Donghua U., Glorious Sun School of Business and Management, China
This study categorizes imitation strategy of firm into follow imitation strategy (FIS) and innovative imitation strategy (IIS) to investigate the impact of the interaction between standardization actions taken by pioneering peers and their relative market advantage/disadvantage compared to imitator firms on the imitators’ implementation of FIS and IIS in national standard setting. The findings demonstrate that, as pioneering peers with relative market advantage increase their leadership actions in national standard setting, the imitator firm is more likely to implement IIS rather FIS; conversely, when pioneering peers with relative market disadvantage increase their leadership actions, the imitator firm can more likely implement FIS rather IIS. These findings make significant theoretical contributions to research in both standardization strategy of firm and imitation strategy of firm, and provide practical insights for effectively adopting imitation strategy in national standard setting.
