Hi everyone,
Here are some articles I found in my search. I think I will find more, and I will post them if they are usefull!
Currie, D. et all. (1999). “Phases of imitation and innovation in a North-South endoogenous growth model” Oxford Economic Papers; Jan 1999; 51, 1; ABI/INFORM Global pg. 60
Haunschild, P.R. & Miner, A.S. (1997). “Modes of Interorganizational Imitation: The Effects of Outcome Salience and Uncertainty”. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 3. (Sep., 1997), pp. 472-500.
Lee, H; Smith K.G; Grimm, C.M. and Schomburg, A. (2000). “Timing, Order and Durability of New Product Advantages with Imitation”. Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 21, No. 1. (Jan., 2000), pp. 23-30.
Mukjerhee, A. & Pennings, E. (2004). “Imitation, patent protection, and welfare”. Oxford University Press.
Good luck!
Greetz Wybe
Hi,
Herewith some relevant aricles about our Quest-ion.
• Innovation, Imitation, and Economic Growth (Segerstrom, 1991)
• How does knowledge management influence innovation and competitiveness (Carneiro, 2000)
• Creative errors and heroic failures: capturing their innovative potential (Kriegesmann, Kley and Schwering, 2005)
• Jeans Therapy (Wines, 1995)
• Corporate entrepreneurship and strategic management(Burgelman,1983)
• Managing the Future: CEO Attention and Innovation Outcomes (Yadav, Prabhu, Chandy, 2007)
I am still looking for more relevant articles especially about imitation…
Good luck with you essays!
O.T.
Hi all,
As I promised, here are some articles I’ll be using when answering my quest-ion:
• Schumpeterian Dynamics: An evolutionary model of innovation and imitation (Katsuhito, 1983)
• Competition, Imitation and Growth with Step-by-Step Innovation (Aghion, 2001)
• Imitation Costs and Patents: An Empirical Study (Mansfield, 1981)
• Innovation, Imitation, and Economic Growth (Segerstrom, 1991)
• Innovation, Imitation, and Intellectual Property Rights (Helpman, 1993)
• Patent Policy and Costly Imitation (Gallini, 1992)
• The lure of simplicity: learning perspectives on innovation (Kalling, 2007)
• Strategic benchmarking: innovation practices in financial institutions (Drew, 1995)
• Organizational Strategy Structure and Process (Miles, 1978)
Good luck with your essay!
Greetz,
Naiza
p.s. I found some cartoons about innovation and imitation. Maybe you can use them in your essay.
Hi All,
First, the confrontation lecture, cleared my view on how to deal with the essay. Also the open minded approach of everybody was good! Funny to see how everybody, approaches the question differently…
I am away this weekend, so my literature will be posted on Monday, I promise!
Though I like too share a nice book with you all.
The book is called ‘Eckhart’s Notes’, by Eckhart Wintzen. He’s a famous entrepreneur and founder of Origin. There’s a review about the book available on managementsite.nl.
His view on management is very entrepreneurial focused, he wants people to be self-correcting. People within an organization can be self-correcting, simply by giving them trust (p.177). You can call it ‘an organizational cell theory’.
He does not go into to innovation too deep, but because, every cell has to be self-containing (p.32), and new business ideas, always get a fair chance (p.197), both build upon trust, either product and process innovation are covered.
It’s an easy book to read, or just browse through, and currently is a management book bestseller!
Dear reader,
Today I am finally ready to write about one of the compulsory papers. I chose Burgelman (1983), Corporate Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management: Insights from a Process Study as Burgelman tries to explain the strategic process of business activities of large multifaceted companies through a model provided by found literature on entrepreneurship in organizations and on the strategic process. This might help the development of new managerial approaches and innovative understandings for better collaboration between business individuals and the business itself. My Quest will also be focused on a large organization that focuses on new approaches and staying ahead of competition by being innovative.
The article discusses that:
1. Firms need diversity and order to maintain viability;
2. Diversity requires an experimentation-and-selection approach;
3. Strategic recognition is chosen over planning to make sure that entrepreneurial activities correspond with the strategic vision;
4. Management at the top should be concerned with the balance between diversity and order;
5. New approaches and innovative arrangements have to meet up with the association between entrepreneurial members and the organization in which they are active.
The model of Burgelman indicates how a new idea can be the result of diversity. The findings result in the idea that autonomous strategic behavior at levels below top management seems to be the driving force for strategic change. One of the studied theories was of Penrose, who points out at the importance of “alertness” when it comes to opportunities for all entrepreneurial activity. The potential to use opportunities in the model of Burgelman are likely to manifest itself, as the concept of strategy and the connected induced strategic behavior loop are unlikely to tire out. Another found theory was the one of Miles & Snow and Mintzberg about the integration of corporate entrepreneurship and strategic management related to typologies of business’ and of strategic processes (in the form of four types of management) concluded that top management must be capable of dealing with strategy in different modes. The model of Miles & Snow and Mintzberg might not provide enough answer about long-term viability of the firm types. Burgelman states that it is hard to produce an on-real-life based model, and advices further research that would help researchers in economics and organization theory. New approaches and innovative arrangements have to be established for the different organizations and its top and middle managers.
Having done that, I will leave you with a video of Gates and Jobs in a joint interview. Who is the innovator?
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid452319854/bctid958475626
Hi Everyone,
Two days ago we had the Final confrontation meeting. I think we got some usefull answers, and it was nice to see everyone, and get to know how everyone is taking on the quest-ion. Especially the part about the structure and way of writing was usefull. It is a bit more clear now how to write for a lay-person, and what is expected.
I will soon post my articles. I don’t think I can upload them at the web, but if you want any of the articles I post, you can e-mail me. Because I have every article that I post on my pc.
Now I will continue with writing the final paper. Good luck with your own papers.
Greetz Wybe
Dear all,
This will be my last blog. Now it is the time to write the final essay! During the last confrontation lecture a lot became clear to me, so I think I am able to write my essay. The only thing I have to wait for is the answers from AH :(
As we discussed in the confrontation lecture, I will post my literature in this blog. Maybe you can use some of the articles for your quest. I also want to know what you guys think of the writingstyle. Are we allowed to write in the” I ” form? I think it is a very personal quest and we have to use our experience with the challenges and we have to explain why we have chosen this quest and what our empirical research will be. In my opinion we are allowed to write it this way but I forgot to ask Mr Rietdijk. Please, tell me in what writingform you will write your final essay!?
Now it is time to sum up my academic articles, I will post the articles I think are the most usefull ones, at least for my quest:
- Two contrary effects of imitation, Soo Jeoung Sohn (2007)
- Innovation, imitation and new product performances, Kevin Zheng Zhou (2004)
- A theory of competitive industry dynamics with innovation and imitation, Braguinsky et al (2007)
- Imitation costs and patents, Mansfield et al (1981)
- Innovation, Imitation and economic growth, Segerstrom (1991)
- Entry, Exit, Growth and Innovation over the product life cycle, Klepper (1996)
- Patent policy and costly imitation, Gallini (1992)
- Corporate entrepreneurship and strategic management, Burgelman (1983)
In short, I will write down what Mr Rietdijk told us last Thursday about the final essay:
- References at the end of the page
- Do not write too academic, HAVO
- Does studying management makes sense?
- keep it simpel
- Variation
- creativity
- practical examples
- use academic articles and the internet
I wish you good luck with the final essay, have a great weekend!
Nicolien
Hi everyone,
Today I interviewed the innovation manager of the ING Bank and Postbank. It was a very interesting interview. Below a concise version of the interview:
1. How do you define imitation?
Copying an existing product
2. How do you define innovation?
Providing new products to customers/consumers and create new markets.
3. In what kind of market operates your company? An innovative or imitative market?
This is not an innovative market. In this market it is usual to imitate products. Internet banking seems to be an innovative product. But the internet already existed and banking too. We made new products possible by combining internet and banking. It is the same with mobile banking. This is not revolutionary innovation. The market is not innovative because it is an easy market. There are no patents on financial products. If the ABN AMRO introduces a brand-new product, it is possible for us to copy this product within a couple of months. In this market companies are used to follow. Products are imitated but improved in some way.
4. Is your bank an imitative or innovative bank?
We conduct both strategies. A combination of imitation and innovation.
5. Why did your bank choose for an imitation/innovation strategy?
We just have to. An example is mobile banking. 2 years ago we came up with this idea but chose to wait before introducing it. We did some research and found out that the market wasn’t ready for mobile banking. But then the Rabobank introduced mobile banking and it proved to be a success. Now we know it is not risky for to introduce version of mobile banking. Vision and right timing are important when operating in this market.
6. What are in your opinion the advantages and disadvantages of the innovation strategy
Advantage: it depends of the market you are operating in. Innovation leads in general to competitive advantage.
Disadvantage: customers put their trust in a bank. Banking is trusting. By introducing strange products we can damage our image. The ING bank and Postbank are very aware of their image. A problem with innovation is also that products may not become profitable. Innovation includes large investments.
7. What are in your opinion the advantages and disadvantages of the imitation strategy?
Advantage: proved success. Imitation is cheaper than innovation.
Disadvantage: not distinctive. Bad image. Low profit.
8. Statement: “there’s not much innovation in banking, it’s all about innovative copy work.” What is your opinion about this statement?
We totally agree!!!
9. Can you mention one innovative and imitative product in your market?
As I already said, products are imitated and improved. Products in this market are a combination of imitation and innovation. A good product is “pimping your Postbankcard”. You can customize you bankcard by designing it yourself.
10. What is a vital question I forgot to ask, concerning this subject? How would you answer this question?
We have a lot of ideas. Very innovative ideas. The problem is that success in innovation depends of the customer.
As you can see, they did not prove me wrong. Imitation and innovation are often combined. I’m glad with these findings.
I need to interview two other companies (also banks) to know what they think about this quest-ion. In particular the “why” part. Why” companies choose for a certain strategy.
I will keep you informed!
Greetz,
Naiza
As our quests are coming to an end I am focusing on the final essay. In this final essay I want to answer two questions. These questions being: ‘Is it advisable for organizations to invest in product-innovation?’ and ‘Does study management make sense?’ I chose for formulating the first question in this way because I want to focus on product innovation. In my view the question: ‘Imitate or innovate’ is to broad of a subject and needs specification. So early on in my quest I chose not to involve process innovation in my essay.
To answer the first question I will make use of scientific and non scientific articles. These will be incorporated in my essay in such a way that it is understandable for the lay-person. Furthermore I will incorporate my empirical research to help me find an answer to the question. This research is still in progress and I hope that the outcome will be supported by the literature I found on the subject, so that I can give an advise to innovate or to imitate that is supported by theory as well by empirical findings. My fear at this moment is that the outcome of the research will contradict with my theoretical findings. In that case it is difficult to give one specific advise regarding to the Quest-ion. Although, as a lot of you have stated before me, maybe there is not one answer to this Quest-ion that can be generalized to all situations…
I wish all of you good luck in completing your final essay!
Greetz,
Tony
In my search for scientific articles to help me answer my Quest-ion I almost forgot the compulsory paper provided by Dhr. Wolters. I found that the article ‘Corporate Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management: Insights From A Process Study (1983) by Robert A. Burgelman was interesting in particular because it addressed the difficulty of entrepreneurial activity in large, complex organizations. A problem that all organizations come across in their search for innovation within the firm.
The article states that a mix of diversity and order is necessary to maintain the viability of organizations. Within large complex organizations this diversity can lead to successful entrepreneurial activity. The cycle continues when successful entrepreneurial activity leads to organization building and to entrepreneurs becoming ‘managers’. At this point the cycle returns to the point of order. As said earlier, a mix of diversity and order is necessary to maintain the viability of organizations.
What I found interesting is that this article presents a model of the strategic process that allows entrepreneurial activity, or diversity, to be transformed into new organizational activity. A concept that is of critical importance for large complex organizations according to the author.
So for all of you who are searching for scientific articles regarding the Quest: ‘Imitate or innovate?’ I advise you to read this article.
Best of luck!
