Copyright (c) 2008 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui Recent documents in Kwanghui Lim en-us Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:45:30 PST 3600 http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/14 http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/14 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:36:32 PDT Research qns: What's the effect of a firm's prior competence in old technology on its innovation capability in new technology? Under what conditions would such effects be enhanced or reduced? Preview of results: We find that competence in old technology has a negative effect on patenting in new technological fields. Interdependence between old and new fields offsets this result, but not interdependence between complementary and new technology. Wenyue Zhuang Knowledge Flows Technology Strategy http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/13 http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/13 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:20:12 PDT This case concerns a dispute between a US inventor and a Canadian technology company over patent infringement. The technology in question is an essential part of the BlackBerry communications device and the innovation is the wireless receipt of e-mail. The resulting legal battle threatened to shut down the BlackBerry system leaving millions of users, including essential government employees in the US and elsewhere, without their main communications tool. The inventor sought compensation for infringement through a company that operated solely to manage intellectual property. The case raises important issues in the strategic management of intellectual property. Kwanghui Lim Managing Intellectual Property http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/12 http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/12 Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:37:20 PDT I present an analysis of the Australian National Innovation Review (2008). Follow the link to the original on the Center for Ideas and the Economy website. The original PDF contains formatting that is lost in the online version.Background:In September, 2008, the Australian Government released a report, venturousaustralia, containing a comprehensive review of the national innovation system ("The Review"). It was assembled by Dr Terry Cutler along with an 11-member expert panel, and also incorporates suggestions from over 600 public submissions. It calls for urgent action because over the past decade, Australia has fallen behind its peer countries to a dramatic degree in terms of its investments in education and R&D (Nelson, 1983). This is a source of concern because it is unclear how long more the boom in natural resources will continue to fuel the economy; innovation is therefore seen as an important source of future growth. Kwanghui Lim Knowledge Flows Managing Intellectual Property Managing Scientists and Engineers http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/11 http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/11 Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:38:57 PDT This thesis comprises three essays on the relationships among basic research, applied research, and innovation. Earlier research emphasized that absorbing external knowledge requires effort and investment (Cohen and Levinthal, 1989; 1990). This thesis explores various mechanisms through which absorptive capacity is developed, including a firm's R&D, its connectedness to the external scientific community, the provision of a science-oriented research environment, and investment in basic research. The chief contribution of this dissertation is to document the many ways in which firms develop absorptive capacity, and how absorptive capacity varies across industry, stage of technology development, and scientific area.The first essay explores how firms develop different kinds of absorptive capacity. A firm's absorptive capacity depends upon internal R&D and its connectedness to universities, other firms and R&D consortia. R&D is effective for absorbing disciplinary knowledge; alternative mechanisms are useful for domain-specific knowledge. A science-oriented research environment is not necessary, as long as the firm remains connected through other means. To illustrate, I trace knowledge spillovers of copper interconnect technology for semiconductors.The second essay examines the concentration of basic and applied research relative to innovation. In the semiconductor industry, basic research is surprisingly concentrated relative to innovation. Since spillovers are prevalent in this industry, I conclude that many semiconductor firms capture spillovers without performing much basic research. In the pharmaceutical industry, basic research and innovation have similar concentrations. In both industries, applied research is not concentrated relative to innovation.The third essay examines researchers at five firms. Given two researchers with the same number of publications at IBM, AT&T, or Intel, the one who publishes a higher fraction of her papers in basic research journals is less likely to patent. These researchers face a tradeoff between participating in basic and applied research (Allen, 1977). The opposite holds at Merck and DuPont, where researchers who publish a higher fraction of papers in basic scientific journals obtain more patents. Thus, basic research has a positive impact on pharmaceutical patents (Gambardella, 1992; Cockburn and Henderson, 1998). Within Dupont and Merck, patenting is most closely associated with publications in basic chemistry, and with pharmaceutical R&D.Thesis Committee: Scott Stern (Chair) Assistant Professor Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, MIT Rebecca Henderson Eastman Kodak LFM Professor of Management Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, MIT Eric von Hippel Professor, Management of Innovation Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, MIT Kwanghui Lim Knowledge Flows Technology Strategy http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/10 http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/10 Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:24:29 PDT We propose an extension of the Gans-Stern (2003) framework that includes entry by existing firms. An incumbent firm possessing complementary assets and strong appropriability is in a formidable position (Teece, 1986). However, a de alio entrant can leverage complementary assets to enter along a new technological trajectory, and then develop appropriability. We illustrate how several mobile telecommunications firms (Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung) pursued this strategy to catch up with the market leader (Motorola). We also identify several shortcomings in Motorola's approach: it was too inward-looking in developing technologies, but ironically not inward-looking enough in exploiting its most valuable patents. Zi-lin Wong Knowledge Flows Managing Intellectual Property Technology Strategy http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/9 http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/9 Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:07:07 PDT We show how social ties and contractual factors shape the relationship between entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. While direct ties result in the VC offering more advice to the entrepreneur, indirect ties result in greater levels of disagreement between VC and entrepreneur. We also find that contractual favorableness is associated with more advice and less disagreement, but that contractual flexibility is surprisingly not significant. The results vary by area of advice and disagreement. Our results suggest that scholars and practitioners must integrate contractual and social network perspectives to better understand the VC-entrepreneur relationship. Kwanghui Lim Knowledge Flows Managing Intellectual Property Managing Scientists and Engineers http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/8 http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/8 Tue, 16 Oct 2007 23:51:10 PDT Pek-hooi Soh Knowledge Flows Managing Intellectual Property http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/7 http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/7 Tue, 16 Oct 2007 23:29:49 PDT While research has shown that knowledge spillovers are geographically localized, the globalization of R&D is making international knowledge diffusion increasingly important. We propose that the propensity and speed with which technological knowledge diffuses across national borders is influenced by signals and cues during the search for new knowledge. In the context of the global information storage technology, we show that patented knowledge with high technological impact has higher propensity and speed of international diffusion than low impact knowledge. Moreover, an organization's technological strength increases the likelihood and speed of international citation of its innovations, while internal appropriation efforts reduce diffusion. Wenyue Zhuang Knowledge Flows Managing Intellectual Property Managing Scientists and Engineers http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/6 http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/6 Tue, 16 Oct 2007 23:14:16 PDT We explore the technological evolution of three microprocessor firms between 1976 and 2004. We trace how two initially small entrants (Intel and AMD) competed against a larger and more established incumbent (IBM). We show that changes in inter-firm relationships (as reflected by competitive and cooperative events) affect patenting strategies. Periods of increased competition correspond to greater patenting within patent classes in which the firms compete head-on. Periods of cooperation are surprisingly not always accompanied by increased patenting in complementary upstream and downstream areas. Despite changes in competitive regime, Intel and AMD exhibit a persistent dependence upon IBM for technology. Our study shows that small firms can compete against a large incumbent in the product market while being dependent upon external sources for knowledge. We also suggest ways in which incumbent firms operating in such environments (e.g., IBM) might engage with these entrants through co-opetition and open innovation. Kwanghui Lim Knowledge Flows Managing Intellectual Property Technology Strategy http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/5 http://works.bepress.com/kwanghui/5 Tue, 16 Oct 2007 23:10:02 PDT We empirically examine the antecedents and innovation consequences of organizational knowledge brokering capability, the ability to effectively apply knowledge from one technical domain to innovate in another. We do so by tracking all the start-up biotechnology firms founded to commercialize the then-emergent recombinant DNA technology. Building on prior research in this area, we extend the knowledge brokering concept by examining how firms' interaction with their external environment helps bolster their heterogeneous knowledge brokering capacity, which in turn is associated with uneven ex-post innovation performance. Our results suggest that (a) knowledge brokering capability is achieved by striking equity strategic alliances and by hiring technical personnel who had previously patented in areas different than the firm's areas of expertise; (b) knowledge brokering has an inverted U-shaped relationship with innovative performance; and (c) there are important conceptual and empirical reasons to consider a variety of modes of knowledge brokering (rather than a monolithic conceptualization). Overall, the results suggest that knowledge brokering can be an important organizational capability. David Hsu Knowledge Flows Managing Intellectual Property Managing Scientists and Engineers Technology Strategy