Abstract
Given the importance of technologies to organizations, technology leakages can cause considerable financial losses and threaten the survival of firms. Although organizations use technology protection diagnostic models to prevent such leakages, most diagnostic models focus on cybersecurity, and the evaluation system is complex, making it difficult for SMEs to use it. This makes them unsuitable for the general technology protection diagnosis of companies. Hence, this study proposes a diagnostic model that assesses these technology protection capabilities of organizations from personnel and administrative perspectives. Drawing upon the individual elements of the 7S model—shared values, strategy, structure, systems, staff, style, and skills—our model analyzes the influence of the elements on the technology protection capabilities of organizations. To determine this influence, the study conducts a questionnaire survey among 435 employees from large, larger medium-sized, and small and medium enterprises. Using the partial least squares and the artificial neural network methods, the study determines the ranking of the relative importance of the 7s elements. The results show that the shared values element most significantly influences these capabilities. The remaining elements influence the technology protection capabilities in the following order from the greatest to the least effect: staff, strategy, structure, systems, style, and skills. These findings highlight the significance of developing an awareness of the necessity of technology protection among all the members of an organization.
Highlights
The leakage of technology is a grave security incident that has the potential to determine a company’s future [1]
This study developed a research model to analyze which elements of the 7S model significantly impact the technology protection capabilities of an organization
Given that technological leakages weaken a company’s technological competitiveness and its survival, companies must be active in their technology protection efforts
Summary
The leakage of technology is a grave security incident that has the potential to determine a company’s future [1]. A company that seizes its competitors’ technology may use the leaked information to reduce the product development costs and efforts and, in turn, cost-effectively launch a better product, thereby gaining a competitive advantage. A prominent incident of technology leakage occurred in 2003, when Cisco Systems, a manufacturer of networking equipment, filed a lawsuit accusing Huawei Technologies of copying its router software code [2]. Huawei reached a confidential settlement with Cisco and removed the copied source code, experts pointed out that Huawei still used Cisco’s router software code. In 2003, Huawei’s revenue stood at $2.1 billion, while. Cisco reported a revenue of $18.8 billion. In 2018, Huawei earned a revenue of
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