Flank attack

One of the strategies that may be used by a market challenger to attack the market leader in an industry. Here the challenger attacks the weaker spots of the market leader. A flank attack can be directed along two strategic dimensions—geographical and segmental. In geographical attack the challenger spots areas where the leader is under performing or has slight weakness. The other flanking strategy is to serve uncovered market needs, Japanese auto makers did when they developed more fuel-efficient cars.