Structuring the Law & Management Approaches

Abstract

This chapter shows that the literature in Law & Management has integrated the complexity of patents viewed as strategic tools on a step-by-step basis. Initially, patents were studied as isolated legal tools mainly aimed at protecting an innovation from imitation. Since then, the multiplicity of the patent functions has been progressively highlighted. A second step has been to consider the interactions of patents with other assets of the firm in order to better perform these multiple functions. Finally, the so-called appropriability regime has left its status as an exogenous variable to become a resource that firms can mobilize strategically. In reality, these successive steps overlap and studies focusing on the efficacy of the patent as a tool to prevent imitation are still carried out. Moreover, scholars generally only analyze one specific characteristic of patents. As a result, there still lacks a global framework integrating each of the various dimensions. This chapter proposes a step in that direction. The author’s framework builds on the resource-based view of the firm and, more precisely, on the articulation between legal and nonlegal resources, specific competences, and global (dynamic) capabilities. It also draws on strands of research that indicate that such an integrative approach sheds light on the need for a combined approach of Law & Management in order to reap all its potential benefits.