Examining the effect of complexity in strategic group knowledge structures on firm performance

A developing stream of research in the strategy field explores the competitive structure of industries from the perspective of industry participants. This work has demonstrated that managers develop strategic group knowledge structures in order to make sense of their competitive environment. This study extends this line of research by examining the complexity evident in the strategic group knowledge structures developed by firms' top management teams and assessing the relationship between complexity in these knowledge structures and subsequent firm performance. Specifically, we examine the complexity of top managers' knowledge structures regarding their competition using a sample of 76 top management teams from banks in three U.S. cities. Using hierarchical regression, we find a significant relationship between the complexity of cognitive strategic groups and subsequent firm performance. These results suggest that the structure of the cognitive templates that top managers use to understand their environment and the actions of their competitor influence the degree of strategic success of their firm. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于因子和聚类分析的中国各省市竞争力分析与研究

运用多元统计分析方法中的因子分析和聚类分析,对中国2010年31个省、市、自治区的11项社会经济发展指标数据进行分析,提取出近似且能够综合解释社会经济发展情况的3个主因子成分,并据此对各省市自治区的社会竞争力进行分类、比较和综合评价,针对现行社会政策提出合理化建议。     

Do strategic groups exist? an economic framework for analysis

This paper offers a framework and methodology for resolving the question regarding the existence of strategic groups. We say that a strategic group exists if characteristics of the group affect firm performance independently of firm-level and industry-level effects. We argue that group-level effects are a byproduct of strategic interactions among members, and develop an empirical testing model, based on the ‘New Economics of Industrial Organization,’ to distinguish true group effects from spurious effects. From this model, we derive a series of logically consistent propositions, suggesting that while strategic interactions are critical for a group-level effect on profits, mobility barriers are necessary to preserve both groups and their effects over time. A review of prior empirical studies of strategic groups suggests that the inconclusive nature of prior research has been due more to the lack of a theoretical foundation for empirical analysis than to the nonexistence of groups. To the extent that our methods have been employed, there is limited evidence that a rigorous search for strategic groups may prove fruitful. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How Much Do Strategic Groups Matter?

Understanding firm heterogeneity is the first step towards explaining the dispersion of profit rates between firms. This paper proposes a framework that distinguishes between three sources of competitiveness, related to three levels of firm heterogeneity, which give rise to industry competencies, strategy-specific competencies and firm-specific competencies. Using data from a Spanish survey we estimate the relative importance of these three sources of heterogeneity. We show that taking the group effect into account significantly differentiates our results from those obtained in previous research. We provide new evidence on the existence of a significant group effect and also an estimate of its relative importance vis á vis firm and industry effects.     

聚乙烯醇产品的市场研究

对聚乙烯醇树脂产品进行了产业背景、供求态势、市场细分与评估以及竞争力分析等全面研究，为聚乙烯醇项目建设、产品方案规划与市场营销提供决策参考。     

300 kt/a改性沥青装置的经济分析

针对300kt／a改性沥青装置建设的必要性和在经济上的可行性，对重交通道路沥青的需求进行了市场调查和预测，并以投资、成本估算为基础，进行了财务指标计算以及盈利能力、不确定性和风险的分析，确认实施该项目的必要性和经济上的可行性。     

Playing dirty or building capability? Corruption and HR training as competitive actions to threats from informal and foreign firm rivals

Research summary : We examine why a firm takes specific competitive action in nonmarket and resource‐market spaces, particularly when it perceives threats from informal and foreign competitor groups, respectively. We address this question by combining insights from competitive rivalry, strategic groups, and nonmarket strategy literatures in an emerging economy context. Specifically, we theorize how threats from informal and foreign rival firms in an emerging market influence a firm's engagement in corruption activities and its investments in HR training, respectively. We also argue that the likelihoods of such focal firm actions against competitor group threats differ, contingent on the focal firm's market and resource profiles. Results from the empirical analyses, with survey data from the Indian IT industry, provide broad support to our hypotheses. Managerial summary : Based on a World Bank dataset on the Indian IT industry, this study finds that corruption and HR training are pursued by firms in emerging economies as mindful strategies against specific types of rivals—informal and foreign firm rivals, respectively, and are not pursued simply as culturally‐based practices. Multinational companies may need to understand that domestic firms in emerging countries will engage in corruption strategically to reduce their costs and time to market of their products/services. Therefore, multinational firms may need to devise suitable strategies other than corruption to reduce their costs and time to market if they wish to compete with firms in emerging economies for customers who don't care about ethical issues and will buy a cheaper product/service that is delivered quickly. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.