Secret et confiance : Substitut ou complément dans la protection des actifs intellectuels ?

Firms have a variety of possible mechanisms for preventing competitors to take advantage of their investment in knowledge capital. The availability and effectiveness of these mechanisms varies across firms. This paper aims at understanding the impact of trust on secrecy efficiency. The hypotheses were tested with survey data on 123 Biotechnology firms. The results suggest that secrecy and trust are compatible ; however trust reduces secrecy efficiency regarding appropriability.