abstract
The paper investigates the relationship between the culinary innovation process (divided in two stages: idea generation and idea transformation) and the role of creativity protection. The aim is to understand how chefs protect their creativity and their innovation outcomes. The analysis is based on a sample of 132 Italian Michelin-starred chefs. The study sheds light on creativity and innovation domains in the hospitality environment where organizations have to continuously innovate in order to maintain a defensible competitive position. It identifies five “barriers against imitation” by competitors: “listening to clients’ needs”; “chef’s own creativity”, “systematic approach to creativity”; “knowledge based feasibility”; “accumulated professional skills”. The paper represents an initial effort to examine creativity protection concepts in the gastronomy sector, which are still unexplored. It contributes to a better understanding of how to protect the intellectual property in a sector where the applicability of law-based intellectual property systems is very low.
6. Conclusions and implications
The study contributes to the knowledge on culinary innovation within haute cuisine restaurants, with a specific focus on creativity protection.
As mentioned, culinary innovation can be defined as the development and commercialization of a dish or entire menus that are perceived by the chef as a novelty or as an improvementto an existing one (Harringtonand Ottenbacher, 2013).Michelin-starred chefs work at developing their own recognizable and distinctive culinary style and identity over time (Senf et al., 2014). As a result, they believe that their recipes and dishes are a very valuable form of intellectual property that need to be protected.
Previous studies have discussed the limited applicability of lawbased intellectual property systems in the culinary industry (Di Stefano et al., 2014), and the possible need to sustain the existence of ‘norms-based’ intellectual property systems (Fauchart and von Hippel, 2008). The research presented here is part ofthis debate and it proposes an alternative approach based on directly controlled strategies that top chefs should use to protect their creations from imitation. These strategies have to be focused on the ability to build “barriers against imitation”, even if these strategies are particularly valid in the short-term.
From this perspective, the most important barrier rests in the capacity of a chef to develop a systematic approach to creativity and to increase his level of professional skills. The research permits us to draw up a list of management skills needed in order to support successful businesses in their innovation efforts, including research and analysis competencies, attitude to problem solving and stakeholder management.
