There are many advantages for a competitor who enters late into the market place; he know the status of the market and can accordingly adjust his products. The following report analysis the advantages of being the second competitor:

http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/the_second_mover_advantage

Thank you so much Ahedallah Sir.

Dear @Mizanur, I agree about the advantages that @Abedallah mentioned on product tuning when a late mover is about! 

Please find attached paper "UNDERSTANDING THE STRATEGIES OF LATE-MOVERS

IN INTERNATIONAL MANUFACTURING"! Very good resource!

Last mover advantages are given in the next link!

http://www.icpr19.cl/mswl/Papers/079.pdf

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1167648/last-mover-advantage-when-brands-avoid-taking-lead

First mover is generally at an advantage because of the pioneering status. However late movers have the advantages of learning fro the mistakes of the earlier movers and improve on the innovations. See examples of Apple, Samsung and Google with their variations of OS and products. I am attaching a few links and documents that would be useful to further research. 

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1167648/last-mover-advantage-when-brands-avoid-taking-lead

http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:229467/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Agree with all of you four guys.

Late comers have the benefit of the hind sight and can learn from the mistakes of their predecesors.

A first-mover may enjoy a larger market share at the expense of a lower profit margin ... value of assets in place and the present value of growth opportunities of rival firms. ... If it pays to be a first-mover, it is reasonable to expect pioneers to earn higher .... discontinuities that change the basis of competition in existing markets.

A late mover into the marketplace can gain advantage if there has been a vantage point from which the market was well seen & properly understood. If the late mover is NOT well-equipped with the necessary insight, then I do not exaggerate when I say that the newcomer will fall into a "set" trap that may lead to bankruptcy. When competition is fierce or "cut throat", newcomers to the market are NOT usually welcome.

Thank you so much to all

It is the most interesting strategic issues that I have noted. We highlight the advantages of arriving first and surround themselves with competitive advantages (Xerox, Coca-Cola, Gillette, and so on). However, competitors who observed the failures of first movers and came up with new and better solutions could overcome the pioneers. Thus, Altavista was overcome by Yahoo and this was almost torn by Google.

Most of the advantages have already been mentioned by the above esteemed colleagues. I would also add the advantage of being able to offer a DIFFERENTIATED product that will re-stimulate a potentially 'tired' market, at the expense of pre-existing competitors who, de facto, cannot strategically reposition or reinvent their brand easily.   

Late movers can a number of advantages such as cost advantages, trained skilled personnels, experienced working team. Loss of a company may be minimised. but, the product or service should be in growing or mature stages for a long time in the PLC.

I strongly agree @ Kamal Eddin Bani-Hani.  First movers move their business without competition. but last movers having heavy competition. So they taking  swot analysis for their business.  At the same time it is major issue to the first movers for retaining their business/customers.

Late movers can get all those benefits which caters to a risk free environment. They are simply following tested steps for success so there are rare chances for them going into loss but the drawback is they ll not be able to reap extra ordinary benefits. Also like @kamal Eddin Bani-Hani very rightly pointed that if its too late for them then they may not even enjoy the nominal profits thereto.

When trying to answer this question, one should also consider the phase of market. In a mature-consolidated market, late movers have fewer advantages that they would experience in a fragmented market for example. 

Latemovers have had time to experiment, to evaluate strengths abd  weakenesss from competities, but above all, think. The have time to learn  and thats what it is all About, learning.

The major advantage i can associate with moving late into the market is that of reduced risk of failure since other competitors have proved the marketability of the product .

As a late mover, the company can do modification in product , modifications in price, add new varieties inform more uses of product to new and existing customers.

Every strategic move will come with business risk (pros & cons). Advantage wise is the lesson learned (especially the failure aspect) from the beginner and get into the market with improvements. Disadvantage will be prime market captured by the product pioneer. Strategic recommendation would be creativity and innovation to rebrand or reposition the product. One of the best global example is LG case.

I would recommend reading this first: http://www.venkyshankar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Shankar_Carpenter_Krishnamurthi_JMR_1998.pdf

Additionally I would point out exploring these venues:

- better differentiation opportunities (by rebranding competitors or creating unique and relevant POD's)

-well established categorial POP's

- improved change management

- better consumer familiarity with the product class

- lower advertising costs

- better optimization of distribution channels

- easier to apply pricing strategy

-easier market segmentation

I'd say that if the product/business model depends upon a substantial customer base or substantial investments to overcome the barriers to entry, then late movers will face difficulties in competing against the already set up first movers. In markets with little barriers to entry, where products and business models do not depend upon a great, loyal customer base, I'd say that late movers have an advantage over first movers since they can attain market share relatively easy while having the opportunity to learn from the first mover's mistakes.