These companies cannot aggressively seek larger shares because further gains may break the dam and let the waters of antitrust action pour in. Their market shares have been their blessing and their curse-their curse because they must make their decisions and manage their operations with much more care than do their competitors. IBM, Gillette, Eastman Kodak, Procter & Gamble, Xerox, General Motors, Campbell’s, Coca-Cola, Kellogg, and Caterpillar are cases in point. Companies possessing it are tempting targets for actual and potential competitors, consumer organizations, and government agencies. 1 It can also mean winning the leadership, power, and glory that go with such dominance.īut high market share can also mean headaches. The authors suggest various strategies that these companies might consider in attempting to manage their market shares.Ĭapturing a dominant share of a market is likely to mean enjoying the highest profits of any of the companies serving that market. Although most companies can profit by attempting to increase their market shares, some may conclude that they are at (or possibly beyond) the point at which expected costs and risks outweigh expected gains. This concept of managing market shares leads to some intriguing possibilities. Given this direct link between profit and risk, it behooves companies to manage their market shares with the same diligence as they would manage any other facet of their businesses. But the authors of this article refuse to accept the blanket inference that “more” is necessarily always going to mean “better.” A large market share, they point out, can spell more trouble as well as more profit for a company a given project promising higher returns than others will surely entail greater risks as well. In recent years, a growing number of business practitioners and theorists have postulated that one way for a company to increase its return is by increasing its market share, and studies appear to have confirmed this relationship.