Under what conditions do pioneers and follower strategies each have the greatest probability of long -term success?

Question 1

Under what conditions do pioneers and follower strategies each have the greatest probability of long -term success?

Answer 1

Pioneer and follower strategies stand the best chance of long success in market share leadership and profitability when:

1. The new product-market is insulated from entry of competitors (at least for a while) by strong patent protection, Pty tech, substantial set up costs on competitors
2. The firm has sufficient size, resources and competencies to take full advantage of it’s pioneering position and preserve it in the face of later competitive entries.

Question 2

Example of market follower benefiting

Answer 2

Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Microsoft holding a leading scare of office application software but in most cases the firm was not the pioneer. As a follower Microsoft developed improved product designs offering better performance and it has superior financial resources to aggressively promote its’ products . Does it always make sense to go first?