Taken from The Proceedings of the 1st ISPIM Innovation Symposium, Singapore - 14-17 December 2009 ISBN 978-952-214-665-6.
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http://www.ispim.org/members/proceedings/Singapore08/commonfiles/files/7792112_Paper.doc
How does knowledge matter patenting inventions?
Abstract
Past research in strategic management argues that the ability to invent is an important driver of firm success. One aspect closely related to inventions is the patent decision. However, while prior work focused on patenting performance, less is known about the factors that lead companies to patent their inventions. The objective of this paper is to understand why there are different patenting propensities among companies, when there is robust empirical evidence that firm patenting is positively associated with firm performance. Our results support that R&D and codified knowledge have a positive impact on the amount of inventions patented by a firm, while observable knowledge has a negative impact on patents. Also, we find a negative moderator role of both knowledge observability and simplicity and R&D on the propensity to patent inventions. Our findings contribute to the innovation and the RBV literatures.
Keywords
inventions; patents; R&D; knowledge; creativity; performance; competitiveness.