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Does Strategic Group Membership Affect Firm Performance? An Analysis of the German Brewing Industry

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  • Theuvsen, Ludwig
  • Heyder, Matthias
  • Niederhut-Bollmann, Christoph

Abstract

The concept of strategic groups has been successfully applied for analyzing firm strategies, structures and performance in various industries. Based on a largescale empirical study, this paper identifies strategic groups in the German brewing industry and analyzes the effects of group membership on economic performance. The brewing industry is an interesting research object. The severe economic crisis German breweries face in their home market and the deep structural changes reshaping the global beer industry are forcing German breweries to rethink their strategic position. The analysis reveals a limited number of strategic groups and significant performance differences between these groups. Both results are in line with the central hypotheses of the concept of strategic groups. The empirical results enable firm managers to benchmark their breweries against more successful strategic groups, to better adapt corporate and competitive strategies to firm environments, to identify more profitable strategic positions, and to take action to switch from one strategic group to another. Das Konzept der strategischen Gruppen ist wiederholt zur Analyse des Zusammenhangs von Unternehmensstrategien und -Performance eingesetzt worden. In diesem Beitrag untersuchen wir auf der Grundlage einer großzahligen empirischen Studie, inwieweit in der deutschen Brauwirtschaft strategische Gruppen existieren und die Zugehörigkeit zu einer dieser Gruppen Einfluss auf die Unternehmens-Performance hat. Die Brauwirtschaft ist ein besonders interessanter Anwendungsfall für das Konzept der strategischen Gruppen, da sie mehr als 1200 Unternehmen umfasst und zugleich tiefgreifende Veränderungen der Weltbrauwirtschaft wie auch des Verbraucherverhaltens die Unternehmen zwingen, ihre Strategien kritisch zu überprüfen. Im Rahmen der Untersuchung konnten die beiden zentralen Annahmen des Konzepts der strategischen Gruppen – Existenz einer begrenzten Anzahl strategischer Gruppen sowie zwischen ihnen bestehender Performance-Unterschiede – bestätigt werden. Die Untersuchungsergebnisse haben vielfältige Implikationen für das Management von Unternehmen der Brauwirtschaft; sie erlauben es Managern u.a., ihre Brauereien mit erfolgreicheren Wettbewerbern zu vergleichen und Maßnahmen zum Wechsel in eine mehr Erfolg versprechende strategische Gruppe einzuleiten.

Suggested Citation

  • Theuvsen, Ludwig & Heyder, Matthias & Niederhut-Bollmann, Christoph, 2010. "Does Strategic Group Membership Affect Firm Performance? An Analysis of the German Brewing Industry," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 59(02), pages 1-16, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:gjagec:145223
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.145223
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Dominic, Theresia & Theuvsen, Ludwig, 2015. "The Impact of External and Internal Factors on Strategic Management Practices of Agribusiness Firms in Tanzania," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 197072, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    3. Iselborn, Maximilian & Müller Loose, Simone & Kühl, Rainer, 2016. "Produktionsstrategische Erfolgsfaktoren Veredelnder Weinbaubetriebe," 56th Annual Conference, Bonn, Germany, September 28-30, 2016 244803, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    4. Liam Keenan, 2020. "The geographies of the institutional and industrial constraints on the financialization of German brewing," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(8), pages 1662-1680, November.

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