Lean innovation: Family firm succession and patenting strategy in a dynamic institutional landscape

Michael Carney, Jing Zhao and Limin Zhu

Journal of Family Business Strategy, 2019, vol. 10, issue 4

Abstract: The paper is motivated by recent findings about family firms (FFs) ability to ‘do more with less’ in the innovation process, which we dub ‘lean innovation’. We consider lean innovation patenting strategies in an emerging market context that is undergoing improvement in its intellectual property protection (IPP) regime. Grounded in upper echelons theory we expect that the initiation of an intra-family succession will lead to generational shift in a FFs approach to IPP, as evinced in its patenting strategy. Applying a difference in difference methodology we are able to compare FFs who have undertaken an intra-family succession with FFs who have not yet initiated a succession process. Further, we consider the second difference as a strategy change between the pre-and post-succession period thereby isolating the effects of the post-succession change on patenting strategy. We also distinguish between different patent types (invention, utility, and design), and consider FF propensity to patent, and patent conversion rates. Based on generational differences between founders and successors we find successors are significant adopters of lean innovation patenting strategies. We add to the sparse literature on succession in emerging market FFs and contribute to improved understandings of long-term FF strategic adaptation in a dynamic institutional landscape.

Keywords: FFs; Succession; Intellectual property protection; Patents; Upper echelons (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877858517300839
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:fambus:v:10:y:2019:i:4:s1877858517300839

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/719791/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 719791/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2018.03.002

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Family Business Strategy is currently edited by J.H. Astrachan

More articles in Journal of Family Business Strategy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().