Learning from the successes and failures of others is a necessity in the field of public sector innovation. The rapid diffusion of policy innovations in different countries has been characterized by a schizophrenic adoption of practices with governments utilizing those considered the 'best' as well as those deemed capable of actually providing solutions to policy problems. Nevertheless, the replication of policy innovations in different countries have been met with varying degrees of success. The adoption of the Standard Cost Model in a number of European countries, a methodology to measure red tape and improve the quality of regulation, provides an excellent example of this due to it being met with success in some countries while failing inexplicably in others. By exploring the adoption of policy innovations in the Netherlands and Denmark, this work aims to develop guidelines for policy makers, practitioners, and policy analysts in order to evaluate the quality of best practices, to understand the reasons of success and to transfer innovations from a source case to a target case presenting a final appraisal on how to design an effective policy.