Vol 25, No 4; Article by Mukundan R, Karuna Jain, and Shishir K Jha; December 2013
Technology driven transformations have been a fundamental outcome of both the industrial and knowledge revolutions. Representing a category of commons termed as technology commons, technologies play a crucial yet differentiating role in the use and creation of resources and value. While the essential role of commons as in traditional property literature is designed around the governance equation, strategy theory emphasises value creation and its leverage. Existing literature in both these areas has distinctly focussed on the intended public and private benefits. We notice an implicit relationship between characteristics of commons and a firm's technology strategies and propose incorporating the commons characteristics into the design of technology and intellectual property (IP) strategy for a firm. A tight bonding between a firm's technology and IP strategy signifies the balance between private and social growth.
In this paper, we propose a theoretical framework to link technology and IP strategy using the theory of semicommons. We use patent pools as an example of semicommons and show how the integration of technology and IP strategy happens. The framework is explained with the telecommunication industry as an example and is also applied to understand the transition in the technology and IP strategy followed in the computer industry. It is observed that an informed and value enhancing technology strategy helps the firm to build its dynamic capabilities and create a proactive IP based governance structure.
