What is the 'fast-second strategy' in the context of innovation and imitation?

Correct answer: A strategy where a dominant firm allows smaller firms to incur the costs of innovation and then quickly imitates any successful new product.

Explanation

This question clarifies the concept of the fast-second strategy, where large, established firms leverage their resources to capitalize on innovations pioneered by smaller, more agile firms, thus mitigating their own R&D risks.

Other questions

Question 1

What is the primary distinction between 'invention' and 'innovation' in the context of technological advance?

Question 2

What is defined as the spread of an innovation to other products or processes through imitation or copying?

Question 3

According to the text, what is the modern view of how technological advance occurs within a capitalist economy?

Question 4

What is the optimal amount of R&D spending for a firm?

Question 5

In the MedTech example, if the company anticipates that a $1 million R&D expenditure will yield a one-time added profit of $1.2 million one year later, what is the expected rate of return (r)?

Question 6

A firm's expected-rate-of-return curve (r) for R&D spending slopes downward primarily because of:

Question 7

How does process innovation, such as improving an assembly method, affect a firm's costs and output?

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT a protection or potential advantage for an innovating firm that helps it profit from its R&D despite the threat of imitation?

Question 10

According to the inverted-U theory of R&D, which type of market structure is considered most conducive to technological advance?

Question 11

What is meant by the term 'creative destruction'?

Question 12

How does product innovation enhance allocative efficiency in an economy?

Question 13

According to Figure 11W.1, what percentage of business R&D expenditures in the United States in 2006 was allocated to basic research?

Question 14

What is the primary reason that firms often finance R&D using 'retained earnings'?

Question 15

Which market structure is generally considered the least conducive to innovation?