Abstract

n early 2008, NTT DoCoMo, Inc.’s (DoCoMo) market share in the Japanese mobile market dropped below 50 percent for the first time in over a decade. Analysts felt that the market leader’s stranglehold on this mature mobile market was loosening as a result of the stiff competition from low-cost competitors such as SoftBank Mobile Corp. It would be tough for DoCoMo to retain its majority market share considering the immense challenges posed by the competitors, they felt.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Competition
• Market leader strategies
• and Market challenger strategies

Keywords

Strategy, competition, price competition, low-cost, low-cost competitors, pricing, discount scheme, price war, exit, new customer acquisition, market leader, mobile market, market share, mobile phones, services, telecommunication, telecom, marketing, marketing campaign, Japan, NTT DoCoMo, SoftBank, KDDI, Vodafone, au, EMobile, Mitsubishi