Authors: Panagiotis Tsolakidis, Naoum Mylonas, Eugenia Petridou

Title: EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF IMITATION & INNOVATION PRACTICES ON STARTUPS

Abstract

The current submission is an extended abstract

The current research reviews on the one hand literature of imitation theories, policies and strategies and on the other hand the connection of them with entrepreneurial innovation. The scope of this research is to investigate whether a firm that adopts imitation policies and strategies is in position to generate entrepreneurial innovation or a part of its innovation can be attributed to imitation of other firm’s innovative features. Under this vein, a methodological framework was created for the evaluation of imitation features integration in entrepreneurial innovation. Following prior research, this study relies on the impact of several factors on the entrepreneurial innovation. The factors are namely the imitation strategies, managerial skills and entrepreneurial skills.