Imitation is ubiquitous, yet the comparative efficacy of imitation strategies is poorly understood. A popular imitation strategy, sometimes called benchmarking, “mixes-and-matches” the practices common to leading firms. Using computational models, we compare benchmarking to the...

Research in the strategy literature that highlights the role of imitation has tended to focus primarily on its detrimental effects on the performance of imitated firms. Developing the notion of vicarious experimentation, we examine how innovators can learn from being imitated. Specifically, we...

We examine the power and limitations of imitation. Naive intuition may hold that the efficacy of imitation would be diminished by imperfections in copying high-performing firms. Employing a computational model, we find that imperfect imitation can generate unexpectedly good outcomes for follower...