Budayan, C; Dikmen, I and Birgonul, T (2007) Strategic group analysis by using self organizing maps. In: Boyd, D (ed.) Proceedings of 23rd Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2007, Belfast, UK.
Abstract
The aim of strategic group analysis is to find out if clusters of firms that have a similar strategic position exist within an industry or not. Findings of strategic group analysis may further be used to investigate the performance implications of strategic group membership. Using a theoretical conceptual framework applicable for the construction industry and self organizing maps (SOM), the objective of this research is to identify possible strategic groups within the Turkish construction industry. SOM is an unsupervised neural network computational mapping technique that forms an ordered non-linear projection of high dimensional input data items to a low dimensional grid. In this research, by considering the U-matrix and Daveis-Bouldin index, the number of the strategic groups is determined as three. There exist significant performance differences between these three clusters. Major mobility barriers between the first and second strategic groups are determined as the strategic planning style and experience. For the second and third strategic groups, financial resources and managerial capability are found to be the most important mobility barriers. All of the firms in the strategic group that have the highest performance utilize a quality differentiation strategy. Findings of the strategic group analysis can be used by professionals to understand current strategic position of a firm within the competitive environment and formulate strategies to shift to a better performing cluster. Results are country specific and can not be generalized. However, comparative studies can be conducted by using the strategic dimensions and analysis method proposed within this paper.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | competitive advantage; self organizing maps; strategy |
| Index terms: | self-organizing, strategic planning, comparative study, mapping, conceptual framework, dimension, differentiation, construction industry, maps, mobility, competitive advantage, neural network, strategy |
| Subjects: | sociology, market analysis, infrastructure and transport systems, industry analysis, spatial and geospatial analysis, theoretical framing, management, health monitoring assessment and metrics, artificial intelligence, research design and methodology, organization |
| Topics: | Urban Studies, Digital Applications, Organizational Design, Health and Safety, Business Strategy, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here