Abstract
Pioneering is meant to create a competitive advantage for businesses and yet imitations are accelerating globally, leaving businesses not knowing whether to pioneer or imitate. The purpose of this study was to make an analysis of the benefits and costs of pioneering and imitation, with the aim of possibly helping businesses to decide on which route to take, after considering their strengths and weaknesses. This was a desk research study which analyzed literature on business imitation and pioneering. It focused on imitation driven by technology; be it in products or services with a bias towards legal innovative imitation. The analysis was primarily dominated by literature obtained from developed countries because of the rich pool of research output on both concepts. Based on the findings, the paper concludes that most businesses are innovative imitations and technology has facilitated most of these imitations. Recommendations are that businesses should adopt innovative imitation, but do so legally and ethically. There is also need for more research studies on business imitation in order to come up with strategies that will accommodate global players. Keywords: pioneers, competitive advantage, innovative imitation, global players, first mover. JEL Classification: L26, M19
Highlights
Introduction and backgroundBusiness imitation is a phenomenon that has been in existence for a long time it might take time to appreciate its usefulness
This study focused on pioneers sometimes referred to as first movers, trendsetters, inventors, innovative pioneers, creative imitators and early entrants
This study focused on innovative imitation driven by technology whether in product development or in offering of services
Summary
Business imitation is a phenomenon that has been in existence for a long time it might take time to appreciate its usefulness. Despite its possible positive contributions, business imitation has been a stigmatised phenomenon to the extent that even those businesses that imitate do not want to be labelled . Milan, Iryna and Karl (2014) allude to the fact that imitation has been viewed negatively and in some cases, considered to be immoral, illegal and a harmful phenomenon and yet imitation or copying is a natural phenomenon and that the world works on the basis of imitation. Negative sentiments have been expressed in the music industry where some prominent musicians have accused upcoming artists of illegally copying their music. The implication is that even those who accuse others of having imitated their business ideas are imitators
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