Playing catch-up: How to define a path from market entrant to market leader

Abstract

Purpose

Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

Design/methodology/approach

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Findings

A great deal has been made in corporate strategy of the so-called ‘innovator’s dilemma’, where a once dominant firm gets caught out be upstarts in the same or adjacent markets, usually because it has failed to adjust to new technologies that are impacting on the market. Such market disruption, as it has been called, is often exemplified by the plight of Kodak in the 1980s and 1990s, as it lost ground to a succession of new entrants into the emerging digital photography market as film photography declined. A clear case of an incumbent force being complacent then.

Practical implications

Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.

Originality/value

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Citation

(2019), "Playing catch-up: How to define a path from market entrant to market leader", Strategic Direction, Vol. 35 No. 12, pp. 14-16. https://doi.org/10.1108/SD-09-2019-0180