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Non-practicing entities (NPEs) are firms that build patent portfolios but do not implement the patented technologies in any products, processes, or services (known as patent trolls). NPEs initiate lawsuits primarily not to stop patent infringement, but for the potential monetary profits. We examine how firms shift their innovation strategies in response to heightened NPE litigation risks. We theorize and find that firms targeted by NPEs will subsequently draw more upon their in-house technologies to reduce the legal ground for such lawsuits, whereas firms in related technology areas will shift their innovation activities away from areas of high NPE litigation risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coordination challenges are an integral part of creative group work, but existing research underemphasizes how organizations face these challenges. We address this gap by studying the effectiveness of prior experience scientists possess to counter coordination challenges due to new team member introduction and scientist relocation following a major earthquake disruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge is a valuable and strategic asset that affects how firms and organizations innovate and compete. This study addresses how uncertain intellectual property right (IPR) conditions impact knowledge production and accumulation in different types of innovative firms and organizations, especially when they operate or develop innovations across different IPR institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the long-held belief of positive effect of patenting on public research and commercialization of science, scholars now assert its detrimental impacts on follow-on innovation. Using human gene patents, our study contributes to literature on patent design and effects of patents on public research while informing policy and patenting strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coordination challenges are an integral part of creative group work, but most existing research underemphasizes how organizations may face these challenges. We address this gap by studying the effectiveness of prior experience that scientists possess to counter coordination challenges imposed on them from introducing new members into their teams, and from an exogenous shock which led many scientists to move to a new work place. Our difference-in-differences analysis of 496 scientists in the U.S. genomics industry indicates that prior to moving, scientist experience resulted in rigidity and introducing new members into a work group disrupted coordination, diminishing value created in R&D. Since repeat collaboration reinforced coordination, it was positively associated with value created. Scientist relocation due to the 1994 Northridge earthquake represents a disruptive exogenous event that lowered coordination in groups. We find that scientists moving after the earthquake benefitted from their prior experience to create value in their new settings. While experienced scientists help to catalyze the integration of new collaborators, they are less successful in stabilizing disruptions to repeated collaborative activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how firm agency shapes firm innovation behaviors. We argue that agents of the firm will give greater priority to the tasks of developing the innovations that are evaluated higher based on the metrics used by the principal to assess their performance, rather than based on the inherent value of the innovations. We examine this theoretical prediction in the context of how Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) responded to pro-innovation public policies. We find that after the policy issuance, the Chinese SOEs wherein agency is more severe are more likely to produce patents in general, but are less likely to produce the particular type of patents that are deemed novel, than before the policy and than the Chinese SOEs with less severe agency. The severity of agency varies by the extent to which agents' private (financial) incentives are aligned with the firm value, and by locations where the agents of SOEs are monitored more effectively. The findings lend support to the agency hypotheses, and open up new avenues for future research on agency in firm innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines the effect of sudden natural disasters on the co-evolution of corporate philanthropy and stakeholders responses to it. We argue that sudden events facilitate the institutionalization process of corporate philanthropy, which lead to an overall increase in corporate philanthropic behaviors. Meanwhile, as corporate philanthropy becomes more legitimate, stakeholders gradually shift attention away from the philanthropic act itself to more individualized, firm-specific features related to philanthropy. As a result, stakeholders responses to corporate philanthropic activities become less positive in general, resulting in a weaker relationship between corporate philanthropy and firm value. But for firms that could demonstrate genuineness in their philanthropic donations, stakeholder responses remain positive. Using the Wenchuan earthquake which occurred in 2008 in China as a sudden event and analyzing data from 2,318 Chinese listed firms between year 2004 and 2012, we find support for these arguments. These findings have implications for strategy and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on field observation and interviews, we identify four archetypes of collaborative partnerships between public and private organizations in science-based industries (i.e., bio-pharmaceuticals and biotechnology). The four archetypes are transactional, hierarchical, targeted philanthropy communities, and hybrid partnerships. The first two types emphasize transacting patents while the latter two types emphasize proof-of-concepts. We develop a conceptual framework, in terms of governance of intellectual property, coordination of collaborative work, and tolerance of risks for product failure, to postulate the productivity of breakthrough products and sustainability among these four archetypes. We contribute to strategic management and organization of these emerging (and experimental) partnerships as well as to better understanding their internal collaborative efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When scientists move to a new location, they might acquire and recombine new knowledge and form new collaborative networks, which can improve their innovative productivity. However, the extent of this benefit may depend on how entrenched these scientists were in their pre-move location. We investigate the impact of mobility on innovative productivity and study how entrenchment moderates this effect. Drawing from the population of 5,809 scientists who have contributed to genomics innovations, our difference-in-differences estimates show that the scientists who moved after the 1994 Northridge earthquake demonstrate higher innovative productivity post move relative to similar non-moving scientists. However, this positive effect is weakened by the entrenchment of the scientist in his/her pre-move location. In particular, the effect is weaker if the majority his/her collaborators were collocated with the focal scientist in the pre-move location, if the duration of stay in the pre-move location is longer and if the scientist has relocated fewer times prior to the move. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops a new conceptual framework to understand the differential impact of formal institutional regime shift in intellectual property rights on the innovation and patenting strategies of Chinese and Western firms operating in China. We argue that compared with Western firms, Chinese firms will more likely resort to alternative informal practices that are deeply rooted in the traditional Chinese philosophies to safeguard their intellectual assets from expropriation. Moreover, the complex and ambiguous interdependence between institutional forces in China makes it more feasible for Chinese firms to adopt such informal approaches. Using the major China patent law reform of 2001 as a natural experiment, we find results consistent with our key arguments: With the strengthening of (a previously weak form of) patent protection, Chinese firms do not increase the adoption of such protection for their internationally valuable innovations as much as Western firms do. However, the difference becomes less salient in regions with more robust legal institutions that foster R&D and innovation, and when Western firms operate longer in China. This study advances our understanding of how institutions can shape the strategic innovative behaviors of Chinese and Western firms in the transitional economy of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]