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Abstract Previous literature on competitive strategies for new ventures differs significantly on the appropriate domain breadth for new ventures, niche versus aggressive coverage. While this study does not address normatively the appropriateness of either approach, it reveals eight distinct ‘archetypes’ of competitive strategy for entry with both niche and broad strategies represented. In this study 247 new venture CEOs from the information processing industry were asked to describe their venture's competitive strategy for entry using twenty‐six competitive methods. Factor and subsequent cluster analysis uncovered these eight different ‘archetypes’: (1) aggressive growth via commodity type products to numerous markets with small customer orders; (2) aggressive growth via price competitive new products to large customers; (3) aggressive growth with narrow, special products priced competitively to a few larger buyers; (4) controlled growth with broad product range to many markets and extensive backward integration; (5) controlled growth via premium priced products sold directly to consumers; (6) limited growth in small niches offering a superior product and high customer service; (7) average growth via steady development of new channels, brand/name ID, and heavy promotion; and (8) limited growth selling infrequently purchased products to numerous markets with some forward integration.
McDougall et al. (Mon,) studied this question.