Copycats: how smart companies use imitation to gain a strategic edge

Abstract

In the business world, imitation gets a bad rap. We see imitating firms as ?me too? players, forced to copy because they have nothing original to offer. We pity their fate: a life of picking up crumbs discarded by innovators striding a path paved with fame and profit. In Copycats, Oded Shenkar challenges this viewpoint. He reveals how imitation?the exact or broad-brushed copying of an innovation?is as critical to prosperity as innovation. Shenkar shows how savvy imitators generate huge profits. They save not only on R&D costs but also on marketing and advertising investments made by first movers. And they avoid costly errors by observing and learning from others? trials. Copycats presents suggestions for making imitation a core element in your competitive strategy and pairing it powerfully with innovation, including: · How to select the right model to imitate · How to avoid oversimplification of a model · Which imitation strategy to use · How to prepare and execute an implementation plan Engaging, practical, and rich in company examples, Copycats unveils how to add imitation to your competitive arsenal.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 110 citations exist upstream.