But then I thought is it so hard a question or in fact is it a question at all and if yes than why did this question came up in first place.
The answer is simple ' we just forgot simple'. Amazingly people who are good thinkers and can think out of the box have this problem. They just tend to overlook simple. That is what my friend did. He like the other creative and good thinkers tried to think of an innovative solution, but is that really needed.
Is innovation so big a deal that a country like India aces such a big question. The answer is Yes and the answer is NO. Why Yes ... i think that need not be explained but why NO, when everyone one is saying that Indians need to innovate.
The reason behind the answer is innovation does not always means creating something great, something big. Innovation can be simple as simple as the story in which a thirsty crow found out a way of getting rid of his thirst by putting stones in the pot.
That was a simple innovation, he did nothing great but found out a way to do something in different manner. See that simple innovation is.
A 5 year old kid once had this problem of hiccups all of sudden. Doctors decided to operate. When they took him to operation theater his hiccups disappeared without any treatment. When asked the Doctor said that he never had a problem. He just innovated a way to get his parent's attention. Good example of simple innovation, isn't it?
A crow from your bed time stories could do it. A 5 year old kid could do it. So why can't such simple innovation happen in business. THEY DO.
One such innovation that revolutionized business in India was introduction of shampoo sachets.
So to answer the question of innovation or imitation:
Innovation is not that big deal that India should not go for it and imitation can not survive on its own. For every product there is some or the other innovation needed to make it successful i.e.
product innovation: new product or product modification
price innovation: a new pricing startegy
place innovation : new market for the same product
promotion innovation : new strategies of promoting the same product
distribution channel innovation: the way DELL started selling laptops
process innovation: manufacturing the same product in a better way for it to become cost effective.
Without any of the above innovation no imitation can succeed. Hence even if India is imitating she needs to innovate to succeed.
So for the record; Innovation is not big deal, not for marketing not business not for life, just keep your senses intact and we together can make India the biggest innovator in world.
