today managers in many industries are working hard to match the competitive advantages of their new global rivals. They are moving manu- facturing offshore in search of lower laborcosts, rationalizing product lines to capture globalscale economies, instituting quality circles and just-in-tirne production, and adopting Japanese human re-source practices. When competitiveness still seemsout of reach, they form strategic alliances—oftenwith the very companies that upset the competitive balance in the first place. Important as these initiatives are, few of them go beyond mere imitation. Too many companies are ex— pending enormous energy simply to reproduce thecost and quality advantages their global competitors already enjoy. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it will not lead to competitive revitaliza-tion. Strategies based on imitation are transparent tocompetitors who have already mastered them. More-over, successful competitors rarely stand still. 50 it isnot surprising that many executives feel trapped in aseemingly endless game of catch-up—regularly sur-prised by the new accomplishments of their rivals. For these executives and their companies, regain-ing competitiveness will mean rethinking many of