Not invented here (NIH) is the tendency to avoid using or buying products,
research
Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...
, standards, or knowledge from external origins. It is usually adopted by social,
corporate
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...
, or institutional cultures. Research illustrates a strong bias against ideas from the outside.
The reasons for not wanting to use the work of others are varied, but can include a desire to support a local economy instead of
paying royalties to a foreign
license-holder, fear of
patent infringement, lack of understanding of the foreign work, an unwillingness to acknowledge or value the work of others, jealousy,
belief perseverance
Belief perseverance (also known as conceptual conservatism) is maintaining a belief despite new information that firmly contradicts it. Such beliefs may even be strengthened when others attempt to present evidence debunking them, a phenomenon kn ...
, or forming part of a wider
turf war
A turf war is a fight over territory or resources, or may refer to:
Music
* ''Turf Wars'', a 2007 album by the Canadian band Daggermouth
* "Turf War", a song on the 2001 album ''Filmtracks 2000'' by American composer Bill
Television
* '' Turf W ...
. 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 of
tribalism
Tribalism is the state of being organized by, or advocating for, tribes or tribal lifestyles. Human evolution has primarily occurred in small hunter-gatherer groups, as opposed to in larger and more recently settled agricultural societies or civ ...
and/or an inadequate effort in choosing the right approach for the business.
The term is typically used in a
pejorative
A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
sense. The opposite predisposition is sometimes called "proudly found elsewhere" (PFE)
or "invented elsewhere".
In computing
In computer programming, "NIH syndrome" refers to the belief that in-house developments are inherently better suited, more secure, more controlled, quicker to develop, and incur lower
overall cost (including
maintenance cost) than using existing implementations.
In some cases, software with the same functionality as an existing one is re-implemented just to allow the use of a different
software license
A software license is a legal instrument (usually by way of contract law, with or without printed material) governing the use or redistribution of software. Under United States copyright law, all software is copyright protected, in both source ...
. One approach to doing so is
clean room design
Clean-room design (also known as the Chinese wall technique) is the method of copying a design by reverse engineering and then recreating it without infringing any of the copyrights associated with the original design. Clean-room design is usef ...
.
See also
References
{{Fallacies
Anti-patterns
Appeals to emotion
Economics of intellectual property
Cognitive biases