| This paper deals with a study of similarities regarding firm strategy, management style, organizational structure and performance within the BRIC´s Oil & Gas industries, from the point of view of strategic group analysis. Groups formed considered key dimensions reflecting firms’ strategic orientations. In general the recent literature analysis BRIC´s multinationals like a group of companies with the same strategies and that they are under the same competitive conditions. Here we contest this fact and we try to show through the concept of strategic groups and regional multinational that the common analysis of BRIC companies could be wrong. We use data from 34 oil and gas companies listed in Fortune 500 to make clusters analysis from revenues, profit, employee number and stockholder equity; also we use cases analyses of nine BRICs companies in this group to understand the strategic behavior. The results show that 1) BRIC companies do not belong to a unique strategic group although they have very similar performance; 2) BRIC oil and gas companies are not global multinational but they are more like regional companies according Rugman´s theory. |
