Invented Here

The "invented here" syndrome is the notion that something built or thought up on the premises can't be as good as the "genuine article" (which was developed elsewhere, of course). Bespeaks an underlying assessment of inferiority, which, if deserved, reduces the accuracy of calling it InventedHere (i.e., exercise care not to mistake "You're an idiot" (or "You're idiots") for InventedHere). Based to some degree on the notion that anything we didn't pay for can't really be any good. Directly contrary to the NotInventedHere syndrome, nevertheless often paradoxically applied in similar circumstances to achieve the desired outcome.

Yes, some people seem proud of the fact that some system was built from COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) components, rather than hand-wired. Or that some Ming vase was made in some distant country and imported, rather than made personally from raw clay.

Closely related to BuyDontBuild.