Strategic group mapping is used for the purpose of displaying the competitive positions that rival firms occupy in the industry. In every industry there are some companies which enjoy stronger market position than other. Therefore it becomes important to analyze the industry’s competitive structure and indentify the strategic group (cluster of industry rivals that have similar competitive approaches and market position). Each industry contains one or more than one strategic group depending upon the strategies and market positions of industry members.

Purpose of Strategic Group Maps

1. Identification of close and distant rivals. This is important to know because close strategic groups have stronger cross-group competitive rivalry.
2. Identification of attractive and unattractive positions of the firms in industry. This attractiveness depends upon the industry driving forces, prevailing competitive pressures and profit potentials of different strategic groups.
3. Strategic group mapping helps in identifying the strategic group a firm should consider entering.
4. It helps in analyzing the type and level of entry barriers the firm will face.
5. It also examines the number and type of entry barriers the firm will face.

Guidelines for Constructing Strategic Group Maps

1. There should be no correlation between the variables selected as axes for the map.
2. There should be a big difference between the variables selected. This will help to easily identify the rival’s position in the market place.
3. The variables selected should be discrete rather than quantitative or continuous.
4. A relative size of each strategic group depends upon the combined sales of the firms in each strategic group.
5. Different competitive variables should be used as axes for the map because there is not necessarily one best map.

Steps in the Construction of Strategic Group Maps