You can deter imitation by keeping things secret and reducing the diffusion of information about your products or services or how you produce them. For example, suppose that you have discovered a chemical that makes an excellent fertilizer. If you run a fertilizer company, you might not want other people to know that you have identified this chemical. If your competitors and potential competitors do not know that the key to your fertilizer lies in the use of a particular chemical, then they will not understand that they need to gain access to that chemical to compete with you successfully. Therefore, they will not seek to obtain access to that resource, and they will not be able to imitate your operations successfully.
When Does Secrecy ...
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