Moving first in a market can force your rival into a permanently smaller share

In Stackelberg competition, one firm commits publicly to its output before a rival chooses theirs. Because the follower must take that output as fixed, the leader deliberately produces more than it would if both moved at once, pushing the follower to settle for less. The advantage comes purely from committing first, not from being more efficient.

— Heinrich von Stackelberg, Marktform und Gleichgewicht (Market Structure and Equilibrium) — 1934