Insight Into Firms’ Strategy for Leveraging Technological Competences in Asia

Technological skills of inventors have become important for innovation and competitiveness of firms in the knowledge based industries. With the emerging globalization, firms that make use of technological competence of inventors worldwide innovate and prosper faster. The present study examines how national or foreign firms leverage the technological competence of inventors from Asian and other countries. A related question has also been examined as to how these firms leverage technological competence of inventors exclusively from foreign countries without the involvement of inventors from their own countries. The study presents a methodology for extracting relevant data and analysis of bibliographic information in a patent document to provide insights into firms’ innovation strategies, while leveraging technological competences of inventors. The case study of leveraging technological competence of inventors from India, by foreign or national firms, has been presented in detail to provide policy relevant understanding of the pattern of distribution of assignee firms or other organizations leveraging the competence a) by performing sector viz. industry, university or government, b) by countries of origin of firms, c) the role of key foreign or Indian firms, and d) the technical areas in which technological competence is leveraged. Similar studies could be undertaken in case of other countries, as well to formulate innovation strategy and policy at the national or firm level.