Whenever a new competitor enters an industry or industrial segment, the industry’s dominant players face a critical decision: Should they defend their position or rely on market realities to take care of the newcomer? The decision is a complicated one. “You can’t defend everything,” says Kellogg School MARKETING professor Tim Calkins. But in his view companies defend FAR too infrequently. “You can get into trouble when you don’t defend,” he says. “You can trace a lot of BUSINESS problems BACK to ineffective defensive EFFORTS.”

Whenever a new competitor enters an industry or industrial segment, the industry’s dominant players face a critical decision: Should they defend their position or rely on market realities to take care of the newcomer? The decision is a complicated one. “You can’t defend everything,” says Kellogg School marketing professor Tim Calkins. But in his view companies defend far too infrequently. “You can get into trouble when you don’t defend,” he says. “You can trace a lot of business problems back to ineffective defensive efforts.”