Defensive strategies are all about the market evolution and its maturity. The older the market is, the more they are applicable. They are more about sinking profitability then lower competitiveness of a market or cost leader. They are nearly always applied by established companies in the given market. There at least 6 defensive strategies defined by marketing science, including a market retreat.
An older but important source is a book by Barry Posen, The Sources of Military Doctrine: France, Britain, and Germany between the world wars (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984).