Copycats: How Smart Companies Use Imitation to Gain a Strategic Edge

Description

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.

Oded Shenkar is currently the Ford Motor Company Chair in Global Business Management and Professor of Management at the Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, where he heads the international business area, and is also a member of the Centers for Chinese Studiesand Near East Studies. Professor Shenkar has been a Senior Fellow at the University of Cambridge and has taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Peking University, University of International Business and Economics (Beijing), International University of Japan and Israel Institute of Technology, among many others. He has been ranked as a leading researcher in Chinese management (The Journal of Business Research), among the top scholars in international strategy (Journal of International Management) and one of the most prolific authors in management (Organization Science).

"a new provocative book..." -- Forbes.com