Imitation Speed Research Articles

Hold or Hurry? How Firms Adjust Their Speed of Imitation in the Face of Technological Transitions

Hold or Hurry? How Firms Adjust Their Speed of Imitation in the Face of Technological Transitions

Catching up with the market leader: Does it pay to rapidly imitate its innovations?

In this study we attempt to shed more light on the relationship between speed of new technology imitation and the sales performance of the imitator compared to the innovator, with a particular focus on the performance outcomes resulting from the rapid imitation of technologies introduced by the market leader. Using data on handset technologies mounted on more than 600 devices introduced to the UK market by 14 mobile phone vendors operating from 1997 to 2008, we study hundreds of imitative actions to test hypotheses on the extent to which an imitator can catch up (i.e., reduce the market share gap) with the market leader by rapidly imitating its innovations. First, we show that gaining advantage by rapidly imitating a technology pioneer is contingent on whether the pioneer is the market leader or a non-leader rival. Second, we find that the risks of rapid imitation of the market leader's technologies are mitigated when industry clockspeed is high, i.e., during a period of fast innovation and imitation cycles in an industry, resulting in rapid variations in product design. Third, we observe that the degree of competitive responsiveness of the technology pioneer when its innovations are imitated represents an important mechanism that can explain why speed of imitation may affect how an imitator can improve its market share gains relative to the pioneer. This paper advances competitive dynamics and imitation as predictive theories of how rapid imitators might catch up with market leaders in technology-intensive industries.

How imitation of multiple reference groups drives the evolution of firm strategy

This research explores how the strategy of firms evolves as a result of the imitation of several reference groups. In particular, it analyzes the extent to which firms replicate the strategic behaviors of successful firms, direct rivals and firms from the same category. Additionally, it examines potential variations in the speed of imitation depending on the reference group that is considered. Using a sample of firms of the Spanish retail banking sector from 1994 to 2009, our results show that, over time, firms tend to imitate the strategies of the three reference groups considered. The results also reveal significant variations in the speed of imitation depending on the reference group. We find that imitation to firms from the same category is faster than imitation to successful firms and direct rivals.

Study experimental of blade NACA 4412 with pitch angle on horizontal wind turbine

This study aims to improve the performance of HAWT’s wind turbines in low wind speeds condition. There are two possible approaches: developing low-speed rotor technology and improving the turbine’s blades. In this research, we improve the turbine’s blades by determining the type of airfoil, material and pitch angle. The airfoil used as its blade is NACA 4412 with teak wood material. Variations of pitch angles are at 0 ° 2 ° 4 ° 6 ° 8 ° 10 ° and 12 °. Testing is realized by making an artificial wind in the wind tunnel. The imitation speed are of 2 m/s, 2.5 m/s, 3 m/s, 3.5 m/s, 4 m/s, 4.5 m/s and 5 m/s. The result shows that at 4° is the best pitch angle that produces the maximum power output and rpm. The 4° pitch angle has a cut in of 2m/s wind speed and generates a power output of 9.71 Watt at an average Rpm of 505.6. The increasing pitch angle decreases the power output and RPM generator.

Optimal public health intervention in a behavioural vaccination model: the interplay between seasonality, behaviour and latency period.

Hesitancy and refusal of vaccines preventing childhood diseases are spreading due to 'pseudo-rational' behaviours: parents overweigh real and imaginary side effects of vaccines. Nonetheless, the 'Public Health System' (PHS) may enact public campaigns to favour vaccine uptake. To determine the optimal time profiles for such campaigns, we apply the optimal control theory to an extension of the susceptible-infectious-removed (SIR)-based behavioural vaccination model by d'Onofrio et al. (2012, PLoS ONE, 7, e45653). The new model is of susceptible-exposed-infectious-removed (SEIR) type under seasonal fluctuations of the transmission rate. Our objective is to minimize the total costs of the disease: the disease burden, the vaccination costs and a less usual cost: the economic burden to enact the PHS campaigns. We apply the Pontryagin minimum principle and numerically explore the impact of seasonality, human behaviour and latency rate on the control and spread of the target disease. We focus on two noteworthy case studies: the low (resp. intermediate) relative perceived risk of vaccine side effects and relatively low (resp. very low) speed of imitation. One general result is that seasonality may produce a remarkable impact on PHS campaigns aimed at controlling, via an increase of the vaccination uptake, the spread of a target infectious disease. In particular, a higher amplitude of the seasonal variation produces a higher effort and this, in turn, beneficially impacts the induced vaccine uptake since the larger is the strength of seasonality, the longer the vaccine propensity remains large. However, such increased effort is not able to fully compensate the action of seasonality on the prevalence.

Red Queen Competitive Imitation in the U.K. Mobile Phone Industry

This paper uses Red Queen competition theory to examine competitive imitation. We conceptualize imitative actions by a focal firm and its rivals along two dimensions: imitation scope, which describes the extent to which a firm imitates a wide range (as opposed to a narrow range) of new product technologies introduced by rivals; and imitation speed, namely the pace at which it imitates these technologies. We argue that focal firm imitation scope and imitation speed drive performance, as well as imitation scope and speed decisions by rivals, which in turn influence focal firm performance. We also argue that the impact of this self-reinforcing Red Queen process on firms’ actions and performance is contingent on levels of product technology heterogeneity—defined as the extent to which the industry has multiple designs, resulting in product variety. We test our hypotheses using imitative actions by mobile phone vendors and their sales performance in the U.K. from 1997 to 2008.

The effect of different imitation models on theaccuracy and speed of imitation of movement.

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy, speed and subjective ease of imitation of movement using three different imitation models. [Subjects] Thirty-four right-handed healthy males participated in this study. [Methods] The imitation task chosen for this study was an asymmetric combined motion of the upper and lower limbs. Three kinds of imitation models were displayed on a screen as follows: a) third person perspective mirror imitation (3PM), b) third person perspective anatomical imitation (3PA), and c) first person perspective ipsilateral imitation (1PI). Subjects were instructed to imitate the movement shown on a screen as quickly and as accurately as possible. They executed four sets of the movement with each set consisting of one trial of each of the three imitation models. [Results] 3PM was the most accurate, and 1PI was the fastest in speed and subjective ease of imitation, compared with the other two imitation models. [Conclusion] These results suggest that 1PI and 3PM, which do not require mental rotation of the movement task as required by 3PA, should be considered more suitable imitation models for teaching healthy subjects how to move.

Red Queen Competitive Imitation in the UK Mobile Phone Industry

The paper uses Red Queen theory to examine imitative competition. We conceptualize imitative actions by focal firms and their rivals along two dimensions: imitation scope which describes the extent to which firms imitate their rivals’ technologies, and imitation speed, the pace at which they imitate technologies that have been adopted by their rivals. We argue that focal firm imitation scope and imitation speed drive performance, and focal firm performance drives imitation scope and speed decisions by rivals, which in turn influences imitation scope and speed of the focal firm. We also argue that the impact of this self-reinforcing Red Queen process on firms’ actions and performance, is contingent on levels of product technology heterogeneity - defined as the extent to which the industry has multiple designs and has high product variety. We derive hypotheses about the impact of imitation scope and speed on focal firm performance and rivals’ response, as well as hypotheses on the moderating impact of product technology heterogeneity. We use data from the UK mobile phone industry from 1997 to 2008 to test these hypotheses.

Speed of imitation of competitors’ innovation. Performance implications and contingency factors

Although the extant management literature offers some evidence on the performance implications of imitation of competitors’ innovation, very few empirical studies have explored if performance is de...

Skin color has no impact on motor resonance: Evidence from mu rhythm suppression and imitation

It has been suggested that physical similarity with an observed model facilitates action-perception and understanding. Indeed, a number of studies have shown that observing actors of one's own race facilitate motor, sensory and pain resonance, possibly mediated by the human mirror-neuron system (hMNS). However, most of these studies have used stimuli that included emotional or cultural components, hence obscuring the precise contribution of physical similarity to resonance phenomena per se. The goal of the present study was to assess the effect of physical similarity (skin color) on motor resonance using stimuli that have no emotional and cultural components. We used both behavioral (imitation) and electrophysiological measures (mu-rhythm) to assess the effects of skin color on the hMNS during the observation of simple finger movements. Our results show that, in line with previous results, observation of biological movements resulted in faster reaction times and greater mu-rhythm suppression compared to non-biological movements. However, physical similarity did not affect imitation speed or mu-rhythm desynchronization. These results suggest that physical similarity with an observed action in terms of skin color does not modulate hMNS activity, and that the enhanced resonance effects reported in the previous studies are likely attributable to cultural and emotional aspects.

When is Strategy?

In competitive strategy, timing advantages are often discussed in relation to first mover and fast follower advantages, innovation cycles, imitation speed, time-based competition and hyper- competition. There is also research on the value of signalling strategic commitment in gaining strategic advantage. However, there has been little discussion about the timing, and relevance, of strategic communications in different institutional contexts. When should strategy be communicated to the wider market, and do different institutional contexts affect the impact of these communications? This discussion paper examines the timing of voluntary communications during Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) activity in the US and the UK in order to determine whether there are any differences in competitive advantage to communications timing in these contexts and whether modifiers, including actors in organisational fields, can make a difference. In addressing this question, a debate in the strategy-as-practice arena about the importance of strategy practices in macro contexts may shed light on how, in an accelerating world strategy, strategy practices might need to change to reflect shifts in the external environment.

Imitation in autism: why action kinematics matter

Humans have a flexible approach to imitation. If an action has a visual goal or is meaningful, we will “emulate” that goal using the most familiar or comfortable response from our existing motor repertoire. However, if the action is meaningless or lacks a visual goal we will more closely imitate the kinematic details of the action such as its amplitude, speed, or trajectory (Bekkering et al., 2000; Rumiati and Tessari, 2002; Carpenter et al., 2005; Wild et al., 2010). This pattern can be explained by two theories. The goal-directed theory of imitation (GOADI, Bekkering et al., 2000; Wohlschlager et al., 2003) suggests that during imitation, the observer cognitively decomposes the observed action into a hierarchy of goals, based on functionality: the visual goal of the action (pointing to a dot) is given more importance than the means (which hand to point with), causing the goal to be imitated rather than the means. In the absence of a visual goal, the movement itself moves up the hierarchy to become a primary goal and is preferentially imitated. The dual-route model of imitation (Rumiati and Tessari, 2002) proposes that for imitation of unfamiliar actions there is a direct mapping of the visual information onto a motor response, and for the imitation of known, meaningful actions, there is an indirect, semantic route which utilizes long term memory. Both models suggest that when an action lacks either meaning or a visual goal, imitation will reflect the observed movement more closely due to greater attention to, and visuomotor mapping of, the movement rather than the visual goal. In contrast, autistic people do not show this flexible approach to imitation. Autistic children often display similar performance to neurotypical children when imitating actions that have a visual goal or meaning but are less able to imitate goal-less or meaningless actions (Rogers et al., 1996, 2010; Stone et al., 1997; Hobson and Lee, 1999; Williams et al., 2004; Hamilton et al., 2007a; Vanvuchelen et al., 2007; Hobson and Hobson, 2008; Cossu et al., 2012). We recently demonstrated a similar pattern for the first time in autistic adults (Wild et al., 2012). Participants observed, then imitated videos of a hand making two movements while their own hand and eye movements were recorded. In the goal-directed condition, the hand moved between visual targets and in the goal-less condition the hand made similar size movements without any visual targets. The hand in the video moved at either a fast or slow speed in order to determine whether participants modulated their imitation speed accordingly. In line with GOADI, neurotypical participants imitated speed changes in the goal-less but not the goal-directed condition whereas the autistic participants used a goal-directed approach, failing to modulate their imitation speed across conditions. In addition, eye movement data indicated that the neurotypical participants spent more time attending to the hand, particularly during the goal-less condition whereas the autistic participants attended to the visual targets and hand equally across conditions. From the above evidence, it is apparent that when successful imitation requires attending to and using kinematics, autistic performance is particularly affected. In the following, I will highlight the functional significance of this pattern by suggesting that autistic people have a bias away from observing and analysing kinematics, which results in a significant loss of social information. I will outline three behaviors where attending to and imitating kinematics is important for social interaction and discuss the impact for autistic people if their ability to use kinematics is compromised.

Entry for supermarket feature me-too brands: An empirical explanation of incidence and timing

Anticipating the speed of market entry can help the feature pioneer and me-too brands develop more informed product launch strategies. This paper explains imitation speed, broken down into the incidence and timing of imitation, across 144 imitators and 847 nonimitators in 22 consumer packaged goods subcategories. On average, it takes 85 weeks for a me-too brand to introduce its feature imitation. Increasing category market share increases the incidence of imitation and, conditional on their occurrence, decreases the time to market of feature imitators. Faster entry arises for store brands as they are more likely to imitate and tend to take shorter times to market. Price premium does not have a significant effect on the incidence or timing of a me-too brand as it tends to dissipate after the first year. Brands imitate innovative features more often than noninnovative features. Some evidence indicates these imitators can take a longer time to enter the market. New product managers may benefit from the direction as well as the magnitude of these results.

Strategies for Exploiting Technological Innovations: When and When Not to License

Given the limits of the patent systems, an innovating firm faces a difficult strategic conundrum: should it license its new technology to competitors or not? If the innovating firm does not license its new technology, competitors may quickly develop their own, possibly better, version of the technology. On the other hand, if imitation of the new technology is difficult, by denying its technology to competitors the innovating firm may be able to establish a competitive advantage. If the innovating firm does license its new technology to competitors, it runs the risk of losing control over that technology (of giving away its competitive advantage to competitors). On the other hand, if competitors are able to rapidly imitate the new technology anyway, by licensing its technology the innovating firm may ensure that its version of the technology becomes the dominant design in an industry. Moreover, the innovating firm will receive royalty payments in this scenario. Given these different scenarios, what should an innovating firm do? In this paper a theoretical framework is constructed that identifies the factors that influence an innovating firm's choice between licensing and not licensing. This suggests that the speed of imitation, the extent of first mover advantages, and the transaction costs of licensing play a major role in determining the appropriate choice.

Diffusion of the M-form structure in the U.K.: Rate of imitation, inter-firm and inter-industry differences

This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation of the diffusion of the multidivisional form structure among a sample of large U.K. quoted companies. It is shown that the diffusion process resembles that reported for complex capital embodied innovations in the literature. In cross-sectional analyses the determinants of the delay in adoption are examined. It is found that size, diversification and, less clearly, merger intensity are significantly positively related to the speed of imitation in confirmation on the M-form hypothesis. Inter-industry differences are not generally found to be important, apart from a manufacturing/service distinction.