Competing with TikTok: When to Imitate, When to Differentiate

In 2023, TikTok became the fourth largest social network by number of users, behind Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Meanwhile, competition in the market for short-form videos intensified. Instagram introduced Reels and YouTube launched Shorts—innovations that imitated TikTok’s approach.

In this episode, Harvard Business School professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee discusses imitation as a competitive strategy among the leading social networks. Standard business strategy emphasizes the need to differentiate your product or service from competitors. However, as these social networks have shown, imitation can sometimes lead to better financial performance. The question is: When is imitation useful and when does it become detrimental?

This is the final episode in a special series highlighting the four best strategy episodes of 2023, curated from across Harvard Business Review’s podcasts.

Key episode topics include: strategy, social media, competitive strategy, organizational change.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR Cold Call episode: As Social Networks Get More Competitive, Which Ones Will Survive? (2023)
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