Benefiting from Technological Innovation Through Patent Strategy: A Case Study of a Textile Company in China

This paper focuses on the practice of technological innovation in a state owned enterprises(SOE) which operates in traditional industry and is located in an underdeveloped region of a developing country. It is about best practice of benefiting from technological innovationthrough patent strategy in this company. We try to determine the mechanism of how thiscompany benefits from technological innovation through patent strategy. We developed aframework with four key dimensions to understand and analyze all the issues of patentingpractice observed in this case. In this paper, we begin with a theoretical overview to discuss the functions and the relevanteffectiveness of patent protection, to analyze the strategic uses of patent as well as the patentstrategy in the firm context. Second, we explain our research methodology. Third, weintroduce the case of Grace Group we studied and the general background of China’s IPRprotection system. Fourth, we picture Grace’s patent strategy and described the formulationand implementation of its patent strategy. When analyzing the strategic choice of Grace’spatenting activities, we introduce a four-dimensional framework. Fifth, we make a conclusionand present implications according to our study. In the final section we foresee the futureresearch.