Tennis Stat of the Day
10 June 2007 at 10:44 am Peter G. Klein 4 comments
| Peter Klein |
How dominant is Roger Federer? Rafael Nadal has been #2 in the ATP rankings, behind Federer, for 98 consecutive weeks — the longest anybody has been #2 without reaching #1 in the modern era. (Thanks to NBC for providing the stat during today’s French Open men’s final.)
It’s an interesting metric. What firms have held the #2 spot in their industries (sales, market share, earnings, etc.) the longest without reaching #1? Anybody with Compustat data and a few hours to spare want to crank some numbers for us?
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Organizations and Markets 
1.
Vladimir Dzhuvinov | 10 June 2007 at 12:04 pm
As an avid cycling fan I would suggest the companies Shimano and SRAM. Both have been in the market for bicycle components for many years.
The Coca Cola Co. and Pepsi Co. also come to mind.
2.
Cliff Grammich | 11 June 2007 at 11:40 am
Does Avis’s advertising slogan mean anything here?
GM and Ford also come to my mind.
3.
lw | 13 June 2007 at 6:37 am
Even more interesting would be to look what benefits / drawbacks there are of being 2nd best in an industry. I can imagine that it is a quite comfortable position for a firm to be in. Generally, I believe that the public image of firms being 2nd in their industry is better than of the ones being 1st.
As a few examples, I suspect that being second means: less burden of having to be at the front of every new trend (e.g. less pressure to adhere to environmental norms that aren’t generally adopted yet). Also I suspect that it might be easier for the management to justify strategic mistakes.
This is definitely an interesting question to look deeper into.
4.
short balls NADAL edition: vid of him in bed with moya, his wimbledon wear, etc. « corned beef hash marks | 14 June 2007 at 12:21 am
[…] He holds yet another record: Along with his “longest winning streak on any surface” (81 matches on clay) add this: Nadal been ranked No. 2 for 98 consecutive weeks, the longest in the open era that any player’s been No. 2 without reaching No. 1. (via Orgs & Markets) […]