Purpose - This short paper aims to help in understanding how to manage the tension between knowledge sharing and intellectual property protection. Design/methodology/approach - The paper combines narrative and analysis. Findings - Understanding how to manage the tension between knowledge sharing and intellectual property protection should be a critical goal of the knowledge management community. Challenges include calculating return on investment, characterizing risk, and managing the transience of knowledge through systems, processes, and partner organizations. Originality/value - The paper illustrates how this tension is key to understanding how to manage knowledge in a highly competitive, continually innovating, constantly learning, global environment. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
