We show how genetic algorithms can be used to evolve strategies in oligopolistic markets characterized by asymmetric competition. The approach is illustrated using scanner tracking data of brand actions in a real market. An asymmetric market-share model and a category-volume model are combined to represent market response to the actions of brand managers. The actions available to each artificial brand manager are constrained to four typical marketing actions of each from the historical data. Each brand's strategies evolve through simulations of repeated interactions in a virtual market, using the estimated weekly profits of each brand as measures of its fitness for the genetic algorithm. The artificial agents bred in this environment outperform the historical actions of brand managers in the real market. The implications of these findings for the study of marketing strategy are discussed.

The effects of the marketing actions of one brand can be distributed among its competitors’ market shares in a complex manner. This chapter presents and illustrates methods for modeling brand competition and brand strategies in markets where competitive effects can be differentially and asymmetrically distributed. We discuss the empirical specification, parameter estimation and competitive-strategy implications of the models proposed. Price and advertising competition among eleven brands of an Australian household product is used to illustrate the application of these procedures.

The effects of the marketing actions of one brand can be distributed among its competitors' market shares in a complex manner. This paper presents and illustrates methods for modeling brand competition and brand strategies in markets where competitive effects can be differentially and asymmetrically distributed. We discuss the empirical specification, parameter estimation and competitive—strategy implications of the models proposed. Price and advertising competition among eleven brands of an Australian household product is used to illustrate the application of these procedures.