Competitive Strategies

Market Leader
 Expand total market and expand market share
 Defend market share
o Position – static based on tradition
o Flank – attack the attacker’s weakness
o Preemptive – launch before enemy does
o Counteroffensive – attack after attacked
o Mobile – move into a new product/area
o Contraction – giving up weaker territories and reassigning resources to stronger
territories

Market Challenger
 Frontal – attack strength not weakness
 Flank – attack the attacker’s weakness
 Encirclement – attack both strength and weakness simultaneously
 Bypass – move to unrelated products/markets
 Guerrilla – small, intermittent attacks to harass and demoralize the opponent

Market Follower
 Take advantage of:
o Positioning mistakes
o Product mistakes
o Marketing mistakes
o Latest technology
o Pioneer’s limited resources

Market Niche
 To be a leader in a small market, or niche
 Specialization

Pioneering Advantages
 First choice of market segments and positioning
 Define the “rules of the game”
 Distribution advantages
 Economies of scale and experience
 High switching cost for early adoption
 May preempt scare resources/suppliers