The document discusses the concept of customer value management (CVM) and how it relates to first mover advantage. It explains that as product costs increase, customer preferences shift towards intangible value offerings like brand image over tangible attributes. Building a strong brand is expensive, giving early entrants in a market (first movers) an advantage over competitors through established intangible values like brand association. Therefore, CVM and focusing on intangible offerings through brand building can provide first movers a sustained advantage in a particular market.

1. What is CVM and how it ensures first mover advantage?
Value offerings of any product are divided into 2 parameters – tangible and intangible.
There is a relation between value offerings and cost of the product (high and low
involvement). For an example, suppose I have to buy a chocolate I will only make a
purchase based on taste which is a tangible offering. But if I have to buy a car I will not
just look for its performance but also for brand association, image in society etc which
are intangible associations.
Hence an inference can be made that with increase in product cost preference towards
intangible offerings increases.
CVM: (Illustration)
Intangible values relates to brand in a big way. Brand building is comparatively an
expensive affair and hence becomes difficult for lot of companies to play in that area. It is
one of the strong reasons why it ensures first mover advantage.
Inference: Any product with strong intangible offerings will have first mover advantage
compared to a product with tangible offerings in a particular market.