For small firms knowledge leakage loss and theft are counted among the greatest risks in
inter-firm collaborations. SMEs are more vulnerable because they suffer from a number of
structural disadvantages when collaborating with larger companies and yet they need to
collaborate with external partners to overcome their lack of resources.Therefore this study
investigates how SMEs can most effectively protect critical knowledge in collaborations with
external partners for that they can prevent knowledge loss leakage and theft while
maximizing the performance of the collaboration.This book derives valuable insights for
practice and theory through a comprehensive review of existing literature and a collection and
analysis of experiences from Germany s most innovative and successful SMEs.
