Evading the Boomerang Effect: Using the Grant-Back Clause to Further Generative Appropriability from Technology Licensing Deals

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Laursen, Keld; Moreira, Solon; Reichstein, Toke; Leone, Maria Isabella
• 署名单位: Copenhagen Business School; Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU); University of Navarra; IESE Business School; Copenhagen Business School; Luiss Guido Carli University
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2017.1130
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 514-530
• 关键词: grant-back clause; technology licensing; core technology; appropriability

摘要

Technology licensing agreements potentially can create future appropriability problems. Drawing on the appropriability literature, we argue that the inclusion of a grantback clause in technology licensing agreements is an attempt to balance the gains from and protection of the focal firms' technologies. We hypothesize that the closer the licensed technology is to the licensor's core patented technologies, the more likely the licensing agreement will include a grant-back clause, while the closer the licensed technology is to the licensee's core patent portfolio, the less likely the agreement will include a grant-back clause. We hypothesize also that technological uncertainty is a positive moderator in the decision to include a grant-back clause, if the licensed technology is close to either the licensee's or the licensor's core technologies. We employ a hierarchical nested decision model to test the hypotheses on a sample of 397 licensed technologies. This method allows us to model the choice to include a grant-back clause as nested in the decision about which technologies to license out. We find broad support for our theoretical arguments.