Exploring Technological Trends in Logistics: Topic Modeling-Based Patent Analysis

Donghyun Choi and Bomi Song
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Donghyun Choi: School of Air Transportation and Logistics, Korea Aerospace University, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do 10540, Korea
Bomi Song: School of Air Transportation and Logistics, Korea Aerospace University, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do 10540, Korea

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-26

Abstract: With the strategic importance of discerning opportunities and threats from technological development to achieve sustainable competitiveness, exploring technological trends becomes critical for a successful technology strategy in logistics. Given the rapid pace of development and varying technological options, logistics also increasingly requires methodological support and appropriate data to reduce the complexity and burden of exploring technology trends. While previous research has largely relied on experts’ insights, the value of patent-based approaches for exploring technological trends has been underestimated in logistics. To address this gap, this study proposes a topic modeling-based approach using logistics-related patents registered at the United States Patents and Trademark Office (USPTO). The core of the suggested approach is latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), allowing the identification of logistics-related technological topics behind patents. The topics identified by LDA are further investigated regarding both filed-level and firm-level trends. The suggested approach is expected to offer implications of the use of patents for the purpose of exploring the trends of technology development outside the organization in logistics. In addition, we believe that the information on the technological topics and their trends generated by the suggested approach can offer an enhanced understanding of the technological landscape in logistics.

Keywords: technological trends in logistics; technology trend exploration; patent analysis; topic modeling; latent dirichlet allocation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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