Imitation, incremental innovation and climb down: a strategy for survival and growth of new ventures

Productivity, profit and growth of an enterprise are closely linked to its ability to innovate successfully. Imitation is believed to be an inferior and ‘non–entrepreneurial’ act. The accelerating technological change, however, has made innovation increasingly difficult for small and nascent business. The large corporations are using the raised costs and complexities of technical change to snuff out entrepreneurial aspirations of new ventures. Notwithstanding the high profile success of a few start–ups’ innovative confrontations with mature business, a large number of ordinary entrepreneurs are losing in this battle of the unequal. The very spirit of entrepreneurship embodied in ever sprouting small and nascent enterprises is endangered by this trend. To counter it, a strategy of imitation facilitated entry and subsequent consolidation through incremental innovation, targeted at the lower part of the value chain, is proposed here.