For Subscribers

Copy That In business, imitation is more than a form of flattery.

By April Y. Pennington

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Being a copycat has always been anchored by a sense of derision.But now Randall Rothenberg claims that imitating an idea is notonly efficient--it can be effective. The senior director ofintellectual capital at global strategy and technology consultingfirm Booz Allen Hamilton and contributor to The Big Moo: StopTrying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable explains howimitation is becoming a major path to business success.

Entrepreneur: You say imitation across industriesis a more effective and profitable strategy than the promotion ofinnovation and creativity. How so?

Randall Rothenberg: Big breakthrough ideas, ifsuccessful, can create new markets. But there's ample evidencethat some of the biggest businesses are built by taking existingideas and applying them in a new context. Research by Booz AllenHamilton looked at data about value creation across industries. Itfound that only four distinct ideas had been responsible for anoverwhelming majority of value creation in the U.S. over a 30-yearperiod: power retailing, where big-box stores can drive costs andconsumer prices down (Home Depot); mega-branding, which is thedevelopment of a powerful umbrella brand (Disney);focus/simplify/standardize, where process simplification allows forready multiplication and growth by relentlessly lowering costs(McDonald's); and value-chain bypass, where middlemen areeliminated, thus delivering lower prices or higher revenue(Amazon.com).

Don't look for the business that's never been tried,because you can break your brain trying to find that, and youwon't have any concept of the risk or opportunities. Instead,take a look at something that has worked, and see if it can beapplied in your context.

Entrepreneur: How should entrepreneurs beginlooking for these great ideas?

Rothenberg: I'm a believer in small-scaleexperi-mentation-it's the low-cost, low-stress, high-joyR&D effort. The web and the tools to create and manage websites[give you] some of the greatest R&D opportunities in thehistory of commerce. [For example, a retailer] can use the existinginfrastructure of eBay [to test products].

The largest company on earth, General Electric Co., is a heavilystrategic company, and as large as it is, it prizes imagination,innovation and inventiveness. One of the rules they learn at GE isyou can really experiment with anything, as long as it'sstrategically aligned, and you can do it on your existingincremental budget.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business News

This New AI Startup Led By a Former OpenAI Exec Is Offering $500,000 Salaries

Mira Murati, the former chief technology officer at OpenAI, launched her secretive startup in February — and is paying top dollar for technical talent, according to new filings.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Business News

Microsoft Claims Its AI Is Better Than Doctors at Diagnosing Patients, But 'You Definitely Still Need Your Physician'

Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman says that the AI tool is one step closer to providing high-quality medical advice for Copilot and Bing users.

Money & Finance

Why Your Finance Team Needs an AI Strategy, Now

Join us for this free webinar and learn how to build an AI-ready finance team.

Health & Wellness

What This Founder Thinks Most Supplement Brands Get Wrong—and How He Fixed It With David Beckham

5 lessons on how to bring trust and transparency into a controversial industry.