Competitive rivalry is the contest to be the first mover in an international market.

Competitive rivalry is the ongoing set of competitive actions and competitive responses that occur among firms as they maneuver for an advantageous market position.

Competitive dynamics indicates that firms and their strategic actions are independent.

A strategy's success is determined not only by the firm's initial competitive actions but also by how well it anticipates competitors' responses to them and by how well the firm anticipates and responds to its competitors' initial actions.

Firms with high market commonality and highly similar resources are direct and mutually acknowledged competitors.

Market commonality is concerned with the number of markets with which the firm and a competitor are jointly involved and the degree of importance of the individual markets to each.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo compete across a number of products (e.g., soft drinks, bottled water) and geographic markets (U.S. and foreign markets) indicating that both companies have market commonality.

Research suggests that a firm with greater multimarket contact is less likely to initiate an attack, but more likely to respond aggressively when attacked.

Extensive market commonality guarantees intense competition in an industry.

Bayou Belle Water sells water drawn only from a single artesian well in southern Louisiana. It has a loyal following in its region. Because Bayou Belle markets the water, just as Coca-Cola, Nestle, and PepsiCo do, Bayou Belle has high resource similarity with these international firms.

Two firms, such as Fed Ex and UPS, that have similar resources and common markets would be direct and mutually acknowledged competitors.

Two firms, such as a small local, family-owned Italian restaurant and Olive Garden, share few markets and have little similarity in resources, but are nonetheless direct and mutually acknowledged competitors.

Awareness tends to be greatest when firms have highly similar resources and compete in multiple markets.

Under the framework of competitive action and response, "ability" refers to an attacking or responding firm's knowledge of the competitive market characteristics.

Walmart recently opened a store in Alsatia, Missouri. Several local small retailers have decided that choosing not to respond to Walmart's competitive actions is a viable long-term option, because although the companies have high market commonality they have little resource similarity. These small retailers are correct in their decision.

A tactical competitive action involves a significant commitment of specific and distinctive organizational resources.

Boeing's decision to commit the resources required to build the super-efficient 787 midsized jetliner is an example of a tactical action.

Walmart's aggressive pricing strategy is a strategic action that plays a major role in how it competes.

First movers can gain a sustained competitive advantage when they reduce their costs through reverse engineering.

To be a first mover, the firm must have readily available resources to significantly invest in R&D as well as to rapidly and successfully produce and market a stream of innovative products.

Organizational slack makes it possible for firms to have the ability to be first movers.

Mighty Mike's, a manufacturer of power tools for the home hobbyist, has seen its main competitor, MyTools, introduce a line of power tools that are smaller sized, lighter weight, and suitable for women and older hobbyists who have weaker hands than the typical male workshop hobbyist. Mighty Mike’s is waiting to see whether MyTools' new line is a success. Mighty Mike’s could be classified as a second mover.

Firms that are typically late movers usually have little organizational slack.

Large firms with significant slack resources (i.e., are able to launch a greater number of competitive actions) but that remain flexible and act like small firms (i.e., are able to launch a variety of actions) will be more successful against rivals.

The need for quality products and services is so high that quality alone can assure a firm that it will achieve strategic competitiveness and earn above-average returns.

Quality begins in marketing an organization where employees must create a perceived value of quality.

A firm can predict that a competitor whose products suffer from poor quality is likely to be less aggressive in its competitive actions until those quality problems are corrected.

In general, strategic actions elicit fewer total competitive responses than do tactical actions.

Even if the effects of a competitor's strategic action on the focal firm are significant (e.g., loss of market share), little response is likely from that firm.

It is more likely that locally owned, one-location cafes in a small town will respond more rapidly to tactical actions by each other than they will to strategic actions by the Burger King franchise that has recently moved to their town.

A firm with a reputation as a price predator (an actor that frequently reduces prices to gain or maintain market share) generates few responses to its pricing tactical actions.

Firms are likely to imitate the actions of a competitor that is noted for risky, complex, and unpredictable behavior because this is a way to imitate unobservable core competencies.

The more dependent a firm is on its market, the more aggressively it will defend it from another competitor.

Disney is an example of a firm in a slow-cycle market because its animated characters are shielded from imitation by copyrights and trademarks.

Patent laws and regulatory requirements in the United States requiring FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval to launch new products shield pharmaceutical companies' positions.

Carl has just graduated with a management degree. He has a good understanding of his personal strengths and weaknesses and knows he would fit best in a stable organizational environment. In his job search, Carl should target firms in slow-cycle markets.

The satellite dish at Faye's weekend home has malfunctioned. When she calls to have the dish repaired, the service representative tells her that the dish is obsolete and that parts for it are no longer made. Faye must replace the old dish with a new dish. This is an example of lack of firm loyalty to a product in a fast-cycle market.

Unlike fast-cycle markets, the struggle for market share in standard-cycle markets is moderate.

Competitive rivalry has more effect on a firm's __________ strategies than the firm's other strategies.

Multimarket competition occurs when firms:

Competitive dynamics refers to the:

Intensified rivalry within an industry results in:

Hilliard Pharmaceuticals and Ahrens Vitamins, Inc., have high market commonality, both geographically and in the market segments in which they compete. Hilliard, the number two firm in the industry, has undertaken a major strategic attack upon Ahrens, the market leader. Which of the following statements is MOST likely to be true?

In general, compared with firms that compete in only one market, among firms that face one another in multiple markets there is:

Research suggests that a firm with greater multimarket contact is __________ likely to initiate an attack, but __________ likely to respond aggressively when attacked.

Which pair of firms has the LEAST resource similarity?

Rapid-Built Homes specializes in low-cost prefabricated, modular homes that can be erected in a matter of days anywhere in the country. Rapid-Built focuses on entire subdivisions of homes developed by real estate speculators. ModernModular Homes (ModMod) specializes in modular homes designed by architects, which can be built anywhere in the country. The buyers usually build the home themselves from kits on their own lots. ModMod sells fewer than 100 house kits per year. ModMod is run by two professors of architecture as a sideline business. According to the framework of competitive analysis, Rapid-Built and ModMod:

Firms with __________ market commonality and __________ resource similarity are direct and mutually acknowledged competitors.

In general, firms are more aware of competitors that have similar resources and that:

__________ and __________ describe the situation in which organizations are direct competitors and are fully aware of the competition.

Firms with few competitive resources are more likely to:

__________ relates to the gains or losses a firm will experience if it attacks a rival or responds to an attack by a rival.

Both __________ and __________ affect the awareness and motivation of a firm to undertake actions and responses.

The larger the resources of a firm taking a competitive action compared with the resources of the other firms in the industry, the __________ the response will be of these other firms.

Walmart initially used a focused cost leadership strategy to compete only in small communities by using sophisticated logistics systems and efficient purchasing practices to gain a competitive advantage. The response of local competitors was __________ because they __________.

A competitive action can be one of two types, either __________ or __________.

Which of the following is an example of a strategic action?

Which of the following is an example of a tactical action?

Which of the following is the MOST strategic action by Walmart?

On the whole, there are more competitive responses to:

First movers are:

The chief disadvantage of being a first mover is the:

Which of the following statements is false?

A second mover:

Late movers are those firms that:

Bubble-Up, Inc., is a small manufacturer of educational toys for children under age 10. It has co-existed with three other competitors in the educational toy industry for over 20 years, each of them maintaining a stable market share. There is a widespread rumor that Mega-Toy, Inc., the market leader in the broad children's toy market, has decided to target educational toys. Which of the following statements is MOST likely true?

A firm that is LEAST likely to launch competitive actions is one that has:

All competitive advantages do not accrue to large-sized firms. A major advantage of smaller firms is that they:

Which of the following is true of Walmart?

Which of the following is true of Southwest Airlines?

Without quality, the firm's products:

Quality is:

Quality affects competitive rivalry because a competitor whose products suffer from poor quality likely will __________ until __________.

Competitors are more likely to respond to strategic or tactical actions when they are taken by:

A firm is likely to respond to an attack by a competitor in all of the following situations EXCEPT when the attack:

Which of the following companies committed significant resources to enter the information service market and, given its success, was imitated by other competitors?

Akamai Technologies is a dominant player in the content delivery network (CDN) market. Akamai is not very diversified (i.e., is dependent on the CDN market). If rival CDN providers such as Limelight Networks and Level 3 Communications lower their basic CDN service prices, which of the following would Akamai likely do?

Lobelia's Nursery and Garden Resource Center has long provided high-quality, typical types of seasonal bedding plants to customers in the Mobile, Alabama, metropolitan area. It has traditionally competed with the other plant nurseries within a 50-mile radius of Mobile. Recently, Lobelia has opened a branch in Fairfax, Virginia. Lobelia's research shows that most Fairfax nurseries have only one location. Lobelia can expect the local Fairfax nurseries to:

Which of the following organizations has the highest market dependence?

Sustained competitive advantage is most achievable in a __________ market.

Walt Disney's focus on __________ is typical of a slow-cycle market.

The CEO of the Wholesome Food retail grocery chain, which specializes in organic and natural produce and meat, has stated, "The key to success is to find your niche and focus on it, regardless of what anyone else does." The CEO:

The ability of Disney to maintain its competitive advantage through proprietary rights to its characters would be severely weakened if:

Lawsuits over patent and copyright infringements are more common and intense in:

Traditionally, the music industry signed multi-year contracts with artists and sold copyright-protected music through established distribution channels. A shift to the digital format and the rise of Internet technology have resulted in the sharing of music over peer-to-peer networks, a practice the industry calls "piracy." In recent years, the music industry has seen a rapid decline in the number of CDs sold. At the same time, the ownership of the distribution rights of musical content under copyright laws remains clear. Attempts at innovation by individual record labels to offer music as direct downloads to consumer are quickly copied by other labels. Based on these factors, the best assessment is that the music industry has shifted from a __________ to a __________ cycle market.

Which of the following industries can be LEAST described as a slow-cycle market?

Reverse engineering is characteristic of:

Companies in fast-cycle markets need to profit quickly from an innovative product for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

A company in a __________ industry is LEAST likely to make heavy use of patents and copyrights.

__________ markets are often described as volatile and innovative.

An organization's loyalty to its own product is a competitive disadvantage in a(n) __________ market.

Because Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and PepsiCo all sell a product (bottled water) that is essentially the same and all three giant companies are engaged in battles for market share using incremental changes in their products and seeking loyalty to brand names, it is MOST likely that the bottled water market is a(n):

Competition between candy makers (e.g., Hershey, Mars, Cadbury, Nestlé, and Godiva) where firms compete in package design (including package downsizing) and ease of availability is characteristic of a(n):

Goods or services in standard-cycle markets reflect:

The competitive actions and responses in __________ markets are designed to seek large market shares, to gain customer loyalty through brand names, and to carefully control the firm's operations in order to consistently provide the same positive experience for customers.

The flat-panel television market where prices have come down and competition has become more stable is best characterized as:

Consumer goods producers are innovating in terms of healthy products. This type of incremental innovation is typical of:

In order to compete effectively, standard-cycle firms need all of the following EXCEPT: