Innovation of Zhejiang Merchant: from Imitation to Independent Innovation

Zhejiang merchant is the largest, most widely distributed and influential businessmen group in China, which is the typical representative of the private economy. They don't care whether resources are few, the enterprise is small or the status is low. They used to imitate and innovate on the imitation-basic which has become their advantages. Facing many pressures and challenges, they need to strengthen and enhance independent innovation. First, this paper defines the concept of innovation and analyzes the connotation of independent innovation and imitation on the basis of technological innovation theory. Second, it explores the reasons of success of Zhejiang merchant. Then, it analyzes the challenges they are facing and points out that they should transit from imitation to independent innovation. In the last part, it gives some reasonable suggestions and discusses the practice of independent innovation through the changes in the number of patents.