Research on non-market actions: A commentary essay

This commentary is about the article, “First come, first served: how market and non-market actions influence pioneer market share” (Usero and Fernández, 2009). Though non-market actions are common competitive weapons in practice, relevant studies are surprisingly rare in strategic research. The empirical results of Usero and Fernández demonstrate that in some specific contexts, traditional market actions do not affect market position, but non-market actions do. However, to erode first moverʹs advantage, this study considers only the relative frequency of actions and does not measure quality, timing and strength of actions. This commentary also discusses some practical and theoretical implications of Usero and Fernándezʹs study.