First-Mover Advantage Vs. First-Mover Disadvantage
The advantage gained by the first-moving significant occupant of a market segment (property rights, branding, investments, etc), contrasted with the disadvantage of being the first to move into a market segment (using unreliable or inefficient technologies, making the first mistakes, etc.).
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Origin
The economic concept was formalized by Marvin Lieberman and David Montgomery in their influential 1988 paper "First-Mover Advantages" in the Strategic Management Journal, which identified technological leadership, asset preemption, and switching costs as key mechanisms. The same authors explored the flipside in a 1998 follow-up. The broader intuition draws from first-move advantage in chess.
Updated February 22, 2026