The demise of strategic groups as an influence on firm performance: lessons from the UK plastics industry

Strategic Change

Volumn 20, Issue 3-4, 2011, Pages 111-126

  O'Regan, Nicholas ^a   Kluth, Carole ^b   Parnell, John ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND   (United Kingdom)

^b Applied Market Information Ltd   (United Kingdom)

^c UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT PEMBROKE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84924756055     PISSN: None     EISSN: 10991697     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/jsc.889     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. Amit R, Schoemaker P. 1993. Strategic assets and organizational rent. Strategic Management Journal 14(1): 33–46.
2. Applied Market Information Ltd. 2005. AMI's European plastics industry report 2005. Applied Market Information Ltd: Bristol.
3. Applied Market Information Ltd. 2007. AMI's Plastics Industry Seminar 2007. Applied Market Information Ltd: Bristol.
4. Applied Market Information Ltd. 2009. AMI's European Plastics Industry Report 2009. Applied Market Information Ltd: Bristol.
5. Applied Market Information Ltd. 2010a. The Global Market for BOPP Film. Applied Market Information Ltd: Bristol.
6. Applied Market Information Ltd. 2010b. The Injection Moulding Industry in Europe. Applied Market Information Ltd: Bristol.
7. Bain J. 1956. Barriers to New Competition. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA.
8. Barney J. 1986. Strategic factor markets: expectations, luck, and business strategy. Management Science 32: 1231–1241.
9. Barney J. 1991. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management 17(1): 99–120.
10. Barney J, Hoskisson E. 1990. Strategic groups: untested assertions and research proposals. Managerial and Decision Economics 11(3): 187–198.
11. Besanko D, Dranove D, Shanley M. 2000. Economics of Strategy. John Wiley & Sons: New York.
12. Bettis RA, Hitt MA. 1995. The new competitive landscape. Strategic Management Journal 16(Summer special issue): 7–19.
13. Blankson C, Kalafatis SP. 2004. The development and validation of a scale measuring consumer/customer-derived generic typology of positioning strategies. Journal of Marketing Management 20: 5–43.
14. British Plastics Federation. 2009. About the industry: http://www.bpf.co.uk/Industry/Default.aspx [accessed May 9, 2009].
15. Caves RE, Porter ME. 1977. From entry barriers to mobility barriers: conjectural decisions and contrived deterrence to new competition. Quarterly Journal of Economics 91(2): 241–261.
16. Claver E, Molina J, Tari J. 2002. Firm and industry effects on firm profitability: a Spanish empirical analysis. European Management Journal 20(3): 321–328.
17. Cool K, Dierickx I. 1993. Rivalry, strategic groups and firm profitability. StrategicManagement Journal 14(1): 47–59.
18. Cool K, Schendel D. 1987. Strategic group formation and performance: the case of the US pharmaceutical industry, 1963–1982. Management Science 33(9): 1102–1124.
19. Cool K, Schendel D. 1988. Performance differences among strategic group members. Strategic Management Journal 9(3): 207–223.
20. Derajtys JM, Chrisman JJ, Bauerschmidt A. 1993. The shakeout in microcomputers: causes and consequences. Long Range Planning 26: 86–97.
21. Dess GG, Davis PS. 1984. Porter's (1980) generic strategies as determinants of strategic group membership and organizational performance. Academy of Management Journal 27(3): 467–488.
22. Dess GG, Newport S, Rasheed AMA. 1993. Configuration research in strategic management. Journal of Management 19: 775–795.
23. Devaraj S, Hollingworth DG, Schroeder RG. 2001. Generic manufacturing strategies: an empirical test of two configurational typologies. Journal of Operations Management 19: 427–452.
24. Dranove D, Peteraf M, Shanley M. 1998. Do strategic groups exist? An economic framework for analysis. Strategic Management Journal 19(11): 1029–1044.
25. Dutta S, Narasimhan O, Rajiv S. 2005. Conceptualizing and measuring capabilities: methodology and empirical application. Strategic Management Journal 26: 277–285.
26. European Commission. 2010. SME definition: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/facts-figures-analysis/sme-definition/index_en.htm [accessed March 27, 2010].
27. Fiegenbaum A, McGee J, Thomas H. 1988. Exploring the linkage between strategic groups and competitive strategy. International Studies of Management & Organization 18(1): 6–25.
28. Feigenbaum A, Thomas H. 1995. Strategic groups as reference groups: theory, modeling and empirical examination of industry and competitive strategy. Strategic Management Journal 16(6): 461–476.
29. Ferguson TD, Deephouse DL, Ferguson WL. 2000. Do strategic groups differ in reputation? Strategic Management Journal 21(12): 1195–1214.
30. Fox I, Srinivasan S, Vaaler PM. 1997. A descriptive alternative to cluster analysis: understanding strategic group performance with simulated annealing. In Ghertman M (ed.), Statistical Models for Strategic Management. Kluwer Academic: Boston, MA; pp. 91–111.
31. Frazier GL, Howell RD. 1983. Business definition and performance. Journal of Marketing 47(2): 59–67.
32. Garson GD. 2009. Variance components analysis from Statnotes: Topics in multivariate analysis: http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/PA765/variancecomponents.htm
33. Hair JF, Black WC, Babin BJ, Anderson RE. 2010. Multivariate Data Analysis: A global perspective. Pearson Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ.
34. Hatch NW, Dyer JH. 2004. Human capital and learning as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Strategic Management Journal 25: 1155–1178.
35. Hergert ML. 1983. The incidence and implications of strategic groupings in U.S. manufacturing industries. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
36. Houthoofd N, Heene A. 1997. Strategic groups as subsets of strategic scope groups in the Belgian brewing industry. Strategic Management Journal 18(8): 653–666.
37. Ketchen DJ, Shook CL. 1996. The application of cluster analysis in strategic management research: An analysis and critique. Strategic Management Journal 17: 441–458.
38. Kor YY, Mahoney JT. 2005. How dynamics, management, and governance of resource deployments influence firm-level performance. Strategic Management Journal 26: 489–496.
39. Kwoka J, Ravenscraft D. 1986. Cooperation v. rivalry: price-cost margins by line of business. Economica 53(211): 351–363.
40. Lawless MW, Bergh DD, Wilsted WD. 1989. Performance differences among strategic group members: an examination of individual firm capability. Journal of Management 15(4): 649–661.
41. Leask G, Parker D. 2006. Strategic group theory: review, examination and application in the UK pharmaceutical industry. Journal of Management Development 24(4): 386–408.
42. Mauri A, Michaels M. 1998. Firm and industry effects within strategic management: an empirical examination. Strategic Management Journal 19(3): 211–219.
43. McGahan AM, Porter ME. 1997. How much does industry matter, really? Strategic Management Journal 18(Summer special issue): 15–30.
44. McGahan AM, Porter ME. 2002. What do we know about variance in accounting profitability. Management Science 48(7): 834–851.
45. McGee J, Thomas H. 1986. Strategic groups, theory, research and taxonomy. Strategic Management Journal 7(2): 141–160.
46. McNamara G, Deephouse DL, Luce RA. 2003. Competitive positioning within and across a strategic group structure: the performance of core, secondary and solitary firms. Strategic Management Journal 24(2): 161–181.
47. Mintzberg H. 1978. Patterns in strategy formation. Management Science 24: 934–948.
48. Montgomery CA, Wernerfelt B. 1991. Sources of superior performance: market share versus industry effects in the U.S. brewing industry. Management Science 37(8): 954–959.
49. Nair A, Kotha S. 2001. Does group membership matter? Evidence from the Japanese steel industry. Strategic Management Journal 22(3): 221–235.
50. Newman HH. 1973. Strategic groups and the structure performance relationship: a study with respect to the chemical process industries. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
51. Office for National Statistics. 2002. UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 2003. Office for National Statistics: Newport.
52. O'Regan N, Ghobadian A. 2004. The importance of capabilities for strategic direction and performance. Management Decision 42: 292.
53. O'Regan N, Sims MA. 2008. Identifying high technology small firms: a sectoral analysis. Technovation 28(7): 408–423.
54. Oster S. 1982. Intraindustry structure and the ease of strategic change. Review of Economics and Statistics 64(3): 376–383.
55. Pandza K, Thorpe R. 2009. Creative search and strategic sense-making: missing dimensions in the concept of dynamic capabilities. British Journal of Management 20(1s): 118–131.
56. Parnell JA. 1997. New evidence in the generic strategy and business performance debate: a research note. British Journal of Management 8: 175–181.
57. Parnell JA. 2010. Strategic clarity, business strategy and performance. Journal of Strategy and Management 3: 304–324.
58. Parnell JA, Jusoh R. 2008. Competitive strategy and performance measurement in the Malaysian context: an exploratory study. Management Decision 46: 5–31.
59. Penrose ET. 1959. The Theory of the Growth of the Firm. John Wiley & Sons: New York, NY.
60. Peteraf M, Shanley M. 1997. Getting to know you: a theory of strategic group identity. Strategic Management Journal 18(Summer special issue): 165–186.
61. Porac JF, Thomas H, Baden-Full CWF. 1994. Competitive groups as cognitive communities: the case of Scottish knitwear manufacturers. In Daems H, Thomas H (eds), Strategic Groups, Strategic Moves and Performance. Elsevier Science: Oxford; pp. 117–137.
62. Porter ME. 1973. Retailer power, manufacturer strategy and performance in consumer goods industries. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
63. Porter ME. 1979. The structure within industries and companies' performance. Review of Economics and Statistics 61(2): 214–227.
64. Porter ME. 1980. Competitive Strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. Free Press, New York, NY.
65. Porter ME. 1981. The contributions of industrial organization to strategic management. Academy of Management Review 6(4): 609–620.
66. Powell TC. 1996. How much does industry matter? An alternative empirical test. Strategic Management Journal 17(4): 323–334.
67. Ray G, Barney JB, Muhanna WA. 2004. Capabilities, business processes, and competitive advantage: choosing the dependent variable in empirical tests of the resource-based view. Strategic Management Journal 25: 23–37.
68. Reger R, Huff A. 1993. Strategic groups: a cognitive perspective. Strategic Management Journal 14(2): 103–123.
69. Roquebert J, Phillips R, Westfall P. 1996. Markets vs. management: what “drives” profitability? Strategic Management Journal 17(8): 653–664.
70. Ruefli TW, Wiggins RR. 2003. Industry, corporate and segment effects and business performance: a non-parametric approach. Strategic Management Journal 24(9): 861–879.
71. Rumelt R. 1984. Towards a strategic theory of the firm. In Lamb R (ed.), Competitive Strategic Management. Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ; pp. 556–570.
72. Rumelt RP. 1991. How much does industry matter? Strategic Management Journal 12(3): 167–185.
73. Scherer F. 1980. Industrial Market Structure and Economic Performance. Houghton–Mifflin: Boston, MA.
74. Schmalensee R. 1985. Do markets differ much? American Economic Review 75(3): 341–351.
75. Schroeder DM. 1990. A dynamic perspective on the impact of process innovation upon competitive strategies. Strategic Management Journal 11(1): 25–41.
76. Schroeder DM, Congden SW, Gopinath C. 1995. Linking competitive strategy and manufacturing process technology. Journal of Management Studies 32(2): 163–189.
77. Short JC, Ketchen DJ, Palmer TB, Hult GTM. 2007. Firm, strategic group and industry influences on performance. Strategic Management Journal 28(2): 147–167.
78. Sweeney MT, Szwejczewski M. 1996. Manufacturing strategy and performance: a study of the UK engineering industry. International Journal of Operations & Production Management 16(5): 25–40.
79. Thomas H, Venkatraman N. 1988. Research on strategic groups: progress and prognosis. Strategic Management Journal 25(6): 537–555.
80. Wernerfelt B. 1984. A resource-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal 5(2): 171–180.
81. Whelan T. 1994. Polymer Technology Dictionary. Chapman & Hall: London.