Normative barriers to imitation: social complexity of core competences in a mutual fund industry
研究指出模仿过程包括识别、能力和意愿三步，并聚焦于制度化专业规范如何导致企业不愿模仿，从而影响可持续竞争优势。
Abstract Imperfectly imitable resources are central in contemporary analysis of sustainable competitive advantage. While prior work has focused on limitations on the ability to imitate, we argue that it is only a third step in an imitation procedure that also involves the identification of what to imitate and the willingness to imitate. In this study we focus on this last step of unwillingness to imitate due to institutionalized professional norms on product appropriateness. Drawing on institutional theory, we test hypotheses and discuss the complex relationship between institutionalized norms, core competences, and systematic differences in the willingness to imitate. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.