Explaining firms’ performance through the resources and capabilities allocation in strategic groups: The Case of Italy’s Cosmetic Sector

The strategy literature encompasses studies that have investigated the existence of different strategic orientations as related to firm performance as well as studies that analyze the relationship between industry structure, the presence of strategic groups and firm performance. In contrast, very few studies attempted to evaluate the relationship between strategic orientations, resources, strategic groups and a firm performance. The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship among strategic orientations, resource and capabilities allocation, strategic groups and firm performance. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a focus group and a survey on the Italian cosmetics industry employing a sample of 80 firms. The results show that participants did not adopted exclusively one strategic orientation. Participants applied a hybrid strategy, blending different mixes of the market-based and technology-based orientations. Though different in their orientation,ultimately each grouping might yield a similar level of performance.