Namely are defensive, offensive, flanking and guerrilla...
Defensive strategies are used by the leader to protect its market share to its close rivals...
It can be done through many ways..
Example: Microsoft enjoys undisputed leadership in operating system(Windows) but it doesnt enjoy its laurels rather keep reinventing new things leaving no scope for their customers to try Machintosh. Keyword here is reinventing..
Another classic example is Gillette. It had rivalry from Wilksword etc but followed Wilksword to produce disposable razor so as to not leave any stone unturned..Now that the market is shared by both Gillette and wilksword, Gillette's new step was to introduce adjustable disposable razors making the earlier one obsolete through which it captured its lost marketing share...Leader should be bold enough to attack its own products...
About the offensive strategies, it should be used by close number 2 and number 3 players..
Offensive strategies should aim at not leaders weakness but weakness in its strengths..
Examples: One exquisite example in this regard is that of Avis(car rental company which is number 2 in US, Hertz was number 1).. We have read about its positioning in Kotler(reverse positioning) which says that "We are number 2 so we work hard than others." this is offensive... Another one by Avis was, Our waiting line lengths are shorter, so we serve fast. This is an example where they looked into weakness in Hertz's market share which is their strength..
This principle is also used in attacking a monopolistic market..
Example: Wall street journal had a monopoly in business news magazines.. Company like Business Times tried entering into the market with an offensive plan which came out to be very successful.. Wall street journal had a hair breadth difference between its content..One was financial (shares, debentures etc) and the other had business news(strategies etc.).. Now since Wall street positioned itself as financial newspaper BusinessTimes came up with Business newspaper..
I would be discussing the other 2 strategies in the next blog.. Ramkumar
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