Secrets and knowledge management strategy: the role of secrecy appropriation mechanisms in realizing value from firm innovations

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore in depth the mechanisms that organizations use to keep their innovations secret. This paper examines how, when and why secrecy appropriation mechanisms (SAMs) can enable innovators to appropriate value from their innovations. Design/methodology/approach Building from an extensive literature review of innovation and secrecy, the paper presents a number of implications for theory and research in the...