Market Leadership Feeds on Itself

Market leaders across product categories benefit because of their leadership position. High volumes enable a strong channel presence. Counterparties give them first preference when looking for partners and regulators and policy makers listen more to their views. Finally, customers prefer to buy what everyone is buying. This is visible cross product categories. Here are a few examples.

Maruti Suzuki leads in the small car segment and has over 50% market share of the overall car market in India. Customers see more Maruti cars on the road than other brands. Product volumes support a lower cost structure which feeds on itself. Maruti has been using its strong dealer and service network as an important messaging pillar in its marketing communications (a traveler finds a service station on top of the mountains). However, we must also give credit to Maruti for maintaining a strong product line, high service quality standards, low cost of maintenance and also its strong presence in pre-owned cars.

Microsoft is another clear beneficiary of its market leadership in desktop software. Its strong presence in educational segment, a strong network of training institutes supporting Windows and MS Office software, and unintended benefits of piracy – all of have helped Microsoft retain it stranglehold on desktop software.
a) Linux has remained in confines of enterprise server market while Apple has failed to execute well in emerging markets like India.
b) Assembled PCs using Intel software have maintained high market share until recent reduction in taxes have led to increased presence of branded PCs. Assembled PCs often have pirated software. This increases price differential with Macs. At the same time, Apple has failed to justify its price with the value it delivers. Needless to say, Apple has almost negligible market share in India and that too can be attributed to technical staff in enterprises convincing their employers to grant their wish as favor. I have seen a strong tussle between employee’s desire for Macs and enterprises reluctance to pay for what is seem as non-essential purchase.
c) The biggest challenge for Apple in India is visibility. Most consumers don’t know about Mac or its benefits. Even if they know about it, they don’t consider it as a viable option. There are very few evangelists for Mac in India, which is the strength of Apple’s marketing in the developed world. Apple needs to fix the awareness issue first. Second most important issue relates to cost of purchase and maintenance. Thirdly, it is important to induce trials to create a positive word of mouth. Make the initial consumers "WOW!!" with the product and customer support. Make them your evangelists.
d) Changing consumer preferences takes time, investments and most important, patience from top management. When Kellog’s entered India, they were willing to wait for 20 years to make profits. Is Apple willing to invest and wait? Is Apple willing to take up the challenge? Success will be hard, but is very much possible.

While it is easy to understand why market leadership helps in physical world (role of dealer and service network), the effect is also visible in digital world, for example, Google commands over 90% market share in India compared to much lower market share in the developed markets.
a) Good word of mouth publicity has probably helped Google the most. A new customer often looks to peers or experienced users for guidance on which one is the best to use.
b) Google has obviously benefited from Yahoo’s failure to execute well. You need to look at Google maps and Yahoo maps for India to see why Google has succeeded while Yahoo has not.
c) Yahoo has not managed to beat rediff or indiatimes on news content. Rediff and Indiatimes have leveraged their early entry, along with local content and partnerships. Being a late entrant with me-too offerings has limited Yahoo’s success in India. On the other hand, search has natural economies of scale. Local players are not able to compete with size and scale of Google.

In two of the three examples, global leadership seems to imply market leadership in India. Maruti Suzuki is the only one exception. Success of Maruti Suzuki can also be attributed to strong support from government in its early days and a favorable regulatory regime towards small cars (a segment in which Suzuki has strong presence). In technology, one call probably say that global leadership makes a huge difference in the Indian market as Indian consumer still considers herself as a follower and takes lead from others on what is the best product to use. Presence on strong Indian community in the US and its strong technology linkages has meant that LinkedIn and Facebook are growing at a faster pace in India.