Strategic groups and inter-firm networks in international high-tech industries.

Strategic partnering and the analysis of strategic groups are two issues which enjoy a growing interest from industrial economists as well as from strategic management scholars. This contribution focuses on two related topics in the discussion on strategic group formation. the first subject addresses the relevance of strategic groups for understanding industry heterogeneity. the other topic covers the question whether companies from particular strategic groups establish strategic links with each other, or whether intra-group rivalry leads to inter-firm cooperation across strategic groups. Although it appears neglected in the literature the possible linking of the analysis of strategic groups with corporate network studies could generate further understanding of the process of strategic group formation. the present contribution focuses on the international information technology industry in order to study the possible symmetry of the structure of strategic group formation and parallel inter-firm networks of strategic partnering empirically.

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