Pioneer advantage: is it real? Does it matter?

Abstract

Rebuts the “mythology” that enduring market leaders tend to have been early entrants into their market categories. Demonstrates that, on the one hand, pioneer advantage is realized only if the pioneer succeeds in framing consumer preferences by continually improving the product and differentiating it from those of later‐entry competitors. On the other hand, later entrants to the market, having waited watchfully through a new product’s “long useless stage”, can take advantage of their much lower R&D costs, time their entry to the market as it begins to expand and seize it from the pioneer by adopting a strategy of “imitate and improve”.

Citation

Cahill, D.J. (1996), "Pioneer advantage: is it real? Does it matter?", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 5-8. https://doi.org/10.1108/02634509610121505