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Keywords

technological innovation; patent portfolio; dynamic capability; patent layout; panel analysis

Abstract

Innovation is the core driving force for the development of technology-based enterprises and the key to shaping competitive advantages. Driven by the innovation economy, the importance of intellectual property rights has become increasingly prominent, becoming a solid cornerstone for ensuring high-quality economic development. For technology-oriented industries, patents not only represent the technological innovation capability of enterprises, but are also important assets for enhancing innovation efficiency and market valuation. However, the emergence of the ‘patent paradox’ has triggered a rethinking of the value of patents, leading to the emergence of patent portfolio theory. This theory suggests that the combination of core and peripheral patents can enhance the competitive advantage of patent holders. From a dynamic perspective, a patent portfolio is a strategy for enterprises to flexibly allocate patent resources to achieve specific strategic goals. This strategy can effectively improve the utilization rate of patent assets and create a solid competitive barrier for modern enterprises. Existing research mainly focuses on the evolution mechanism of patent portfolios, behavioral optimization, and other front-end fields, but little is known about the process of how patent portfolios affect firm innovation performance. Especially when the focus of research is on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), whether the two have a significant impact still needs further confirmation. Based on this, this article innovatively starts from the perspective of dynamic capabilities, takes technologybased SMEs as the research object, and uses patent combinations as the analysis unit, breaking the limitation of only focusing on individual patents in the past. Integrate patent portfolio strategy, innovation performance, and dynamic capabilities closely, following the theoretical logic of the role of enterprise behavior, performance, and capabilities in the relationship between the two. Through empirical testing of panel data, this study reveals the impact mechanism of patent portfolio strategy on innovation performance of technology-based SMEs and the moderating effect of dynamic capabilities in the model. This not only fills the gap in current research on the relationship between patent portfolio and innovation performance in the local technology environment, but also enriches the applicability of dynamic capability theory, providing new insights for SMEs to construct patent portfolios in dynamic market environments. Previous research has mostly focused on large incumbent enterprises, which have abundant resources and stable market positions. Therefore, their patent strategies and innovative behavior may be more influenced by internal research and development capabilities and market monopolies. On the contrary, technology-based SMEs must allocate resources more efficiently and carry out innovation activities when resources are limited, which leads to different strategic choices between the two. It is found that firstly, the size, diversity, and value of patent portfolios significantly positively affect the innovation performance of technology-based SMEs. The large-scale patent portfolio strategy provides protection for the core technology and products of the enterprise, and achieves economies of scale. The diversified patent portfolio strategy not only disperses technological risks but also creates more technological opportunities for enterprises, enriches their technological resource pool, and stabilizes their competitive position in multiple fields. A high-value patent portfolio can ensure the technological value of innovative achievements, strengthen the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises, enhance the reputation capital of enterprises, and thus achieve the maximization of economic benefits of patent portfolios. Secondly, dynamic capabilities have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between patent portfolio strategy and innovation performance. Compared to large enterprises, SMEs have a more pronounced dependence in this regard. For technology-based SMEs, dynamic capabilities not only help to formulate scientific and reasonable patent portfolio strategies, but also fully tap into the potential of various patents, significantly enhancing the ability of enterprises to build large-scale and diversified patent portfolios. Moreover, at a high level of diversity or scale, higher market share and profit margins can be achieved. The research results of this article further confirm the key role of patent portfolio strategy in the innovation process of enterprises, providing solid theoretical support for optimizing patent layout of enterprises, and also providing new perspectives and guidance for resource-constrained SMEs in innovation management and patent strategy.

DOI

10.16315/j.stm.2024.03.006

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