Incumbent Strategies Research Articles

An analysis of intermodal competition and multiproduct Incumbent's strategies in the French market: What drive high-speed trains' prices and frequencies?

This paper presents an empirical analysis that examines the factors influencing service prices and frequencies of conventional high-speed trains (HSTs) in France. The study utilizes original data spanning from September 2019 to March 2020, focusing on the level of intermodal competition and the diversification strategy employed by the primary rail operator. The primary findings of the econometric analysis reveal that the determinants of the price per kilometer for both first and second-class conventional HST services exhibit some shared factors, particularly in relation to the technical characteristics of the routes and alternative options available. However, certain factors are specific to each category, such as the competitive environment, economic conditions, and demographic factors. The frequency of HST services is primarily influenced by travel time. In cases where conventional HSTs do not offer satisfactory service quality in terms of frequency and/or price, there is an auxiliary alternative option available to compensate for the limited frequency of conventional HST services.

Incumbent inertia, innovativeness, and performance (dis)advantages: A demand-side learning perspective

Strategies of incumbent firms have received considerable attention in marketing and across business disciplines, but findings regarding performance (dis)advantages and innovativeness are mixed. Prior studies on supply-side sources (factors internal to the firm) of incumbent inertia disadvantages are more prevalent than those on demand-side factors, which relate to a firm’s customers and may explain potential incumbent advantages. We introduce an integrated demand-side framework to incumbent inertia, recognizing how the supply- and demand-side factors interrelate through learning mechanisms. On the one hand, incumbent firms learn and develop various routines and assets that influence their product strategies, typically reflecting inertia and incremental innovation. At the same time, customers learn about products in the market, forming preferences that reflect switching costs and network externalities (demand-side factors). Although an incumbent can gain advantages from demand-side effects, this could accelerate the onset of supply-side disadvantages. We present a set of research propositions that specify critical effects, and examine implications for incumbent strategies.

Sharpen Your Sword for Litigation: Incumbent Strategic Reaction to the Threat of Entry

While patents have been shown to play a role as barriers to entry, they also reveal information about incumbent strategies and risk being invalidated. We examine the trade-off incumbents face between using their patents ex ante as entry deterrents or ex post once competitors have revealed their moves. Leveraging the unique characteristics of the pharmaceutical sector, in which it is possible to observe exactly when a competitor entry threat materializes, and exploiting exogenous variation in that timing, we show that incumbents intentionally fragment and delay the full disclosure of their intellectual property rights through continuation patents. They disproportionately reveal continuation patents after a competitor entry threat becomes concrete, tailoring their response to the threat they have received and successfully delaying competitor entry through litigation. The detected incumbents’ reaction is stronger when their attacked drugs are valuable and when the patents listed at the Food and Drug Administration approval of a drug are relatively narrow in scope. This paper was accepted by Alfonso Gambardella, business strategy accounting. Funding: A. Conti acknowledges funding from E4S. E. Sung acknowledges funding from the HEC Foundation [Grant 9B82F1905+] and the U.S. National Science Foundation [Grant 1759991]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.00900 .

How incumbents create uneven patterns of competition during autocratization: the AKP case of Turkey

ABSTRACT This article explains the survival of the AKP in Turkey’s late stage of autocratization (2017-present) through its strategy of shifting the primary drivers of competition from individual parties to pre-electoral alliances. Confronted with a decline in popular support in 2015 June elections, the article argues that the AKP created uneven patterns of competition via the system of pre-electoral alliances so that it could institutionalize a ‘Rikerian offense’ on the salient Turkish-Kurdish cleavage and establish an authoritarian power-sharing mechanism with its former challenger, the Turkish nationalist MHP. To illustrate the shift toward uneven patterns of electoral competition via such incumbent strategies, the article conducts a two-part analysis: It first examines the landscape of competition among parties (2002-2015) and second, evaluates competition among both parties and alliances (2018-2023) at the national and district levels in Turkey.

Ganjar Pranowo’s Storytelling and Political Image on Social Media

Politics is not socially empty. Therefore, politicians must also find the right strategy to increase popularity and electability. One way that can be used is the use of social media. Social media is now widely used by political actors as a means to absorb aspirations in the political field. One of the social media that is currently widely used as a political tool is TikTok. As of April 2022, there are 99,072,000 TikTok users in Indonesia or 51.1% of the Indonesian population aged 18 years and over. This article aimed to explore how Ganjar Pranowo built his self-image through his TikTok account @ganjarpranowofc and what storytelling strategies were used in that image. A qualitative approach with a content analysis method is used in writing this article. There are 252 videos from the TikTok account @ganjarpranowo were analyzed from January to May 2022. This article uses the political image category approach described in Liebhart and Bernhardt's research (2017) as a basis for analysis. From this research, Ganjar Pranowo simplifies political issues in his imagery efforts. In addition, there are indications of three storytelling strategies used in political imagery on the TikTok account: the biographical strategy, the incumbent strategy, and the Kagama chairman strategy.

Ganjar Pranowo's Image Politics Through TikTok Content Videos

The internet penetration rate in Indonesia reached 77.02% in the first quarter of 2022. The internet and social media are suitable media for the process of communication and political campaigns. With the growing number of users, social media TikTok becomes a new strategic tool for politicians to drive political narratives. One of the Indonesian politicians and state officials who use TikTok social media is Ganjar Pranowo, who is currently serving his second term as Governor of Central Java (2013-2023). Ganjar Pranowo was selected for review because of his electability in the top three positions in June 2022. This article aims to: 1) find out and analyze the politics of Ganjar Pranowo's image on the TikTok account @ganjarpranowofc by exploring the meaning of the messages contained in it; and 2) interpret the political image it displays through the impression received by the audience. This article was compiled using a descriptive qualitative method with a semiotic analysis approach model from Roland Barthes on the video content of the @ganjarpranowofc TikTok account. The results found: that video content was uploaded as a strategy for shaping Ganjar Pranowo's political image. The messages in the video show Ganjar Pranowo's charm who is close to the people, does actual work, balances world life with spirituality, shows social empathy, is friendly to the issue of diversity-child-women and is responsive to up-to-date issues. The uploaded videos also show the figure of Ganjar Pranowo, who enjoys his job as a governor who serves the community. The visual strategies used include 1) biographical strategy, 2) incumbent strategy, and 3) the strategy of the Head of Kagama. TikTok account @ganjarpranowofc is also managed professionally from pre-production to post-production.

The value chain dilemma of navigating sustainability transitions: A case study of an upstream incumbent company

An increasing body of literature on sustainability transitions addresses the business strategies of incumbents but overlooks upstream companies. By addressing this gap, we aim to explore how upstream incumbents navigate sustainability transitions. Theoretically, we introduce an industry value chain perspective, integrating the concepts of center of gravity, patterns of strategic change and organizational adaptation. Empirically, we conduct an in-depth case study of how an upstream incumbent firm navigates the established value chain for lead-acid batteries and the emerging value chain for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles. The company faces a dilemma as to whether and how to maintain a vertically integrated position in the established value chain, and how and when to expand into the emerging value chain. We argue and demonstrate that for upstream companies, navigating sustainability transitions is highly dependent on the anticipation of and adaptation to the complex changes in industry value chains.

Incumbent Strategy with Endogenous Valuations and Party Discipline

Incumbent Strategy with Endogenous Valuations and Party Discipline

„Mexican Standoff“ – Trielle in Berlin: TV-Debatten in der heißen Wahlkampfphase 2021

Multiple debates were held on TV in the 2021 German federal election campaign between the chancellor candidates Armin Laschet (CDU/CSU), Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Annelena Baerbock (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) . For the last three televised debates (so-called „Trielle“), surveying viewers immediately before and immediately after the events and conducting real-time measurement of the candidates’ debate performance help understand their per- ception and impact . The debate performances of Scholz and Baerbock were rated signifi- cantly better than Laschet’s . The candidates used very different strategies . While Laschet focused surprisingly strongly on attack, Scholz pursued a classic incumbent strategy . The perceived performance of the chancellor candidates in the debates had a direct impact on their likability ratings, most strongly in the first broadcast . Overall, Scholz benefited the most from these debates . Baerbock, but especially Laschet, failed to close the gap on the SPD . Our analyses underscore the impact of televised debates and their outstanding impor- tance in election campaigns .

Political storytelling of Ekrem İmamoğlu on Instagram during 2019 Istanbul mayoral elections in Turkey

This study aims to shed light on the visual aspect of digital storytelling during elections and its effects on a candidate’s overall campaign narrative. Focusing on Turkey’s 2019 mayoral elections, the study examines how Ekrem İmamoğlu from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), who was elected mayor of Istanbul used visual imagery in terms of political storytelling on Instagram.The study utilises an image type analysis and reports findings from 261 Instagram posts shared on İmamoğlu’s verified Instagram account during the last month of the initial election on 31 March 2019 (n = 167) and the rerun election on 23 June 2019 (n = 94). This approach reveals that İmamoğlu mostly adopted campaign works, contact with public, and positioning image types. Utilising these image types, he mainly pursued unifying and personal/biographical political storytelling narratives through visuals on Instagram. During the re-election period, he also pursued an incumbent strategy in addition to existing storytelling strategies.

How Does an Incumbent News Media Organization Become a Platform? Employing Intra-Firm Synergies to Launch the Platform Business Model in a News Agency

ABSTRACT Digital platforms have disrupted traditional news organizations, with new platform-based models gaining ground. However, the incumbents can defend their positions and reap the benefits of multi-sided market structures by establishing a platform business model themselves. We examine a case study of the Austrian News Agency (APA), which gradually formulated a strategy that resulted in a platform-based business model. Platform features were strategized and innovated over time and in phases, with the intent of creating value for customers on both sides of the platform. We found that APA’s platform transformation was enabled by a visionary value proposition backed by a trusted institution’s legitimacy and a co-operative organizational model that provided added incentives for the participating news media companies. The strategy and the business model emerged on the basis of external developments and internal realizations concerning the feasibility of the new platform strategy. Based on our results, we develop a framework for an incumbent strategy formation process towards a platform business model. This framework demonstrates the incumbent organization’s emergent, as well as deliberate, strategic ability to introduce platform features into its business model, based on unique intra-firm synergies with established parts of the business, and highlighting a potential for “incumbent advantage.”

Strategy dynamics particle swarm optimizer

This paper proposes a particle swarm optimization with strategy dynamics (SDPSO) to solve single-objective optimization problems. SDPSO consists of four PSO search strategies. Evolutionary game theory is introduced to control the population state. In evolutionary game theory, through the interaction between players, better strategies will eventually dominate among the players. By extending this idea to PSO, a selection mechanism and a mutation mechanism are proposed. By using the selection mechanism, the adoption probability of the high payoff strategies will increase. The mutation mechanism can examine the stability of the incumbent strategy to evolutionary pressures. The performance of SDPSO is compared with 14 algorithms on the CEC 2014 test suite. The results show that SDPSO has the highest rank. SDPSO is applied to solve a real-world problem. SDPSO can find the best mean results comparing with 4 algorithms. The findings show that the proposed evolutionary game theory-based framework can adaptively control the population state. This study proposes a new application of evolutionary game theory to the design of swarm intelligence and contributes to a better understanding of the usefulness of the evolutionary game theory in the optimization method. The source codes of SDPSO are available at https://github.com/zi-ang-liu/SDPSO.

Financial Technology: Development of Innovative Fintech Start-Ups and Its Application in Banking System of Uzbekistan

In the context of globalization, labor migration, trade and capital movements, tourism, foreign investment, IT are affected by the economic growth rates of countries. Periodic disclosure of reforms in the new Uzbekistan, the beginning of socio-economic relations provided opportunities for modernization, technical and technological re-equipment of the industrial sector. In particular, the need for financial technology in commercial banks is important to conduct research in this area. The influence of fintech is beginning to be felt in the banking sector and capital markets. This article surveys its development and its impact on efficiency, banking market structure, strategies of incumbents and entrants, and financial stability.

Solar business model adoption by energy incumbents: the importance of strategic fit

This paper answers recent calls to give more attention to the business strategies of incumbent actors regarding innovation and socio-technical transitions. We map the solar business model adoption of 30 Swedish electric utility incumbents and examine to what extent it can be explained by the strategic fit with the utilities' established business models, corporate strategies, and external environment. We find that all three dimensions need to be considered in order to explain adoption. Alignment with the established business model is mainly important concerning activities, resources, and partnerships, and utilities also re-configure solar models to increase this alignment (e.g. through outsourcing). However, it is not the main driver for adoption. Instead, incentives and pressures related to corporate strategies and external environment induce or block utilities from adopting solar models. By demonstrating the importance of strategic fit, these findings provide a more nuanced understanding of industry incumbent's strategies in relation to emerging technologies.

Trademarks, patents and the appropriation strategies of incumbents: the scope of new firm formation in European regions

ABSTRACT Analysis of the relationship between knowledge spillovers and new firm formation in 980 NUTS-3 regions at the industry level shows that regional knowledge stocks represented by patents positively influence new firm formation, but that knowledge protection and appropriation strategies of incumbents discourage it. Knowledge stocks represented by trademarks translate into higher entry rates in the absence of a pronounced appropriation strategy of incumbents or when entrants do not directly compete with the trademarking incumbents. Our findings highlight the two-sided effects of trademarks: as an indicator of product novelties as well as a potential expression of strengthened incumbent appropriation strategies.

How the decarbonisation discourse may lead to a reduced set of policy options for climate policies in Europe in the 2020s

Centered on molecule-based energy carriers, policy challenges of phase-two Energy Transition (ET2) differ significantly from the electricity-centric ones (ET1) met by Europe so far. Calls for full electrification and frames shaped by notions of ‘renewable’, ‘green’, ‘ambition’ and ‘net-zero decarbonisation’ suggest that ‘lock-ins’ may emerge not only from (by now well-researched) incumbent strategies but also from advocacy discourses inherited from ET1.With power and knowledge inextricably conjoined, discourses co-construct the policy agenda. To succeed with ET2, Europe must develop a reflexive, multi-level and interdisciplinary strategy that covers the techno-economic-behavioral dimensions and the influence of discourses on policy formulation. By using discourse analysis and discursive institutionalism as an anchor for cognitive neuroscience and for the relevant social science and political science, ET research can consider how science-based and emotion-driven perspectives interbreed in policy and discourse complexes. How shared conceptual spaces are contested can help improve the reflexivity of ET research as well as provide insights on opposition. A keener understanding of two-way interaction between policies and discourses will help free ET2 policies from ET1 lock-ins.

A Republic, If You Can Keep It: Breakdown and Erosion in Modern Democracies

What leads elites to break their democratic commitments? How do the partisan loyalties and democratic values of citizens influence these choices? This article formally analyzes incumbent abuse in democracies, the most common modern initiator of democratic breakdown. If an incumbent attempts to consolidate power, the opposition can try to rally protest but can also cry wolf without incumbent abuse. In a democratic equilibrium, incumbents avoid abuse, the opposition calls for protest if and only if abuse occurs, and citizens protest in sufficient numbers to deter elites. Results show that non-winner-take-all institutions, high media accuracy, low partisanship, and citizen support for democracy typically promote democratic survival. However, under some conditions, higher democracy support can threaten democracy. Model extensions allow incumbents to pursue democratic erosion instead of full breakdown, promote “fake news,” and strategically inflame partisanship. The article explores several implications for democratic survival and incumbent strategies for subverting it.

Three's a Crowd? An Optimal Distinctiveness View on Premium Car Makers' Electrification Strategies

Despite an increasing scholarly effort to integrate institutional theory into strategic management, we still know little about how organizations balance conformity and differentiation when they are pressured to come up with innovation. Drawing on the recently proposed perspective of optimal distinctiveness, we use a comparative case study among German premium car manufacturers to assess how organizations within this group strategically position their electrification strategies in the midst of regulatory and competitive pressures. We identify integrative and compensatory positioning as two strategic levers by which these organizations try to achieve competitive differentiation via their innovation strategies. We also reveal patterns in the relation between these levers and which circumstances predict their use. Our study contributes to the understanding of organizational responses to conflicting demands, the innovation strategies of incumbents, and the role of optimal distinctiveness in this process.

Incumbent Strategies against Collaborative Platforms

The purpose of this article is to analyse the strategies that incumbent market participants are using to fight collaborative platforms. I essentially focus on the battle between taxi drivers and Uber in Spain, because it is a very complete scenario. Traditional operators feel threatened by collaborative platforms due to the greater attractiveness of their business model. Therefore, they implemented t the two classic defence measures: imitation and confrontation. Nonetheless, some references are made to other examples of sharing economy, as “short-term rental market” and other countries.
 The first strategy is imitation. Established operators try to copy technological advances to increase competitiveness. Others team up with collaborative platforms to take advantage of their power of attraction and gain market share. We believe that it is the most desirable strategy, from a systematic point of view, because it improves competition and encourages innovation. Nonetheless, there are economic, social and legal obstacles that hinder imitation and collaboration.
 Traditional operators have faced collaborative platforms through different channels. The two most important are judicial and legislative. Regarding the first one, incumbents have grounded the lawsuits on unfair competition. They argued that collaborative platforms took advantage of breaking the laws, misled, sold at a loss and, in general, did not act in good faith. The Spanish experience shows that this strategy is not efficient. Multiple uncertainties condition the result; for instance, the lack of precise knowledge of disruptive technologies. Even when the result is favourable to the plaintiff, winning does not mean necessarily success.
 The third strategy is regulatory capture. Traditional operators put pressure on Parliaments, Governments and all kinds of administrations to forbid or restrict the activities of collaborative platforms. The Spanish experience is that this strategy can work. Success is not guaranteed as it full of difficulties and uncertainties. The outcome relies heavily on the political conjuncture, that uses to be fluctuating. Besides, it is very detrimental to the economic and legal system.

Closer to election, more light: electricity supply and elections in a postconflict transition economy

ABSTRACTIn our paper, we analyse the supply of electricity in conjunction with elections in Kosovo. The results confirm our hypotheses that before scheduled (regular) parliamentary elections, the supply of electricity increases significantly above usual levels, but that this is not the case for early (snap) elections. This paper contributes to the Political Business Cycle (PBC) literature in two ways. It provides additional evidence of incumbent manipulation of non-classical policy instruments before elections. The paper contributes also to the PBC debate by revealing different incumbent strategies in scheduled and early elections, respectively, thus highlighting the importance of distinguishing between these types of elections in PBC research.