The dynamics of secrecy management in open innovation. The case of the defense industry

Thesis defended on the 12th of July 2022 at 6:00 pm and it took place at Ecole polytechnique

Abstract:

In order to keep up with the pace of development in civilian innovation, defense firms have recently launched a series of initiatives to search and integrate external innovation into their internal development process. This progressive shift toward open innovation has triggered specific challenges for defense firms to attract, exploit and protect innovative assets stemming from outside their traditional military milieu. From a theoretical perspective, the emergence of the open innovation phenomenon in such a secretive environment unlocks new possibilities to understand the rules and practices of concealment that actors deploy in this new paradigm. Thus, we conducted a three-year qualitative study inside a large defense firm to follow this research opportunity. Building on management and sociology literature on secrecy, we discovered how the implementation of open innovation strategies challenged the status quo of the internal regulation system of secrecy inside the firm, leading to specific tensions for the individuals involved. Next, while being immersed in the innovation process of the field, we were able to document how innovation actors manage the thorny issue of combining secrecy protection with meaningful interactions with external innovation partners, by deploying and organizing specific secrecy practices in interorganizational collaboration. As a result, we propose a new characterization of secrecy management in open innovation as the combination of institutional, cognitive, and relational dynamics, each highlighting a particular feature of the secrecy phenomenon. Hence, this thesis suggests a renewed approach to knowledge protection practices and strategies with implications for both theory and management.

Composition du jury :

Keywords : defense industry; open innovation; secrecy management