Strategic groups as subsets of strategic scope groups in the Belgian brewing industry

This research report proposes a distinction between strategic scope groups and strategic groups whereby strategic groups are delineated within strategic scope groups. A strategic scope group (SSG) includes firms within an industry that define their business using a four-dimensional 'strategic space' consisting of buyer types, product types, geographical reach and level of vertical integration, in a similar way. Within each SSG there may be several strategic groups (SGs). An SG includes firms within an SSG that deploy their resources in a similar way and that compete in the same way. While all firms within an SSG may compete against each other, firms within the same SG compete against each other in a similar way. Within the brewing industry in Belgium Jive SSGs could be identified. These SSGs differ statistically significantly on a risk-adjusted return on assets measure. SGs themselves did not differ on this performance measure. One may therefore conclude that mobility barriers between SSGs are higher than they are between SGs. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.