Imperial College London
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Dr Jan-Michael Ross

Business School

Associate Professor of Strategy
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 5105jan.ross Website

 
 
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Location

 

276Business School BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Ross:2015:10.5465/amj.2013.1105,
author = {Ross, J-M and Sharapov, D},
doi = {10.5465/amj.2013.1105},
journal = {Academy of Management Journal},
pages = {658--679},
title = {When the leader follows: avoiding dethronement through imitation},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amj.2013.1105},
volume = {58},
year = {2015}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - When is imitation of follower actions an effective competitive strategy for a leader? Building on prior work in competitive dynamics from the Austrian School perspective, we propose that imitation can be an effective means of staying ahead, even in the absence of mimetic social pressures. This is because the leader’s imitation of follower actions represents equilibrating moves to maintain the status quo in reaction to the disequilibrating actions that the follower undertakes to catch up with the leader. Furthermore, reduction of difference in competitive positioning between leader and follower serves the same purpose, and both imitation strategies are complementary. These effects of ‘action imitation’ and ‘positioning imitation’, we argue, are moderated by the degree of environmental uncertainty, by the extent of the leader’s initial advantage, and by the difference between leader and follower capabilities. Our theoretical arguments are supported by an analysis of data on head-to-head boat races from the America’s Cup World Series. By developing mechanisms which take endogenous and exogenous contingencies of competitive interactions into account, this paper advances competitive dynamics as a predictive theory of performance outcomes.
AU  - Ross,J-M
AU  - Sharapov,D
DO  - 10.5465/amj.2013.1105
EP  - 679
PY  - 2015///
SN  - 0001-4273
SP  - 658
TI  - When the leader follows: avoiding dethronement through imitation
T2  - Academy of Management Journal
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amj.2013.1105
VL  - 58
ER  -
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