Author(s)
  Grimm, Curtis M,Smith, Ken G.

Source
  Journal of Management Mar 1991, v17n1, p. 5-23 (19 pages)

Abstract:
  Although issues of timing in interfirm rivalry are critical to strategic managers, rarely have they received scholarly attention. A model of competitive response timing is proposed that contains 3 basic elements: 1. competitive actions, 2. responses, and 3. response timing. The manner in which firms enhance performance by undertaking actions and responses is examined; the speed with which one firm responds to another's action is explained by communication-information theory. Specifically, the speed with which a firm responds to a competitor's action is posited to be a function of: 1. characteristics of the actor, 2. characteristics of the action, 3. the manner in which the action is communicated, 4. the competitive environment, and 5. the characteristics of the potential responding firm. Hypotheses regarding the determinants of competitive response timing are developed from communication-information theory.