Moving ahead of Rivals: Gaining Product Market Advantage via Product Imitation in Apple App Store

Strategy and innovation scholars have paid undue attention to deterring imitation to sustain a superior performance. However, mastering imitation can be as important as preventing imitation under some conditions, in particular in high-velocity environments. Despite its potential significance, there is a dearth of scholarly articles on the effect of imitation on performance, and empirical studies on the topic are even rarer. In this paper, we...