What are trade secrets? What are the steps businesses can take to protect their trade secrets?

What will be an ideal response?


Trade secrets refer to confidential information within a company that gives that company a competitive advantage. Trade secrets include more than patents. A trade secret can be a formula, the name of the company's top salesperson, or details of the upcoming ad campaign. There are five steps to protecting trade secrets:

(1) Trade secrets must really be secrets: They cannot be shared with others or be likely to be known by others.
(2) Warning labels should be used: One should put "confidential" on every page that contains trade secrets.
(3) There should be restriction on physical access.
(4) There should be confidentiality agreements. Only people who sign one of these get to handle, see, or hear the trade secret material.
(5) Steps 1 through 4 should be done repetitively as a trade secret is enforceable only as long as positive steps are taken to protect it.

Business

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Why is perception important in the workplace?

What will be an ideal response?

Business

The Panama Jack Company utilizes a special strategy to sell its ECO-shirt line. Its basic promotional tool is the discount. These discounts offered to middlemen for performing certain channel activities are referred to as ____ discounts.

A. trade B. cumulative C. noncumulative D. push E. intermediary

Business

As operations manager for Osan Electronics, Jun is seeking to enhance the company's core capabilities in order to make it more competitive in an ever-changing market. To that end, the company should concentrate on

A) improving its relationship with its plastics supplier. B) updating its website and shipping department. C) developing new training standards for its stereo assembly line workers. D) revamping their system for developing new electronics. E) training its human resource department to deal with conflict more efficiently.

Business

Statisticians who specialize in estimating the probability of death based on personal characteristics are called

A) morbidity analysts. B) actuaries. C) insurance analysts. D) morbidity statisticians. E) none of the above.

Business