Critical Review of 'Fast-Mover Advantages' in the LNG Submarket

This report provides a critical review of the article "Fast-mover advantages: Speed capabilities and entry into the emerging submarket of Atlantic Basin LNG" by Hawk, Pacheco-de-Almeida and Yeung (2012). The review analyzes the article's thesis, which examines the advantages of fast-movers in terms of market entry and speed. It highlights the strengths of the article, such as its discussion of market uncertainty and the concepts of entry timing and endogeneity. However, it also points out areas for improvement, including the need for more theoretical grounding and a broader scope beyond the Atlantic Basin LNG context. The review supports the authors' arguments about fast-mover advantages while also mentioning the importance of considering late market entry and the challenges faced by new entrants, ultimately concluding that the article clearly establishes the thesis but could benefit from practical recommendations for the Atlantic Basin LNG market. This paper is a valuable resource for students studying business development, strategy, and market analysis.

Running head: CRITICAL REVIEW
Critical Review
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1CRITICAL REVIEW
Critical Review
This paper provides a critical review of the article “Fast
‐mover advantages: Speed
capabilities and entry into the emerging submarket of Atlantic Basin LNG” by Hawk, Pacheco-
de-Almeida and Yeung (2012). The thesis of this article is to examine the advantages
experienced by fast-movers in terms of entry into the market and its speed. The purpose of
writing this article is to influence the firms’ intrinsic speed capabilities on entering a new market
and the resulting performance from it. This article shall be beneficial for the scholars and
practitioners who wish to make contributions to strategy research on entry timing and firm
capabilities. This article shall also act as guidance to other articles related to global
competitiveness. The authors Ashton Hawk, Goncalo Pacheco-de-Almedia and Bernard Yeung
are professors are reputed universities in USA, France and Singapore respectively.
As argued by Hawk, Pacheco-de-Almeida and Yeung (2012) in this article, fast-movers
experience advantage in terms of entry into the new market. The idea of fast-mover can be
related with ‘the early bird gets the worm’. According to Brem, Gerhard and Voigt (2014), the
first company to sell a new product gets long-lasting benefits or advantages. The first movers are
also referred to as market pioneers as it may result in market dominance and higher than average
profitability in the coming time. The argument can be supported by the example of Amazon.com,
which was the first major online bookstore that allowed web purchases in 1994 (Rasmusen and
Yoon 2012). The article does not state the two stages of developing first-mover advantages
clearly (Brem, Gerhard and Voigt 2014).
One of the strengths of this article is that it clearly indicates the uncertainty associated
with a new market and due to competition from other entrants. Also, strength of this article is

2CRITICAL REVIEW
that Hawk, Pacheco-de-Almeida and Yeung (2012) elaborate the meaning and concepts of entry
timing decision and endogenity problem. At the same time, the article could focus on more
theories relating to market pioneers. A glimpse could also be provided regarding late market
entry and its critical review from other articles (Wilkie, Johnson and White 2014). Further, the
research method chosen for examining the relationship between speed capabilities, entry timing
and performance is drawn from empirical findings. The approach is advantageous as is helps in
quantifying the research results that helps in testing the hypotheses. Further, the research fails to
analyze other case studies that could be used as case analysis. The research focuses on LNG
construction projects in the Atlantic Basin only. This helps in specifically establishing
relationship in the Atlantic Basin LNG. However, as the focus is laid specifically on Atlantic
Basin LNG, the research results cannot be used as a basis for another geographic location. The
restrictive geographical boundary restricts the scope of research and the results cannot be
generalized for other organizations.
The study revolves around two critical features, new market entry decisions and usage
specificity. One of the quotations from the article “An early entrant faces less competition but
may make costly mistakes due to a lack of information and learning opportunities, whereas late
entrants can benefit from information revelation and learning opportunities but may face higher
preemption costs” strongly supports my opinion about the fast-mover advantage (Hawk,
Pacheco-de-Almeida and Yeung 2012). This can be further supported by the case of Kellogg’s
which offers the benefit of weight in its breakfast cereal.
This article fails to mention the cases where first-mover have moved into oblivion.
Previously, Motorola and Blackberry had occupied the major market but currently they have
been surpassed by both Samsung and Apple (Al-Najjar and Besanko 2017). This article fails to

3CRITICAL REVIEW
address if first mover is a requirement or promise. The article can elaborate the points that can be
solved using first-mover advantages in Atlantic Basin LNG (Yan, Zhao and Tang 2015).
According to Vidal and Mitchell (2013), new entrants face certain challenges while they want to
wish to gain ‘first mover advantage’. This article fails to address the challenges that may arise in
Atlantic Basin LNG as a first-mover. The fast followers can learn from the mistakes of early
innovators and bring a more suitable product to the market (Hsiao et al. 2015).
Conclusively, this review helped in obtaining insight about fast mover advantage. The
thesis of this article to examine the advantages experienced by fast-movers in terms of entry into
the market and its speed was clearly established. However, it is suggested that the article could
involve possible recommendations that could be beneficial for Atlantic Basin LNG as fast
mover.

4CRITICAL REVIEW
References
Al-Najjar, Nabil, and David Besanko. 2017. "Motorola In The Wireless Handset
Market". Kellogg School Of Management Cases 1 (1): 1-7.
doi:10.1108/case.kellogg.2016.000217.
Brem, Alexander, Daniel A. Gerhard, and Kai-Ingo Voigt. 2014. "Strategic Technological
Sourcing Decisions In The Context Of Timing And Market Strategies: An Empirical
Analysis". International Journal Of Innovation And Technology Management 11 (03): 1450016.
doi:10.1142/s0219877014500163.
Hawk, Ashton, Gonçalo Pacheco-de-Almeida, and Bernard Yin Yeung. 2012. "Fast-Mover
Advantages: Speed Capabilities And Entry Into The Emerging Submarket Of Atlantic Basin
LNG". SSRN Electronic Journal 34 (13): 1531-1550. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1988143.
Hsiao, Yung-Chang, Chung-Jen Chen, Ruey-Shan Guo, and Kae-Kuen Hu. 2015. "First-Mover
Strategy, Resource Capacity Alignment, And New Product Performance: A Framework For
Mediation And Moderation Effects". R&D Management 47 (1): 75-87. doi:10.1111/radm.12157.
Rasmusen, Eric, and Young-Ro Yoon. 2012. "First Versus Second Mover Advantage With
Information Asymmetry About The Profitability Of New Markets". The Journal Of Industrial
Economics 60 (3): 374-405. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6451.2012.00487.x.
Vidal, Elena, and Will Mitchell. 2013. "When Do First Entrants Become First Survivors?". Long
Range Planning 46 (4-5): 335-347. doi:10.1016/j.lrp.2013.06.006.

5CRITICAL REVIEW
Wilkie, Dean C.H., Lester W. Johnson, and Lesley White. 2014. "Overcoming Late Entry: The
Importance Of Entry Position, Inferences And Market Leadership". Journal Of Marketing
Management 31 (3-4): 409-429. doi:10.1080/0267257x.2014.981567.
Yan, Xinghao, Hui Zhao, and Kwei Tang. 2015. "Requirement Or Promise? An Analysis Of The
First-Mover Advantage In Quality Contracting". Production And Operations Management 24
(6): 917-933. doi:10.1111/poms.12315.