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An analysis of the trilemma phenomenon for Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy

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Abstract

Although fast followers have been making huge investments on their expansion strategies to surpass first movers and dominate the market, they have encountered the trilemma of being unable to simultaneously obtain high market shares, high business profit rates, and high brand innovativeness. This study used the Trade-off model and Diffusion of Innovation theory to statistically examine the trilemma phenomenon in the global smartphone market and revealed that during the early stage of market entry, a company should actively source and use bigmouth consumers and killer app developers, invest limited resources to expand its target market with the aim of sales profits, and develop specifically for innovation. Starting from the later stage of its market growth period, a company should establish some alternative strategies for responding to the possible reduction in the efficacy of marketing expenses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sogang Business School, Sogang University, 35 Baekbeom-ro, Mapo, Seoul, 04107, Korea

    Bo-Seong Yun & Sang-Gun Lee

  2. Institute of Innovation Research, Hitotsubashi University, 2-1 Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo, 186-8601, Japan

    Yaichi Aoshima

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  1. Bo-Seong Yun
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  2. Sang-Gun Lee
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  3. Yaichi Aoshima
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Correspondence to Sang-Gun Lee.

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Yun, BS., Lee, SG. & Aoshima, Y. An analysis of the trilemma phenomenon for Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. Serv Bus 13, 779–812 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-019-00405-5

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