It has been suggested that bootlegger be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

It has been suggested that bootleggers be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Bootlegging is a slang term to describe smuggling. Most commonly, the word refers to the illegal transport and sale of alcoholic beverages on which excise taxes have not been paid. It is said that the term comes from how the alcohol was hid in flasks on the legs of sellers, above or under the boot. The term is sometimes used to refer exclusively to the production of untaxed alcoholic products; however, that is more accurately called "moonshining." Most bootleg liquor is not "home-made" by a moonshiner but, instead, bottled by professional distillers. To suggest a relevant news story for the main page, refer to the criteria then add your suggestion at the candidates page. ... Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... A bootlegger is someone who sells an illegally manufactured product. ... Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Slang is the non-standard or non-dialectal use of words in a language of a particular social group, and sometimes the creation of new words or importation of words from another language. ... A skirmish with smugglers from Finland at the Russian border, 1853, by Vasily Hudiakov. ... The word drink is primarily a verb, meaning to ingest liquids, see Drinking. ... An excise is an indirect tax or duty levied on items within a country. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Shine Road The name tells the history of this back road in Hemingway, South Carolina Revenue men at the site of moonshine stills, Kentucky, 1911 or before Bibbles is the making of whiskey surreptitiously and illegally. ... Various distilled beverages in a Spanish bar A distilled beverage is a liquid preparation meant for consumption containing ethyl alcohol purified by distillation from a fermented substance such as fruit, vegetables, or grain. ...

During Prohibition of the 1920s in the United States, much of the bootleg whiskey was brought in from Canada (See American Whiskey Trail) and much of the bootleg rum was imported from Mexico or Cuba via "rum roads" or "rum routes." . Today most bootleg alcohol in the United States is made domestically but sold "under the table" or "off the back of a truck" without the necessary permits and taxes. Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol. ... The 1920s were a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... Whisky (or whiskey) is an alcoholic beverage distilled from grain, often including malt, which has then been aged in wooden barrels. ... The American Whiskey Trail provides an educational journey into the history and cultural heritage of distilled spirits in the United States. ...

The illegal sale of many consumer products other than alcohol is often termed Bootlegging as well. Goods such as compact discs, DVDs and other Intellectual Property are considered to be "bootleg" if they are replicated without permission of the copyright holder. Unofficial audio recordings of live performances in particular are often called bootlegs. The Compact Disc logo was inspired by that of the previous Compact Cassette. ... The official DVD logo. ... In law, intellectual property (IP) is a broad entitlement extending the concept of property beyond its materialist definitions to include information, ideas, and other intangible assets in their expressed form. ... Copyright symbol. ...

In economics and business administration literature

In economics and business administration literature, K. Knight introduced the notion ‘bootlegging’ in 1967. Bootlegging is defined as research in which motivated individuals secretly organise the innovation process. It usually is a bottom-up, non-programmed activity, without the official authorisation of the responsible management, but for the benefit of the company. It is not in the department’s action plan nor are there any formal resources allocated towards it (Augsdorfer 1996).

Quite a few firms have their own specific term for it: English firms call it: Friday afternoon work, work behind the fume cupboard, free lance work, under the counter work, under the table work, pet-project, discretionary research, free wheeling, illicit research, scrounging , renegades work, work in the shadow- or underworld. French firms call it: recherche camouflée, recherche cachée, recherche parallele, recherche libre, recherche en perruque, recherche sauvage, or recherche sous-marine. American firms call it moonlighting. German firms call it: U-Boot Forschung, or graue Projekte.

The main reason for the occurrence of bootlegging is the lack of ‘free space’ for creativity. In particular rigid planning ignores the nature of experimental trial and error research. Bootlegging, as a kind of self-regulating element, bridges the mechanistic world of organisation (hierarchy, project proposals, MBO, decisions can only be made after some initial findings) with the chaotic world of creativity and innovation. The theory of path dependency explains why bootleg innovations are (most often) in line with the strategic objectives of the firm: corporate competencies define the search paths for its future. In this respect are the learning processes, beside the tangible output of bootlegging beneficial for the firm.

Bootlegging should not be confused with skunk works: skunk work is defined as a sort of elite, working officially on a given project alongside the formal organization to solve problems more efficiently. In fact the Pacific Tech's Graphing Calculator project at Apple computers was not a skunk works project (as mentioned under the key word 'skunk works' in this encyclopaedia) but a bootleg project. Skunk works is a term used in engineering and technical applications for secret (black) projects. ... A graphing calculator is a special kind of scientific/engineering calculator that is able to display and/or analyze mathematical function graphs. ...

'Permitted bootlegging' is research time where technical staff are allowed to spend a certain amount of their time working on ‘pet-projects’ in the hope that some day there is some return for the company. Famous examples of companies, which follow such an initiative, are 3M and Hewlett Packard. They allow ten to fifteen per cent of the working time for own product related interests. A well-known example of a permitted bootleg product is the yellow sticky ‘post-it notes’, developed by Art Fry and Spencer Silver at 3M.

References

• Knight, K., 1967, A Descriptive Model of the Intra-Firm Innovation Process, in The Journal of Business, Vol.40, pp.478-496
• Augsdorfer, P., 1996, Forbidden Fruit: an analysis of bootlegging, uncertainty, and learning in corporate R&D, Aldershotwww.myspace.com/ncalvis