Makoto Takayama1, Tadashi Takayama2
(1. Graduate School for Management of Technology, Graduate School of Modern Society and Culture,

Niigata University, Japan;UCLA Medical School, USA;

2. Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University, Japan)

 

Abstract: This paper examines the role of reframing product position in market shift. From surveys on the sequentially developed products of successive market leaders, it became evident that win-lose is decided by the market competition between a new product and their marketed products. As a result of strategy formulation, any existing product blocks the development of any indirectly competitive new product. In direct competition, leaders always keep the leading positions in the market even if the product-market shifts. In indirect competition, leaders do not initiate the new product development (NPD) even if the market size is huge. Furthermore, the leaders block their own NPDs but not block the new entry of other firms. Newcomers, therefore, take over the leaders’ position without interference. This finding reveals that the determinant for win-lose is only the reciprocal competitiveness between existing products and the relevant new product. To elucidate the behavior pattern of leaders in NPD, the role of “reframing product position” is proposed. The conclusion is that reframing product position rescues the strategy in the market shift.

 

Key words: reframing; product position; market shift; product development; strategy; innovation

JEL codes: M11, L20, O32