7.3. Empirical limitations and future research
Opportunities for future research arise from the limitations of our empirical data as well. First, we captured competitive rivalry through a competitive repertoire approach, which aggregates a range of different strategic actions during a certain period of time (Ferrier, 2001; Miller & Chen, 1994). The advantage of this approach is that it reflects the strategic scheme of the company and its perceived pressures from
its competitors, and is appropriate for industries that have more than two or three players. However, it downplays the dynamic interaction on the level of dyadic rivalry which would be critical in duopolies or narrow oligopolies, and makes it “difficult to ascertain the reactions from rivals that specific actions engender” (Chen & Miller, 2012: 34). Future studies may complement general competitive pressures with data from direct rivals to study dyadic interaction.