Please, Don´t Steal My Ideas.

[Doro22]

Hi,

I have some marketing and business development ideas aimed at the food and beverage industry in Thailand, or more specific they fit a certain type of restaurants.

My problem is that there is no way to protect the ideas, most of them needs to be executed in a certain way, but if someone wants to steal them, it’s sort of up to them.

I would like to approach the restaurants, one at the time (have a list), and present my ideas, I am a bit afraid to “loose” them. And there is no way that a company will sign a confidentiality agreement as I have not had any prior business with them.

What is the way to go? Just send them and hope for the best or leave them in my drawer.

Inputs, highly appreciated.

[A_Traveller]

It's a quandary I agree, even in the US business processes themselves can not be patented, though some have tried to find a way around that.

I guess one option would be the NDA {Non Disclosure Agreement} route, though it might not be worth the paper it's printed on {that's not just a Thailand issue to be fair} it would assist in creating a professional businesslike environment for your presentation to proceed and it might make it more difficult for them to simply 'clone' your idea.

Regards

/edit typo //

Edited March 31, 2007 by A_Traveller

[Shah Jahan]

If it would give them any 'advantage' NOT to steal your ideas then they wont.

however if they liked your ideas and we not bound to you to implement them - of course they would borrow them.

So unless you can hold them hostage, dont tell them

[Doro22]

Thanks for the inputs.

I see where you coming from, they can "borrow" the idea, screw it up and burn it. I am amazed to see a lot of Thai companies screw things up when it comes to execution of business concepts and maintaining the same. Some of them seem to focus on a six month plan, and then hope for the best.

Not sure if it’s the way to go, but if I do some "name dropping" of people I know and worked with, it might get some more weight to it.

Many moons ago, I was quite desperate and stupid, so I sent a business plan to this large Thai corporation, four months later I see the same concept being launched from this company,.

They did however withdraw it from the market six months later. They did every mistake in you can possible do. Coincidence, who knows. But after this, I try to be more careful.

If it would give them any 'advantage' NOT to steal your ideas then they wont.

however if they liked your ideas and we not bound to you to implement them - of course they would borrow them.

So unless you can hold them hostage, dont tell them

[simcity]

Not wanting to patronize you but :

Open your own, make it a success and franchise it !

Some restaurants concept done this way and are successful with the franchise .

[Doro22]

Simcity,

The "stolen" concept was a retail business, and it was a long time ago. More into niche things in food and beverage now. And what I try to acomplish right now is to "sell" ideas on how to develop existing business.

Not wanting to patronize you but :

Open your own, make it a success and franchise it !

Some restaurants concept done this way and are successful with the franchise .

[autonomous_unit]

Frankly, I don't think there is much hope of selling ideas in most markets... there is enough trouble enforcing copyright or patents in narrowly defined areas, much less trying to define what an idea is that is not in a recorded medium or technical apparatus. (This is a completely practical observation, and doesn't depend on one's attitudes about whether one ought to be able to sell ideas.)

Like Simcity said, the world really requires you to develop your own business ideas out, potentially with some funding from trustworthy investors. Even here, it is a game to make the investor believe they need you to execute the idea, and you need to develop it together before revealing it to a larger market where copycats will surely try to catch you. Selling to an existing is that much more difficult, since they believe they are in a position to execute the ideas themselves.

The other option is to sell your efforts rather than your ideas... many of us are consultants because we can make a living from doing hard thinking for clients. They do not buy your ideas. They see your past "portfolio" of work and they hire you to generate new ideas for them... you cannot sit back and reap the benefits of an idea in perpetuity, but you can gain a reputation that brings in further consulting work and increases your marketable fee rates.

[andy1308]

The company I work for has recently introduced a new licensed magazine to Thailand. Before the agreement was signed we needed to talk to people within the industry as part of our research. The fact is that without asking for a confidentially agreement to be signed, news of our plans would have been around the media and advertising industry within a few days.

I am not sure how legally enforceable such an agreement is, but we insisted it being signed and those we spoke to understood its importance and meaning. For us it wasn't a problem.