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Bosworth, Derek --- "Intellectual Property and Company Performance: Company Case Study Evidence" [2006] ELECD 353; in Bosworth, Derek; Webster, Elizabeth (eds), "The Management of Intellectual Property" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006)

Book Title: The Management of Intellectual Property

Editor(s): Bosworth, Derek; Webster, Elizabeth

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845421120

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Intellectual Property and Company Performance: Company Case Study Evidence

Author(s): Bosworth, Derek

Number of pages: 21

Extract:

10. Intellectual property and company
performance: company case study
evidence
Derek Bosworth

1 INTRODUCTION

It is generally recognized that IP only gives competitive advantage if it is
not also used by rivals. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, most
of which, perhaps with the exception of speed to market, involve IPRs.1
These IPRs take many forms: patent protection for inventions, trademark
(TM) protection for brands, trade secrets for in-house knowledge enabling
faster speed to market, and so on. Essentially, their aim is to protect the
discretionary investments of individuals and companies in various creative
activities (that is, R&D, marketing, design, composition, and so on), enabling
them to recoup their investment expenditures. It is argued that the absence
of IPRs would reduce if not eliminate the incentives for creative activity, for
example, reducing the flow of inventions, and thereby adversely affecting
the dynamic performance of companies.
This chapter takes the IPR system as it currently stands and explores how
IPRs can be used by companies to improve their dynamic performance.
It illustrates the main points using examples taken from a large number
of individual case studies. The case study literature is quite distinct from
the econometric estimates. Not only do the two approaches use different
methods and data (for example, individual, often in-depth interviews versus
large-scale data interrogated using econometric methods), they also have
very different foci. The case study evidence, taken in the round, is able to
offer a much broader perspective, ...