IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jtecht/v44y2019i4d10.1007_s10961-017-9645-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Knowledge flows from business method software patents: influence of firms’ global social networks

Author

Listed:
  • Jiaming Jiang

    (Okayama University)

  • Rajeev K. Goel

    (Illinois State University
    Kiel Institute for the World Economy)

  • Xingyuan Zhang

    (Okayama University)

Abstract

Using patent citations as an indicator of knowledge flows, this paper examines the effects of firms’ global patent social networks on knowledge flows from business method software patents. Patent social networks are considered along several dimensions, including relative centrality, structural equivalence and brokerage roles. Identifying 19,385 software patents applications to the USPTO by 37 countries during 1995–2012, results show that firms positioned with a relative centrality or situated within the same structural equivalent cluster have more citations to their counterpart firms’ patents. Further, among the different brokerage roles, we find positive promotion to knowledge transfer when the citing and cited firms both serve the role of an itinerant as well as that of a gatekeeper/representative, while firms that act as gatekeeper/representative (alone) cite less patents from firms that do not enact this kind of a role. These unique insights provide a better understanding of channels of knowledge transmission and have implications for the pace of technological change.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiaming Jiang & Rajeev K. Goel & Xingyuan Zhang, 2019. "Knowledge flows from business method software patents: influence of firms’ global social networks," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 1070-1096, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:44:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s10961-017-9645-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10961-017-9645-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10961-017-9645-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10961-017-9645-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Holger Graf & Jens Kruger, 2011. "The Performance of Gatekeepers in Innovator Networks," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 69-88.
    2. Robert M. Hunt, 2010. "Business Method Patents And U.S. Financial Services," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 28(3), pages 322-352, July.
    3. Bronwyn H. Hall, 2007. "Patents and patent policy," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 568-587, Winter.
    4. Sternitzke, Christian & Bartkowski, Adam & Schramm, Reinhard, 2008. "Visualizing patent statistics by means of social network analysis tools," World Patent Information, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 115-131, June.
    5. Albert Link & Christopher Ruhm, 2013. "Fathers’ patenting behavior and the propensity of offspring to patent: an intergenerational analysis," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 332-340, June.
    6. James Bessen & Robert M. Hunt, 2007. "An Empirical Look at Software Patents," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 157-189, March.
    7. Hall, Bronwyn H. & MacGarvie, Megan, 2010. "The private value of software patents," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 994-1009, September.
    8. Nicholas Vonortas, 2013. "Social networks in R&D program evaluation," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 38(5), pages 577-606, October.
    9. Bronwyn Hall & Christian Helmers & Mark Rogers & Vania Sena, 2014. "The Choice between Formal and Informal Intellectual Property: A Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(2), pages 375-423, June.
    10. Stefan Wagner, 2008. "Business Method Patents In Europe And Their Strategic Use—Evidence From Franking Device Manufacturers," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 173-194.
    11. Megan MacGarvie, 2006. "Do Firms Learn from International Trade?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(1), pages 46-60, February.
    12. Giuditta Prato & Daniel Nepelski, 2014. "Global technological collaboration network: network analysis of international co-inventions," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 358-375, June.
    13. Josh Lerner, 2002. "150 Years of Patent Protection," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 221-225, May.
    14. Bronwyn H. Hall, 2009. "Business And Financial Method Patents, Innovation, And Policy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 56(4), pages 443-473, September.
    15. Rajeev K. Goel & James W. Saunoris & Xingyuan Zhang, 2016. "Intranational And International Knowledge Flows: Effects On The Formal And Informal Sectors," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 34(2), pages 297-311, April.
    16. Rajeev Goel & Michael Nelson, 2009. "Determinants of software piracy: economics, institutions, and technology," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 34(6), pages 637-658, December.
    17. Adam Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg, 1999. "International Knowledge Flows: Evidence From Patent Citations," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1-2), pages 105-136.
    18. Audretsch, David B. & Bozeman, Barry & Combs, Kathryn L. & Feldman, Maryann & Link, Albert N. & Siegel, Donald S. & Stephan, Paula, 2002. "The Economics of Science and Technology," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 155-203, April.
    19. Bronwyn H. Hall & Dietmar Harhoff, 2012. "Recent Research on the Economics of Patents," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 541-565, July.
    20. Bronwyn H. Hall & Grid Thoma & Salvatore Torrisi, 2009. "Financial Patenting in Europe," NBER Working Papers 14714, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Loet Leydesdorff & Liwen Vaughan, 2006. "Co‐occurrence matrices and their applications in information science: Extending ACA to the Web environment," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 57(12), pages 1616-1628, October.
    22. Furukawa, Yuichi, 2010. "Intellectual property protection and innovation: an inverted-U relationship," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 99-101, November.
    23. Claire Seaman & Ronald McQuaid & Mike Pearson, 2017. "Social networking in family businesses in a local economy," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 32(5), pages 451-466, August.
    24. Rajeev K. Goel & James W. Saunoris, 2017. "Dynamics Of Knowledge Spillovers From Patents To Entrepreneurship: Evidence Across Entrepreneurship Types," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(4), pages 700-715, October.
    25. Theodore Elsasser, 1977. "Patents impediment or expedient to technology transfer," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 33-44, September.
    26. Josh Lerner, 2010. "The Litigation of Financial Innovations," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(4), pages 807-831.
    27. Jorge A. Colazo, 2010. "Collaboration Structure And Performance In New Software Development: Findings From The Study Of Open Source Projects," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 14(05), pages 735-758.
    28. Yamamoto, Kazuhiro, 2003. "Agglomeration and growth with innovation in the intermediate goods sector," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 335-360, May.
    29. Maurseth, Per Botolf & Verspagen, Bart, 2002. " Knowledge Spillovers in Europe: A Patent Citations Analysis," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 104(4), pages 531-545, December.
    30. Krüger, Jens, 2011. "The Performance of Gatekeepers in Innovator Networks," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 63655, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    31. Bronwyn H. Hall, 2009. "Business And Financial Method Patents, Innovation, And Policy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 56(s1), pages 443-473, September.
    32. Bercovitz, Janet & Feldman, Maryann, 2011. "The mechanisms of collaboration in inventive teams: Composition, social networks, and geography," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 81-93, February.
    33. Per Botolf Maurseth & Bart Verspagen, 2002. "Knowledge Spillovers in Europe: A Patent Citations Analysis," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 104(4), pages 531-545, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bruno Brandão Fischer & Maxim Kotsemir & Dirk Meissner & Ekaterina Streltsova, 2020. "Patents for evidence-based decision-making and smart specialisation," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 1748-1774, December.
    2. Jiaming Jiang & Yu Zhao & Junshi Feng, 2022. "University–Industry Technology Transfer: Empirical Findings from Chinese Industrial Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-18, August.
    3. Jiaming Jiang & Rajeev K. Goel & Xingyuan Zhang, 2020. "IPR policies and determinants of membership in Standard Setting Organizations: a social network analysis," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 129-154, December.
    4. Xian Li & Dangzhi Zhao & Xiaojun Hu, 2020. "Gatekeepers in knowledge transfer between science and technology: an exploratory study in the area of gene editing," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(2), pages 1261-1277, August.
    5. Jiang, Hongxun & Fan, Shaokun & Zhang, Nan & Zhu, Bin, 2023. "Deep learning for predicting patent application outcome: The fusion of text and network embeddings," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    6. Feng, Sida & Magee, Christopher L., 2020. "Technological development of key domains in electric vehicles: Improvement rates, technology trajectories and key assignees," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    7. Rajeev K. Goel, 2022. "Knowledge diffusion worldwide: Role of university–industry collaborations and beyond," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(5), pages 1330-1339, July.
    8. German Blanco & Rajeev K. Goel & Rati Ram, 2023. "What drives the production and diffusion of mobile apps? An international investigation," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(2), pages 828-838, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mari Komulainen & Tuomas Takalo, 2013. "Does State Street Lead to Europe? The Case of Financial Exchange Innovations," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 19(3), pages 521-557, June.
    2. Bronwyn H. Hall, 2009. "Business And Financial Method Patents, Innovation, And Policy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 56(s1), pages 443-473, September.
    3. Iain M. Cockburn & Megan J. MacGarvie, 2011. "Entry and Patenting in the Software Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(5), pages 915-933, May.
    4. Desyllas, Panos & Sako, Mari, 2013. "Profiting from business model innovation: Evidence from Pay-As-You-Drive auto insurance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 101-116.
    5. Filippo Mezzanotti, 2021. "Roadblock to Innovation: The Role of Patent Litigation in Corporate R&D," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(12), pages 7362-7390, December.
    6. Andrew Eckert & Corinne Langinier, 2014. "A Survey Of The Economics Of Patent Systems And Procedures," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 996-1015, December.
    7. Naoto Jinji & Xingyuan Zhang & Shoji Haruna, 2015. "Trade patterns and international technology spillovers: evidence from patent citations," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(4), pages 635-658, November.
    8. Rentocchini, Francesco, 2011. "Sources and characteristics of software patents in the European Union: Some empirical considerations," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 141-157, March.
    9. Bronwyn H Hall, 2019. "Is there a role for patents in the financing of new innovative firms?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 28(3), pages 657-680.
    10. Kyle HIGHAM & NAGAOKA Sadao, 2022. "Language Barriers and the Speed of Knowledge Diffusion," Discussion papers 22074, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. Dr Chiara Rosazza Bondibene, 2012. "A Study of Patent Thickets," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 401, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    12. Shoji Haruna & Naoto Jinji & Xingyuan Zhang, 2010. "Patent citations, technology diffusion, and international trade: evidence from Asian countries," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 34(4), pages 365-390, October.
    13. Dr Chiara Rosazza Bondibene, 2012. "A Study of Patent Thickets," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 401, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    14. Peng Huang & Marco Ceccagnoli & Chris Forman & D. J. Wu, 2013. "Appropriability Mechanisms and the Platform Partnership Decision: Evidence from Enterprise Software," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(1), pages 102-121, July.
    15. Bronwyn H. Hall, 2009. "Business And Financial Method Patents, Innovation, And Policy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 56(4), pages 443-473, September.
    16. Nancy Gallini, 2017. "Do patents work? Thickets, trolls and antibiotic resistance," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 50(4), pages 893-926, November.
    17. Chattergoon, B. & Kerr, W.R., 2022. "Winner takes all? Tech clusters, population centers, and the spatial transformation of U.S. invention," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(2).
    18. Rajneesh Narula & Grazia D. Santangelo, 2007. "Location and R&D Alliances in the European ICT Industry," DRUID Working Papers 07-05, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    19. Per Botolf Maurseth, 2005. "Lovely but dangerous: The impact of patent citations on patent renewal," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(5), pages 351-374.
    20. MOTOHASHI Kazuyuki & ZHAO Qiuhan, 2023. "University as a Knowledge Source of Innovation: A spatial analysis of the impact on local high-tech startup creation," Discussion papers 23027, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Business method patents; Relative centrality; Structural equivalence; Brokerage roles; Joint patent application; Patent citations; Knowledge flows; Social networks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • M15 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - IT Management

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:44:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s10961-017-9645-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.