Creativity - IDA Ireland

MANAGEMENT INNOVATION »
In his latest book, Copycats: How Smart Companies Use Imitation
to Gain a Strategic Edge, PROF ODED SHENKAR dispels some of the
taboos around imitation, and argues that it can be combined
with innovation to create business growth. He spoke to Ann O’Dea
Innovation
meets
Imitation
WHILE MANY WILL PRIVATELY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT
CREATIVE IMITATION CAN BE AN IMPORTANT PART
OF BUSINESS STRATEGY, FEW SHOUT IT FROM THE
ROOFTOPS. In his latest book, Copycats: How Smart Companies
Use Imitation to Gain a Strategic Edge, Oded Shenkar, professor
at Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business,
tackles the subject head-on.
In Copycats, Shenkar goes as far as to say that imitation can
be more important than innovation when it comes to business
growth, so I ask him to elaborate on this when we meet.
“Part of the idea with the book was that we have all this talk
about innovation, innovation, innovation,” he tells me. “We are
really flooded with attempts to remind us that we need to innovate,
and how to innovate and so forth. The reality of it is that
imitation is at least as important if not more important at times.
And I think it has always been true. If you look at human civilisation,
if you look at our history, at how we have developed
throughout the ages, it was always through imitation.”
Of course, despite the book’s title, the reader quickly understands
that Shenkar is not talking about straight ‘copying’ or
‘stealing’ ideas. He is talking rather of imitation linked with creativity.
Issue 2 Spring/Summer 2011 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW 57