On the Planned and Emergent Use of Intellectual Property in the New Venture Creation Process

Abstract

Research on both entrepreneurship and intellectual property (IP) has implicitly reflected the assumption that decisions around IP are part of a planned process in which IP is used to achieve certain goals, typically to prevent imitation. In light of the increasing prevalence of research advocating a different, strategic function for IP, this assumption is due a revision from a functional as well as a process perspective. This study attempts to tackle this issue through a multiple case study of new venture creation. The decision events and associated decision logics in the venture development process of seven digital technology-based startups were mapped to discover patterns in the logics driving different IP decisions taken during the development of the venture. The theory of causation and effectuation, representing respectively planned and emergent processes, is used in this research to study the dynamics of decision logics through the development of new ventures with regard to IP decision-making. We find that IP decisions are both planned and emergent. They feature in all stages of venture creation both to find goals and pursue them, to articulate new value propositions as well as protect competitive advantage arising from said value propositions. This research introduces a new perspective on the role of IP as a formative element in the venture creation process and challenges assumptions regarding the process by which IP decisions are taken, contributing to more fine-grained insights about the function of IP for entrepreneurial ventures.