The organizational evolution of innovative activity in the US semiconductor industry: Technological specialization and diversification

This article analyzes the organizational evolution of innovative activity in the contemporary high-tech industry. It has been argued that by showing illuminating examples and proposing theoretical explanations, the innovation process has been fragmented and distributed among several organizations. In other words, ‘division of innovative labor’ emerges. However, one of the problems of this argument lies in its lack of systematic empirical analysis. Using the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent database, this article analyzes the organization of innovative activity in the US semiconductor industry. It is shown that ‘technological specialization’ has not occurred in this industry as a whole. In addition, it is also shown that there are two distinct modes of development of technology, namely, ‘specialized development of technology’ and ‘diversified development of technology’, in which the share of the latter has been steadily increasing. These results imply that contrary to the earlier conventional arguments, division of labor is not a common phenomenon in the production of technological knowledge.     

The semiconductor silicon industry roadmap: Epochs driven by the dynamics between disruptive technologies and core competencies

The resource-based perspective has done much to identify idiosyncratic firm attributes that may be a principal source of competitive advantages. Unfortunately, there has been little systematic industry evidence to support the strategic importance of core competence, nor has there been much work on the temporal or cumulative nature of core capabilities within an industrial setting. Further, little or no research has been performed demonstrating how the advent of technological discontinuities or disruptive technologies plays a part in creating epochs in technology competency development and the roadmap of an industry. In this study, we analyze the evolutionary and cumulative nature of core capabilities and their interactions with technological discontinuities from a market-driven perspective. We have studied the evolution of 167 firms through the 50-year history of the semiconductor silicon industry. Over time, there were several structural shifts in the necessary competencies through the advent of disruptive technologies. In the last 30 years, however, the change in the required competencies has been more cumulative in nature. We summarize this in a roadmap detailing the epochs in the semiconductor silicon industry.     

Utilizing patent analysis to explore the cooperative competition relationship of the two LED companies: Nichia and Osram

This study used patent analysis to explore the co-opetition behavior between the two light emitting diode (LED) manufactures, Nichia and Osram, from the two critical technological fields in the LED industry: LED components and phosphor. The results of patent analysis indicated that Nichia had advantages in the field of LED components, while Osram had advantages in the field of phosphor. Therefore, there existed cooperation opportunities for the two opponents in the LED industry, because their technological capabilities were partially complementary. Therefore, Nichia and Osram were willing to make a compromise to solve the patent litigations between them and further agreed to offer cross-licensing of patents for each other. Their strategic interaction was changed from full competition to co-opetition which is win-win for them. This study demonstrates that patent analysis is a useful tool for R&D management and technical analysis, and the results of this study can provide a valuable reference for managers in formulating patent portfolio.     

专利文献价值评价模型构建及实证分析

利用层次分析法定性与定量相结合的决策思想,对专利文献计量分析中专利文献价值评价进行了确定与量化。遴选设计评价指标,构建指标体系,确定指标权重,搭建评价模型,并以C市生物医药行业专利文献数据为样本进行了实证分析,希望为专利文献计量中核心专利文献的定位提供具有较强操作性的量化手段,进而为专利价值判断乃至技术评价提供方法支持。     

电力行业专利标准化研究

随着科学技术的迅速发展和经济全球化的不断深入,标准化水平已成为企业核心竞争力的基本要素。其中专利技术的标准化又使得技术标准的强势与专利权的优势相结合,使得知识产权权利人的市场优势倍增。"得标准者得市场",专利技术标准化已成为国际竞争中新的游戏规则,更是西方大国在国际贸易中的战略手段之一。目前,国外企业利用"技术专利化、专利标准化、标准国际化"的竞争路线取得了较大的技术和市场优势。而尚处于专利标准化起步阶段的我国企业却面临着极大挑战,尤其在技术密集型的电力行业,各个主要电力企业正在积极推进"走出去"战略,其面临来自国外企业专利标准的挑战更大。因此,本文首先分析了我国企业面临的挑战及外国企业实施专利标准化战略的成功经验,并结合电力行业的特点,提出专利标准化建设建议,构建电力行业专利标准化战略。     

我国综合配套改革实验区中药企业核心专利技术发展研究

在深入学习建设国家综合配套改革实验区的目的、意义的基础上,结合我国中药领域企业近20年来核心专利技术的分析,重点研究了综合配套改革实验区中药核心技术分布现状以及技术研发和科技创新发展程度,并对各个实验区中药企业专利技术进行了对比研究。目的在于发现不同地区中药领域企业技术发展水平以及各个实验区中药技术产业优势,为各实验区中药产业发展方向的选择以及各实验区因地制宜发展不同侧重领域的中药技术提供指导和参考。     

Booming or emerging? China's technological capability and international collaboration in patent activities

China's economy and technology have experienced astounding growth in the last two decades. The OECD 2005 reports show that China has overtaken the USA to become the world's largest exporter of information and communications technology goods. In order to assess the progress China has made in technology development, this study examines the inventive activities in China and the pattern of international collaborations between China and other major industrialized countries or regions. This study analyzes the patent data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) focusing on joint patent application between China and the eight most inventive OECD countries and two Asian economic entities (South Korea and Taiwan). The results reveal increasing collaborations in inventive activities between China and other major inventive countries over the past decade, and suggest that China's technology capability may have begun to boom along with its fast economic growth.     

Factor analysis and structural equation model for patent analysis: a case study of Apple’s technology

In this study, we analyse patent data for technology analysis (TA) because patents are rich in information on developed technology. The results of TA can be used to perform more efficient research and development (R&D) planning. Most companies are trying to develop new and innovative technologies to improve their competitive positions. Research involving TA has been introduced in a variety of fields. Most of the published research analysed original variables related to a target technology. However, it is necessary to analyse the latent variables as well as the original variables included in the technology to achieve a better TA model. Therefore, we propose a factor analysis and a structural equation model for patent analysis. In addition, we use Apple’s patents to determine the target technology. In our case study, we analyse Apple’s technologies by latent variables. Our case study shows how the proposed model is applied to Apple’s R&D planning.     

The relationship between a firm's patent quality and its market value — The case of US pharmaceutical industry

This study examined the relationships between corporate market value and four patent quality indicators - relative patent position (RPP), revealed technology advantage (RTA), Herfindahl-Hirschman Index of patents (HHI of patents), and patent citations - in the US pharmaceutical industry. The results showed that RPP and patent citations were positively associated with corporate market value, but HHI of patents was negatively associated with it, while RTA was not significantly related to it. Thus, if pharmaceutical companies want to enhance their market value, they should increase their leading positions in their most important technological fields, cultivate more diversity of technological capabilities, and raise innovative value of their patents. In addition, this study found that market value of pharmaceutical companies with high patent counts was higher than that of pharmaceutical companies with low patent counts, and suggested that pharmaceutical companies with low patent counts should increase RPP in their most technological fields, decrease HHI of patents, or raise patent citations to further enhance their market value. Furthermore, this study developed a classification for the pharmaceutical companies to divide them into four types, and provided some suggestions to them.     

基于客户价值导向的高校专利运营研究

高校专利技术管理的快速发展和不断创新要求从一个全新的视角对其有了更系统的了解.目前对高校专利的研究主要集中在专利成果转化方面,而社会的市场化要求我们必须把高校作为一个运营主体去研究高校在市场中面对特殊的客户如何运营专利,从而提高专利的转化实施率.本文首先对国内外学者的研究作了梳理,总结了研究成果及不足;接着分析了我国高校专利转化的现状及问题,在充分分析客户价值的基础上构建了高校专利运营模式;最后,在此基础上对基于客户价值的高校专利运营进行了初步探讨.     

Trajectory patterns of technology fusion: Trend analysis and taxonomical grouping in nanobiotechnology

The potential of technology fusion has been advanced as a promising breakthrough function to create hybrid technologies. Despite its importance, however, the evolutionary path of technology fusion is yet unexplored. In this paper, by employing the case of nanobiotechnology, we attempt to deepen understanding of the development trajectories of technology fusion in three important aspects. The first aspect is the development of an index that measures the degree of fusion of cross-disciplinary technology at the meso level. The second aspect is to classify the trajectory patterns of technology fusion in terms of fusion degree. We analyze fusion mechanism by utilizing citation network analysis. The third aspect is to visualize the relationship between patents and their backward and forward patent citations, at the patent class level, with their direction on a citation map. This facilitates understanding of the overview as well as fusion patterns. The changes in fusion patterns are analyzed using time series comparisons. An empirical analysis in the nanobiotechnology field shows no positive relationship between the inflow and outflow degree of fusion. We also observe changes in the trajectory patterns of fusion over time. Analysis demonstrates that each fusion pattern has evolved in such a way that technologies focus more on their niche technologies, and that those technologies which cannot incorporate the technology fusion have been eliminated during the development process.     

A New Comprehensive Patent Analysis Approach for New Product Design in Mechanical Engineering

This study proposes a five-phase procedure for a new product design process. Based on the concept of “focus first, then extend”, this study presents a new approach called the New Comprehensive Patent Analysis model (NCPA) which combines the patent family with patent citation analysis in a new product design process. The procedure includes the following features: (1) integrating the perspective of management-based and technology-based design for patent searching, (2) building a patent family based on industry basic patents, (3) filtering the patent family to obtain key patents, (4) utilizing patent citations to gain necessary technology information in product development design, and (5) combining TRIZ theory to construct patent technology performance maps, and to discover product niches. This NCPA model is empirically applied in a real case. The results show that the NCPA improves the overall efficiency of new product designs, but also involves higher cost than other approaches.     

International diffusion of embodied and disembodied technology: A network analysis approach

This study proposes a quantitative method for investigating the structure of international technology diffusion. By using network analysis, this study defines the structural configuration of each country within the international diffusion network by measuring its degree, closeness, and betweenness centralities. In addition, this study distinguishes between embodied technology diffusion, measured by multilateral trade, and disembodied technology diffusion, measured by patent citations, in individual countries. This study empirically tests a sample data set of international technology diffusion taken from 48 countries. The empirical results show that the structural configuration of countries exhibits similar patterns in both embodied and disembodied diffusion networks. Significant global stratification patterns exist in the capability of national international technology exportation and brokerage advantages. Moreover, this study distinguishes four blocks of countries that play different roles in international technology diffusion: the leading countries provide a source of technological knowledge; an intermediate group diffuses the knowledge acquired from the source; a third group is in the process of initiating the export of technological knowledge; and a final group of countries absorbs technological knowledge without reciprocal exportation. Finally, this study identifies two types of catch-up strategies that newly industrialized or developing countries can use to move up the international technology stratification.     

对企业核心竞争力的再认识

核心竞争力是企业竞争力的基础。一个没有核心竞争力的企业,也就不存在真实的竞争力。本文从竞争要素和竞争优势分析入手,对核心竞争力的有关观点进行了述评,然后对核心竞争力的内涵进行了再认识,并分析了核心竞争力的基本识别特征,探讨了核心竞争力与竞争优势间的传导、作用机制。笔者认为,企业竞争优势的来源一般有四个途径,即人无我有的专有资源、适当的生产经营规模、高超的竞争能力和棋高一着的竞争行动;核心竞争力是存在于企业内部的、能提供具有特异性或成本优势的关键性产品或服务的能力,或者能为企业带来持续竞争优势的能力组合;核心竞争力具有价值性、拓展性、独特性、动态性和根本性特征;从资源开始,到核心竞争力,再到竞争力,最后到竞争优势,反映着核心竞争力与竞争优势间的传导过程,也反映着企业的价值形成及其实现过程。     

全球代工体系下的产业升级研究——基于本土市场规模的视角

全球“代工困境”要求本土企业超越代工模式,实现产业升级。在这个过程中,日益扩张的本土市场规模既为代工企业避免“市场隔层陷阱”,获取市场能力提供了可能,也为企业技术创新提供了规模效应诱因,并诱导OBM国际品牌厂商与代工企业间的“参与式合作”,从而为本土产业升级提供了新的比较优势。因此,全球代工体系内部产业升级的关键是如何利用本土市场规模的比较优势,诱导代工企业发展技术能力,由专业生产代工过渡到设计、生产代工,并逐步实现自创品牌或发展跨产业代工。     

广西汽车产业技术创新能力分析——基于专利信息分析的视角

本文从专利信息分析的角度出发,对广西汽车产业技术创新能力进行了剖析,揭示了广西汽车产业存在专利拥有量少、专利价值低、核心专利少且分散、优势技术地位不牢、技术创新能力薄弱等问题。针对这些问题,并结合广西的实际情况,提出了提升广西汽车产业技术创新能力的若干对策。     

Technology clustering based on evolutionary patterns: The case of information and communications technologies

Technology trend analysis anticipates the direction and rate of technology changes, and thus supports strategic decision-making for innovation. As technological convergence and diversification are regarded as emerging trends, it is important to compare the growth patterns of various technologies in a particular industry to help understand the industry characteristics and analyse the technology innovation process. However, despite the potential value of this approach, conventional approaches have focused on individual technologies and paid little attention to synthesising and comparing multiple technologies. We therefore propose a new approach for clustering technologies based on their growth patterns. After technologies with similar patterns are identified, the underlying factors that lead to the patterns can be analysed. For that purpose, we analysed patent data using a Hidden Markov model, followed by clustering analysis, and tested the validity of the proposed approach by applying it to the ICT industry. Our approach provides insights into the basic nature of technologies in an industry, and facilitates the analysis and forecasting of their evolution.     

关于提升江苏省汽车产业创新能力的研究

汽车产业作为江苏省的四大支柱产业之一,在其国民经济和社会发展中发挥着重要的作用。在分析江苏省汽车产业及其创新发展现状的基础上,增强自主创新能力应作为江苏省汽车产业发展的战略基点和重要举措。故在分析汽车产业自主创新存在问题后,针对提高汽车产业创新能力,提出几点对策建议,以为江苏省汽车产业创新能力的提升提供借鉴。     

A methodology to position nations’ efforts in a technology domain with a patent network analysis: case of the electric vehicle domain

When a nation is making strategies in a technology domain, it makes sense to know where the nation is currently in the domain and to know where other nations are as well. This paper presents a method to position nations’ efforts in a technology domain. The method builds a network of International Patent Classifications (IPCs) based on their co-occurrence in patent applications and applies an index called the Revealed Patent Application Advantage (RPAA), which reflects where nations’ efforts have been spent in a technology domain denoted as the IPC network. We applied the proposed method to position the efforts that have been spent in the electric vehicle (EV) technology domain by mainland China, Germany, Japan, and the United States.