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[email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications 2 o Strategic Groups, Industry Structure and Firms ’ Strategies: Theory and Evidence from the UK Grocery Retailing Industry Francesco Fortunato Curto Thesis Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Warwick Business School University of Warwick England May 1998 Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 1.0 The Research P- 1 1.1 Structure of the Research P- 5 Chapter 2 The Theoretical Foundations of Strategic Groups: the Harvard Approach 2.0 Introduction P- 9 2.1 The Research Context: Industrial Organisation and the Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) Paradigm p. 10 2.1.1 Firms’ Strategies and the Industry Structure in the SCP Paradigm P- 15 2.2 The Theory of Strategic Groups and Mobility Barriers p. 16 2.2.1 Structural and Endogenous Barriers to Entry P- 18 2.2.2 Barriers to Mobility and Strategic Groups P- 20 2.2.3 The Origins of Strategic Groups and Firms’ Strategic Behaviour P- 21 2.2.4 Intergroup Mobility, New Entry and Mobility Dynamics p. 22 2.3 The Characteristics of Strategic Groups Theory P- 25 2.4 Further Theoretical Development: Porter’s (1979) Theory of a Firm’s Profitability P- 28 2.4.1 Oligopolistic Rivalry and Firms’ Performance p.