what is an incumbent 
the term incumbent refers to an individual who currently holds a set of responsibilities within a specific office as part of a corporation or within a branch of the government as the incumbent this person has an obligation to the position or office they hold all incumbents of an organization such as directors and officers are listed on an incumbency certificate 1 an incumbent may also refer to the obligation itself or to the sense of duty surrounding the accomplishment of a particular task or objective understanding incumbentsthe word incumbent has several different meanings depending on the context in which it s used it most commonly refers to a person with a position in a specific office whether they are part of a company or an elected official this person has certain responsibilities that come with their position business leaders such as chief executive officers ceos are incumbents of a company while a senator is a political incumbent the term incumbent can also be used to describe the duties a particular individual is required to perform or the obligation they must satisfy it can also refer to a company that is powerful with a large portion of its industry s market share further the term incumbent can be related to various business standings and relationships as noted above companies list their leaders on an incumbency certificate these leaders include current directors officers and may also include main shareholders 1 this certificate is considered an official company act just like an annual report as such third parties including shareholders are able to rely on it being accurate examples of incumbentsan incumbent in business most commonly refers to a leader in the industry while it may normally refer to a person that isn t always the case it can also be used to describe a company or a product as well a company may for instance possess the largest market share or may have additional sway within the industry in business market leading companies should have the incumbent s advantage which is a deeper insight into the needs of customers than competitors a stronger understanding of profitability in regards to meeting those needs and that the knowledge of their needs and the profitability is less open to imitation than the uniqueness of their product or service 2as such incumbents in an industry may change in response to changes in the market for example blackberry producer research in motion was once considered an incumbent of the smartphone market up until apple s iphone replaced it as the incumbent based on worldwide sales 3an incumbent can also refer to business relationships such as those between a supplier providing materials to a different business the supplier currently in use is considered the incumbent due to the associations of the supplier holding the position if a new supplier wants to take over the duties of the current supplier the new supplier is a challenger to the current supplier s incumbency 