Intellectual capital, competitive intelligence and the Economic Espionage Act

This article analyses the growth and practice of intellectual capital and competitive intelligence, two industry practices that have received increasing attention over the last decade. Related in their conceptual structure, the two fields also interact in terms of the benefits and costs of leveraging organisational knowledge in the face of competitive intelligence efforts. This interaction poses the key question of how widely intellectual capital should be dispersed. In the USA, at least, the Economic Espionage Act provides some guidance. After a discussion of the key provisions of the Act, the paper passes to practical suggestions for using intellectual capital resources as widely as possible while still protecting the firm from competitive intelligence threats. Compliance standards, risk assessment and management, collaborator certification and signalling are all considered in turn.