Matching response to competitors' moves under asymmetric market strength

This paper investigates a firm's inclination to match a rival's strategic move under asymmetric market strength. Drawing from the awareness-motivation-capability framework, we theorize that a firm is more likely to match modestly weaker competitors to sustain its current lead and match modestly stronger competitors to eschew lagging further behind; conversely, a firm is less likely to match far weaker competitors due to its lack of attention and match far stronger competitors due to its inability to compete. Event history analysis of a set of IT companies' entry moves into various locations in China exhibits support for our hypotheses. Our findings suggest that a firm's matching response most often occurs under a moderate level of asymmetric market strength. •Asymmetry in market strength affects matching response likelihood.•Matching response is most likely at a moderate level of asymmetric market strength.•A low or high level of asymmetric market strength reduces matching response likelihood.•Different behavioral drivers manifest under varying levels of asymmetric market strength.