How important is Intellectual Property (IP)?

Chefs sell millions of books and make TV shows seen by millions where they show the world how to copy what they do. But millions of restaurants are not opened everyday serving dishes based on their recipes.

So this leads me to believe that the importance of IP depends on the industry. As I have seen organisations give away their processes and train competitors to do what they do.

I believe that an organisation’s culture, employees and their ability to apply knowledge have a greater impact on success than IP alone, as anyone can copy a recipe but very few can create a world class restaurant.