Follows the path of one of the unexplored areas of government regulation and the Internet. In March 1998, Network Associates announced that it will begin selling a powerful encryption software from its Dutch subsidiary. Such a move would look to the U.S. government as a violation of export rules, but the company was confident that he acted within the law. Indeed, Network Associates, seemed cleverly exploited the uncertain state regulation in times of rapidly changing technology. Encryption export regulations has become very controversial in the mid-1990s, and have been the subject of constant debate in the legislature in 1998. While the rules have been slowly evolving towards permissiveness, the rate of change did not meet the expectations of many companies in Silicon Valley. Network Associates was the first to boldly challenge the export rules and protect their commercial rights to sell its products to overseas users of encryption. Although the move gave the company a variety of first-mover advantages, it was also a strategy, which included significant political risks. "Hide
by Jennifer Burns, Debora L. Spar Source: Harvard Business School 20 pages. Publication Date: March 15, 1999. Prod. #: 799087-PDF-ENG
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