Entry strategy in local duopoly markets: symmetry and rivalry in the cellular telephone industry

The emerging cellular telephone industry was used to test a model of strategic rivalry in the introductory phase of the product-market life cycle. The hypothesis that rivalry was positively related to competitor strategic symmetry was not supported and three measures of rivalry were found to be unrelated. In addition to rivalry, case studies indicated that competitors made many strategic and tactical moves in response to market evolution, rather than for competitive reasons.