Minimizing blind men effect in strategic group research: Visualizing complex turbulent markets

Abstract

Increasing complexity and turbulence of modern markets calls for nonstatic multitheoretical/empirical approaches with intrinsic triangulation and intuitive strategic cluster visualization to minimize the “blind men effect” to offer unbiased insights for various stakeholders: corporate strategic managers, policy researchers, and market legislators. This study presents a refined framework for multi‐time‐point dynamic analysis that integrates and superposes multiple dimensions of strategic flexibility, agility, and orientation for cross‐validated insights. It also addresses long‐standing critical debates on strategic group theory via the metaphor of the blind men and the elephant justifying the need for an in‐depth, multiperspective approach. Our approach reveals the evolution of the market structure (strategic and competitive dynamics) of the French pharmaceutical market over time by mapping and interpreting strategic movements over a turbulent time period.

Competitive dynamics of strategic groups in the Portuguese banking industry

“…As a result of such competitive interactions, companies actively fight for a competitive advantage, seeking profitability or market shares (Chen and Hambrick 1995;Ferrier 2001;Cattani et al 2017). Understanding these mechanisms is a key factor to understand the market and competitors (Smith et al 2001;Ketchen et al 2004;Gur and Greckhamer 2018;Rebière and Mavoori 2019), since companies foster competitive advantages that can be translated into long-term sustainability of the adopted corporate strategy. Hunt (1972) defends that an industry can be grouped in several SGs, arguing that they could be composed of companies following similar strategies.…”

“…Evidence of homogeneity within the SGs and heterogeneity between SGs over a given time period leads to strategic stability periods in the industry during such period. This strategic stability entails the existence of entry barriers for companies to enter a given SG, and of mobility barriers for companies to swap among SGs (Zúñiga-Vicente et al 2004a;Garcés-Cano 2007;Garcés-Cano and Duque-Oliva 2008;Rebière and Mavoori 2019).…”

Competitive Categorization and Networks: Cognitive Strategic Groups

“…Categorizing firms into comparable groups is of interest to several disciplines (Cattani, Porac and Thomas, 2017). We draw on the strategic group concept because it offers a more promising root to understanding competition and market dynamics (Cattani, Porac and Thomas, 2017; Levine, Bernard and Nagel, 2017; Rebière and Mavoori, 2019). Two broad approaches are deployed for identifying strategic groups: characteristic‐based and cognitive‐based.…”