Protection without patents: How firms in China earn rents from innovation by 'factual' protection
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2007-08-07
Author(s)
Abstract
In this contribution we analyse how the managers of foreign firms in China craft strategies to protect their intellectual property rights (IPR). We show that a 'mo-dernist' perspective would predict IPR protection by patents, and we show why China's formal legal system is not capa-ble to provide effective IPR protection. This contradiction leads to our assumption that man-agers have crafted 'factual' strategies to protect their IPR without using the formal legal sys-tem. From our analysis of 13 in-depth case studies, we find that managers have indeed crafted such 'factual' strategies by their interaction with the societal context of China.
We also find that only a 'micro' perspective on strategy could have detected this causal pat-tern, whereas a 'modernist' perspective would have led to erroneous conclusions. The societal context is identified as an important causal factor that determines the way managers craft strategy. We also find that the societal con-text makes them undergo a process of continual learning that strengthens their firms' competitive positions within and outside this societal context. These fin-dings have important implications for future theory development and pro-vide interesting insights for industry managers.
We also find that only a 'micro' perspective on strategy could have detected this causal pat-tern, whereas a 'modernist' perspective would have led to erroneous conclusions. The societal context is identified as an important causal factor that determines the way managers craft strategy. We also find that the societal con-text makes them undergo a process of continual learning that strengthens their firms' competitive positions within and outside this societal context. These fin-dings have important implications for future theory development and pro-vide interesting insights for industry managers.
Language
English
Keywords
Intellectual property rights
appropriability regime
patents
strategy as practice
international management
HSG Classification
not classified
Refereed
Yes
Event Title
Academy of Management Annual Meeting (AOM) 2007 "Doing Well By Doing Good"
Event Location
Philadelphia, PA
Event Date
03-08.08.2007
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
39599