article thumbnail

How Competitive Intelligence Rules Encourage Cheating

Harvard Business Review

Yet when it comes to lower-level employees responsible for gathering competitive intelligence, those same lawyers impose Draconian rules that prevent employees from speaking with a competitor directly, or even engaging a third party to speak with a competitor on their behalf.

article thumbnail

Case Study: Follow Dubious Orders or Speak Up?

Harvard Business Review

In an industry expected to generate $170 billion in revenue by 2020, she knew she’d have many opportunities. In one of her father’s many mini-lectures on how business works in Asia, he had mentioned that expectations and even ethics would be different in Seoul—but that knowledge didn’t ease her anxiety now.