Effects of product imitation on customer equity

PurposeThe aim of this study is to investigate the differential effects of pure and creative imitation on customer equity and the moderating roles of market contingency (i.e. competition intensity) and institutional contingency (i.e. enforcement inefficiency).Design/methodology/approachA lab experiment with 181 subjects and a survey of both senior and middle managers from 149 pharmaceutical firms in China were conducted.FindingsPure imitation decreases customer equity, but creative imitation increases it. Competition intensity attenuates the negative effect of pure imitation and the positive effect of creative imitation, whereas enforcement inefficiency only attenuates the negative effect of pure imitation.Practical implicationsThe findings have significant implications for managers seeking to implement product imitation strategies in emerging economies. They can help managers understand the effects of two kinds of imitation strategies on customer equity. Furthermore, this shows that product imitation strategies should be aligned with various market and institutional contingencies to achieve better performance.Originality/valueThe authors distinguished between pure and creative imitation. Whereas previous studies have investigated the effects of pure and creative imitation on financial and market performance, the focus was on their differential effects on customer equity and the moderating roles of environmental contingencies at the market and institutional levels.

Barriers to financial product innovation in Islamic banks in Pakistan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify barriers to financial product innovation in the Islamic banks (IBs) of Pakistan. This paper also aims to establish the relationship among the barriers and present them in a hierarchical model after classification. Design/methodology/approach This study is exploratory and qualitative in nature. A total of ten experts from the IBs and from academia have been interviewed to collect data. Literature has also been reviewed to identify the barriers. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) analysis has been used to establish relationship among the barriers, to rank and to come up with a hierarchical model of barriers. Findings This research paper makes out, ranks and classifies the nine most important barriers to product innovation in the IBs in Pakistan, including high innovation cost; lack of customer awareness; difference of school of thoughts between members of Shari’ah board; non-compatibility between product design department and members of Shari’ah board; lack of research and development; non-acceptability of concept of Islamic banking; lack of training regarding a new product; imitation of a new product by competitors; and the limited use of new product development tools. Originality/value This study offers originality in its nature of being qualitative and the use of ISM technique. It is also the first research project regarding identification of barriers in the IBs in Pakistan.

Compatible effect or competitive effect: An investigation of attraction spatial interdependency

This study empirically examines the spatial interdependency of attractions, using a unique database of 75 important attractions in Guangdong (GD) province, China and spatial econometric models. According to the estimation results, compatible effects apply to the samples in GD overall and in eastern GD, while competitive effects apply to the samples in northern GD. To analyze further, this study finds attraction theme matters to the nature of spatial interdependency. There are competitive effects among natural attraction (NA) and man-made attraction (MA) and insignificant compatible effects among cultural attractions. The competitive effects among NAs have a root in the competition for tourists’ time budget, and competitive effects among MAs are related to product homogeneity, resulting from the ubiquitous product imitation in MAs in China. This study concludes that to distinctly diversify attraction theme is a critical way to generate a positive spatial interdependency among attractions within a certain geographic area.

STRATEGI IMITASI DAN MANAJEMEN PENGETAHUAN DALAM PENGEMBANGAN INOVASI PLA (POLY LACTIC ACID) PADA AGROINDUSTRIKEMASAN BIODEGRADABEL DI INDONESIA

<p>Indonesia has the potential for development of PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) as biodegradable<br />packaging agroindustry due to the availability of raw material, such as tubers as a source of<br />starch and lignocellulose as a source of cellulose, but Indonesia has limitations in terms of its<br />technology. This was due to the intensity and quality of the research that has not been<br />adequate. For that condition, imitation strategies can be developed for PLA (Poly Lactic Acid)<br />agroindustry in Indonesia and the level of product imitation strategies is knockoff or cloning.<br />At that level, PLA agroindustry to be developed completely replicate existing products but have<br />other brands. With this strategy, the PLA agroindustry is expected to produce a cheaper price<br />product because of the availability of raw materials in Indonesia that easy to fine. Raw<br />material for PLA that can be selected from cassava tubers beacause its easy in cultivation and<br />cheaper among other types of bulbs. To improve competitiveness, the company who built the<br />imitation strategy needs to be managed with the application of knowledge management in<br />order to be able to last long existence.</p>