Do market leaders set the rules for the market or merely establish accepted norms - until something better comes along and new norms are accepted? Blockbuster and NetFlix come to mind. It's now hard to imagine a competitive No Late Fees offer from a video chain. NetFlix established a newly accepted norm of movie rentals.

I don't think of market leaders as rule setters. I don't think there are rules to markets, there's just a lot of "that's the way we've always done it" attitude n business. Too much.

That attitude creates opportunity to serve customers in differing ways. Every market leader sets their own trap for niche markets to emerge and be served. Every market leader is vulnerable to their own dominance.

It's something to think about. Act.

What do you think? Do market leaders set the rules for the market or merely establish accepted norms?