Strategic Group Mapping

&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;left&semi;margin&colon;0px 0px 0px 0&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"justify">Strategic group mapping is used for the purpose of displaying the competitive positions that rival firms occupy in the industry&period; In every industry there are some companies which enjoy stronger market position than other&period; Therefore it becomes important to analyze the industry&&num;8217&semi;s competitive structure and indentify the strategic group &lpar;cluster of industry rivals that have similar competitive approaches and market position&rpar;&period; Each industry contains one or more than one strategic group depending upon the strategies and market positions of industry members&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>&&num;160&semi;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<h3>Purpose of Strategic Group Maps <&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p> &&num;160&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ol>&NewLine;<li>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"justify">Identification of close and distant rivals&period; This is important to know because close strategic groups have stronger cross-group competitive rivalry&period; <&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"justify">Identification of attractive and unattractive positions of the firms in industry&period; This attractiveness depends upon the industry driving forces&comma; prevailing competitive pressures and profit potentials of different strategic groups&period; <&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"justify">Strategic group mapping helps in identifying the strategic group a firm should consider entering&period;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"justify">It helps in analyzing the type and level of entry barriers the firm will face&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"justify">It also examines the number and type of entry barriers the firm will face&period; <&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ol>&NewLine;<h3>&&num;160&semi;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<h3>&&num;160&semi;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<h3>Guidelines for Constructing Strategic Group Maps<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p> &&num;160&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ol>&NewLine;<li>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"justify">There should be no correlation between the variables selected as axes for the map&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"justify">There should be a big difference between the variables selected&period; This will help to easily identify the rival&&num;8217&semi;s position in the market place&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"justify">The variables selected should be discrete rather than quantitative or continuous&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"justify">A relative size of each strategic group depends upon the combined sales of the firms in each strategic group&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>&NewLine;<div align&equals;"justify">Different competitive variables should be used as axes for the map because there is not necessarily one best map&period; <&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ol>&NewLine;<p> &&num;160&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Steps in the Construction of Strategic Group Maps<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p> &&num;160&semi;&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad2" id&equals;"quads-ad2" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px 0 0px 0&semi;text-align&colon;center&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;