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Foreign multinational corporations in Israel are perceived as offering value.

The degree of innovation and risk-taking within an organization are discussed with reference to the competitive strategy of the firm.

This article focuses upon dynamic aspects of strategic groups in the context of the US insurance industry from 1970-84. It examines the longitudinal structure of industry strategic groups and identifies the strategic patterns followed by these strategic groups over time. The mobility rates of firms between strategic groups are also assessed. It appears that three dominant groups are present throughout the period of the study while other group positions emerge and disappear over time. The evidence suggests that the quantum theory of strategic adaptation (i.e. dramatic and concerted change) satisfactorily models the processes of strategic group change. And, a low level of firm mobility is found to exist between strategic groups consistent with the presence of inertia and mobility barriers. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

The Mobility Barriers Paradigm (Caves and Porter, 1977) has strongly influenced research in strategic management, particularly in the areas of competitive analysis and strategic groups. In this article we develop a procedure called MOBIUS, based on 'match ratios' (MRs), in order to identify those competitive variables which act as mobility barriers in a particular industry. We also attempt to classify mobility barriers in terms of the degree of observed mobility around key strategic variables and the extent to which change is desired on these variables. The MOBIUS procedure is illustrated briefly in the context of the pharmaceutical industry. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

This article briefly reviews previous research on strategic groups and focuses upon the influence of time on strategic positioning. This stability approach also motivates research into the dynamics of strategic group shifts. An illustrative example drawn from the drug industry emphasizes the practical application of these concepts. The analytically-derived strategic groupings are then compared with evidence drawn from industry and academic research. Finally, following discussion of the results, some suggestions about integrating the strategic group concept into strategic management research are also made. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Purpose: This article investigates marketing and technology absorptive capacities as distinct types of external knowledge while considering three environmental conditions, namely uncertainty, munificence, and heterogeneity and two distinct outcomes, namely innovation and financial performance. Methodology/approach: Using a quantitative approach, the authors analyze data from 141 Israeli business-to-business high-tech firms. Findings: The data mostly supported the hypotheses. Empirical findings imply that an uncertain environment is a precursor for a strong effort to develop a technological absorptive capacity and, to a lesser extent, a marketing absorptive capacity. Technological and marketing absorptive capacities were found to be distinct constructs with positive impacts on financial and innovation performance. Marketing absorptive capacity had a stronger impact than technological absorptive capacity on financial performance. Surprisingly, marketing absorptive capacity was negatively associated with innovation performance. Originality/value: This study attempts to overcome some limiting assumptions of absorptive capacity theory that have contributed to its reification in order to make three theoretical contributions. First, it distinguishes between marketing and technological absorptive capacities. Second, it tests differential responses of the two absorptive capacities to environmental contingencies. Third, it compares the differential impacts of marketing and technological absorptive capacities on financial and innovation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is considerable confusion about effecting the implementation of the strategic-group concept, mainly because various researchers have used different measures. These range from one measure such as market share, to many variables which together might describe a company's strategy. A firm's strategy might best be described as having three elements: strategy level, strategic decision components, and the influence of time on the making of strategic decisions. It is in identification of these strategic group dimensions that one can assess competitors' formulation of strategy and promote an understanding of the nature of inter-firm competition.

During the last three decades, Israel has shown dramatic growth in technological startups, which may be attributed to its human-resource base and its physical-structure support for high-tech entrepreneurial activity. Medical technology was targeted by Israeli firms because it was perceived to be attractive and global. Nevertheless, to acquire access to complementary technologies, to amass sufficient capital and marketing resources, and to compensate for market-knowledge shortcomings, many of the firms adopted cooperative strategies. Our findings show that, overall firms that have undertaken alliances marginally underperformed those that have not, suggesting that the benefits of alliances are counterweighed by their drawbacks. R&D alliances with a foreign firm outperformed alliances with a local partner; in contrast, production alliances involving another Israeli firm outperformed alliances with a foreign firm, except for cost. Foreign-partner alliances in marketing were superior to local alliances, but did not enhance survivability. Implications for strategic-alliance formation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to extend and integrate the new strategic reference points theory (SRP), developed in the strategic management area, into the discipline of strategic marketing management. The major new tenets of the theory are the inclusion of cognitive, organizational processes and benchmarking simultaneously. First, the authors describe the impact of the marketing SRP on marketing strategic choice behavior captured in the tradeoff between risk and return (risk avert vs. risk lover) as was proposed by prospect theory. Then, they explore the performance consequences of integrating the newly formed stages while considering organizational process and implementation issues of reference points such as content, configuration, consensus, and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study empirically investigated the propositions generated from agency and constituency perspectives about the nature of the managerial role. The managerial role was conceptualized as an integral part of the existing outcome interdependecies and power relations amond a set of constituencies. By using time-series data on 160 companies in 10 manufacturing industries and performing three-stage least squares (3SLS) analyses, it was found that both competitive and symbiotic outcome interdependecies exist among the constituencies of organizations, and that these interdependencies are related to the long-term average outcomes of these constituencies. The implications of these findings for the symbolic role of managers is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]