Reexaming strategic groups: existence, group structure and mobility barriers

Abstract

The concept of the strategic group (SG) has been regarded by many authors as one of the most valuable tools in the research of strategic management, and as one with the potential of providing insight into the nature of strategy-performance relationship and into the analysis of competition in general. However, this potential has not been fully utilised. There are still many issues which need to be addressed in the research on SGs. Generally, they can be classified into two categories: what and how. What is the SG? And how can the concept be applied in the practice of strategic management? This paper will study mainly the 'what' issue, focusing on two questions: 1) Do SGs exist within an industry? 2) Can a single SG structure reflect the competitive environment?