In a world of abundant knowledge, not all smart people work for you. The next big idea may spring from a maverick start-up or a researcher working for a competitor. For many companies in the innovation business, the response to these threats has been to circle the wagons tighter still, walling off their own R&D effort to keep competitors from stealing their best ideas.
A version of this article appeared in the July 2003 issue of Harvard Business Review.
