 |  International Business : The Challenge of Global Competition, 8/e Donald Ball
Wendell H. McCulloch,
California State University Long Beach
Paul L. Frantz,
California State University Long Beach
Michael Geringer,
California Polytechnic State University
Michael S. Minor,
University of Texas Pan American
Competitive Forces
Internet AssignmentsStudents: Included here are some internet/case assignments that you can use to review
or that your instructor may give as assignments. Your instructors have been
given the answers to these questions and may choose to give them out to you
or not.
This case is designed to:
- Familiarize you with the current business climate related to industrial
espionage;
- Provide you with a detailed look at a specific case of industrial espionage;
and
- Give you insight into how corporations are reacting in an effort to protect
themselves from industrial espionage.
It reads like a James Bond novel. A retired employee of Kodak steals the design
specifications of a top-secret device code-named the 401 Machine and sells them
to the enemy--a competitor corporation. Intel hires key employees of Motorola
to obtain Motorola's microchip trade secrets. A Taiwanese father and daughter
business team pays a disgruntled US research engineer to pilfer manufacturing
secrets from label maker Avery Dennison. Another Taiwan based executive attempts
to buy the secret formula for Bristol-Myers Squibb's cancer drug Taxol.
Cheating in business is not new. Corporate spooks and saboteurs however, are especially
busy in today's global, high-tech economy, where a company's most prized assets
can often be stored on a computer disk and surveillance equipment can fit on a
shirt button. To find out more about this, read the March 22, 1999 Time
article "Eyeing the Competition" by Daniel Eisenberg http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,21461,00.html
. In addition, with more and more company information made available via the Internet,
corporate snoops can often gather extensive information about a company's future
moves. To find out more about this, read the September 27, 1999 Computerworld
article "Your Web site May be a Spy Magnet" by Gary Anthes. http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO42784,00.html
.
Some of the most common business espionage-related tactics used today include:
(1) posing as a reporter, student researcher or potential customer when visiting
a company; (2) participating in group tours of company facilities; (3) rummaging
through a company's trash dumpster for business information; (4) recruiting a
penetration agent; (5) hiring employees away from a company to gain access to
competitive business information; (6) enlisting the support of disgruntled employees
or ex-employees; (7) breaking into computer systems; (8) planting wiretaps and
secret recording devices; and (9) eavesdropping.
One of the more famous cases of industrial espionage involved Jose Ignacio Lopez
de Arriortua, a former General Motors executive who joined Volkswagen and took
with him box loads of GM documents. Read about this in the April 17, 1997 Fortune
article "Blood Feud" by Peter Elkind at http://www.britannica.com/bcom/magazine/article/0,5744,14392,00.html?query=volkswagen
Case Instructions:
Answer the following questions.
- List twelve things that rival's search for on a company's web site and what
that information reveals.
- What exactly did Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua steal from General Motors?
- In the final analysis, do you feel that the documents that Jose Ignacio
Lopez de Arriortua stole from General Motors placed or could have placed General
Motors at a competitive disadvantage? Why or why not?
- In addition to minimizing the amount of information that a company makes
available on its web site, identify at least five things can a company do
to protect itself from industrial espionage and explain how each of these
five things offer protection. (Hint: Try surfing the net to find information
about this.)
Sources:
Anthes, Gary H. September 27, 1999. "Your Web Site May be a Spy Magnet."
Computerworld. v. 33, issue 39. pp. 62-63.
Barth, Steve. August, 1998. "Spy vs. Spy." World Trade. v. 11,
issue 8. pp. 34-37.
Crock, Stan. February 10, 1997. "Business Spies: The New Enemy Within?"
Business Week.issue 3513. p. 16.
Eisenberg, Daniel and Chris Taylor. March 22, 1999. "Eyeing the Competition."
Time. v. 153, issue 11. pp. 58.60.
Elkind, Peter. April 14, 1997. "Blood Feud." Fortune. v. 135,
issue 7. pp. 90-102.
Farnham, Alan. September 8, 1997. "How Safe are Your Secrets?" Fortune.
v. 136, issue 5. pp. 114-120.
Kaltenheuser, Skip. July, 1997. "Industrial Espionage is Alive and Well."
World Trade. v. 10, issue 7. pp. 24.26.
Robinson, Edward A. March 30, 1998. "China's Spies Target Corporate America."
Fortune. v. 137, issue 6. pp. 118.122.
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education