Definition of defensive warfare

competitive marketing strategies patterned after successful military defense strategies. Also called marketing warfare, defensive warfare is used by market leaders to protect their position in the marketplace against competitor attacks. There are six basic strategies: position defense, the most basic defense, which consists of building fortifications around the current market position; flanking defense, keeping careful check around the flanks and protecting the more vulnerable areas; preemptive defense, assumes that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and strikes out at competitors before they can make a move against the leading product; counter offensive defense, where the market leader studies the competitor's offense to find a gap and make counterattacks at this weak point; mobile defense, wherein the market leader stretches to new markets that can serve as future bases for defense and offense; contraction defense, a strategic withdrawal from the marketplace, giving up weaker positions and concentrating resources on stronger ones, or serving fewer markets but serving them much better.