Gaining Competitive Advantage – Strategies for an Internet Company to succeed in an International Market

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations

List of Tables

List of Figures

1. Introduction
1.1. Executive Summary
1.2. Scope of Work

2. Problem
2.1. Definition of Problem
2.2. Relevance of Problem
2.3. Research Methods

3. Competitive Strategies
3.1. Major competitive Strategies in international Markets
3.1.1. Market Leader Strategies
3.1.2. Market Challenger Strategies
3.1.3. Market Follower Strategies
3.1.4. Market Nicher Strategies
3.1.5. First Mover Strategy
3.2. Selection of relevant Theories
3.2.1. Detailed Analysis of the Market Nicher Strategy with regard to the Internet
3.2.2. Detailed Analysis of the First Mover Strategy with regard to the Internet

4. Theories for using the Internet effectively in international Markets
4.1. Major Drivers of the new Economy
4.2. Major Strategies for using the Internet as a Distribution Channel
4.2.1. Using the Internet to publish Product Information
4.2.2. The Internet as a minor Distribution Channel for a Company
4.2.3. Brick-and-Click Strategies
4.1.4. Strategies for an Online Enterprise
4.3. Selection of relevant Theories
4.3.1. Analysis of the Strategies to use the Internet as an exclusive Distribution Channel
4.3.2. Potential and limitation of E-commerce
4.3.3. New strategic Forces in the digital Age

5. Case
5.1. Definition and History of Online Auctions
5.2. Case Description of the Internet Company eBay
5.3. How to apply Research Methods to Case
5.4. How to apply the Market Nicher Strategy onto the Case
5.5. Analysis of the First Mover Strategy of the Company eBay
5.6. How eBay is successful in using the Internet as an exclusive Distribution Channel
5.7. Future Prospects of the Business Strategies of eBay

6. Conclusion

Attachment

Bibliography
Literature
Internet
Articles and Others

List of Abbreviations

illustration not visible in this excerpt

List of Tables

Table 1, Forecast: Worldwide Online Trade Growth, 2002 to 2006

Table 2, Selected Indicators of eBay’s Growth

List of Figures

Figure 1, Porter’s Five Forces Model

Figure 2, Possible Market Structure

Figure 3, Attack strategies

Figure 4, Generic strategies.

Figure 5, Niche objectives

Figure 6, Strategies of international companies

Figure 7, Possibilities for specialization in a market niche

Figure 8, Possible forms of e-commerce

Figure 9, Factors affecting the application of the internet into business life

Figure 10, Integration of old and new economy

Figure 11, User requests for online shopping

Figure 12, Global online auction sales.

Figure 13, 1 Year Stock Chart of the Company eBay

Figure 14, revenue in Germany in 2003

Figure 15, Amount of money spent on the internet

Figure 16, Registration at other online auction providers than eBay

Figure 17, Most used categories

Figure 18, Estimation of eBay facing a large competitor in the future or not.

Figure 19, Registered customers at eBay.

Figure 20, Number of offered items on eBay

Figure 21, Number of purchased items at eBay

Figure 22, Innovative features of eBay’s web site

Figure 23, Evaluation of customer support at eBay

Figure 24, Importance of different features on eBay’s web site

Figure 25, Evaluation of different features on eBay’s web site

Figure 26, Internet users by regions

Figure 27, Money spent on the internet monthly

1. Introduction

This thesis deals with strategies for an internet company to succeed in an international market. In today’s markets competition becomes more and more intense. Companies have to follow up new strategies even faster, because rapid economic changes can make strategies that were successful yesterday, obsolete today.^[1] But also new communication methods like e-commerce, e-mail, or mobile phones have a revolutionary impact on daily business^[2], especially on account of the internet companies who have to offer their customers “different ways to communicate, receive information and buy goods”^[3]. Companies need to rethink their opportunities in the markets and have to adapt their strategies according to the global changes that occur.

1.1. Executive Summary

The globalization of markets brings about a globalization of companies all around the world^[4]. It enables companies in many branches to sell their goods and services in almost all countries. But in order to do so, the management of a company has to decide on new marketing strategies and has to find new ways to address and inform customers all over the world. One of the most important distribution channels for worldwide trade has become the internet. Companies now have the opportunity to “inform and promote their businesses and products”^[5], e.g. by listing the products they sell on their homepage and by providing all other information the buyer would like to know.

As will be described in Chapter 4, there are companies that use solely the internet as a distribution channel to sell their goods and services. These companies have to concentrate even more on the improvement of their competitive strategies, because they only use one distribution channel which is based on information technology. In times of occurring problems they can not switch to other channels, whereas companies that use both the internet and traditional distribution channels can do so. So pure internet companies need to focus on their competitors, but they also have to pay close attention to the needs of their customers, because the internet is the “sole point of all buyer-seller contact”^[6] for the company.

1.2. Scope of Work

The introduction of this thesis as well as a summary and the scope of work are given in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 deals with the problem definition and the relevance of the problem as well as with applied research methods. Chapter 3.1. analyses the first part of the theoretical background, which contains major competitive strategies in international markets. Depending on the company’s market share and its growth potential, the management of a company has to decide, which strategy is best to succeed in the market. The company which has the “largest market share in relevant product markets”^[7], embarks on a market leader strategy, whereas a company that attacks the leader or other competitors embarks on a market challenger strategy. The detailed analysis of the market nicher strategy, which is one relevant theory of this case, is given in Chapter 3.2. Also the first mover strategy is described in Chapter 3.2., because this strategy will be applied onto the case part as well. The second part of the theoretical background, which contains theories for using the internet effectively in international market, is described in Chapter 4. There are several possibilities for a company to use the internet. Some companies use the internet only to publish product information on their web page, but there are also companies, apart from their traditional distribution channels additionally make some of their revenue on their web page. The strategy of using the internet as an exclusive distribution channel is the relevant theory out of this chapter and will be analysed in Chapter 4.2. Chapter 5 contains the case part of this thesis, which deals with the internet company eBay. A short description of the case as well as the research methods that are applied onto the case are given. Also the selected theories are adopted on the case and future prospects of eBay are given. Finally, Chapter 6 will draw a conclusion.

2. Problem

This chapter deals with the definition and the relevance of the problem of this thesis, especially with regard to global competition. It also describes the research methods that were applied.

2.1. Definition of Problem

The main focus of this thesis is to show how a company, especially a company which carries out its business over the internet, is able to gain advantages over its competitors. Since the evolution of the internet age, companies need to pay close attention to their competitors` electronic presence, because thereby the companies will learn a great deal about how their competitors are positioning themselves in the marketplace.^[8] Resulting from this knowledge, the management of the company needs to build up a strategy, which leads to succession of the company in the international market. During the theoretical part of the thesis the aim is to analyse two main strategic areas. The first part deals with several competitive strategies, and the second part analyses different possibilities of using the internet effectively in an international market.

So the intention of this thesis on the one hand is to describe theoretically which different strategies are able or necessary for succession in the market. On the other hand this theoretical background will be applied onto the case part and thereby will be interrelated with the strategies that are adopted by an internet company in the international market.

2.2. Relevance of Problem

Analysing the economic development, one can presume that the proportion of the online-trade in relation to the overall trade volume will grow more and more. With regard to the analysis of the analyst company Forrester, in 2006 the internet sale will be 18.4 % of the total sale on a global basis, as can be seen in the following figure.

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Table 1, Forecast: Worldwide Online Trade Growth, 2002 to 2006^[9]

With regard to these figures, it is evident that “few if any businesses can escape making some effort to use Internet applications to improve their value chain activities”^[10]. There are powerful forces that pressure companies to adopt Internet technology, and these forces are mainly driven by the appeal of websites and portals in the United States and Europe, by the potential to gain capital investments from investors who are a seeking global presence, and by the opportunities for exchanging e-mails and e-business transactions anywhere in the world.^[11] So many companies see themselves in the need to not only recognize the rising sales volume in the internet market, but also develop new strategies to remain competitive in the market and to realize profits out of their new developed business possibilities.

2.3. Research Methods

Generally, there are two kinds of research methods, which are primary research and secondary research. Primary research includes the collection and generation of new information through e.g. expert interviews, experiments, surveys or observation. Both of these research methods are applied onto this thesis. In the theoretical parts of Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 the theoretical background results from secondary research, which is “based on already existing information, e.g. studies, statistics, or books about marketing”^[12]. The sources of information used in these chapters are books, magazines, newspaper articles and internet sources. For most of the information research the database OPAC – Online Public Access Catalogue – has been used to find appropriate reading about the subject of this thesis.^[13]

During the practical part about the internet company eBay in Chapter 5, primary research is the main source for the required information. Apart from two expert interviews with a public relations manager of eBay and the business manager of the online auction company echtwahr.de, a survey answered by eBay customers provides information of eBay and enables a more detailed analysis of the success of eBay. But also in this chapter, secondary research is used as a source to provide background information.

3. Competitive Strategies

This chapter deals with the analysis of major competitive strategies that a company has to take into consideration when entering a new market or when trying to catch up with its competitors. Also the relevant theories, which are applied onto the case part later on, are discussed in this chapter.

3.1. Major competitive Strategies in international Markets

Simply understanding customers is not sufficient enough any more in today’s management; the effort to watch the competitors closely might be the same effort as to care for the customers.^[14] So the management of a company has to analyse the market situation and structure. One possibility to determine the profit attractiveness of a market or market segment is the model of Porter’s five forces, which can be seen in the following graph.

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Figure 1, Porter’s Five Forces Model^[15]

There is also a different approach of Porter for competitive strategies, which are the generic strategies of cost leadership and focus. But these strategies of Porter are criticised because he assumes business environments that stay in place. The problem is that three new forces, which are digitalization, globalization, and deregulation, are overwhelming the traditional five. “The New Forces, whose effect can be seen most visibly in the movement of business activities from the physical world to the world of global computer networks like the Internet, require a new strategic framework…”^[16]

A different approach for companies to design effective competitive strategies is to classify firms by the role they play in the target market and thereby define if they are a market leader, challenger, follower, or nicher.^[17] For example, a hypothetical market structure might look like this:

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Figure 2, Possible Market Structure^[18]

Interpreting these figures, one finds out that 40 % of the market share is hold by the market leader, 30 % of the market share is in the hands of market challengers, about 20 % is owned by market followers, and the market nichers have only 10 % of the market share.

So an efficient strategy is depending on a company’s current situation, its market share, the potential of the market, and its position in relation to the one of its competitors. Also the decision has to be made to either pioneer in a new market or to be a follower in an already existing market^[19], and under the consideration of the aims of the company regarding revenue, market share, and profitability, the management has to decide which strategy to implement and to follow.

3.1.1. Market Leader Strategies

The strategy a company should choose in order to be able to compete in the market depends on the position of the company within the branch. A company that dominates the market has the possibility to adopt a market leader strategy.^[20] On the one hand if the company enjoys a legal monopoly, it will constantly obtain the largest market share. An example of a legal monopoly is the company Microsoft, which has 95% of the market share regarding PC – operating systems.^[21] On the other hand a company which does not possess a legal monopoly has to maintain vigilance, because the competitors might come up with product innovations or might be able to reduce its prices enormously, and so the market leader might find himself behind.

When the total market expands, normally the dominant firm gains the most market share out of the expansion.^[22] There are several possibilities to expand the market share. The first one is to search for new buyers, who either have not used the product before or who have lived in other geographical regions, in which the company have not expanded yet. A second strategy is to discover new uses for the product, e.g. by recognizing customer requirements and to learn from the customer^[23], and the third strategy might be to convince the buyers to use the product even more often.

If a competitor attacks the market leading company, the management has to decide how to react to this competition. It can defend its position by building superior brand power, and thereby making the brand almost impregnable^[24]. But the management can not rely purely on position defense, it also has to develop a strategy to counterattack the competitor, which is then the strategy of flank defense^[25].

A more aggressive strategy is to attack the competitor before he starts his offense by implementing a pre-emptive strategy. For example pre-emptive pricing “involves setting low prices in order to discourage or deter potential new entrants to the suppliers market, and is especially suited to markets in which the supplier does not hold a patent or other market privilege and entry to the market is relatively straightforward”^[26].

When a competitor has already attacked a dominant company, the market leader is likely to respond with a counterattack. But in a market which is characterised by years of competitive stability, the market leader might be complacent and thus react slowly to the new challenges. For example an innovation, which is invented by the competitor, might be dismissed as a fad or unworthy of serious attention.^[27]

Market broadening and market diversification are two more options to gain more market share. But especially a market diversification should not be carried too far, because it is adverse to the principle of objective and the principle of mass, which means to concentrate one’s efforts.^[28] Furthermore, a market diversification requires the realisation of economies of scale as an influencing factor.^[29]

When a large market leading company recognises that it can no longer defend all its market territory, it might be best to concentrate on specific territories. A concentration strategy often means market entry and market development only in a few selected markets. So the company resources are concentrated on a constricted number of markets.^[30]

Resulting of all the mentioned strategies, the most important fact is that an increasing market share results in an increased profitability according to the linear relationship to PIMS studies,^[31] which aim at measuring the impact of the relevant success factors of the business on Return of Investment and Cash Flow.^[32]

3.1.2. Market Challenger Strategies

A different strategy is the one of being a market challenger. Companies which are close by the market leader and are able to attack the leader can be defined as market challengers.^[33] The management of the market challenging company now has to decide which strategy to follow. The next graph shows the various types of strategies.

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Figure 3, Attack strategies^[34]

In a frontal attack against the market leader, the success of the head-on challenge is likely to depend on four factors.^[35] First of all, the competitor needs to have a clear competitive advantage, which e.g. is based on cost leadership. Second, the challenger should be able to deliver the customer not only the product, but also further services such as after-sales service. Third, the company is more likely to have success, if there are some restrictions on the leader’s ability to retaliate, which could include patent protection or technological lead times.^[36] Finally, the challenger needs the adequate resources to be able to compete against the market leader if he responds to the attack.

By a flanking attack mostly unguarded ground is attacked, which means attacking geographical areas or market segments which the competitor merely serves. This kind of attack does not provoke the competitor as much and also it has the advantage, that even a challenger with fewer resources than its opponent is more likely to be successful than in a frontal attack.^[37] The encirclement attack in contrast is much more aggressive and has the intention to attack the opponent from all sides and with all combinations of product features in every market segment.

A much more indirect assault strategy is the bypass attack. By bypassing the competitor and attacking easier market segments to broaden the own resource base, this strategy can be accomplished through several approaches. One of them is diversification into new markets with new products, another possibility is to diversify into new geographical areas, and the third approach is technological leap-frogging to supplant the existing products.^[38]

The last market challenger strategy which is described in this chapter is the guerrilla attack, which consists of rather small and intermittent attacks that are aimed at making life uncomfortable for the stronger competitors. Some of the tactics used in this strategy are unpredictable price discounts, sales promotions and heavy advertising, or occasional legal attacks. Due to the unpredictability of such attacks, it is difficult for the competitor to defend himself against these tactics. Therefore, the strategy of a guerrilla attack is well suited to small challengers, who do not have the resources and the market visibility to attack its competitors and the industry leader by using any other strategy.^[39]

3.1.3. Market Follower Strategies

To analyse the market follower strategy first it has to be defined what followers are. There are authors like Wesnitzer who assign the pioneers, followers, and early followers to a general pioneer strategy^[40], but in this thesis the pioneers, early followers, and late followers will be accessed to the market follower strategy according to authors like Meffert and Remmerbach, or Backhaus.^[41]

To become the market leader, the management of a company has to do a lot of work and take many risks in order to develop new and innovative products and to be rewarded with the most market share. But as a market follower the strategy of product imitation might be as profitable as the strategy of product innovation.^[42] This means, a market follower can simply copy or improve an existing product. Although this follower will probably not overtake the leader, he can achieve high profits because he does not have to bear any of the innovation expense.^[43]

Market follower strategies are generally often applied in “capital-intensive, homogenous-product industries, such as steel, fertilizers, and chemicals”^[44]. In these industries the products as well as the service is comparable for the customer and therefore he is very price sensitive. The aim of the market follower is mostly not to alienate the customers of the competitors, because this action would probably provoke retaliation by the market leader, but to maintain a stable market share with the existing buyers.

There are four broad approaches for a follower strategy and the management has to decide on one path to follow. One possibility is to duplicate the product of the market leader and then sell it through disreputable dealers, also the product can be emulated with slight variations. The third alternative is to imitate some things from the market leader, but still to maintain differentiation in packaging, price, or advertising. The last possibility is to adopt the leader’s product and then change or improve it in order to sell it to different markets.^[45]

There are several advantages for the management of a company when implementing a market follower strategy. First of all, the follower often has the possibility to learn from the mistakes of the market pioneer or market leader, and also he can benefit e.g. from a stable political environment that already exists in the market. Moreover, he has the possibility to revert to reliable information about the market situation and can therefore e.g. estimate how much purchasing power is available in the market. Furthermore, the market follower oftentimes is participating in a strong growing market and he has the advantage to adopt existing standards to his strategy and can thereby achieve high cost savings.^[46]

But there are also some disadvantages when implementing a market follower strategy, which have to be analysed. The main disadvantage for the follower is that he has to overcome the market entry barriers such as high capital requirements, economies of scale, or patents and licensing requirements which were set by the market pioneer. Also the market follower has to gain the confidence of his potential customers, which is not easy, because he needs to achieve a good reputation to win the customers who have already had business connections with one of his competitors. The last disadvantage to be mentioned is the fact that a market following company has to catch up with the know-how and experience as well as the amount of market share that the market leader already has as an advantage.^[47]

The mentioned advantages as well as the disadvantages indicate that the follower needs to achieve own competitive advantage, and that is the reason why market followers seldom try to cover all market segments, but rather focus on partial segments.^[48]

3.1.4. Market Nicher Strategies

There were several generic strategies defined by Michael Porter, and one of them is the market nicher or focus strategy, which focuses on a narrow target scope, as can be seen in the following graph.

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Figure 4, Generic strategies^[49]

When a company has decided on a market niche objective, it is pursuing only a small market segment. “In doing so, it may avoid competition with companies that are serving the major market segments”^[50] But if niche providers are too successful, larger competitors might be attracted to the segment in order to increase their own market share within the whole market.

There are several attractive conditions within the niche strategy that can be analysed. First of all, the focus on a specific market segment is especially attractive to companies with a small budget, because they are not able to serve the larger market segments, in which there is strong competition with larger companies. But one condition for the market nicher is that there are small segments within the market that provide the opportunity to create on the one hand a competitive advantage and on the other hand also to make enough profit.

Regarding the strategic focus, a key tool to be successful is market segmentation, through which an attractive market segment should be chosen. Thereafter, also the expenditures such as research and development costs have to be focused on customer needs, which gives a small company the chance to make effective use of its limited resources.^[51] Another focus for a niche marketer is to be able to sustain a differential advantage through satisfying the customers of the market segment better than any other competitor. Finally, the market nicher should be careful when pursuing a growth strategy, the best approach for him is to attract more customers to the small segment he serves.

The next graph shows an overview of the conditions and focus of the niche objectives. A more detailed analysis of the market nicher strategy will be given in chapter 3.2.1., when this strategy will be analysed as a relevant strategy of this thesis.

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Figure 5, Niche objectives^[52]

3.1.5. First Mover Strategy

In addition to the competitive strategies which are already analysed in the previous chapters, there are also several timing strategies that a company has to take into consideration when planning to enter a market. Timing strategies aim at optimizing the point of time of the market entry as well as the point of time of the product and technology development. The following graph gives an overview of the different timing strategies.

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Figure 6, Strategies of international companies^[53]

The choice of the right timing strategy is an essential criterion, because the wrong strategy might complicate the market entry or make it even impossible to enter the market as a competitor.^[54] This chapter will focus on the objectives of the First Mover Strategy, and a more detailed analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy will be given in Chapter 3.2.2., where the relevant theory for the analysis of the case part will be illustrated.

First Movers are companies, which are the first ones to develop a new market in order to offer their products to a new customer base. In this situation the management recognizes the importance of being the first one to present a product or a service in the market, instead of waiting for a competitor to come up with a good product that can be imitated.^[55] The main strategic approach to be successful with a First Mover strategy is to remain market leader by innovating new products consistently. Also the requirement of building a good brand or name recognition is essential, because after a short time there might already be an overwhelming choice of different providers existing in the market for the customer, and there need to be specific reasons for the customer to choose especially this very company.^[56]

According to Carpenter, there are some specific strategic approaches which help an e-business company to build up good brand awareness among the customers in the market. The first approach which is mentioned is to focus on building brand awareness through online and offline advertising, good public relations, and guerrilla marketing ploys.^[57] Moreover the management should concentrate on cultivating customer commitment by the use of special programs that build customer loyalty and make it interesting and convenient for the consumers to use the service of the company on a regular basis. Furthermore, the internet company should force the strong distribution of its products and services and maybe therefore co-operate with other companies to form alliances.^[58] Another important point is to move early into the market and to advance and adjust the products and services fast to keep the evolution of the business at a high pace to outperform potential competitors. Besides the already mentioned facts, the management of the internet company needs to develop an excellent knowledge of the market as well as the customers to be able to deliver outstanding value which sets the company apart of its competitors. Finally, it is required for an online business to cultivate a good reputation through a website design that is highly functional, clear, consistent, and fast.^[59]

According to Robinson/Fornell especially in totally new markets the First Mover Strategy is preferred to a later market entry. This is due to that fact that while products become more complex over time and therefore the time span as well as the costs for the development of the products can not be reduced any more, at the same time the product life cycles shorten and so the prices for the product will fall and not much profit is left to make.^[60]

Generally a First Mover has to ask himself several questions before entering the new market. First of all it is important to find out whether a completely new infrastructure is required before a product can be sold, for example it might be necessary to build up a new distribution channel. Also another fact is essential, which is if buyers will need to learn new skills or will need to adopt their behaviour in order to use the product. Furthermore it is necessary to know if potential buyers will encounter high switching costs. Finally, the management needs to think about the eventuality of influential competitors, who might be in a position to delay or derail the efforts of the first-moving company.^[61]

3.2. Selection of relevant Theories

This chapter covers the detailed analysis of the Market Nicher Strategy as well as the First Mover strategy. These strategies are chosen as the relevant theories from this chapter and especially their advantages and disadvantages will be analysed with regard to the internet. Later on in Chapter 5 the theoretical background then can be applied onto the case part of the internet company eBay and there the coherence of the theoretical part and the case part will be given.

[...]

---

^[1] See Armstrong, Kotler, Saunders, Wong (2003): Grundlagen des Marketing, 3. Edition, Munich 2003, page 62

^[2] See Kotler, Philip (2002): Marketing Moves, 5. Edition, USA 2002, page ix

^[3] Jobber, David (2004): Principles and Practice of Marketing, 4. Edition, UK 2004, page 551

^[4] See Kutschker, Schmid (2002): Internationales Management, 2. Edition, München 1998, page 153

^[5] Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management, 11. Edition, New Jersey 2003, page 2

^[6] Thompson, Gamble, Strickland (2004): Strategy - Winning in the marketplace, 1. Edition, New York 2004, page 147

^[7] Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management, 11. Edition, New Jersey 2003, page 254

^[8] See Komenar, Margo (1997): electronic marketing, 1. Edition, USA, page 23

^[9] Siemens Online Library (2002): eCommerce: Current Forecast Through 2006, page 2

^[10] Thompson, Gamble, Strickland (2004): Strategy - Winning in the marketplace, 1. Edition, New York, page 145

^[11] See Franda, Marcus (2002): Launching into Cyberspace, 1. Edition, USA and UK, 2002, page 228

^[12] See Kutschker, Schmid (2002): Internationales Management, 2. Edition, München 1998, page 908

^[13] See Grieb, Wolfgang (2004): Schreibtipps für Diplomanden und Doktoranden, 5. Edition, Berlin 2004, page 30

^[14] See Armstrong, Kotler, Saunders, Wong (2003): Grundlagen des Marketing, 3. Edition, Munich 2003, page 566

^[15] See Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management, 11. Edition, New Jersey 2003, page 242

^[16] Downes, Larry (1997): Beyond Porter

^[17] See Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management, 11. Edition, New Jersey 2003, page 254

^[18] See Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management, 11. Edition, New Jersey 2003, page 255

^[19] Becker, Jochen (2000): Der Strategietrend im Marketing, 1. Edition, Munich 2000, page 51

^[20] See Armstrong, Kotler, Saunders, Wong (2003): Grundlagen des Marketing, 3. Edition, Munich 2003, page 189

^[21] See Manager Magazin (2001): Microsoft – Ich will alles, 05.12.2001

^[22] See Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management, 11. Edition, New Jersey 2003, page 255

^[23] See Meffert, Heribert (1999): E-Commerce – Potentiale ohne Grenzen

^[24] See Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management, 11. Edition, New Jersey 2003, page 258

^[25] See Tikkanen, Henrikki: Marketing Milestones 1950 - 2000

^[26] Tutor2u (2004): Pricing strategies, URL:http://www.tutor2u.net/business/marketing/pricing_strategy_other.asp

^[27] See Jobber, David (2004): Principles and Practice of Marketing, 4. Edition, UK 2004, page 686

^[28] See Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management, 11. Edition, New Jersey 2003, page 260

^[29] See Macharzina, Oesterle (2002): Handbuch Internationales Management, 2. Edition, Wiesbaden 2002, page 407

^[30] See Kutschker, Schmid (2002): Internationales Management, 2. Edition, München 1998, page 913

^[31] See Homburg, Krohmer (2003):Marketingmanagement, 1. Edition, Wiesbaden 2003, page 353

^[32] See Welge, Al-Laham (1999): Strategisches Management, 2. Edition, Wiesbaden 1999, page 147

^[33] See Armstrong, Kotler, Saunders, Wong (2003): Grundlagen des Marketing, 3. Edition, Munich 2003, page 190

^[34] Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management, 11. Edition, New Jersey 2003, page 266

^[35] See Porter (1998): Competitive Advantage, New York: Free Press, page 514 - 517

^[36] See Jobber, David (2004): Principles and Practice of Marketing, 4. Edition, UK 2004, page 717

^[37] See Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management, 11. Edition, New Jersey 2003, page 266

^[38] See Jobber, David (2004): Principles and Practice of Marketing, 4. Edition, UK 2004, page 720

^[39] See Thompson, Gamble, Strickland (2004): Strategy - Winning in the marketplace, 1. Edition, New York 2004, page 142

^[40] See Wesnitzer (1993): Markteintrittsstrategien in Osteuropa, Diss., Wiesbaden 1993, page 74

^[41] See Backhaus, K. (1992): Investitionsgütermarketing, 3. Edition, Munich 1992, page 193

^[42] See Schnaars, Steven (1994): Managing Imitation Strategies: How Later Entrants Seize Markets from Pioneers, New York: The Free Press, 1994

^[43] See Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management, 11. Edition, New Jersey 2003, page 269

^[44] Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management, 11. Edition, New Jersey 2003, page 269

^[45] See Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management, 11. Edition, New Jersey 2003, page 269

^[46] See Oelsnitz (2000): Eintrittstiming und Eintrittserfolg, Die Unternehmung, vol 54, 2000, page 199-213

^[47] See Kutschker, Schmid (2002): Internationales Management, 2. Edition, München 1998, page 953

^[48] See Kutschker, Schmid (2002): Internationales Management, 2. Edition, München 1998, page 953

^[49] URL:http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/generic.shtml, strategic management, 11.12.2004

^[50] Jobber, David (2004): Principles and Practice of Marketing, 4. Edition, UK 2004, page 729

^[51] See Hammermesh, Anderson, and Harris (1978): Srategies for Low Market Share Business, Harvard Business Review 50 (3), page 95-102

^[52] See Jobber, David (2004): Principles and Practice of Marketing, 4. Edition, UK 2004, page 729

^[53] See Kutschker, Schmid (2002): Internationales Management, 2. Edition, München 1998, page 1031

^[54] See Fritz/Oelsnitz (2000): Markteintrittsstrategien, in Albers: Handbuch Produktmanagement, 1. Edition, Wiesbaden 2002, page 91ff

^[55] See URL:http://www.wissensnavigator.com/interface2/management/strategy/attraktoren, First Mover, 12.12.2004

^[56] See Carpenter, Phil (2000), eBrands (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000)

^[57] See Carpenter, Phil (2000), eBrands (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000)

^[58] See Carpenter, Phil (2000), eBrands (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000)

^[59] See Carpenter, Phil (2000), eBrands (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000)

^[60] See Robinson/Fornell (1985): Sources of Market Pioneer Advantages in Consumer Good Industries, Journal of Marketing Research, No. 8, page 305

^[61] See Thompson, Gamble, Strickland (2004): Strategy - Winning in the marketplace, 1. Edition, New York 2004, page 153