Impact of informal competition on intellectual property strategies: evidence from developing economies

Abstract

ABSTRACT The relationship between informal competition and Intellectual Property strategies of formal firms in developing countries is an important, yet underexplored topic. By integrating the Resource-Based View (RBV) and the Attention-Based View (ABV) of the firm, I hypothesize that as informal competition increases, firms undertake a diversified IP strategy by applying for multiple types of IP rights rather than a single type of IP or no IP at all. I further hypothesize that the relationship between informal competition and IP strategies of firms is not homogeneous. As informal competition increases, incumbents are more likely to undertake a diversified IP strategy than new ventures. I use data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys and follow-up innovation surveys across South Asia (2013–14) and conduct multinomial logit regression to test the hypotheses. The research advances the understanding of strategic IP management in developing economies, while extending RBV and ABV theories to this context.