Competitive forces and strategic choice decisions: an experimental investigation in the United States and Japan

Deskripsi

Managers operate in a complex, uncertain environment and tend to form simplified models in order to cope with this environment and make competitive strategic decisions. This study examine the strategic choice decision-making process in firms located in the US and Japan. It develops several main-effect propositions regarding managerial selection of competitive strategies, depending on the competitive forces they are facing. The paper proposes main effect due to county of origin: Japanese managers prefer a cost-leadership strategy more than American managers do. The research findings indicated that high buyer power and high substitution threat were associated with a preference for cost-leadership strategies, and Japanese managers were significantly more likely to prefer a cost-leadership strategy than US managers. The paper also found that, under conditions of high buyer power, US managers were less likely than Japanese managers to enter a market with a differentiation or focus strategy. Little support was found for other interaction hypotheses, suggesting points of similarity between US and Japanese managers.Printed Journal