Question

Identify and explain one example of a product for which pioneering was a disadvantage.

Answer 1

Being the first business in an industry may not always guarantee an advantage. If the first mover is unable to capture consumers with their products, later entrants can take advantage of it. Later entrants can reverse-engineer new products and make them better or cheaper. The similar situation was seen with Motorola - the first in the industry to launch handheld Mobile Phones. Even though the company still exists and is still continuing to launch new varieties of phones, but to be true based on the actual data from the market and the consumers, Apple has taken over most of its market. Actually, before apple came Blackberry was the one which won the hearts of most of the professionals due to its features which included MS office and storage capacity to meet their requirements.

New entrants in the market have proved that pioneering for Motorola was a disadvantage. New companies have launched much betters ways to use the phones effectively and efficiently. Motorola being the first mover invested heavily in persuading consumers to try a new product. Later entrants benefited from these informed buyers and did not spend that much on educating consumers. New companies identified areas of improvement and took advantage of it by customizing the phone as per the specific needs of the end users. They not only launched several varieties to meet each age group of the society but also launched products in various price ranges to match the pockets of the different income levels of customers.