Attribute Alignability and Value Relevance in a Late Entrant Strategy

Early entrant advantages indicate the phenomenon where a brand that became successful in the early market development enjoys dominance for many years. In recent years, consumer researchers have paid increasing attention to this latter aspect of early entrant advantage, particularly in the context of how late entrants should be positioned to compete with successful early entrants. This is an important issue as late entrants are more common than the pioneers of any given industry. This study thus addresses how late entrants can compete with a successful early entrant. In particular, we examine the types of attributes that a late entrant should strengthen to best differentiate itself from a pioneer, following a category-based learning perspective.