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This unique Doctorate thesis addresses the knowledge gap regarding competitor study practices in small enterprises. It develops new theory, and presents best competitor study practices. It has used a cross-sectional qualitative multi-case study analysis methodology to study the competitor study practices of 7 very different small Dutch business-to-business enterprises. The research discovered hitherto unknown and unexpected relationships between the competitor study activities of small enterprises, SEs, and their relative competitive market positions. SEs with strong positions place a low importance on competitors, but SEs with weak positions place a high importance on competitors. Unexpectedly, these weak SEs are also responsible for most of discovered unethical and illegal competitor data collection practices. SEs with strong or stable relative market positions improve their market positions with their developed absorptive capacities, whereas SEs with weak relative market positions do not. The study´s implication for practice are the 3 best practice´ competitor study recommendations sets relative to the 3 SE relative competitive market position categories.

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Arie Barendregt has been active in the sales and marketing management of European small and medium business-to- business enterprises since 1980. He is also Adjunct Professor at Webster University in Leiden, The Netherlands. He was awarded the Doctor of Business Administration by Kingston University in the United Kingdom in 2010.

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