Kuei-Kuei Lai

CO-OPETITION STRATEGY FROM THE PATENT ANALYSIS PERSPECTIVE: THE CASE OF THE STENT MARKET

Information about technological innovation and its evolutionary path can be explored by patent analysis. Therefore, for those firms which are dependant on large investments and a high business performance, such as stent manufacturers, integrating patent information with business strategy is the critical issue. The competition between stent manufactures is intensifying because of increasing global volume demand and improving technological performance. From a resource-based view, adopting a co-opetition strategy is essential for firms to keep sustainable competitive advantage. Over the last decade, patent rights have become a major tool of the co-opetition strategy. This study analyzes patent data from the USPTO during 1984 to 2005 and constructs patent information indicators to verify the process of technology evolution. On these grounds, we can understand the relative technological position and technological strength of the major manufacturers in this industry and also inspect their changes of position and business scope to examine the relationship between each firms technology strategy and business strategy.

Technological position in alliances network

The purpose of this research was to examine the interactions between the focal firm (FF) and its technological alliance, and to enquire into the technological alliance network in shaping the firm position from innovative dynamics environment. 2-Mode network analysis was employed to explore the question of how technological position emerged from alliance interaction. Specifically, we looked at the network structure of the sample by examining the interactions of technological alliance. Our empirical data were from the ‘Strategic Alliance Database’ established by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan. We identified technological position of firms from the 2-mode network analysis to resolve the highlighted question. Some results that we found were as follows: (1) The alliance network of IT technology approximated an ideal core/periphery structure. (2) The network structure apparently demonstrated that FF with a higher centrality has better opportunity to locate in the central position of FFs or in the core position in the technological network. (3) Alliance in core with a dense structure can better facilitate the utilisation of existing knowledge in refinement and extension of existing technologies. Alliance in the periphery with a non-dense structure is in a favourable position for matchmaking of experimentation and to serve as a bridge to introduce novel technologies.

Patent portfolios and knowledge flow(s) of photovoltaic companies

ABSTRACT The current trend towards green energy is encouraging manufacturers to invest in photovoltaic technologies. In order to guarantee R&D and optimal operational performance, operators should be able to identify the technological advantages of their competitors for the conduct R&D and to ensure adequate technological knowledge intake. Therefore, from the perspective of patent portfolios and knowledge flow(s) of photovoltaic companies, this study adopted two approaches namely, patent counts and patent citations, to discuss the technical capability of R&D portfolios and the technological knowledge flow. Three patent indices were utilised for the integration of R&D portfolios which include: technology attractiveness, relative patent position, and revealed patent advantage. Technological knowledge flow allows construction of a patent citation network through backward citation of patents. Sources and movement directions of technological knowledge are measured by calculating the relative citation propensity. R&D portfolios and knowledge flow are complementary perspectives of each photovoltaic company.

Patent analysis of technology-performance by integrating patent family and patent citation

The value of mechanical engineering patents often lies in innovative graphic designs and detailed complementary context. Therefore, without having the contents of a patent thoroughly examined by experts, we cannot understand its true innovation value by using the current information analysis technology. Since, the process of qualitative research, on the other hand, is a complicated and time-consuming task, this paper proposes a Key Patent Analysis Process (KPAP). KPAP uses the “focusing first, and then finding the details” idea to prove the feasibility of this method by giving a specific case. Firstly, we propose using a patent family to effectively retrieve the key patents to meet the requirements of the innovation design; then we propose proceeding to the next step using a patent citation to broaden the search field to thoroughly comprehend the development in a specific technology field. Finally, we use TRIZ to create a technology performance map and technology development niche, and to effectively solve the possible engineering obstacles that may come to mind at the detail designing stage. The model suggested by this research can indeed promote the effectiveness of patent technology to extract useful patent intelligence; moreover, it improves the overall efficiency of new product designs.

The Isomorphic Development of Insurance

In insurance industry, difference companies come to share similar technological bases of process. They not only share the same financial knowledge, but also utilize similar actuarial techniques to design products and assess insurable risks. This paper proposed an approach to look at the phenomenon of isomorphism of technological development in insurance. The result of this research also found the technological isomorphism in insurance already occurs. The contribution of this paper is to introduce the social network analysis into patent citations to foresee the technological development.

A structured approach to explore technological competencies through R&D portfolio of photovoltaic companies by patent statistics

Abstract When the technological development of an enterprise is path dependent, core technological competencies will develop. In addition, core technological competencies promote technological development. Consequently, enterprises should always examine the advantages of their core technological competencies. Under dynamic competition, enterprises should monitor their own performance as well as their competitors at all times and consequently adjust their technological strategies. This study used two patent indices, Patent Share and Revealed Technological Advantage, to measure the internal core technological competencies of manufacturers. It also integrated four other indices namely: (1) Technology Attractiveness (Relative Growth Rate), (2) growth potential of technologies (Relative Development of Technology Growth Rate), (3) Relative Patent Position, and (4) Revealed Patent Advantages. These were used to analyze the external strengths and weaknesses of the research and development (R&D) portfolios of companies. These two analytical methods can effectively identify the internal core technological competencies and the external advantages of R&D portfolios of leading companies in the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry. This study also discussed the relationship between R&D portfolios and core technological competencies of leading solar photovoltaic companies and compared those with two core technological competencies with those that have a single core technological competence. The study results show that the R&D portfolios of companies engaged in a single, specific technology field have advantages. This study helps improve the quality of technological planning and decision-making of manufacturers, proposes a method of using core technological competencies to analyze the advantages of R&D portfolios, and helps solar PV manufacturers monitor their own core technological competencies as well as their competitors and partner companies.

A heuristic procedure to identify most valuable chain of patents in a given technology

We argue that patents under litigation have maximum value. We develop a heuristic procedure to determine how patents (associated with a given technology) under litigation form a network of patent family members and priority patents involved. Later we develop a simple algorithm to identify “critical” and “significant” chain in the above network. We argue that these “critical” and “significant” chains (in the above network so created) offer companies valuable information in deciding their patent portfolio strategies.

A holistic network approach to study the structure of technological network by the block modeling of social network analysis

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the technological structure of business methods in insurance. Concepts and techniques used in social network analysis are applied to a network of patents based on citation. By means of procedures drawing on the notion of structural equivalence, a set of blocks and positions of insurance business methods are delineated. This paper has focused its discussion on patent data of classification UPC705/4 to explore possible technological structure in insurance. The result of this research found that there are 4 clusters in the structure of technological network.

The Study of Taxonomy and Evolutional Trends of Relevant Literatures on Patent Analysis

Analysis of patent data is important tool for industrial research. Patent analysis has been used in many research fields and applied for rich topics in technology management. This study was explored the classification and research development of patent analysis literatures for 24 years (1980-2003) and applied by evolutional perspectives, and bibliometrics techniques. The research scope is focused on business and management level. There were some significant literatures retrieved from online electronic database and a citation database was built by their references. After that, the study was analyzed by multivariate methods to classify research taxonomy and literatures relative positions. The study was expected to understanding of current situation of patent analysis research. Additionally, the main purposes of this study were to synthesize core knowledge and research trends in research fields, to point out the major contributors and influential journals, to understand their positions, and to explore evolution life cycle. The research results are classified into five research fields, namely the sources of technology knowledge, patent applications and patent value, patent research and technology position, the indicators of technological and innovative activities, and interdisciplinary applications.

Research and Development Portfolio for the Payment FinTech Company - The Perspectives of Patent Statistics

The manufacturer of Payment FinTech invests in research and development. They absorb the technical knowledge of the competition collaborator, so as to build a combination with the technical skills. Therefore, identifying the technical advantages among competing companies for the research and development, accumulating the technical core competence, as well as maintaining the competitive advantages are the important business topics for the manufacturer of Payment FinTech. From the viewpoint of patent statistics, this study forms the patent data collection after retrieval and analyzes it by using three patent statistics of technical attraction, technical relative position and relative patent advantages, in order to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the research and development portfolio for the Payment FinTech Company in the industry.