Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse descriptively, through Porter's theory of national competitive advantages, if and how differences between home-countries of European electric firms affected, quantitatively and/or qualitatively, their diversification strategies after liberalisation. I performed an exploratory desk research by collecting and analysing data and information on strategic actions (mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances) of the main European electric firms. Data were taken from scientific papers, research reports and Eurostat databases. The analysis covers a period of 10 years (1998-2007), the first ten years after the European directive 96/92/ CE which started liberalisation of the electric industry across Europe.