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on Intellectual Property Rights |
| By: | Guido Cozzi; Silvia Galli |
| Abstract: | Brilliant ideas are key to economic growth. They often emerge from scienti c discoveries with no immediate commercial value so rewards may not be aligned to e¤ort. Should basic research be publicly or privately funded? And, to foster innovation and growth, what kinds of discovery should be protected? Post 1980, the US intellectual property institutions facilitated the patentability of basic research. The European and other patenting regimes are slowly changing in the same direction, also encouraged by TRIPs. Did the US choose the better path? We build a Schumpeterian model to re-assess this important turning point. |
| Keywords: | R&D and Growth, Sequential Innovation, Research Tools, Patent Laws, Kremer Mechanism |
| JEL: | O31 O34 O41 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gla:glaewp:2008_01&r=ipr |
| By: | Rajneesh Narula (Department of Economics, University of Reading Business School); Grazia D. Santangelo (Facoltà di Scienze Politiche, Università degli Studi di Catania) |
| Abstract: | This paper shows empirically that in an intra-industry oligopolistic scenario the location of a firm’s innovative activities plays an important role in determining its partner selection in R&D alliances. Such a role is mainly attributed to a strategic use of R&D alliances as a means to limit knowledge flows and protect competences, rather than to promote knowledge flows. By drawing on a novel dataset matching alliances and patent data for the European ICT industry, the econometric analysis shows that partners’ prior co-location (at both national and sub-national regional level), previous ties and technological overlap matter in the choice of partner, while common nationality has a negative impact on alliance formation. |
| Keywords: | Alliances, R&D location, strategy, co-location, knowledge flows |
| JEL: | D23 F23 O18 O32 R3 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdg:wpaper:em-dp2007-43&r=ipr |
| By: | Christoph Grimpe (Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim); Ulrich Kaiser (University of Southern Denmark) |
| Abstract: | Determining the research and development (R&D) boundaries of the firm as the choice between internal, collaborative and external technology acquisition has since long been a major challenge for firms to secure a continuous stream of innovative products or processes. While research on R&D cooperation or strategic alliances is abundant, little is known about the outsourcing of R&D activities to contract research organizations and its implications for innovation performance. This paper investigates the driving forces of external technology sourcing through contract research based on arguments from transaction cost theory and the resource-based view of the firm. Using a large and comprehensive data set of innovating firms from Germany our findings suggest that technological uncertainty, contractual experience and openness to external knowledge sources motivate the choice for engaging in contract research activities. Moreover, we show that internal and external R&D sourcing are complements: the marginal contribution of internal (external) R&D is the larger the more firms spend on external (internal) R&D. |
| Keywords: | contract research, innovation; transaction cost theory; firm capabilities |
| JEL: | O32 C24 |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kuieci:2008-01&r=ipr |
| By: | Grimpe, Christoph; Hussinger, Katrin |
| Abstract: | Over the last few years, worldwide mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have increased sharply both in terms of value and volume. This development has not only been driven by corporate acquirers but also to an increasing extent by private equity investors. In this paper, we analyze differences in acquisition motives for corporate and private equity investors. We pay particular attention to the importance of technological assets in M&A transactions and distinguish between the technological value of patents and their potential to block competitors in technology markets. Our empirical results for European firm acquisitions in the period from 1999 to 2003 show that both corporate and private equity investors pay a higher price for target firms with valuable patents. However, patents with a potential to block technology competitors seem to be only of interest to corporate investors, especially if these are closely related to the patent portfolio of the acquirer. |
| Keywords: | M&A, technology, patents, corporate and private equity investors |
| JEL: | G34 L20 O34 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:6814&r=ipr |
| By: | Uwe Cantner (Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena); Kristin Joel (Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena); Tobias Schmidt (Deutsche Bundesbank, Economic Research Centre) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate factors that influence a firm's decision to implement knowledge management practices. Our focus is on knowledge management practices implemented to increase collaboration between actors within a firm on innovation activities. Using information on over 1,500 innovative German firms from the Mannheim Innovationpanel of 2003, we find that an innovation strategy targeted at consumers and continuous R+D activities is positively related to KM usage. In addition, more general firm characteristics like size and the industry of a firm do influence the decision to use knowledge management as well. |
| Keywords: | knowledge management, innovation, Mannheim Innovation Panel |
| JEL: | D23 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2008–01–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2008-002&r=ipr |
| By: | Mika Maliranta; Pierre Mohnen; Petri Rouvinen |
| Abstract: | ABSTRACT : An employer-employee panel is used to study whether the movement of workers across firms is a channel of unintended diffusion of R&D-generated knowledge. Somewhat surprisingly, hiring workers from others’ R&D labs to one’s own does not seem to be a significant spillover channel. Hiring workers previously in R&D to one’s non-R&D activities, however, boosts both productivity and profitability. This is interpreted as evidence that these workers transmit knowledge that can be readily copied and implemented without much additional R&D effort. |
| Keywords: | labor mobility, R&D spillovers, profitability, linked employer-employee data |
| JEL: | D62 J24 J62 L25 O31 |
| Date: | 2008–01–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:1116&r=ipr |
| By: | Hugo Erken (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Erasmus University); Frank van Es (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economics Policy Analysis) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the causes of the shortfall in private R+D expenditure of the EU compared to the US. It shows that differences in the structure of the two economies play only a minor role in explaining the R+D gap. Instead, the European R+D shortfall is mainly caused by a negative intrinsic effect, meaning that companies within European industries spend less on R+D than their US peers in the same sectors. In addition, this negative intrinsic effect is mainly due to institutional differences between the US and the EU15. Government funding of R+D and the internationalization of R+D provide significant explanation as well. |
| Keywords: | private R+D intensity, internationalization of R+D, economic structure, sector-composition effect, intrinsic effect |
| JEL: | O32 O38 F23 R39 |
| Date: | 2007–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-107&r=ipr |
| By: | Max Keilbach (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena); Mark Sanders (Utrecht School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We formulate a model that explicitly separates two functions in the innovation process: The introduction of new goods and the quality improvement of existing goods. While the latter is performed by the corporate R+D sector, the first is performed by entrepreneurs. We show that in a three sector economy, which also includes a producing sector, there exists a stable non trivial allocation of labor to production, innovation and entrepreneurship. We compute the steady state allocation of labor to production, R+D and Entrepreneurship. We show that the innovation rate decreases if one of the innovative sectors does not exist. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Variety Expansion, Quality Ladders, Entrepreneurship, R+D Sector. |
| JEL: | O31 O41 |
| Date: | 2007–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-108&r=ipr |
| By: | U. Witt; C. Zellner |
| Abstract: | New knowledge with potential commercial value is created, replicated, and transferred in a distributed manner. The highly systemic nature of knowledge production and the need for any knowledge to be individually acquired and expressed in order to produce an effect, jointly constrain the dynamics of knowledge commercialization. This paper analyzes the nature of these constraints from an individualistic perspective, focusing particularly on the often neglected entrepreneurial aspects of the knowledge transfer. It explains how the constraints are overcome by organizational adaptations inside firms so that a sustained knowledge transfer into the commercial sphere of the innovation system can be secured. |
| Keywords: | Length 18 pages |
| JEL: | D23 D83 J24 M13 M51 O31 O40 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2007-19&r=ipr |
| By: | FRANCISCO MARCOS (Instituto de Empresa); JUAN SANTALO (Instituto de Empresa) |
| Abstract: | Current theory provides no clear framework for the analysis of the current system of private copy compensation and its potential modifications and/or alternatives. Building upon more general incentive economics theory and on general legal considerations, this paper attempts to build such analytical framework by proposing a set of principles for benchmarking potentially alternative systems of private copy compensation. The paper also offers a brief analysis of the main modifications and alternatives to the current system in light of the abovementioned principles. The main finding is that, according to the proposed principles, the current system "as is" gets the best appraisal. |
| Keywords: | Copyright, Economic principles, Intellectual property, Remuneration |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emp:wpaper:wp07-16&r=ipr |
| By: | Wennberg, Karl (Dept. of Business Administration, Stockholm School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of knowledge in the evolution of new financial services ventures in Sweden between 1990 and 2002. Drawing upon economic theories of human capital and spin-out entrepreneurship, we investigate if knowledge from prior employment in the financial and technological industries facilitates the survival of new entrepreneurial firms. Based on a database tracking the evolution of 1,077 financial services ventures, we find that firms with more extensive knowledge from the financial services and high-tech sectors have higher chances of survival than firms with more narrow knowledge bases. Our findings offer contributions to the emerging literature on spin-out entrepreneurship and to research on entrepreneurship in services. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; Spin-out; spin-off; Knowledge; Financial services; Survival analysis |
| Date: | 2008–01–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:hastba:2008_001&r=ipr |