Examining Generic Competitive Strategy Types in U.S. and European Markets

Identification of generic competitive strategy types has recently attracted considerable attention. Most of this research has, however, focused on competitive strategy of U.S. businesses in their domestic market. The present study extends these findings to markets outside the United States, and more specifically Europe, based on a sample of industrial businesses drawn from the PIMS database. Similar dimensions underlying competitive strategy, and similar generic types are found among business in the U.S. and in Europe. Some differences in the performance and business characteristics of certain strategy types were, however, observed between U.S. and European markets. Rate of market growth also appeared to have more significant relation to performance of businesses in Europe than in the U.S.

[1]  D. Aaker,et al.  Is Market Share all that It's Cracked up to Be? , 1985 .

[2]  G. Day.  Diagnosing the Product Portfolio , 1977 .

[3]  C. Craig,et al.  Examining Performance of U.S. Multinationals in Foreign Markets , 1983 .

[4]  D. Schendel,et al.  An empirical analysis of strategy types , 1983 .

[5]  Diana L. Day,et al.  Strategic Attributes and Performance in the BCG Matrix—A PIMS-Based Analysis of Industrial Product Businesses1 , 1982 .

[6]  Gregory G. Dess,et al.  Porter's (1980) Generic Strategies as Determinants of Strategic Group Membership and Organizational Performance , 1984 .

[7]  W. Adams,et al.  Advertising, Competition and Market Conduct in Oligopoly Over Time. , 1976 .

[8]  F. Scherer,et al.  Industrial Market Structure and Economic Performance. , 1971 .

[9]  P. E. Hart,et al.  MARKET STRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM , 1977 .

[10]  C. K. Prahalad,et al.  Do you really have a global strategy , 1985 .

[11]  William Diebold,et al.  The European Multinationals , 1977 .

[12]  D. B. Montgomery,et al.  Diagnosing the Experience Curve , 1983 .

[13]  D. Hambrick.  High Profit Strategies in Mature Capital Goods Industries: A Contingency Approach , 1983 .

[14]  Paul E. Green,et al.  Cluster Analysis in Test Market Selection , 1967 .

[15]  Lyman W. Porter,et al.  Managerial Thinking: An International Study , 1967 .

[16]  Kim S. Cameron,et al.  Coffin nails and corporate strategies , 1982 .

[17]  H. Thomas,et al.  Strategic Groups: Theory, Research and Taxonomy , 1986 .

[18]  L. Gordon,et al.  American personality tests in cross-cultural research--a caution. , 1966, The Journal of social psychology.

[19]  G. Hofstede,et al.  Culture′s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values , 1980 .

[20]  Charles W. Hofer.  Toward a Contingency Theory of Business Strategy , 1975 .

[21]  C. Fornell,et al.  Sources of Market Pioneer Advantages in Consumer Goods Industries , 1985 .

[22]  Yoram Wind,et al.  Organizational Buying Behavior , 1978 .

[23]  M. Porter.  Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance , 1985 .

[24]  R E Miles,et al.  Organizational strategy, structure, and process. , 1978, Academy of management review. Academy of Management.

[25]  W. T. Robinson.  Sources of Market Pioneer Advantages: The Case of Industrial Goods Industries , 1988 .

[26]  Y. Wind,et al.  Marketing Strategy: New Directions for Theory and Research , 1983 .

[27]  Roderick E. White.  Generic business strategies, organizational context and performance: An empirical investigation , 1986 .

[28]  Paul E. Green,et al.  Numerical Taxonomy in Marketing Analysis: A Review Article , 1968 .

[29]  D. Hambrick.  An Empirical Typology of Mature Industrial-Product Environments , 1983 .

[30]  George S. Day,et al.  The Product Life Cycle: Analysis and Applications Issues , 1981 .

[31]  A. Coughlan,et al.  International Market Entry and Expansion via Independent or Integrated Channels of Distribution , 1987 .

[32]  Kenneth L. Pike,et al.  Language in relation to a unified theory of the structure of human behavior, 2nd rev. ed. , 1967 .

[33]  F. Jenny,et al.  Profit rates and structural variables in French manufacturing industries , 1976 .

[34]  Michael E. Porter,et al.  How Global Companies Win Out , 1982 .

[35]  Charles W. Hofer,et al.  Strategy formulation : analytical concepts , 1978 .

[36]  Donald G. Morrison,et al.  Measurement Problems in Cluster Analysis , 1967 .

[37]  R. D. Buzzell,et al.  Product Quality, Cost Position and Business Performance: A Test of Some Key Hypotheses , 1983 .

[38]  D. Hambrick.  Some tests of the effectiveness and functional attributes of Miles and Snow's strategic types. , 1983, Academy of Management journal. Academy of Management.

[39]  Bruce Kogut,et al.  Normative Observations on the International Value-Added Chain and Strategic Groups , 1984 .

[40]  H. Triandis.  The analysis of subjective culture , 1973 .

[41]  H. Gatignon,et al.  The multinational corporation's degree of control over foreign subsidiaries : an empirical test of a transaction cost explanation , 1988 .

[42]  C. C. Snow,et al.  Strategy, Distinctive Competence, and Organizational Performance. , 1980 .

[43]  B. Henderson,et al.  The Anatomy of Competition , 1983 .

[44]  John Saunders,et al.  A Comparative Investigation of Japanese Marketing Strategies in the British Market , 1985 .