史采訪時，他對學校檔案保管員說，盡管2009年和2010年爆發(fā)經濟危機，但雷鳥依然實現(xiàn)了預算盈余。但他接著指出：“相對其他院校來說，我們依然是一所窮學校。我們的捐贈基金依然不及競爭對手。大牌商學院擁有充沛的捐贈資金，足以支持他們的教學活動?！?/p>

????為了籌集現(xiàn)金，學校曾試圖向房地產開發(fā)商出售部分校園（總面積160英畝的校園僅有一半被建筑物覆蓋），用以建造公寓，單戶住宅和其他商業(yè)開發(fā)。但由于亞利桑那州的房地產市場崩盤，這些計劃最終無疾而終。與桂冠教育公司達成的這項交易顯然是另一個戰(zhàn)略選擇。

????Still, the school's unique qualities were quickly challenged by business school titans like Wharton, Columbia, and Harvard, along with schools in both Europe and Asia.

????Truth be told, Thunderbird could never match either the prestige or the cache of the big brand schools. Even in its best years, its acceptance rate -- often hovering in the 70% to 80% range -- was much higher than the major business schools, which accept less than 20% of their applicants. So were the average GMAT scores of its entering classes, which tended to range near 600, more than 100 points below the best schools, which typically report scores in the 700-plus range on an entrance test where the highest possible score is 800.

????Besides, the school was often in perpetual turnaround mode. When Herberger took over as president in 1989, he was confronted with what he called "a classic turnaround" challenge. "It took me awhile to look beyond the lack of paint, the unrepaired roads, and the old facilities," he recalled in an oral history interview. "The faculty was underachieving, and the students were underachieving. The students were floating along…The expectations weren't high enough."

????At the time, the school was unaccredited and unranked. With the exception of a language training program that brought in $300,000 a year, Thunderbird had no executive education programming at all. One study commissioned by the school showed that its alumni were more devoted to each other and not the school. "When it came down to writing a check for the school, it was, 'What for? I got my education in spite of whatever you guys did,'" said Herberger.

????Thunderbird seemed to turn the corner when Herberger landed in 2004 a $60 million naming gift from entrepreneur Sam Garvin, an alumnus and owner of the Phoenix Suns basketball franchise. Garvin did give $13 million in cash toward the $60 million pledge, but could not honor the timetable for the gift, so he and the school agreed that his name should not be on the school.

????When Angel Cabrera, a native of Spain who had been dean of IE Business School in Madrid, succeeded Herberger in late 2004, Thunderbird was in a precarious financial situation. "The school was losing significant amounts of money when I arrived," recalled Cabrera in an oral history interview. "We were in a tough era in terms of applications and shifts in demand."

????Cabrera, who left the school to become president of George Mason University in July 2012, told the school archivist during an oral history interview that the school was reporting an annual budget surplus despite the collapse of the economy in 2009 and 2010. But, he said, "we continue to be a relatively poor school. We don't have much of an endowment like the schools that we compete against which have terrific endowments to support their activities."

????To raise cash, the school attempted to sell part of its 160-acre campus, only half of which is built upon, to developers for condos, single-family homes, and commercial use. But the plans never got off the ground due to the collapse of the real estate market in Arizona. The deal with Laureate was clearly another strategic option.