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Commentary—Defensive Marketing Strategies

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  • John R. Hauser

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142)

  • Steven M. Shugan

    (Warrington College of Business, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611)

Abstract

For every new product and service entrant, there are usually many incumbents who must defend their positions in the market. Hence, defensive strategy is as least as critical as new-product strategy. Our 1983 article argued that defensive strategy critically depends on the distribution of buyer preferences and the position of the new entrant relative to the position of the incumbent in a multidimensional attribute space. Since the appearance of our 1983 article in , research in defensive strategy has progressed in both prescriptive and descriptive directions. Subsequent research on defensive strategy has also addressed empirical, methodological, theoretical, and substantive issues. Today, defensive strategy is more important than ever, with shorter new-product life cycles, persistent service innovation, remarkable technological change, global competition, and the invention of new channels of distributions.

Suggested Citation

  • John R. Hauser & Steven M. Shugan, 2008. "Commentary—Defensive Marketing Strategies," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 85-87, 01-02.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:27:y:2008:i:1:p:85-87
    DOI: 10.1287/mksc.1070.0341
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Neil A. Morgan & Kimberly A. Whitler & Hui Feng & Simos Chari, 2019. "Research in marketing strategy," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 4-29, January.
    3. Martín-Herrán, Guiomar & McQuitty, Shaun & Sigué, Simon Pierre, 2012. "Offensive versus defensive marketing: What is the optimal spending allocation?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 210-219.
    4. Xianjin Du & Meng Li & Brian Wu, 2019. "Incumbent repositioning with decision biases," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 1984-2010, December.
    5. Yanjie Wu & Sujuan Wang, 2021. "Sustainable Market Entry Strategy under a Supply Chain Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-15, March.

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