English to Russian Bus/Financial Economics

Simplistic Classification Schemes
Existing classifications of strategy in the private sector have been extensively criticized because they do not meet the criteria of a good typology. Important typological criteria for judging the conceptual boxes include completeness, mutual exclusiveness, and internal homogeneity. Chrisman, Hofer, and Boulton (1988) argue that the elements of Porter’s (1980) typology are not mutually exclusive because businesses pursue cost leadership and differentiation simultaneously (see also Hill 1988). Empirical tests of Porter’s typology have also highlighted problems. Research by Miller and Dess (1993) has shown that the classification system is not complete because it does not cover all strategies adopted by private firms. Moreover, other work has suggested that Porter’s ‘‘stuck in middle’’ category is not necessarily the ‘‘lemon’’ of competitive strategy (Campbell-Hunt 2000) and can result in higher performance (Yamin, Gunasekaran, and Mavondo 1999). Similarly, Miles and Snow’s (1978) categories are not mutually exclusive—the analyzer category is an intermediate form of strategy that shares key characteristics of the prospector and defender types (Zahra and Pearce 1990).