This chapter discusses a wide range of strategies that can be employed by incumbent firms either to protect or to extend their market shares against competitive attacks by actual and potential entrants. The hallmark of these strategies is that, invariably, they reduce the expected level of...

Switching costs and network effects bind customers to vendors if products are incompatible, locking customers or even markets in to early choices. Lock-in hinders customers from changing suppliers in response to (predictable or unpredictable) changes in efficiency, and gives vendors lucrative ex...