Recent Developments Miles and Snow Types
Jaap de Jonge, Management Consultant, Netherlands
In a 2004 paper, the Miles and Snow strategic type framework was re-examined with respect to interrelationships with several theoretically relevant batteries of variables, including SBU strategic capabilities, environmental uncertainty, and performance. A newly developed constrained, multi-objective, classification methodology is modified to empirically derive an alternative quantitative typology using survey data obtained from 709 firms in three countries (China, Japan, United States).
The Miles and Snow typology was compared to the classification empirically derived utilizing this combinatorial optimization clustering procedure. With respect to both variable battery associations and objective statistical criteria, it showed that the empirically derived solution clearly dominates the traditional P-A-D-R typology of Miles and Snow.
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