Assessing Mobility Barriers In Dynamic Strategic Groups Analysis

ABSTRACT The Mobility Barriers Paradigm (Caves and Porter, 1977) has strongly influenced research in strategic management, particularly in the areas of competitive analysis and strategic groups. In this article we develop a procedure called MOBIUS, based on ‘match ratios’(MRs), in order to identify those competitive variables which act as mobility barriers in a particular industry. We also attempt to classify mobility barriers in terms of the degree of observed mobility around key strategic variables and the extent to which change is desired on these variables. the MOBIUS procedure is illustrated briefly in the context of the pharmaceutical industry.