REPUTATIONS FOR TOUGHNESS IN PATENT ENFORCEMENT: IMPLICATIONS FOR KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVERS VIA INVENTOR MOBILITY

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Agarwal, Rajshree; Ganco, Martin; Ziedonis, Rosemarie H.
• 署名单位: University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan
• 刊物名称: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0143-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.792
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 1349-1374
• 关键词: Reputation; corporate strategy; Intangible assets; patents; knowledge spillovers; employee mobility

摘要

'Job hopping' by engineers and scientists is widely heralded as an important channel for knowledge spillovers within industries. Far less is known, however, about the actions firms take to reduce the outward flow of knowledge through markets for skilled labor. This study investigates the efficacy of a lever that has received little research attention: corporate reputations for toughness in patent enforcement. Drawing on unique data on enforcement activity, intra-industry inventor mobility, and patent citations in the U.S. semiconductor industry, we find that a firm's litigiousness significantly reduces spillovers otherwise anticipated from departures of employee inventors, particularly when the hiring organizations arc entrepreneurial ventures. Surprisingly, the deterrent effects of patent enforcement are similar in magnitude for firms located in California, a stale characterized by open norms for knowledge trading, and firms headquartered in other U.S. states. The study sheds new light on the strategic actions firms use to prevent rivals from capturing value from their investments in human capital and research and development. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.