Hybrid strategy, which emerged as a contingency option to Porter's generic strategies framework [1], defends that in a dynamic environment the simultaneous pursuit of "Low Cost" and "Differentiation" approaches is fundamental for the short-term performance and long-term survival of the firm. A vast amount of literature supports the benefits of adopting a mixed approach of strategy: several empirical studies have proved that a hybrid strategy establishes a firm's performance superiority over the pure strategy choice. The hybrid literature has concentrated on the performance linkage and on the debate countering the pure strategy approach, however very little attention has been paid to the challenges presented by the mixed strategy implementation. In fact, despite the rich empirical literature, it is still not clear how firms that adopt a hybrid strategy may successfully integrate the inherent contradiction of the "Low Cost" and "Differentiation" approaches, escaping from the "Stuck in The Middle" outcome. Consequently, after a careful consultation of the relevant literature, we conclude that several types of hybrid strategy implementation, which should correspond to different business environmental situations, exist. In order to study the characteristics of these different types of hybrid strategies implementations, we propose a typology comprising four types of hybrid strategy implementation, defined by two antecedents of the firm and two antecedents of the environment. As a contribution of this article, the proposed typology has the purpose to fill a methodological gap regarding the adoption of Hybrid strategies and we expect that it could be used as a framework for further studies, aiming to suggest managerial implications and further unveil characteristics of the hybrid implementation. Additionally, we align and contrast the hybrid and ambidextrous approaches, which share many similarities. Despite the fact that they have been confounded in empirical studies, we concluded that hybridity and ambidexterity are distinct and complementary concepts: while hybrid strategy defines the value proposition of the firm (a composition of "Low Cost" and "Differentiation"), ambidexterity focus on how to deliver this value with efficiency (Exploitation) and how to renew it effectively (Exploration).
The aim of this article is to review the literature on the topic of sustained and temporary competitive advantage creation, specifically in dynamic markets, and to propose further research possibilities. After having analyzed the main trends and scholars’ works on the subject, it was concluded that a firm which has been experiencing erosion of its core sources of economic rent generation, should have diversified its strategy portfolio in a search for new sources of competitive advantage, ones that could compensate for the decline of profits provoked by intensive competitive environments. This review concludes with the hypothesis that firms, who have decided to enter and manage multiple competitive environments, should have developed a multiple strategies framework approach. The management of this source of competitive advantage portfolio should have allowed persistence of a firm’s superior economic performance through the management of diverse temporary advantages lifecycle and through a resilient effect, where a very successful source of competitive advantage compensates the ones that have been eroded. Additionally, the review indicates that economies of emerging countries, such as the ones from the BRIC block, should present a more complex competitive environment due to their historical nature of cultural diversity, social contrasts and frequent economic disruption, and also because of recent institutional normalization that has turned the market into hypercompetition. Consequently, the study of complex competition should be appropriate in such environments.
The aim of this article is to review the literature on the topic of sustained and temporary competitive advantage creation, specifically in dynamic markets, and to propose further research possibilities. After having analyzed the main trends and scholars' works on the subject, it was concluded that a firm which has been experiencing erosion of its core sources of economic rent generation, should have diversified its strategy portfolio in a search for new sources of competitive advantage, ones that could compensate for the decline of profits provoked by intensive competitive environments. This review concludes with the hypothesis that firms who have decided to manage complex competitive environments should have developed a multiple strategies framework approach. As a result of the literature review, we propose a reconceptualization of the construct hypercompetition adding the concept of market complexity, which allowed us to raise important further research possibilities.
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