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Innovation races: An experimental study on strategic research activities

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Author Info
Uwe Cantner () (University of Jena, Faculty of Economics)
Andreas Nicklisch () (Max-Planck-Institute for Research into Collective Goods)
Torsten Weiland () (Max-Planck-Institute for Economics, Strategic Interactions Group)

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Abstract

In an experimental setting, firms in a duopoly market engage in a patent tournament and compete for profit-enhancing product advancements. The firms generate income by matching exogenously defined demand preferences with an appropriately composed product portfolio of their own. Demand preferences are initially unknown and first need to be revealed by an investigation of the possible product variations. The better firms approximate demand preferences, the higher their profits. In the ensuing innovation race, firms interact through information spillovers resulting from the imperfect appropriability of research successes. In the random period of the experiment, the continuity of the search process is disturbed by an exogenous shock that affects both the supply and demand side and again spurs research competition. Firms may henceforth explore an enlarged product space in attempting to match the equally modified demand preferences. In our analysis, we explore the behavioural regularities of agents who are engaged in innovation activities. As a key element we test to what extend relative economic performance exercises a stimulating effect on the implementation of innovation and imitation strategies.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät in its series Jenaer Schriften zur Wirtschaftswissenschaft with number 17/2005.

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Date of creation: 07 Nov 2005
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Handle: RePEc:jen:jenasw:2005-17

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Related research
Keywords: Innovation; Imitation; Patent Tournament; Trial and Error Process;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
O31 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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  1. Katz, Michael L & Shapiro, Carl, 1987. "R&D Rivalry with Licensing or Imitation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(3), pages 402-20, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Reinganum, Jennifer F, 1983. "Uncertain Innovation and the Persistence of Monopoly," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(4), pages 741-48, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Vickers, John S, 1986. "The Evolution of Market Structure When There Is a Sequence of Innovations," Journal of Industrial Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(1), pages 1-12, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Isaac, R Mark & Reynolds, Stanley S, 1988. "Appropriability and Market Structure in a Stochastic Invention Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 103(4), pages 647-71, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Zizzo, Daniel John, 2002. "Racing with uncertainty: a patent race experiment," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 877-902, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Cohen, Wesley M & Klepper, Steven, 1996. "Firm Size and the Nature of Innovation within Industries: The Case of Process and Product R&D," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(2), pages 232-43, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Harris, Christopher & Vickers, John, 1987. "Racing with Uncertainty," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(1), pages 1-21, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Uwe Cantner & Werner Gueth & Andreas Nicklisch & Torsten Weiland, 2003. "Competition in Innovation and Imitation - A Theoretical and Experimental Study -," Papers on Strategic Interaction 2004-02, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Isaac, R. Mark & Reynolds, Stanley S., 1992. "Schumpeterian competition in experimental markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 59-100, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Acs, Zoltan J & Audretsch, David B, 1988. "Innovation in Large and Small Firms: An Empirical Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(4), pages 678-90, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Josh Lerner, 1997. "An Empirical Exploration of a Technology Race," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 28(2), pages 228-247, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Reinganum, Jennifer F., . "A Dynamic Game of R & D: Patent Protection and Competitive Behavior," Working Papers 289, California Institute of Technology, Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences. [Downloadable!]
  13. Schotter, Andrew & Weigelt, Keith, 1992. "Asymmetric Tournaments, Equal Opportunity Laws, and Affirmative Action: Some Experimental Results," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 107(2), pages 511-39, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Stark, Oded, 1990. "A Relative Deprivation Approach to Performance Incentives in Career Games and Other Contests," Kyklos, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(2), pages 211-27.
  15. Partha Dasgupta & Joseph Stiglitz, 1980. "Uncertainty, Industrial Structure, and the Speed of R&D," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 11(1), pages 1-28, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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