Make-or-Buy Decisions in Patent Related Services

Recent research argues that the management of intangible assets is a key to firms’ longtermsuccess and requires specialized management techniques and a distinctive set ofskills (Rivette & Kline 2000, Standfield 2002, Granstrand 1999). It is further arguedthat the active management of firms’ intellectual capital is as a prerequisite for securing(future) profits making IP-departments an indispensable part of firms’ strategic planningefforts (Lev 2004, Reitzig 2004). Despite this widespread acknowledgement of theimportance of intellectual property management as corporate function little attentionhas been paid to the actual organization of IP related services within firms. Amongthe few publications containing brief studies of the organization of IP-departments areTaylor & Silbertson (1973), Granstrand (1999) and Pitkethly (2001)....