S. Zhang et Ab. Markman, OVERCOMING THE EARLY ENTRANT ADVANTAGE - THE ROLE OF ALIGNABLE AND NONALIGNABLE DIFFERENCES, Journal of marketing research, 35(4), 1998, pp. 413-426
Prior research has focused On early entrant advantage rather than on t
heories that explain and predict how late entrants can surpass the ear
ly entrant's performance. In this research, the authors propose that l
earning about new brands is influenced by the way the attributes of la
ter entrants compare with attributes of the first. In three experiment
s, the authors show that attributes that differentiate later entrants
from the first entrant are better remembered and listed more often in
judgment formation protocols if the attributes are comparable along so
me common aspect (i.e., they are alignable differences) than if they d
o not correspond to any attributes of the first entrant (i.e., they ar
e nonalignable differences). The impact of greater memorability of ali
gnable over nonalignable differences is that later entrants whose attr
ibutes are superior to those of the first entrant can come to be prefe
rred over the first entrant when the attributes are alignable differen
ces but not when they are nonalignable differences. These findings hav
e important implications for product entry, differentiation, and posit
ioning strategies.