Some years ago, Theodore levitt wrote an article entitle “innovative imitation,” in which he argued that strategy of product imitation might be as a profitable as a strategy of product innovation. Innovator bears the expense of developing the new product, getting it into distribution, and informing and educating the market. The reward for all this work and risk is normally market leadership. However, another firm can come along and copy or improve on the new product.
That’s not to say that market followers lack strategies. A market follower must know how to hold current customers and win a fair share of new ones. Each follower tries to bring distinctive advantages to its target market-location, services, financing. Because the follower is often a major target of attack by challengers.
Types
Counterfeiter
The counterfeiter duplicates the leader’s product and packages and sells it on the black market or through disreputable dealers. Music firms, Apple, and Rolex have been plagued by the counterfeiter problem.
Cloner
The cloner emulates the leader’s products, name, and packaging, with slight variations.
Imitator
The imitator copies some things from the leader but maintains differentiation in terms of packaging, advertising, pricing, or location. The leader doesn’t mind the imitators as long as the imitator doesn’t attack the leader aggressively. Fernandez Pujals grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and took Domino’s home delivery idea to Spain, where he borrowed $80,000 to open his first store in Madrid.
Adapter
The adapter takes the leader’s products and adapts or improves them. The adapter may choose to sell to different markets, but often it grows into the future challenger, as many Japanese firms have done after improving products developed elsewhere.
