As the technology market becomes competitive and patents are used as a weapon of the competition, it is important to manage patents strategically from the beginning of R&D to launching a product in the market. Although patents are recognized as important in the process of technology development, studies on patents are limited to the analysis of qualititive data like application numbers or registration numbers. Moreover, there is very little on definition of patent-related activities. This study focuses on the 'patent-related activities' in the process of technology development.
The main objectives of this study are as follows:
1) What are the patent-related activities done prominently in the process of technology develpoment?
2) What are the influencing factors on the patent-related activities in the process of technology develpoment?
3) Are technological and economic performances different due to patent-related activities in the process of technology develpoment?
This study defines 18 patent-related activities and classifies them into four categories. These are supporting activities of technology development, activities of privatizing patent, activities of managing infringement and basic activities. This study also considers industry, firm size, technology life cycle and degree of market competition as contingency variables.
An empirical study was undertaken to test preliminary hypotheses and data were collected from 31 patent teams in the private research institutes. Correlation analyses and ANOVA were conducted to test preliminary hypotheses, and Fisher's Z values were calculated for further analyses.
The major findings of this study are as follows:
1) Industry and firm size are major while technology life cycle and degree of market competition are minor influencing factors on the patent-related activities.
2) Supporting activities of technology development, activities of privatizing patent and activities of managing infringement are correlated with the economic performance when organization is the unit of analysis. Activities of privatizing patent are correlated with the technological performance when project is the unit of analysis.
3) Overall patent-related activities are more correlated with the technological and economic performance in mechanical industry than any other industry. Supporting activities of the technology development are more correlated with economic performance in electronics industry than chemical industry. Activities of privatizing patent are more correlated with the technological performance in chemical industry than electronics industry.
Finally, some managerial implications and limitations of this are described and future research directions are suggested.
