Second, our distinction between growth and joint actions leads the way toward differentiating strategic actions, and enables more fine grained analysis of their drivers. Specifically, underperforming firms in terms of market share tend to engage in growth actions, while firms in financial distress are more inclined to pursue joint actions. Hence, underperforming firms are likely to prioritize strategic actions that address the specific aspect of performance in which they are lagging, and they would take such actions more speedily. The BTF provides a theoretical foundation for examining such asymmetric behavioral patterns not only between high- and low- performing firms, but between firms underperforming by different criteria.