Not invented here (NIH) is the tendency to avoid using or buying products,research, standards, or knowledge from external origins. It is usually adopted by social,corporate, or institutional cultures. Research illustrates a strong bias against ideas from the outside.[1]
The reasons for not wanting to use the work of others are varied, but can include a desire to support a local economy instead ofpaying royalties to a foreignlicense-holder, fear ofpatent infringement, lack of understanding of the foreign work, an unwillingness to acknowledge or value the work of others, jealousy,belief perseverance, or forming part of a widerturf war.[2] As a social phenomenon, this tendency can manifest itself as an unwillingness to adopt an idea or product because it originates from another culture, a form oftribalism.[3]
The term is typically used in apejorative sense. The opposite predisposition is sometimes called "invented here",[4] "not invented there",[5] "proudly found elsewhere" (PFE)[6] or "invented elsewhere".
A 1982 study by Ralph Katz andThomas J. Allen provides empirical evidence for the "not invented here" syndrome, showing that the performance of R&D project groups declines after about five years, which they attribute to the groups becoming increasingly insular and communicating less with key information sources outside the group.[7]
