Why to reinvent the wheel again
and again? Why not learn from others' mistakes and achievements? Is there
anything which is entirely innovative and has not been inspired by some source
or the other?
It is being widely accepted that
when it comes to business, imitation is as important as innovation. We have
ample examples where products, processes, management structure, even entire
business models were imitated by firms. Burgeoning .com companies, e-commerce
business etc. are result of imitation at large scale. Imitation comes with its
own merits and demerits. Many companies have been sued and have sued others for
copying. Pharmaceutical industries are known for such litigations.
Though as a student I used to see
imitation/copying with a negative perspective, I have slowly realised that this
is a business imperative. There is nothing negative in following something that
is already available in public domain. In fact, when consulting companies boast
about their knowledge of business best practices, the essentially talk about
their ability to tell you what they have seen at other places so that you don’t
need to reinvent the wheel. And many times imitation could actually provide
benefit to the society. Imagine something like Arvind Eye Hospital coming up in
different parts of not so developed countries.
Recently one of my friends
pointed out that problem with imitation is much deeper than it seems. Large
scale imitation could hamper society in a larger scale. Companies will stop
investing on innovation if they don’t reap benefits of their innovation- that’s
precisely the reason why we have patents. Companies get the scope to protect
their investment in product innovation through patent applications. But what
about business models - innovative business models could be imitated by others.
This reminded me the story of
Flipkart.com where the CEO detailed out Flipkart’s business strategy. Flipkart
realised that its business model is not difficult to imitate and as the
business goes successful, larger Indian players will start entering into the
market, outperforming the pioneers which are relatively smaller companies. They
started investing in brand building activities without waiting to see whether
the business will turn successful or not. As a result of this by the time
Flipkart turned out to be extremely successful, brand Flipkart had made a deep
presence in e-tailing market. Bigger players though could imitate the business
model, have to face an established brand in the market- a brand that has by now
has received widespread acceptability and reputation. At the same time Flipkart
has become an inspiration story for many Indian entrepreneurs.
Business models though could be
imitated, have certain intangible aspects attached to it which is unique to the
organization. Imitation of business model won’t provide success unless the
intangible aspects of business are internalized and inculcated in organization.
