First mover advantage

First mover advantage is exactly that -an advantage that needs to be exploited, not a right to succeed. It may well not be enough to repeat the same tactics that gave you the advantage, since the competition may be anticipating that or the market may now take that for granted and look for something else. You have to keep on innovating.

In a game of tennis, if you reach advantage, the game is yours to win. But if you play the next point in a predictable way, your opponent may well anticipate you and find the shots to claw back your advantage.

Companies that are first to market can go on to dominate - look at eBay in online auctions - but they have to continue to innovate and anticipate the next trends or they risk disappearing (remember the spreadsheet programs of Visicalc, then Supercalc then Lotus).

Of course, there may be disadvantages in being first mover as well - the latest technology may have unforseen problems or it make take longer than expected to sell a new solution to a sceptical market. But the first mover is best placed to understand and react to these issues - as long as they are constantly examining their operations in order to improve them and using feedback from the market to adapt.