Nonmarket Strategy in International Business and Intellectual Property Rights: An Analytical Framework

Abstract

Major business strategies either based on industrial organization approach or resource based view (RBV) and its evolved concept of dynamic capability suggest that monopolization of market is the normal endeavor of firms and this endeavor gets amply reflected in the expansion of monopolization through the expansion of intellectual property rights such as patenting and copyrights. This article suggests a framework consisting of both market and nonmarket strategies to explain the firm's attempt to expand monopolistic control in international market through the expansion of intellectual property rights. This article argues that international business strategy basically consists of both nonmarket and market strategies and operates at two levels, macro and micro. It suggests that at macro level that is at the level of external institutional environmental level, nonmarket strategy has helped firms more than the market strategy whereas at micro level i.e. corporate level, market strategy plays a more significant role.