Innovation Flashcards
Appropriability
The degree to which a firm is able to capture the rents from its innovation
- usually determined by how quickly competitors can imitate the innovation
- both a function of the nature of the technology and the strength of the mechanisms to protect it
Tacit Knowledge
knowledge that cannot be readily codified or transferred in written form
- difficult to duplicate
Socially Complex Knowledge
knowledge that arises from the interaction of multiple individuals
- difficult to duplicate
Patent
- protects an invention
- a property right protecting a process, machine, manufactured item (or design) or variety of plant
- must be useful, novel, not be obvious
- software is now patentable (e.g. 1-click by Amazon)
Copyright
- protects an original artistic or literary work
- property right protecting works of authorship
Trademark
- protects words or symbols intended to distinguish the source of a good (e.g. Nike swoosh)
- an indicator used to distinguish the source of a good
- also includes service marks - distinguishes the provider of the service versus the product
- can be perceived through any of the five senses
- does not require registration but doing so offers advantages (e.g. the ability to sue)
- takes 10-16 months
- lasts forever but registration must be renewed
Three Types of Patents
- Utility - new useful process, machine or manufactured item (most popular)
- Design - ornamental design for a manufactured item
- Plant
Applying for a Patent
inventor must:
- explain how to make and use the item
- make claims about what it does that makes it new
- provide drawings
- Reviewed by patent examiner
- Able to be challenged
- entire process can take 2-5 years
- costs money - determined by fee schedule
- each country has its own laws and a patent in one doesn’t guarantee protection in another
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
international property treaty adhered to by 174 countries as of Dec. 2011
- someone in one of the countries may patent an invention and have it protected in the other countries
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)
treaty that facilitates the application for the patent in multiple countries
- applying buys the inventor the option to apply to multiple nations later without committing the inventor to expense those of multiple applications
- can simultaneously apply on single date for many and delay the fees
- makes applications more uniform
Copyright
- protects an original artistic or literary work
- property right protecting works of authorship
- protected by legitimate use of the work and no need to be registered
- others can use the material for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, research, etc.
- work that’s not fixed in tangible form cannot be protected (e.g. choreographed dance)
- lasts authors life plus 70 years (before 1978, was only 28 years total)
World Intellectual Property Organization
administers a system of international registration of marks and the Madrid protocol
- as of April 2012, there were 85 countries in the Madrid Union
- can register and be protected under them all
Berne Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Property
Berne Convention - specifies minimum level of copyright protection for all member countries
Trade Secret
information about a company that is held private (e.g. marketing strategy, manufacturing process, etc.)
only a trade secret if:
1. must not be generally known or readily ascertainable through legitimate means
2. the information must have economic importance that is contingent upon its secrecy
3. reasonable measures must be taken to attempt to protect it
Open Source Software
software whose code is made freely available to other for use, augmentation and resale (aka liberal diffusion)
- improves the technology’s chance of rising to a position of dominant design
- but relinquishes the chance of monopoly over the design and the “standard” might split into many non-standard designs
Factors in Deciding Whether to Protect Innovation (versus diffusion) - 5 Factors
- Production & Marketing Capabilities and Capital - if firm unable to produce or market technology, protecting might hinder adoption
- Industry Opposition against Sole-Source Technology - if an industry is going to face opposition from being the sole technology, they should consider being more open
- Resources for Internal Development - if a firm doesn’t have sufficient resources to invest in technology’s functionality, might consider being more open
- Control over Fragmentation - for technologies in which standardization and compatibility are important, maintaining the integrity of the core product is essential and being open may compromise that
- Incentives for Architectural Control - is particularly valuable if the firm is a significant producer of complements. Maintaining control reaps more benefits.
Wholly Proprietary Systems versus Wholly Open Systems
Wholly Proprietary = goods based on technology that is owned and vigorously protected through patents, copyrights, secrecy and other mechanisms (may be legally produced and augmented only by their developers). Other firms unable to produce components so though the company has sole right, might not be able to distribute and be adopted as readily.
Wholly Open = goods based on technology that is not protected and that is freely available for production or augmentation by other producers. Usually quickly commoditized but unable to reap benefits as much for original producers.
The above are two ends of the spectrum and goods can be in the middle (limited licensing, moderate licensing, liberal licensing)
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)
firms that assemble goods using components made by other manufacturers. also called Value-Added Resellers (VARs)
e.g. software applications developers may produce and distribute value-added applications for use with Windows as long as the applications do not affect the functionality of the Windows program itself
Advantages of Protection
- Protection allows control and reaps financial benefits
- A firm may be willing to lose money in the short term to promote it as a standard (but is highly risky because the long-term distribution of the payoffs is uncertain)
- Gives the firm Architectural Control
Architectural Control
the ability of a firm (or group of firms) to determine the structure, operation, compatibility and development of the technology (i.e. direct the future development path of the technology)
- through selective compatibility, it can influence which other firms do well and which do not and it can ensure that it has a number of different avenues from which to profit from the platform
- Windows is the embodiment of this strategy
Advantages of Diffusion
- main advantage is open technologies may accrue more rapid adoptions, stimulate growth or product and complimentary goods via lower prices and more producers, etc.
- also allows external development, collective development efforts by those outside the firm (risk are lack of coordination, diverse objectives, redundancy,
Advantages of Large Firms re: Innovation
- Capital Markets are imperfect and large firms are better able to obtain financing for R&D projects
- Firms with larger sales volumes over which to spread fixed costs of R&D would experience higher returns
- Large firms have better developed complementary activities (e.g. marketing)
- Large firms tend to have greater global reach to obtain information or other resources
- Scale and learning effects
- Can take on riskier projects
Disadvantages of Large Firms re: Innovation
- As firms grow, R&D efficiency might decrease because of loss of managerial control (i.e. can’t effectively monitor and motivate employees)
- As firm grows, increasingly difficult for individual scientists or engineers to appropriate the returns of their efforts (i.e. incentives diminish and the effectiveness of its governance system may diminish)
- Size can make a firm less nimble and responsive to change (i.e. more bureaucracy and layers of authority hindering progress)
- High numbers of employees, large fixed-asset bases, etc. can also be sources of inertia, making it difficult to change course (e.g. Icarus Paradox)
- Small firms spend R&D money more carefully and efficiently (larger number of patents per $)
Disaggregated
When something is separated into its constituent parts.
Large firms are often disaggregated into networks of smaller, more specialized divisions or independent firms to avoid the disadvantages of large firm in terms of innovation
Formalization
the degree to which the firm utilizes rules, procedures, and written documentation to structure the behavior of individuals or groups within the organization.
Formalization can replace to some degree managerial oversight to help large companies run more smoothly with fewer managers.
High degrees might make a firm rigid.
Standardization
the degree to which activities are performed in a unified manner
Standardization ensures quality levels are met and customers and suppliers are responded to consistently and equitably.
High degrees might make a firm rigid and stifle innovation.
Centralization and Decentralization
Centralization = degree to which decision-making authority is kept at top levels of the firm
Decentralization = degree to which decision-making authority is pushed down to lower levels of the firm
Decentralization re: R and D
Decentralizing R and D activities to the divisions of the firm enables those divisions to develop new products or processes that closely meet their particular division’s needs
There is risk of reinventing the wheel with decentralized R and D and you might miss out on learning effects and economies of scale
The degree varies by type of firm and industry e.g. research-intensive firms more decentralized, consumer product firms are decentralized tailoring products to certain markets while electronics centralize
Mechanistic Structure
an organization structure characterized by a high degree of formalization and standardization, causing operations to be almost automatic or mechanical
- associated with greater operational efficiency particularly in large-volume settings (i.e. a well-oiled machine)
- may be unsuitable for fostering innovation
Organic Structures
an organization structure characterized by a low degree of formalization and standardization. Employees may not have well-defined job responsibilities and operations may be characterized by a high degree of variation
- better for innovation and dynamic environments despite possible detriment to efficiency
Size versus Structure
Large firms make greater use of formalization and standardization in place of management oversight. To overcome rigidity by decentralizing making divisions able to act like small companies - able to access the large firm’s resources but able to benefit from a smaller organization’s flexibility.
Ambidextrous Organization
ability of an organization to behave almost as two different kinds of companies at once. Different divisions of the firm may have different structures and control systems, enabling them to have different cultures and patterns of operations
- both short-term efficiency and long-term innovation
- some divisions might need more organic while others need more mechanic (e.g. USA Today’s online division versus their print division)
- firms may alternate between different structures over time
Skunk Works
new product development teams that operate nearly autonomously from the parent organization, with considerable decentralization of authority and little bureaucracy
- separating teams from the demands of the rest of the organization permits them to explore new alternatives