個案資料

Imitators are often so successful that they push innovators out of business. Innovation has a well-established argument based on higher sales and growth, lower costs, and the transformation of a firm’s capabilities, yet imitators enjoy many of the same benefits. In fact, an imitator’s overall costs are estimated at 60 to 75 per cent lower. Generic drug makers, for example, not only leverage the investments of original developers but also save billions of dollars and decades of effort. With the benefit of hindsight, imitators capitalize on the shortcomings of early offerings. They choose what to adopt, singling out profitable opportunities, and are less likely to be complacent than innovators. However, even in an age of imitation ushered in by factors like globalization and outsourcing, business scholars have failed to recognize imitation as a complex endeavour that requires rare and valuable capabilities. <br><br>Crucially, imitation and innovation are not opposites. Though the capabilities to imitate share much with the capacity to innovate, innovators do not adopt them because of the stigma of imitation. This has prevented many firms from becoming “imovators,” able to fuse innovation and imitation. Good innovators and imitators both adapt imported elements or systems, combine different knowledge bases, and identify and leverage “spillovers.” Innovators are better at producing effective barriers to imitation, as much as imitators are experts at finding ways to overcome those barriers. In combining these two skill sets, firms can reap the benefits of innovation.

• Innovation
• Imitation
• Leadership
• Adaptation
• Knowledge Bases