J BUSN RES 1988:17:101-113 zyxwvutsrqponmlkjih 101 Robustness of Ordinal Measures of Competitive Strategy Variables Employed in Business Research A PIMS Data-based Analysis A. Parasuraman P. Rajan Varadarajan Texas A&M University PIMS data for a sample of capital goods business and a series of transformations of the data generated through Monte Carlo simulation were used to examine the robustness of ordinal measures of competitive strategy variables in additive and multiplicative regression models. Ten sets of transformations were made under a variety of assumptions about the types of errors executives may make in providing ordinal estimates of their relative competitive positions. While the findings are somewhat encouraging to researchers engaged in strategy research, they also point to a need for additional methodological research in this area. Introduction A review of strategy literature reveals an increasing level of interest in construct operationalization and measurement-related issues. In a recent article, Venkatra- man and Grant (1986) provide a detailed discussion of the progression in strategic management from nominal to single-item to multi-item strategy scales. The authors stress that there is still a need to assess the measurement properties of the scales developed and employed by strategy researchers. The PIMS (Profit Impact of Market Strategy) data base developed in the early 1970s has spawned an extensive body of empirical research in the strategy area. Authors have capitalized on the richness of this data base to research a wide range of issues from various orientations and perspectives (see Buzzell and Gale [1987] for an extensive bibliography of PIMS data-based studies). Measurement-related issues pertaining to certain PIMS strategy variables is the focus of this study. More specifically, issues relating to the measurement of intrinsically metric competitive Address correspondence to P. Rajan Varadarajan, Marketing Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-4112. Journal of Business Research 17, 101-113 (1988) cb 1988 Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc. 1988 52 Vanderbilt Ave., New York, NY 10017 014%2963/88/s3.50