variety of first-mover advantages and that `imitation' is itself a costly activity. There is also accumulating evidence that …) regime, and explicitly characterise the circumstances in which an open approach, despite its effect on facilitating imitation …, results in a higher level of innovation. …

Open innovation platforms that enable organizations to crowdsource ideation to parties external to the firm are … have a self-policing component that disincentivizes excessive imitation, rewards originality and prevents unraveling …