. The paper confirms the insight of the innovation literature, that competition induces firms to specialize and upgrade the … quality of existing goods. However, it reveals a new force, called the imitation effect, through which competition biases … technical change toward product diversification. The paper shows that if knowledge spillovers increase with imitation, or the …

. The paper confirms the insight of the innovation literature, that competition induces firms to specialize and upgrade the … quality of existing goods. However, it reveals a new force, called the imitation effect, through which competition biases … technical change toward product diversification. The paper shows that if knowledge spillovers increase with imitation, or the …

learning and the environment. An important way that firms adapt their strategy is through imitation or mimetic isomorphism …. Imitation implies a referent for such adaptations. This article seeks to determine who or what should serve as that referent …