While numerous researchers can access current large patent databases, the presence of numerous non-standard applicant names presents a huge obstacle to their effective use. This paper explains the characteristics of Japanese patent applicant names and offers a potential solution to current...

This paper empirically examines the "defensive innovation" hypothesis that firms with higher exposure to low-wage economy import competition intensively undertake more innovative activity by using a high quality Japanese firm-level panel dataset over the period 1994-2005. The novel feature of...

This paper empirically examines the “defensive innovation” hypothesis that firms with higher exposure to low-wage economy import competition intensively undertake more innovative activity by using a high quality Japanese firm-level panel dataset over the period 1994–2005. The novel feature...