The changing Chinese intellectual property landscape in the new era: Understanding the connections between corporate IP practices and business performance in Shenzhen

• Autor(a) principal: Zhou Lin
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/28536
• topic: IP capabilities; Patent capabilities; Trademark capabilities; Resource-based view; Capability-based view; Capacidades de PI; Capacidades em patentes; Capacidades em marcas; Vantagem competitiva -- Competitive advantage; Visão baseada em recursos; Visão baseada em capacidades

The recent two decades have seen a surge in patent and trademark applications by Chinese enterprises. But the volume increase has not effectively resulted in enhanced enterprise competitiveness. This unsatisfactory reality has drawn widespread attention to intellectual property (IP) capabilities. Based on a review of the existing literature on industry positioning, resource-based view, capability-based view and IP as a resource, this Thesis constructs a theoretical model of the relationship between IP capabilities and business performance. Specifically, IP capabilities consist of patent capabilities and trademark capabilities in the scope of this Thesis, and business performance is measured by competitive position and profitability. Then measurement formulas are designed to measure the relationships between the independent variables, control variables and dependent variables of the model. To test the reliability and validity of the proposed model, an empirical study of 204 companies with a government-recognised IP management system in Shenzhen was carried out. Statistical analyses results suggested that both patent capabilities and trademark capabilities are significantly and positively associated with business competitiveness, validating the applicability of the model. Following the empirical study, Huawei and ZTE were selected as cases for a qualitative study. The results turned out consistent with the empirical study. Besides, how the IP capabilities of the two case companies affect their business competitiveness is discussed. Finally, suggestions on how to optimize patent and trademark strategies, including application, commercialisation and protection, are put forward for Chinese enterprises to enhance their competitiveness.