Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Hagedoorn, John
Author-Email: j.hagedoorn@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT/MGSoG, and Department of Organization & Strategy,
	 School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University
Author-Name: Ridder, Ann-Kristin
Author-Email: a.ridder@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Organization & Strategy, School of Business
	 and Economics, Maastricht University
Title: Open innovation, contracts, and intellectual property rights: an exploratory 
	 empirical study
Abstract: Our exploratory empirical study, based on a series of in-depth 
	 interviews and a survey of firms, searches for answers on a number of 
	 questions that deal with the role of formal contracts and intellectual 
	 property rights in the context of open innovation. We find that firms 
	 active in open innovation have a strong preference for the governance of 
	 their open innovation relationships through formal contracts. These 
	 contracts are relevant from both a control and a process monitoring 
	 perspective. Also, despite the open nature of open innovation, firms 
	 still see intellectual property rights as highly relevant to the 
	 protection of their innovative capabilities. In a first attempt to 
	 explain this preference for intellectual property rights by open 
	 innovation firms, we find the degree of openness of firms, their 
	 legalistic attitude, and the competitive dynamics of their product 
	 market environment to be related to this preference.
Classification-JEL: K11, K12, L24
Keywords: open innovation, contracts, intellectual property rights
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 2012
Number: 025
File-URL: http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2012/wp2012-025.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2012025