A strategic group is a concept used in strategic management that groups companies within an industry that have similar business models or similar combinations of strategies. For example, the fast-food industry can be portrayed as consisting of several strategic groups. The number of groups within an industry and their composition depends on what dimensions you use to define the groups. Strategists often use a two dimentional grid to display the position of each company along to the two most important dimensions.

The term was coined by Hunt (1972) in his analysis of the appliance industry where he discovered less competitive rivalry than industry concentration ratios suggest there should be. He attributed this to the existence of subgroups within the industry that effectively reduce the number of competitors in each market.

Michael Porter (1980) developed the concept and applied it within his overall system of strategic analysis. He explained strategic groups in terms of what he called "mobility barriers". These are similar to the entry barriers that exist in industries, except they apply to groups within an industry. Because of these mobility barriers a company can get drawn into one strategic group or another. Strategic groups are not to be confused with Porter's generic strategies which are internal strategies and do not reflect the diversity of strategic styles within an industry.

References

• Hunt, M. (1972) "Competition in the Major Home Appliance Industry", doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, 1972.
• Porter, M. (1980) Competitive Strategy, Free Press, New York, 1980.