We investigate a sample of 180 technology licensing contracts closed by German chemical, pharmaceutical, and electrical engineering companies between 1880 and 1913. Our empirical results suggest that strategic behavior seems to be relevant for the design of licensing contracts, whereas inventor...

We investigate a sample of 180 technology licensing contracts closed by German chemical, pharmaceutical, and electrical engineering companies between 1880 and 1913. A regression analysis shows that licensing contracts closed before a patent was granted and contracts closed between firms and...

This paper examines the management issues faced by a businessman in pre-industrial Europe and how he addressed those issues. Management focused on four main areas - managing agents (personnel); financial management; risk management; and information management (communications and accounting)

Emergent economies suffer from underdeveloped market infrastructures and insufficient public institutions to enforce contract commitments and property rights. Informal reputation-based arrangements may substitute for government enforcement but they require close-knit networks that enable...

The appropriateness of patent systems has been largely discussed and has led to substantial theoretical debates and empirical analyses. One of the most significant arguments in favor of patents is that they enable knowledge disclosure, which would compensate their social cost. Through an...

This paper offers a detailed case study of the emergence, organization, and development of research and development at E. Merck. During the 1890s, revolutionary changes in the scientific knowledge base, especially the rise of bacteriological research and the entry of dyestuff producers into the...

In this paper, we describe the emergence and evolution of pharmaceutical research at the German company E. Merck during the late 19th and early 20th century. Revolutionary changes in the scientific knowledge base, especially the rise of bacteriological research, and the market entry of dyestuff...

International technology transfer plays a critical role in global welfare and economic growth. Conventional wisdom holds that strong intellectual property rights—primarily patents—promote the transfer of technologies between countries. An important counternarrative, however, contends that...