Performance Consequences of Convergence and Divergence in Strategic Positioning

This paper investigates the performance consequence of strategic changes when firms move closer to or further away from other firms in the industry. The study suggests a theoretical framework and hypotheses on the effect of strategic convergence and divergence on performance, and tests hypotheses with firm-level longitudinal data on the U.S. food processing industry during the period of 1985-2000. The study shows that strategic divergence is negatively related to performance, and that organizational size and firm-specific uncertainty significantly influence the effect of strategic convergence and divergence on financial performance. Particularly, high uncertainty seems to be conducive to financial performance improvement for organizations undergoing significant strategic changes converging toward other competitors. On the other hand, big organizational size seems to be beneficial for finns implementing strategic changesdiverging from other competitors.