Being the market leader is not everything

Other studies show a much stronger financial effect of other metrics, such as customer satisfaction and brand equity. In fact, customer relationships deliver six times the effect and the brand almost three times the effect of market share gains alone. Dr. Alexander Edeling from the University of Cologne and Professor Dr. Alexander Himme from Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg published their findings in their article, "When Does Market Share Matter? New Empirical Generalizations from a Meta-Analysis of the Market Share-Performance Relationship," in theJournal of Marketing.

"Many CEOs still consider market share to be the most important indicator of business success," says Edeling. "But in today's digital market, small companies can often produce cost-effectively and sell to a global audience. That allows them to compete with the industry's leading companies."

Together with his co-author, Edeling suggests distributing budgets accordingly. Slow and steady investments in the expansion of products, the improvement of customer service and the development of a brand with a potential target customer base are the key to the growth and future security of a company for the authors.