Pretty profitable parrots

EVERY year Les Wexner, the owner of Victoria's Secret, a lingerie retailer, takes a month off to travel the world looking for other companies' ideas to adopt. Limited Brands, his clothing group, seeks lawful inspiration from firms ranging from airlines to consumer-goods manufacturers. Mr Wexner's philosophy is that business should celebrate imitation.

That is almost a heresy. Politicians and countless awards ceremonies extol innovation's role in economic growth. Businesses are told to innovate or die. Imitators are cast as the bad guys: “The corporation that is first…has an opportunity to manufacture with the highest frequency and in the most desirable markets,” proclaims the boss of Burkett & Randle in “Duplicity”, a 2009 corporate thriller starring Julia Roberts. The firm duly triumphs over the evil rival which tries to copy its supposed cure for baldness.