Rethinking Competitive Strategy in Mature Industries: An externally-focused in-depth study into how companies in mature industries can rethink their competitive strategies.
(2016) MGTN59 20161Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Today’s rapidly changing environment amplifies the need for companies no matter the industry, to stay
on top of their game and not lose market share to competing firms. This is particularly true of companies
in mature industries, and therefore, is a worthy area of study and the focus of this thesis.
Rethinking Competitive Strategy in Mature Industries is an in-depth, exploratory study, with an empirical
focus on a single case study, Business Unit Building (BUB). Qualitative data was collected from thirteen
interviews based on semi-structured questions. Published reports were additionally considered. Although
it is advisable not to generalize, the single case study acts as inspiration for other companies in similar
positions... (More) - Today’s rapidly changing environment amplifies the need for companies no matter the industry, to stay
on top of their game and not lose market share to competing firms. This is particularly true of companies
in mature industries, and therefore, is a worthy area of study and the focus of this thesis.
Rethinking Competitive Strategy in Mature Industries is an in-depth, exploratory study, with an empirical
focus on a single case study, Business Unit Building (BUB). Qualitative data was collected from thirteen
interviews based on semi-structured questions. Published reports were additionally considered. Although
it is advisable not to generalize, the single case study acts as inspiration for other companies in similar
positions seeking to rethink their strategies.
The theoretical framework includes Porter’s five forces, Porter’s generic strategies, as well as other more
general competitive strategy theories. These are rendezvoused into one model that shows the theories in
sequence, which can be implemented when developing competitive strategies.
The conclusions show that the stage of the industry life cycle is a defining factor of the competitive
strategies that firms must take. A key take-away is that companies should not be afraid of proactive
strategic change, which may be the only way to maintain or re-gain a competitive position amongst
multiple competitors, who oftentimes follow similar strategies and provide customers with similar
product offerings. Thus regardless of the generic strategy that companies decide to pursue, they must
adopt a proactive competitive strategy in then deciding which generic strategy(ies) would be most useful. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8883874
- author
- Sigvaldadóttir, Auður LU and Taylor, Alexandra LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MGTN59 20161
- year
- 2016
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Mature industry, strategic renewal, change, Porter, competitive strategy, reactive, proactive, industry life cycle
- language
- English
- id
- 8883874
- date added to LUP
- 2016-06-21 15:57:49
- date last changed
- 2016-06-21 15:57:49
@misc{8883874,
abstract = {{Today’s rapidly changing environment amplifies the need for companies no matter the industry, to stay
on top of their game and not lose market share to competing firms. This is particularly true of companies
in mature industries, and therefore, is a worthy area of study and the focus of this thesis.
Rethinking Competitive Strategy in Mature Industries is an in-depth, exploratory study, with an empirical
focus on a single case study, Business Unit Building (BUB). Qualitative data was collected from thirteen
interviews based on semi-structured questions. Published reports were additionally considered. Although
it is advisable not to generalize, the single case study acts as inspiration for other companies in similar
positions seeking to rethink their strategies.
The theoretical framework includes Porter’s five forces, Porter’s generic strategies, as well as other more
general competitive strategy theories. These are rendezvoused into one model that shows the theories in
sequence, which can be implemented when developing competitive strategies.
The conclusions show that the stage of the industry life cycle is a defining factor of the competitive
strategies that firms must take. A key take-away is that companies should not be afraid of proactive
strategic change, which may be the only way to maintain or re-gain a competitive position amongst
multiple competitors, who oftentimes follow similar strategies and provide customers with similar
product offerings. Thus regardless of the generic strategy that companies decide to pursue, they must
adopt a proactive competitive strategy in then deciding which generic strategy(ies) would be most useful.}},
author = {{Sigvaldadóttir, Auður and Taylor, Alexandra}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Rethinking Competitive Strategy in Mature Industries: An externally-focused in-depth study into how companies in mature industries can rethink their competitive strategies.}},
year = {{2016}},
}