Innovation through imitation – A study of cultural differences and consumption choices

Within the arguments of imitation vs innovation, an interesting perspective arises through which a company can gain the first mover advantage of innovation while bearing the costs of an imitation strategy by entering an entirely new market in a new country with an existing product concept. Despite this perceived win-win situation, there are several issues that arise from pursuing this strategy; from the difference between the market conditions of the country from where the innovation originates, to the market where the imitation strategy is being pursued, namely in the form of cultural, economic and political/legal differences. The focus of this study is on cultural factors. By considering the following important product categories; food and insurance, further conclusions based on cultural factors can be extrapolated for consumer preferences as a whole. Food products have many culturally specific factors that influence consumer choices. Tradition encapsulates the extent to which unfamiliar products are avoided, akin to Gelfand’s cultural tightness measure. On the other hand, insurance choice differences failed to provide insight on other cultural influences, captured by Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Overall, findings show that cultural differences occur on the level of Food characteristic, yet there is insufficient evidence to confirm that these same differences occur on the level of food type and insurance. Both theoretical constructs, the Hofstede and Gelfand measures, show no relations to the results obtained in the survey.