Abstract
Strategic group analysis portrays an industry as a few categories of firms, but researcher selected variables curtail its reflection of managerial reality. From a cognitive perspective it is shown that managers simplify their environment by grouping similar competitors. It is argued that they do not perceive industry structure in the manner proposed by economists. Interviews amongst managers in the oil pump industry showed evidence of them simplifying their environment by grouping competitors. None perceived the industry as economists suggest and more similar perceptions were seen between managers in the same firm than between different firms.
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de Chernatony, L., Daniels, K., Johnson, G. (2015). Evaluating Managers’ Perceptions of Competitive Industry Structure. In: Sirgy, M., Bahn, K., Erem, T. (eds) Proceedings of the 1993 World Marketing Congress. Developments in Marketing Science: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17323-8_15
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