The other name of the flank attack is
peripheral attack. Flank basically means sides in this respect. The
challenger should know that firms protect their fronts usually keep
their sides or flanks as well as rears unprotected because of their
concentration on fronts. This is the gap the challenger should exploit.
Under this strategy, the challenger launches attack on, first of all the
stronger sides of the opponents. The opponents, in this situation are
likely to concentrate heavily on their fronts leaving flanks and rears
unguarded. A vacuum is thus created where the challenger can easily
enter.
There are two strategic dimensions along which the flank attack can
be directed. They are the geographic dimension and the segmental
dimension. To launch a geographic flank attack, the challenger
should, first of all identify the geographic areas where his opponents
are performing poor. He should then launch his product aggressively
in those under-served areas and overthrow the opponents. In the
segmental flanking attack, on the otherhand, the firm should find out
needs of the market either not served by the market leader or are not
reasonably satisfied by the available products. He should then modify
his product or develop a new product aimed at meeting those needs. It
could be a very effective strategy if the firm can really come up with
something that is able to meet the unmet or partially met needs of the
consumers. A flanking strategy can thus give a firm real opportunity
to prosper by identifying gaps and filling those by his offer. It is
equally appreciated by customers since pursuing such a strategy by
various firms will lead to the fuller coverage of the market’s varied
needs.
