Strategic Groups in Business

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Briance Mascarenhas ◽  
Megan Mascarenhas
Keyword(s):  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Strategic Groups ◽  
Strategic Group ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Broad Variety ◽  
Disaggregated Data ◽  
Group Concept ◽  
Over 40 Years

A strategic group is defined as a set of firms within an industry pursuing a similar strategy. The strategic group concept emerged with much promise over 40 years ago. Research on strategic groups over time in a broad variety of settings has sought to clarify their theoretical and empirical properties. These research findings are gradually being translated into practical managerial guidance, so that the strategic group concept can be understood, operationalized, and used productively by managers. Two main approaches exist for identifying strategic groups—a ground-up approach, using disaggregated data, and a top-down, using cognition. Once identified, managerial insights can be derived from clarifying a strategic group’s profile. Firm membership in a group helps to uncover immediate and more distant types of competitors. Group profitability differences reveal the more rewarding and less attractive areas within an industry, as well as identify the lower-return groups from where firm exits are likely to occur. Group dynamics reflect competitive and cooperative behavior within and between groups. Several promising areas for future research on strategic groups to improve understanding and practice of strategy.

Regulation and strategic group dynamics of the Nigerian telecommunications industry

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-232
Author(s):  
Olawale Oladipo Adejuwon
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Telecommunications Industry ◽  
Competitive Behavior ◽  
Strategic Groups ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Strategic Group ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Competitive Actions

Purpose – In order to achieve a desirable level of market efficiency, regulators need to identify the strategic groups within an industry and understand the way the constituent groups relate to one another. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – In the current study, factors that may lead to strategic group formation were developed and used as clustering variables in a k-means cluster statistical analysis to categorize the firms into strategic groups. The factors used are entry costs, timing of entry, technology type and scope of operations. In addition, the number and type of competitive actions employed by the firms in the industry were identified by structured content analysis of a public source. The competitive actions were used to examine the dynamics of the resulting groups within the context of competitive behavior, resource and scope commitments and corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions. In addition, χ2 analysis was employed to ascertain the likelihood that actions of a firm will be responded to by firms from the same group or from outside the group. Findings – License fees was found to be the most significant clustering variable. The study also showed that groups with significantly higher license fees carried out considerably more competitive actions, had higher resource and scope commitments and executed more CSR actions. In addition, the study revealed significantly more competition within strategic groups than between groups. Research limitations/implications – The absence of financial records for firms in the sample necessitated the use of CSR activity as a measure of firm performance. Some empirical studies have shown strong links between CSR and firm performance. Practical implications – The study revealed high mobility barriers which prevent ease of movement of firms in the industry from one strategic group to the other. Therefore regulators who wish to promote competition must do so by identifying the strategic groups with significant market power and permitting entry not by lowering entry barriers but by allowing the entry of firms with proven resources similar to the firms in those groups and to stipulate similar commitments in entry conditions. The results also offer management practitioners an insight into competitive behavior in the industry. Originality/value – The study utilized a unique data set (competitive actions of firms in the Nigerian Telecommunications industry as reported in the media) in contributing to empirical studies on competitive dynamics and strategic group literature.

scholarly journals Goals, obstacles and focus of heritage preservation activists in Ukrainian cities

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 60-72
Author(s):  
Lorina Fedorova ◽  
Anastasiya Ryabchuk
Keyword(s):  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Heritage Preservation ◽  
Historic Sites ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Strategic Goals ◽  
Multi Method Approach ◽  
The Voice

Preservation of historic heritage is a prevalent question in urban social movements in Ukraine. This article focuses on heritage preservation activists’ experiences, including both movements to preserve specific historic sites and monuments, and movements against destruction of the historic environment more generally. We begin by conceptualizing key concepts of heritage preservation movement and offering a background of heritage preservation in a post-soviet setting. This overview is followed by a summary of research findings based on eleven semi-structured interviews with heritage protection activists in major Ukrainian cities. Their activity can be classified firstly based on the strategy of impact (top-down or bottomup); secondly, on the type of historic monuments that they want to preserve (classical architecture, modern (Soviet) architecture and small architectural forms); thirdly, on the territorial scale of their activity (local, municipal or regional); and finally, on their activities (cultural and artistic, political, media and awarenessraising, community-building, etc.).Challenges, identified by activists in their work, were classified as external (related to structural and contextual difficulties), and internal (individual challenges and group dynamics, related to lack of time, resources and institutional knowledge). More generally, the heritage preservation movement in Ukraine is identified by activists as fragmented, reactive, and marked by high institutionalization of grassroots activities and their cooptation. Activists are reflexive of their role in historic preservation and present themselves as the voice of the general public. They identify their impact as creating public resonance, a wide network of passive allies, institutional (as well as internal management) experience for activist initiatives. At the same time, however, they have little faith in the possibility of achieving broader strategic goals. Thus, despite their impact and efficiency in defending specific historic sites, activists are unable to preserve historic heritage in Ukrainian cities on their own. Potential future research includes conducting interviews not only with activists of large cities, but also of smaller towns, as well as using a multi-method approach and supplementing interviews with content-analysis of activists’ public statements, as well as taking into consideration the voices of other interested agents in the heritage preservation movement.

A tale of two paths

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Fen-may Liou
Keyword(s):  
Latent Class ◽  
Group Performance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Strategic Group ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Lower Performance ◽  
Strategic Competition ◽  
Trajectory Group ◽  
Strategy Variables ◽  
Group Concept

Purpose Based on a strategic group concept, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of resource employments on persistent performance in the pharmaceutical industry. Design/methodology/approach In departing from previous research, this paper takes an inverted approach to mapping firms into heterogeneous groups with distinct long-term performance trajectories, given that strategic profiles and characteristics were unknown. The methodology used is latent class growth analysis, a person-centred approach focussing on the relationships among individuals. Regression models were subsequently used to examine the strategy variables-performance relationship between groups and within groups. Findings First, firms were grouped into upper-performance and lower-performance trajectory subpopulations. Second, the effects of marketing and R&D on performance significantly differed within subpopulations and presented a U shape or an inverse U shape relation. Third, the employment of R&D resources was more effective in the lower-performance trajectory group, the average scale of which is smaller than in the upper-performance trajectory group. On the contrary, the employment of marketing resources had a greater benefited in the upper-performance trajectory group. Research limitations/implications Intangible strategy features are ignored due to measure problem in the long period. Practical implications Strategic competition is more significant among intragroup members than inter groups. That the U-shape or invert U-shape effects of resource employments on performance among intragroup members reminds the researchers that the law of diminishing return or increasing return should not be ignored when test the group-performance relationship in future research. Originality/value The current study introduces an effective approach to investigate the strategic group concept.

scholarly journals The effects of store managers’ empowering leadership on contact employees’ cooperative behavior

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
HackSoo Kim ◽  
DaeHun Park ◽  
JunHo Lee
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Department Stores ◽  
Mediating Effects ◽  
Empowering Leadership ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Team Trust

The purpose of this study is to verify the mediating effects of team trust that becomes pronounced as the empowering leadership of store managers influences the cooperative behavior of contact employees as well as the moderating effects of team cynism in the relationship between the empowering leadership of store managers and team trust. To this end, we conducted a survey of 150 store managers and 400 contact employees working in stores located inside department stores, and analyzed data collected from 114 store managers and 340 contact employees, except unreliable responses. As a result of a hierarchical regression analysis to confirm mediating effects, it was found that team trust had a partially mediating effect on the relationship between the empowering leadership of store managers and the cooperative behavior of contact employees. The empowering leadership of store managers had a directly effect on the cooperative behavior of contact employees, as well as the empowering leadership of store managers had a indirectly effect on the cooperative behavior of contact employees through the team trust. Also found were the negative moderating effect of team cynicism in the relationship between the empowering leadership of store managers and team trust. Based on the research findings, this study discussed its academic significance, practical implications, limitations and future research tasks.

scholarly journals A comprehensive review of the influences of nanoparticles as a fuel additive in an internal combustion engine (ICE)

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1326-1349
Author(s):  
Siti Nurul Akmal Yusof ◽  
Nor Azwadi Che Sidik ◽  
Yutaka Asako ◽  
Wan Mohd. Arif Aziz Japar ◽  
Saiful Bahri Mohamed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Combustion Efficiency ◽  
Fuel Properties ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Biodiesel Fuel ◽  
Fuel Additive ◽  
Engine Combustion ◽  
Research Findings

Abstract Nanofluid is a colloidal mixture consisting of nano-sized particles dispersed in a liquid medium. It improves heat transfer properties and promotes high energy efficiency in a wide spectrum of engineering applications. In recent years, particularly in the automotive industry, the addition of nanofluid in diesel/biodiesel as an additive for ICE has become an attractive approach to promote enhanced combustion efficiency and emission reduction due to their superior thermophysical properties. Many researchers have previously demonstrated that the addition of nanoparticles in diesel/biodiesel fuel improved the overall engine combustion characteristics. As a whole, this study aims to summarize the recent research findings related to the effect of nanoparticles on the fuel properties and engine combustion efficiency. Furthermore, different types of additive blended with varying fuel properties are also compared and discussed. Lastly, the advantages and prospects of using nanofluid as an additive fuel are summarized for future research opportunities.

scholarly journals Foeniculum vulgareMill: A Review of Its Botany, Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, Contemporary Application, and Toxicology

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamkant B. Badgujar ◽  
Vainav V. Patel ◽  
Atmaram H. Bandivdekar
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Medicine ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Foeniculum Vulgare ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Valuable Compounds

Foeniculum vulgareMill commonly called fennel has been used in traditional medicine for a wide range of ailments related to digestive, endocrine, reproductive, and respiratory systems. Additionally, it is also used as a galactagogue agent for lactating mothers. The review aims to gather the fragmented information available in the literature regarding morphology, ethnomedicinal applications, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology ofFoeniculum vulgare. It also compiles available scientific evidence for the ethnobotanical claims and to identify gaps required to be filled by future research. Findings based on their traditional uses and scientific evaluation indicates thatFoeniculum vulgareremains to be the most widely used herbal plant. It has been used for more than forty types of disorders. Phytochemical studies have shown the presence of numerous valuable compounds, such as volatile compounds, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, fatty acids, and amino acids. Compiled data indicate their efficacy in severalin vitroandin vivopharmacological properties such as antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic, antinociceptive, antipyretic, antispasmodic, antithrombotic, apoptotic, cardiovascular, chemomodulatory, antitumor, hepatoprotective, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, and memory enhancing property.Foeniculum vulgarehas emerged as a good source of traditional medicine and it provides a noteworthy basis in pharmaceutical biology for the development/formulation of new drugs and future clinical uses.

A sociosemiotic interpretation of cultural heritage in UNESCO legal instruments: a corpus-based study

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwen Bouvier ◽  
Zhonghua Wu
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Negotiation ◽  
Heritage Studies ◽  
Securitization Theory ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
International Instruments

Abstract The past few decades have seen a plethora of interest in heritage studies in international law, as the legitimization of cultural heritage is a significant aspect of protecting the legacy of humanity’s collective memory, which is fully reflected in a series of international instruments on culture. This paper examines the meaning-making process of UNESCO legal documents on cultural heritage from a sociosemiotic perspective. The data for the corpus-based study were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively by applying the securitization theory to heritage studies. Research findings reveal three significant shifts in cultural heritage, i.e., from property to heritage, from tangible to intangible, and from material-centered to human-centered, which embodies the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature, a philosophical idea embedded in traditional Chinese culture. As noted, terms targeting cultural heritage in UNESCO international instruments are the sign vehicle, generally mediated and shaped by social values, cultural beliefs, and conventional wisdom, etc. as a part of the interpretant, making different categories of heritage meaningful and interpretable. Characterized by temporality and spatiality, cultural heritage is subject to multiple interpretations. The meaning-making of international instruments for consideration is a sociosemiotic operation that can be construed through contextual factors and a process of social negotiation. This paper argues that a sociosemiotic approach to heritage studies is conducive to explicating the construction and deconstruction of heritage as discursive practices while offering some implications for future research.

Impact and paybacks of biomedical research findings in Malaysia 2005–2015

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei Kuan Lai ◽  
S Nalliah ◽  
CL Teng ◽  
NLP Chen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Health System ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Biomedical Research ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health System Policy

Background: Impact in research encompasses health, economic, and cultural benefits beyond adding to the knowledge base. Funders are under immense pressure to be accountable for the paybacks from funded research.Aims and objectives: The aim of this study was to look into the impact of funded biomedical research between the years 2005 and 2015 in Malaysia from the aspects of knowledge production, research targeting and capacity building, as well as health system policy and decision making.Methods: This study employed a convergent parallel mixed-methods research design. Biomedical projects related to breast cancer, coronary heart disease, and dengue, funded by the Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), and Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI) between the years 2005 and 2015, were included.Findings: From the questionnaire responses (n=58), on average each funded project managed to produce two outputs and one higher degree student. More than half (61.4%) of the funded projects led to subsequent future research. However, low citations in systematic reviews (10.3%), health policies (6.9%), and clinical practice guidelines (5.2%) were reported. In-depth interviews with the key opinion leaders also saw that most of the local research findings were found to be irrelevant to be adopted into policies by the policymakers.Discussion and conclusions: Paybacks on knowledge production as well as research targeting and capacity building had been achieved, but impact on health system policy and decision making had not been well attained, due to the lack of relevant research findings needed by the policymakers.<br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Payback on knowledge production was achieved, as there had been a lot of new knowledge generated as captured in academic publications, conference proceedings, policy briefs, technical reports, and research highlights, which is important to advance the frontiers of knowledge.</li><br /><li>Payback on research targeting was achieved, with the current research leading to future study with identification of the knowledge gap and generation of new ideas for new research.</li><br /><li>Payback on capacity building was achieved with the training of researchers, building up research capacity and competencies, production of MSc and PhD graduates, promotion of lecturers, and development of new partnerships and networks.</li><br /><li>Impact on health system policy and decision making was not well attained. There had been a lack of relevant research data and findings being incorporated into policymaking, due to the basic and fundamental nature of most of the funded biomedical research in Malaysia.</li></ul>

Consumer Confusion in Mobile Application Buying

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 52-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tathagata Ghosh ◽  
Venu Gopal Rao
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Behavior ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Need For Cognition ◽  
Partial Least Square ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Consumer Confusion ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Research Findings

This study aims to examine effects of consumer confusion proneness on two consumer behavior variables, word of mouth and buying decision, in a confusion prone product market like smartphone and mobile applications (app). Additionally, the study examines the moderating influence of a personality trait variable pertinent to information processing – need for cognition, on the afore-mentioned relationships. Data were collected via a survey from 254 post-graduate students and analyzed with the help of structural equation modeling with a partial least square (PLS) approach using SmartPLS 2.0. Research findings indicate that the dimensions of consumer confusion proneness behave differently in terms of their linkages with consumer behavior. Further, as expected, consumers' need for cognition also play a major moderating role which helps to fathom the concept of consume confusion in the context of mobile and smartphone applications. Academic and managerial implications as well as scope for future research are also discussed.

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