The general position number ${\rm gp}(G)$ of a connected graph $G$ is the cardinality of a largest set $S$ of vertices such that no three pairwise distinct vertices from $S$ lie on a common geodesic. It is proved that ${\rm gp}(G)\ge ω(G_{\rm SR}$, where $G_{\rm SR}$ is the strong resolving graph of $G$, and $ω(G_{\rm SR})$ is its clique number. That the bound is sharp is demonstrated with numerous constructions including for instance direct products of complete graphs and different families of strong products, of generalized lexicographic products, and of rooted product graphs. For the strong product it is proved that $gp(G\boxtimes H) \ge gp(G)gp(H)$, and asked whether the equality holds for arbitrary connected graphs $G$ and $H$. It is proved that the answer is in particular positive for strong products with a complete factor, for strong products of complete bipartite graphs, and for certain strong cylinders.