Innovation or imitation

By Dr. Ajith Shanmuganathan

In the current context of Sri Lanka, the Government and various professional organisations are taking measures to overcome the country’s crises. Nevertheless, despite the efforts to overcome the catastrophe with short-term arrangements, it is vital to study and act on the long-term measures. One of the main reasons we had limitations in the past is to retain our value addition to our exports, which is pointing towards innovation. Innovation is always a hot topic in the business world and is essential for any business or country to prosper. Many scholars discuss various types of innovation, and the most prominent protagonist on the list is product innovation. 

Innovation index

Notably, no significant improvements have been observed in the innovation index of Sri Lanka’s ranking in the past six years. Product innovation is considered a costly and time-consuming exercise in the manufacturing environment. There are critics that most developing countries make decidedly fewer investments in research and development, and relatively the innovation is very poor. In this thought, the Government must introduce a middle-term strategy in addition to the long and short-term strategies. 

We may achieve the long-term targets by following the middle-term imitation strategy, which will considerably roll out relief for the current inflation in a short time. There are many examples of other countries which are evolved from imitation to innovation with time. One prominent example is China, where they imitate leading brands, and in the current scenario, the Chinese manufacturers are converting their businesses to an innovation strategy.

Product imitation

It took 100 years for 19th Century innovations to be exploited by less-developed nations. Still, on average, inventions made in the second half of the 20th Century were copied within the last decade. Initially, most businesses imitate the products in the market and attempt to profit from the business. Anyhow the criticism against product imitation is that product differentiation is not achieved due to the lack of innovation, and the organisations lack making required competitive advantages to strive the business in the market.

In the coming era, Sri Lankan industries ought to follow this changeover strategy for the fast forward of the economy to prevent further inflation. Innovation and imitation persistence is an essential research topic for any relevant understanding of technological change dynamics and a country’s economic growth.

(The writer is a Chartered Engineer and Consultant in Business Administration and Engineering for MNCs and a Volunteer of IMechE and IET.)