There is no danger in imitation
Information Rules, A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy - Carl Shapiro & Hal R. Varian - Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts, 1999 - http://www.inforules.com/
- Network Externalities (aka Positive Feedback, aka Demand Side economies of Scale: refers to the idea that the benefit a user gets from a product depends on how many other users there are of the same product) tend automatically to offer a temporary monopoly to the inventors who were the first to implement their ideas. First mover, takes all
- A company takes advantage by its capacity to offer a better service than its competitors (specially by knowing how to differentiate its products, by knowing its customers and their provision to pay).
- The conquest of a market does not pass by an agressive defense of the intellectual property rights, but rather by the search for alliances and cooperations allowing development of standards.
