Which of the following strategy is generally adopted by a market challenger firm ?
Indirect attack
Indirect attack — option 2. Attacking at all is what defines a challenger, and each of the other three options belongs to a different competitive position.
Kotler’s four competitive positions.
| Position | Share | Characteristic strategy | Option here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market leader | Largest | Protect market share; expand total demand; expand share | 4 |
| Market challenger | Second or third, and attacking | Frontal, flank, encirclement, bypass or guerrilla attack | 2 |
| Market follower | Second or third, but not attacking | Follow at a distance — clone, imitate or adapt | 1 |
| Market nicher | Small | Multiple niching — specialise and serve segments the big firms ignore | 3 |
The five attack strategies open to a challenger.
| Attack | What it means |
|---|---|
| Frontal | Match the leader head-on in product, price, advertising and distribution — the costliest, and it needs a clear resource advantage |
| Flank | Strike where the leader is weak — a geographic gap or an unserved segment |
| Encirclement | Attack on several fronts at once, offering everything the leader does and more |
| Bypass | Sidestep the leader entirely — diversify into unrelated products, new geographic markets, or leapfrog to a new technology |
| Guerrilla | Small intermittent attacks — selective price cuts, local promotions — to harass and demoralise |
Flank, bypass and guerrilla attacks are all indirect: they avoid the leader’s strength rather than meeting it. That is generally the challenger’s preferred route, since a frontal assault on a larger firm is expensive and usually fails — military strategy’s principle of force holds that the attacker needs a substantial advantage to win a direct engagement.
Why option 4 is worth noticing. “Protect market share” is the leader’s posture, not the challenger’s. A challenger has less to protect and more to gain, which is exactly why it attacks.
Hence, the answer is Indirect attack.
Similar Questions
In this attack strategy, the marketer must back it with a stronger attack to beat the opponent. Identify the strategy.
In this attack strategy, the marketer must back it with a stronger attack to beat the opponent. Identify the strategy.
Arrange the following steps of Global marketing process in a correct order :
A. Implement the marketing strategy
B. Decide on market entry strategy
C. Monitor and control
D. Identify and evaluate marketing opportunities
E. Develop a marketing program
Choose the correct answer from the options given below :
When the total market expands, the _________ usually gains the most.
Important Questions from Strategic marketing planning
How many types of consumer clusters are defined in the VALS framework, which divides consumers according to their buying motivation behavior?
In this attack strategy, the marketer must back it with a stronger attack to beat the opponent. Identify the strategy.
In this attack strategy, the marketer must back it with a stronger attack to beat the opponent. Identify the strategy.
Match the items of List-I with List-II and denote the code of correct matching.
List – I List – II a. Invest Strategy i. No receiving of new resources. b. Protect Strategy ii. Well financed marketing efforts. c. Harvest Strategy iii. Selective resource allocation d. Divest Strategy iv. Not warranting substantial new resources. Codes :
Arrange the following steps of Global marketing process in a correct order :
A. Implement the marketing strategy
B. Decide on market entry strategy
C. Monitor and control
D. Identify and evaluate marketing opportunities
E. Develop a marketing program
Choose the correct answer from the options given below :
