This paper provides a better understanding of why manufacturing companies often fail to enter the low‐end market.
Case studies on Swiss firms that create competitive advantage through technological, quality and/or innovation leadership are the main tool of theory development.
Our objective was to explain why firms often fail to enter the low‐end market. The main finding is a method for entering the low‐end market successfully.
Our remarks are limited to manufacturing firms that create competitive advantage through technological, quality and/or innovation leadership.
The key managerial implications is a method for entering the low‐end market successfully. The method offers some guidance for overcoming the successive hurdles limiting the entry in the low‐term price segment in emerging markets.
We were able to add a complementary perspective to existing literature on the international management. We suggest that the long‐term success in emerging markets is influenced strongly by the entry in the low‐end price segment.
