Abstract:
The preoccupation to consider the heterogeneity in firm behavior within an activity sector has been one of the main reasons for the search and identification of strategic groups, generating an inexhaustible debate in the scope of the strategic management. Nevertheless, this preoccupation has not been limited to identify firm archetypes or configurations, but also it has extended to the study of possible differences in performance between the identified groups. In this paper, we tried to answer to this double problem focusing in the scope of franchising. A data base including all the franshisor chains (664) that operated in Spain in 2005 has been elaborated. Results reveal the existence of five strategic groups (types of franchisors) perfectly differentiated, which are described from the strategic variables they define them. Also, the existence of differences between groups with regard to results is shown based on some performance measures (income, ordinary results and profit).