Examining Generic Competitive Strategy Types in U.S. and European Markets
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Recentyearshavewitnesseda growingintensityof competitionin virtually all areasof business,whetherat home or abroad,in marketsupstreamfor rawmaterials,components,supplies,capitaland technologyas well as in marketsdownstreamfor consumergoods and services[Henderson1983; Wind and Robertson 1983]. This has resulted in greater attention to analyzingcompetitivebehaviorand competitivestrategieseffectiveunder differentenvironmentalconditions.Typologiesof genericcompetitivestrategies or "strategytypes" have, for example,been proposed[McGeeand Thomas 1986;Miles and Snow 1978;Porter1980]and empiricallytested [Dess and Davis 1984;Galbraithand Schendel1983;Hambrick1983a,b; Miller 1986;White 1986]. Levelsof performanceassociated with these strategytypeshavebeenexamined,asalsotheirorganizational characteristics, *SusanP. Douglasis ResearchProfessorof MarketingandInternationalBusiness, SternSchool of Business,New YorkUniversity.Her primaryresearchinterests arein the areaof globalstrategicmarketingand internationalmarketingresearch. **DongKeeRhee is a doctoralcandidatein InternationalBusinessat the Stern School of Business,New YorkUniversity. FinancialsupportforthisresearchwasprovidedbytheMarketingScienceInstitute,Cambridge,Mass. andthe GraduateSchoolof Business,New YorkUniversity.The authorswishto thankthe Strategic PlanningInstitute,Cambridge,Mass. for providingaccessto the PIMSdatabase. Received:January1988;Revised:May& November1988;Accepted:January1989.
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JOURNALOF INTERNATIONALBUSINESSSTUDIES,FALL1989
and the type of environmentalconditionsunderwhichdifferenttypes of competitivestrategyare most likelyto be pursued. The vast majorityof researchon competitivestrategy,especiallyrelating to genericstrategytypeshas, however,been conductedin relationto businessesin the U.S. Lessinterestappearsto havebeenfocusedon examining the extentto whichthesefindingsaregeneralizableto marketsoutsidethe U.S. Toassumethat such typologiesareuniversallyvalidwithoutexplicit investigationis, however,analogous to the adoption of a pseudo-etic approachin cross-culturalattitudinalresearchITriandis1972;Pike 1966]. This widelycriticizedapproachwas foundedin the assumptionthat attitudinalscales,intelligenceandpersonalitytestsdevelopedin theU.S.would provideunbiasedmeasuresof attitudes,intelligenceor personalityin other countries[Gordonand Kikucki1966]. Yet,both empiricalresearchfindingsand anecdotalevidencegive reason to believethat differencesmay occur in competitivestrategiesfrom one countryorregionof theworldto another.Companiesof differentnational originsor organizationaltypesmay,for example,pursuedifferentcompetitivestrategiesdueto differentmanagementphilosophies,orgoalsandobjectives. Companiesmay also use differentstrategiesto penetrateovereseas marketsdueto differencesin the competitivemarketenvironment.Market characteristics,such as the stage in the productlife cycle,rateof market gr
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