Research

Chen, T., Kim, C.H., & Miceli, K. 2021. ‘Emergence of Opportunity Creation: The Case of Pioneering Technology’, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal

Abstract: Knowledge‐based theories have posited that new technologies are recombinations of prior technologies. To bring about new innovations, inventors usually use past known knowledge as a key ingredient. However, there exists a particular type of new technology that does not have any explicit prior technology predecessors. These pioneering technologies, also referred to as “zero‐reference patents,” not only reflect new knowledge but can also serve as the initial seed from which recombination can subsequently create more knowledge and technologies. We seek to understand the characteristics of the inventors who create these pioneering technologies. We find that having focused, specific expertise is more important than a broad knowledge base in the development of these pioneering technologies, and that prior inventive success can hinder their creation.

Chen, T., McGrath, P. & Nerkar, A. 2021 ‘Cleaning the Closet: Examining Firm Patent Sales Through the Lens of Absorptive Capacity’. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management

Abstract: We examine firm sales of patents, which are a characteristically valuable firm resource. Using the lens of absorptive capacity, and specifically, its components of recognition, assimilation, and commercialization ability, we surface heretofore underappreciated mechanisms that underpin firm patent sales. We first propose that while the firm's recognition ability will enable and encourage firms to seek out and acquire patents, intrinsic resource capacity limitations associated with its patent portfolio will motivate the firm to “clean its closet” and sell some of its existing patents to free resources and allow new patents to enter its portfolio. We further propose that the firm's assimilation and commercialization abilities can help to ease the firm's capacity constraints, and will, thus, temper the positive relationship between the firm's recognition ability (and patent purchases) and patent sales. As one of a small but growing collection of empirical tests on patent sales, we find support for our hypotheses using a large, cross-industry sample of 1728 public firms observed from 1975 to 2010. In so doing, we provide an absorptive capacity-based explanation for the understudied but strategic question of why firms sell their patents.

McGrath, P., Chen, T., & Nerkar, A. 2022 ‘Pipes, Prisms and Patent Sales: Financial Capital and the Gender Gap in Technology Commercialization’. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal

Abstract: This study investigates whether there is a gender gap in the sale of patents by entrepreneurs and examines whether the personal wealth of female entrepreneurs can compensate for it. Using a sample of 107,697 independent inventors, we overcome the empirical challenge of measuring wealth through a novel approach that leverages Zillow data. We find strong evidence of a gender gap in patent sales, and find it poses a cruel irony for female entrepreneurs. While greater wealth of female entrepreneurs improves their likelihood of patent sale, increasing wealth simultaneously expands the gender gap, making female entrepreneurs increasingly worse off relative to male entrepreneurs except at high affluence. These results underscore the complexity of the challenges facing female entrepreneurs seeking to commercialize using patent sales.