Takeaways
From free riding to leapfrogging, firms ignore the benefits of imitation at their peril. The pace of imitation is increasing as fast as, if not faster than, the pace of innovation. Although many...
View ArticleIn This Book
This book's goal is to change the mind-set that imitation is an embarrassing nuisance residing at the margins of business life, bringing it into center stage strategically and operationally. When you...
View ArticleImovation: Fusing Innovation and Imitation
When I looked for the consummate imitators, I was surprised to see that quite a few were also known as innovators. This was true of Wal-Mart, IBM, Apple, Procter & Gamble, Sherwin-Williams, and...
View ArticleThe Changing Face of Imitation
In the past, imitation was more often than not a product of pure chance: Ray Krok stumbled on the original McDonald's restaurant while making sales calls for milk-shake machines. On a cursory visit to...
View ArticleThe Imitator's Edge
When Boeing President Bill Allen saw the Comet at the Farnborough Air Show in 1950, he realized that the future of civil aviation rested with jet propulsion. In the wake of a number of Comet crashes,...
View ArticleThe Accelerating Pace of Imitation
Humans, as well as other species, have always relied on imitation to survive in a hostile environment, make tools, and outdo rivals and protagonists. They have learned not to reinvent the wheel — even...
View ArticleFat Copycats
Imitation is not only more abundant than innovation, but actually a much more prevalent road to business growth and profits. — Theodore Levitt, 1966 A few years ago I approached an acquaintance, a...
View Article