what is an offensive competitive strategy 
an offensive competitive strategy is a type of corporate strategy that consists of actively trying to pursue changes within the industry companies that go on the offensive generally make acquisitions and invest heavily in research and development r d and technology in an effort to stay ahead of the competition they will also challenge competitors by cutting off new or under served markets or by going head to head with them defensive competitive strategies by contrast are meant to counteract offensive competitive strategies understanding offensive competitive strategiesvarious techniques and strategies may be employed either alone or as part of a concerted effort to create an offensive competitive strategy companies may even employ entirely different strategies in different locales or marketplaces for example consider how a global soft drink company may react to a competitor in its mature home market compared to how it would react to a startup competitor in an emerging market such variability can lead to some complex offensive strategies and even the incorporation of some defensive strategies as part of an offensive effort the most extreme offensive competitive strategy is when companies actively look to acquire other firms to fuel growth or limit competition these firms are often regarded as higher risk than those that are defensive because they are more likely to be fully invested or leveraged which could prove problematic in the event of a market slowdown or dislocation a characteristic of all offensive strategies is that they tend to be expensive offensive competitive strategy typesthere are several types of offensive competitive strategies each with its own advantages and disadvantages defensive strategiessome examples of defensive strategies include 